Weak Hero Short Stories

The Sleepover Pt 5

Gray's POV:

Twenty question went about as well as you would expect it to. It was exhausting, I'm even more tired now than I was earlier. They must've noticed, though they had stopped staring after my remark. Finally someone said what I was thinking, "I'm beat." Teddy said. "Oh come on, it only eleven." Ben whined. "Some people try to maintain a reasonable sleep schedule." I said, hinting at the fact that I wanted to sleep as well. Ben sighed and pretended to be incredibly hurt, "If that's how you feel." Eventually he got bored of the act and told everyone that he was going to set up the sleeping bags. We had no say in the matter. It was ridiculous and stupid, but it was his party so I simply nodded along with everyone else.

The seating wasn't the worst, Alex and Ben were going to share the couch and Gerald, Eugene, and Rowan were going to sleep in the circle that they had all been sitting in. Of course, that leaves just me and Teddy. Ben's reasoning was that the vent was on the side of the room where they had been sitting in a circle, so since I was cold, he wasn't going to put me over there, and he had to put someone else over there so I didn't get "Lonely". So instead he put me and Teddy on the side of the room that I had moved to when everyone else had been changing. Our sleeping bags were somewhat near each other, but far enough away that neither of us would be too uncomfortable. It made sense that the person I would most likely wake up at two in the morning would be Teddy. 

Out of everyone here Teddy was the one who I was most distant from. We really weren't close and didn't plan to be. I guess it's somewhat my fault, but he did deserve it so we'll call it "Shared blame" he was a jerk so I put him back in his place. It can't possible be that awkward. 

After the sleeping bags were set up, we all ended up laying down and going to bed. Everyone seemed to be sleeping peacefully, even for a moment it was like all the weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, and that even I could have a good night's sleep. However, the feeling didn't last long. At 3:23 in the morning I woke up, snapped back to reality by my latest dream of Stephen. I sighed, maybe I didn't deserve sleep, I should have been there for him, I should have supported him, I should hav- Suddenly, Teddy turns over in his sleep, his breathing is irrational and he's turning quite a bit. After a minute of that he stops, and his breathing pattern returns to normal.

After waking up so early, so often, I've gotten good at telling when someone is awake or asleep. In this moment I could tell that Teddy was no longer sleeping.

"Gra..y? a whisper came from where Teddy was. I sat up a bit and replied "Yes?" Teddy sat up to and within seconds, and then we were both sitting with our backs against the wall, side by side. "Did I wake you up?" he asks seeming embarrassed, "No." I replied as soft as I could. He hesitated for a second before asking "If.. you don't mind telling me.... what did?", I almost winced at his words. Almost. Somehow I managed to keep my cool. I looked over at him, even in the dark you could still make out his silhouette. After another second of silence, I gathered all my courage and asked "Would you like to get breakfast?"

"What do you mean?" He questioned, "There's a gas station down the street from here," I started unsure of how he would reply, "We could go get some breakfast and then come back a little later, so we don't accidentally wake anyone up, with some food for them as well." He sat there for a second, I started to regret asking. "Ok.. Why not" He answered. We stood up and put on our shoes. As Teddy started to grab his jacket and his phone, I walked over by the door and grabbed the house keys Ben had placed there earlier. Teddy look at me sideways, "If we're leaving we need to make sure we can get back in, but we can't leave the door unlocked because that is unsafe." I said. "Oh, ok" He said softly. 

As soon as we left the house, anxiety started to grab me, I knew what I should do. I had to. We had probably gotten ten yards from Ben house when I asked, "Would you like the long or short version of the story?" After looking confused for a minute he asked "Of what story?" Oh, I guess this is kind of spontaneous, still a bit unsure of myself I replied "What woke me up this morning." He looked me for a moment, only a moment, and in that small glance I knew the answer. "The long version sounds nice." He said almost cheery, I could tell he wasn't, I could tell something was wrong with him as well. I'm not going to ask now, maybe he'll want to tell me after but until then. I took one long breath and decided I would tell him everything.

Simply because he is my friend.

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905 words, wow i'm kinda tired now. So as i've said before this story was not meant to go on this long, because nobody likes incredibly long short stories, so i'm going to be trying to wrap it up in the next 1 or 2 chapters.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day :D