I Still Need ✓

12. I seriously thought I would die

I'd be biting my nails if they weren't already cut so short they'd start bleeding if I took off more—I'd learned my lesson. Dylan and Floyd were casually watching a movie, laughing and throwing popcorn at each other's faces, while I was sitting on pins and needles, all by myself.

When the movie suddenly ended—I really wasn't paying attention to any of it—they turned to me and asked if I wanted to choose what we'd watch next. I glanced at the clock, seeing that it was already half past eleven, and I realized that if we started watching a really long movie now, I could avoid us going to bed early and postpone the real fear until later.

"Let's watch, um..." I racked my brain for the long movies I knew and blurted out, "Titanic."

Dylan and Floyd both stared at me with pure disbelief.

"Titanic," Dylan repeated. "Why Titanic?"

"Because... uh, well... you know. It's a very... beautiful movie. At least, that's what they say. I've never seen it."

"You've never seen Titanic?" asked Floyd. "Actually, neither have I, to be honest. When my mom tried to watch it a while back, Jason hid the remote from her for three days, because his ex used to make him watch it every single week."

"Ouch," Dylan cringed. "I've seen it once."

"What did you think of it?" I asked.

"It's not bad for a romance, actually. I just... prefer action and thrillers and all that. Or comedies."

"We should watch it together then." I grabbed the remote and tried to find the movie on Netflix, but to my dismay, it wasn't there, so I just started to search for another movie that was three hours long.

"Wait, I think my mom has the DVD downstairs." Floyd immediately sped out of the room and Dylan turned to me with a suspicious look.

"What?" I demanded.

"What is the real reason you wanted to see Titanic? You're not really a romance-fan either."

"I'm just—"

"I can kind of tell when you're lying, Hugo. You're really bad at it and I'm not as oblivious as little Floyd. I'm just not sure why you would lie about why you want to watch a romance movie."

"It's nothing, okay?" I sighed.

"I don't know. You've been kinda... weird today?"

"You don't have to worry about it, okay?"

"But—"

"It's fine!" I said, patting him on his head, but he swatted me away with a scowl. He then gently grabbed my face and suddenly pressed a kiss to my lips with a small smile, surprising me. "Whatever, Hugo, I guess we'll watch that stupid movie, if it makes you happy."

So we watched Titanic. I think Floyd was trying not to cry and Dylan was snoring by the end. I sadly looked around the room and sighed as I came to the realization that we'd really have to go to sleep now. Was it too weird to say I wanted to sleep somewhere else now? But then Dylan and Floyd would still lie together and that...

Ugh, why was this such a problem? Why was I making it such a problem. I didn't want it to be, but here we were. Well, I should say me, because they didn't seem to be bothered at all. I felt jealous of their indifference.

I kicked Dylan's side to wake him up and he instinctively grabbed my foot and pressed his nails into the skin, making me yelp out and fall off the bed. Jeez, how many more times was I gonna be lying on the floor today?

Floyd anxiously shushed me, complaining about how his family was sleeping and all that. I grumpily waved him off and climbed back on the bed. He threw two pairs of shorts in Dylan's sleepy face and motioned at us to put them on if we wished, since we didn't bring anything to sleep in. I grabbed the shorts and ran to the bathroom to put them on, though I mainly went to go pee out all of my anxiety.