Beacon ⌲ Stiles Stilinski [1] EDITING

five

My stance faltered a bit, since I knew going back to bed would just mean more lying awake for me.

"I'm-uh-kind of having trouble sleeping. Can I tag along for the ride?"

My dad's face hardened, which confused me. I wouldn't be any trouble, and besides, I would get to greet Kate early.

"Really, Ellie, it's not serious. Go back to bed and you can see Kate in the morning."

"It technically is the morning..." I trailed off, which made my dad raise an eyebrow at me.

"Ellie," he warned. "Go back to bed. Try to get some sleep, you should be getting at least six hours a night. Minimum."

I had, in fact, gotten six hours. But, only if all of my sleep time from this week was combined.

"And Ellie?" he asked. "It's not more nightmares is it?"

I noticed the concerned expression on his face and gulped.

"No, no," I lied. I knew he would try to help the situation as he always did. But, I was also becoming more aware that it pained him when he saw me dealing with my cold flashes and weird urges to wail at the top of my lungs. Each time he found me struggling, he would rub my back soothingly, all the while the stubborn vein in his forehead became prominent and his jaw became clenched. This only made me feel worse; that my dad was stressed out so much just because of my stupid issues. So, when I could, I tried not to worry him by holding back some select information. Plus, I just didn't feel like getting into the whole thing in the middle of the night. "Just...can't sleep. Standard insomnia. I'll be better tomorrow."

My last statement sounded as though I was trying to convince myself of my normalcy, and Dad noticed. 

His eyebrows furrowed, but he turned to leave anyway; settling that Kate's flat tire issues were more urgent than sitting down for an interrogation about my sleep patterns. "Get some rest, Ellie."

"If only I could," I whispered, but just as the big wooden door swung closed and he was out of earshot.

The next morning, I slammed my alarm clock off after noticing that I had mustered a whopping forty-seven minutes of sleep! Normally, this fact would convert me into an absolute zombie that hated the whole world until I drank at least two cups of coffee. However, that morning I bolted out of bed excitedly knowing that Aunt Kate had arrived, fresh tires and all, last night.

I adjusted my t-shirt that had been wildly wrinkled after all my tossing and turning, as I ran across the hall to Allison's room.

I burst through the door just as she was coming to reach for the handle, causing her to jump.

"What the hell, Eleanor?!" she shouted, swatting my arm. She paused for a moment, pondering the wide grin on my face. "What's that look for?"

I bounced up and down giddily before grabbing her hand, anticipating Allison's identical feelings of excitement to see our aunt. "Aunt Kate is here!"

"Really?!"

Just as I had predicted, Allison's face soon matched mine with a beaming smile, following me as we ran down the hallway and into the guest room where Kate was standing over the bed unpacking her suitcase.

Allison squealed with excitement, while we attacked our aunt with a double hug, causing her to shriek and giggle along with us.

 "I don't see you two for a year and you turn into freakin' runway models?" she gasped after leaning back from the Argent twin sandwich, flicking her eyes between us in admiration.

I rolled my eyes with a giggle, and Allison blushed similarly before plopping down onto the bed.

"Look at you guys! Hate you," she said teasingly.