The In Between

Chapter twelve

• I Accidentally Turn A Lake Into A Hot Tub. •

Ricky

• November 2 •

It was probably about 5 in the morning, and I was sweating. In november.

"James?" I couldn't sleep properly, and James was my only source of entertainment. It was pretty unfortunate, really.

I knew that if I woke him up, I was probably definitely going to get murdered. But hey, at least then he'd also have to die.

"What the h-hell do you want? I swear to god, if you're waking me up just because you're bored and can't sleep, I will k-kick your butt so hard, your vertebrae will pop out of your mouth one by one like a pez dispenser."

I didn't say anything, because I was scared for my health.

I decided to take off my leather jacket.

"Are you not g—going to use that?" James asked me.

"What?"

"Your l—leather jac—cket,"

"Oh. nope. I'm sweating like a pig,"

"What a—are you talking about? It's f—freezing."

James grabbed a sweater from out of his bag, as well as all the outfits that he was strangely able to fit into his bag. Although, it wasn't too surprising, because he also previously had a television and a chainsaw in there.

"Oh god, not the clothes again," I was actually, genuinely scared.

"Shut the h-hell up. I'm cold,"

"Well that isn't fair. I'm sweating. Like, a lot. It's not like i can just take off my skin,"

"That's your pr-oblem. And anyways, even when I'm under this many outfits with a sweater an-d a leather jacket on, I'm still f-freezing."

My heart dropped.

"Are the demons--?"

"No."

"Are you sure--?"

"Yes."

James took out a blanket from his bag. And another one, and another. He wrapped them around him. He had so many layers on, he just looked like a big lump with a face.

I snorted. James scowled at me. "Leave me alone."

"Ok." I walked away.

"Wait-- I didn't mean literally! Come back you expired coupon!"

I smiled over my shoulder, "I'm just going to find some sort of lake or pond or river or any type of body of water!"

"Ok wait, I wanna come!" he stood up and all of the layers fell to the ground. He made a noise that sounded like if you read a keyboard smash out loud.

My smile grew wider as James struggled to pick up all of the clothes and blankets off the ground.

"I'm not folding those clothes for you again," I said, covering my mouth to contain my laughter, which only really just muffled my words.

"W-What?"

"Nothing. Just hurry up. I'm not getting any less sweaty."

"Ok, ok." He tried his best to wrap everything around him, and he trudged down the hill.