Tiring Mornings

chapter four

“Get up, douchebag,” Stiles’ voice says when I hear the door of the room open and close. “Amber’s here. We need to talk.”

I groan into my pillow, my eyes tightly shut. I hear Amber’s heels click on the floor until she’s right at my bed. I feel the mattress I’m sprawled out on sink under an extra weight and a hand massage my back.

“Stiles told me you were in a bad mood today,” Amber says.

“He was,” Stiles’ voice confirms. “In front of Hannah, too. She was totally in shock.”

“Terrance, look at us.”

I shift my head so it’s on the side and no longer getting squished by the pillow. My eyes open slowly, my sight blurry for a little from them being squeezed so tight for so long.

“What happened?” Stiles asks, taking a seat beside Hannah on the bed. I hug Mickey and lean my chin on the toy.

When I don’t reply, Stiles adds, “Did she call you again?”

I don’t reply, a sharp pang piercing in my chest from the reminder. I bury my head back into my pillow, squeezing my eyes shut again and clenching the sheets of the bed.

“It’s okay, Terrance,” Amber tells me.

“Don’t wanna talk about it,” I mutter into the pillow.

“Okay,” Stiles says. I feel Amber give me an awkward hug before they both get up, the mattress popping back up from the release of weight. “You should sleep. I’ll come get you before your next class, okay?”

I grunt into my pillow as a reply, and I hear Stiles whisper to Amber to let me be alone. They walk out with soft goodbyes, the door closing quietly behind them. I lift my head once I’m sure they’re gone, blinking away the blurriness in my vision, and hug Mickey closer to my chest.

I push myself into a sitting position, reaching for my laptop on the side table. My phone rings from a new message, but I grab it and put it on silent without sparing the message a glance. Throwing the phone as far away from my reach as I can, I open up my laptop, typing in my password to reveal the movie I was watching earlier.

I open a new tab and type in symptoms of insomnia. I know a little about the sickness- not getting enough sleep, pretty much, and that’s exactly what’s been happening lately. I’m not sure if it’s Stiles’ snoring that kept me up, or the stress, but I haven’t gotten proper sleep in almost four days.

I open a page to about the cause, symptoms, and treatments, scrolling down to the symptoms section. A list showed up, listing off things like being tired and cranky even after sleep, not being able to fall asleep or stay asleep, waking up early and not being to fall back asleep. I sigh and close the tab. I don’t want to worry about having insomnia- it’s only been four days. I’ll probably return back to my regular sleeping patterns by the end of the week.

I click play on the movie I was watching earlier, deciding I could get the rest Stiles suggested later. I put my headphones into my ears, the world around me turning into a blur.

“Wake up sunshine- Oh sweet Jesus, why aren’t you sleeping?”

I look up from my laptop, blinking slowly. “Huh?”

Stiles enters the room and drops his textbook on his desk, arms crossed over his chest. “Did you get any sleep?”

“Um, no.”

“Why not?”

I point to my laptop. “It’s Disney’s fault.”

Stiles scowls and walks over, closing my laptop, unplugging it from its charger and scooping it up in his arm. “You’re not getting this back until you get some sleep.”