𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎, 𝙻𝚊𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚗//𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙧 𝙋𝙖𝙮𝙩𝙤𝙣²

𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙣𝙞𝙖 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨

Laurie had struggled with sleep all her life. There would be nights at a time where her insomnia would be at its worst and no amount of melatonin, music, silence, blankets, etc. would help it. Some restless nights felt as though her nerves would never calm, and the last thing an athlete, or just Laurie in general needed, was sleep deprivation. 

Laurie rolled over, tossing and turning, squeezing her eyes shut, relaxing them, trying to get some sleep. But nothing was seeming to work. No matter what she did, sleep was not coming to her anytime soon. Laurie sat up, sighing. She quietly reached over to grab her phone to check the time. It was past midnight. 

Laurie sighed, sliding back under the covers. She felt a small part of the nerves and anxiety calm when she felt his arms wrap around her, pulling her closer in. 

"You okay?" Connor asked, in a soft sleepy voice. Laurie nestled into his arms comfortably. 

"Mhm, just finding it hard to sleep." She whispered. "I'm okay, just go back to sleep." Laurie spoke softly. Connor opened his eyes and looked down at the obviously exhausted girl.

"No, what's wrong?" Connor asked, concern in his voice. "Is it school? SAT's? College applications? Sports? Talk to me, what's up?"

"Nothing's really wrong, I just can't sleep." Laurie sighed. 

"Insomnia's getting bad again?" Connor asked.

"Some nights." Laurie said. "Tonight." She chuckled, feeling unfortunate. "I don't wanna keep you up." She whispered.

"You're not, it's my personal decision." Connor smiled softly at her. "Talk to me, Goose. What do you think is keeping you up?" He asked, using a silly nickname referencing one of their favorite films.

"Can't relax, can't get calm, can't sleep." Lauren said simply. "Just hard to get tired, so it's hard to fall asleep."

"Well, what can I do to help?" Connor asked.

"Not have me be reason you stay up. Seriously, you can go back to sleep." Laurie said.  

"Hmm, no." Connor hummed. "Cuz I know you're just gonna stay up all night trying to tire yourself enough to go to sleep by doing a bunch of homework or working out or something." Connor spoke. 

"I don't see the problem in that." Laurie shrugged.

"There really isn't. Except for the fact that it won't help, and you'll just get sleep deprived." Connor chuckled.

"I hate it when you're right." Laurie joked. Connor chuckled and ruffled Laurie's hair. 

"Music?" He asked. 

"Yes please." Laurie sighed. Connor flipped on her sleeping playlist, at a soft volume. 

"Want me to get you anything?" Connor asked.

"No, I'm okay, really." Laurie smiled. "You're really cute." She whispered, nestling into his arms again. 

"I sure am." Connor giggled. 

"Talk to me, tell me about something." Laurie said softly. "Not something too interesting though, cuz then I might get really invested and then neither of us will get any sleep tonight." She spoke. 

Connor chuckled and nodded. He started softly talking, not about school, because he was worried it might stress her out, and not about sports because he knew Laurie would get invested and they'd end up talking sports all night, so instead he talked about moments they'd shared, how he felt in the moments, he talked lightly about a few songs as well. After a bit, he pulled out a book, specifically, Dead Poets Society. It was the book they both loved, both knew well. 

Connor wasn't sure when he stopped reading to her, but he found himself turning out the light, glancing down at the sleeping girl, feeling calm knowing she was okay. And with it in mind, he fell asleep quickly, Laurie in his arms. And it was one of the best sleeps either of them had gotten.

A/N: No bc i actually wrote this at like 2AM, sleep deprived all bc i couldnt sleep lmao