It All Started With An Apple

Chapter 32

Tom smiled reassuringly.  “Of course!  I’ll just go wake him up so you two can continue working.”

I plopped onto the couch as Tom left for Dannon’s room.  The television had been left on, playing some re-runs of Hot in Cleveland.  Usually I enjoyed the show, but for right now, I didn’t pay any attention to it.  The look of anxiety in Tom’s eyes set me on edge.  I didn’t understand what was so upsetting about Dannon being a deep sleeper and him falling asleep in the middle of a conversation.  Though, falling asleep in the middle of a conversation in the afternoon was strange.  On the other hand, couldn’t he have just been really tired and kept quiet about it?

“I’m up, I’m up!” I heard Dannon call, sounding anything but awake.  He emerged from his room, rubbing his eyes.  “Gosh, why do I feel like it’s only six in the morning?”

“Because you decided to fall asleep in the middle of the day,” I retorted, sitting up on the couch as I watched him drag his feet down the hall and into the living room.

“Naps are looked highly upon in most cultures,” Dannon murmured with a yawn, plopping onto the couch beside me.  He sighed, leaning his head on my shoulder.

“Isn’t the girl supposed to be doing the leaning?” I teased, ruffling his hair playfully.

Dannon yawned again.  “I’m too tired for this banter!” he whined, his voice thick with sleep—only proving his point.

“You were asleep for like five minutes,” I mused.  “You couldn’t possibly be that tired.”

“You’d be surprised,” Dannon replied.

I sighed, letting my hand drop.  It fell across his shoulders, and before I even knew what I was doing, I rubbed his arm like my mom used to do when I was little.  I turned my attention the show, almost forgetting that I was rubbing Dannon’s arm.  Betty White—her character being Elka, a totally kick-ass elderly woman—had converted to being Amish to avoid being put in jail, and the other three girls that she lived with we searching for her.  Dannon didn’t talk much through the episode—actually, he didn’t talk at all.  I had a feeling that he’d fallen back asleep.  “Dannon?” I whispered.

“Hmm?” he mumbled, sounding barely conscious.

“Just checking to see if you were awake.”

Dannon gave a lame laugh, seeming more like a body spasm than anything else.  I smiled slightly amused that someone could be so tired when they had such an uneventful day.  Well, at least my day was uneventful.  Who knew what Dannon’s day was like?  Maybe he got abducted by cows who wanted to eat him because they thought he might taste like candy canes.  We’d never know, would we? 

My smile slipped off my face as Dannon’s head dropped from my shoulder and onto my lap.  I stared down at his head, biting my lip.  Part of me didn’t mind his head being there—I mean, it was probably a hormonal thing.  But the rest of me, the sarcastic, insane part of me, rolled my eyes.  “Shoulder’s the limit, Barone.”

Then I realized that he wasn’t fooling around; he was actually asleep.

“Tom!” I called, exasperated that he fell asleep on me.  I mean, what if I had to go to the bathroom?  It was kind of hard when someone was sleeping on my lap.  “He fell asleep again!”

Tom appeared, sighing as he spotted Dannon’s head on my lap.  “Sorry, hon.  I guess he just needs some rest.”

There was something in his tone that made me nervous.  I couldn’t quite place what it was exactly about the tone that made me nervous.  There was just something . . . .something there.  The look in his eye—was it just me or did he look sad?—and the tone—maybe sad too?—combined just didn’t mix very well with me.