Take Me To Hawaii

36. Eureka-Like Moment

Hi! I keep getting comments about whether or not I am disappearing again (sorry to give you all trust issues from that last time) and I'm saying here that I'm not! My life is hectic rn so updates will be slower than normal. Thank you all so much for keeping up with this fic <3

Take Me to Hawaii - A Tratie Fanfiction - Chapter 36 - Eisntein-Like Moment - Day 6

The first time she woke up, Katie didn't know what woke her. Be it the song the birds sang into the leaves or the sun returning to dawn the day, she was awake and once again not in her bed. But, to her relief, not in Travis' either. 

It was early. Early enough for it to still be dark out yet late enough for the stars to have disappeared. Not the moon though, which stood full and proud just before the horizon line.

Katie brought her hands up to rub her eyes. She didn't want to wake up. She wanted to sink back into the chair she'd fallen asleep in and let herself drift back to the dreamless slumber she'd awoke from. The brain in her head, not fully powered up, told her every reason that wasn't a good idea and, unfortunately, it was right.

Travis was sound asleep in the seat beside her. He slouched low as his back curved into the chair. One of his arms hugged his side, lazily holding up his blanket, whilst the other hung over the armrest and into the space between them. His head was turned to face Katie as though he'd fallen asleep staring at her. Maybe he had. She didn't know. She didn't care.

It was sweet to pretend he'd been watching her before drifting off. The kind of thought that had butterflies fluttering around her insides like some sort of aviary. Had she fallen asleep first or had he? Was he listening to her talk before finding her too boring and deciding to close his eyes? Had she grumbled at him playfully for being talked to sleep? Had he smiled at her with obvious fatigue, telling her he was still awake before encouraging her to close her own eyes? Or had he been telling her stories about his childhood? About being raised among so many other kids before she found the sound of his voice too soothing and gentle to focus on? A hushed deep husk she couldn't help but close her eyes to.

Katie pulled the blanket up and around her shoulders as she stood to return to the room. It would be better to continue whatever hours of sleep she could get on a surface that wouldn't give her backache. However, there was one issue. 

He looked so peaceful. She didn't know whether she could wake him. Then again, if she didn't she'd have to listen to his groans and complaints about the backache she was preventing herself from getting.

"Travis?" She whispered to him, placing a hand on his shoulder gently. "We can't sleep out here."

Nothing. Not so much as a stir. He shifted his head slightly, causing his hair to fall into his eyes but other than that there was no movement. Katie contemplated leaving him asleep. It would be a shame to disrupt him when he looked this angelic. No one would ever think this was the boy who was spending his vacation trying to convince his friend his feet were shrinking. He looked far too innocent to pull pranks or schemes or ruses or shenanigans on anyone. But alas, he was not. He fooled people when he was awake and he fooled them even more when he was asleep.

Katie wasn't really thinking when her hand came up to brush his curls out of his eyes. It proved effective. He blinked his eyes open slowly, peering at her through the small slit he had let them open to. Travis smiled sleepily and leaned his head against her hand before letting his eyes close once more.

"Hey."  She greeted him only a little louder than before. He opened one eye: a sign she had his attention. "We can't sleep out here."

"But we already have." He argued despite the fact he wasn't fully up. He stole a glance at her, chuckling silently at her unimpressed expression.