Not In My Favor

Chapter 6

"Told you, I told you. Told you, I told you," Phillip sings on the way to our rooms. "I told you you would do fine and you did great."

I smile wryly, "I thought you said scores weren't a big deal."

"That's when I thought you thought you did poorly." I shove him aside, and jog ahead to my door. "That's not very nice, Liv." I shrug. He sighs. "I'm going to go shower." And he turns and leaves.

I go into my room and jump in the shower. Then I slip into some pink silk pajamas and lay on top of my bed until my friend shows up. Phillip comes knocking and I run to answer the door, and pull him to the bed. And so begins our normal nightly routine, but he's out like a light by ten. I tuck him in, and take my blanket and pillow to my chair. While sleep is still out of the question for a while, I lay around, staring at the popcorn in the ceiling. But surprisingly, after an hour, I can't stop yawning. I wrap my blanket around myself and close my eyes.

"No... no..." someone murmurs just as I'm about to drift off. I bolt up onto my feet, half asleep and anxious. Everything is blurry as I get a head rush and I rub my eyes. There's a rustling noise, like someone's rolling around in their sheets and it comes to me. Phillip. I look to my bed and Phillip looks like he's in pain. A nightmare? I frown as he begins to speak in his sleep again, his voice raising. "No... stop... please don't."

I walk over and sit next to him. "Phillip, Phillip, wake up. You're having a bad dream. Just wake up." But I must say, reality isn't much better.

"Don't kill me!" he says even louder. "Please, I'm begging you!... I've done nothing wrong!... Neither have you!... No, no, please don't-"

"Phillip!" And he gasps, sitting straight up, knocking his head against mine. We both swear rather loudly, rubbing the points of impact. I growl and wince, "Shoot, Dex! Did you have to sit up?!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was having another nightmare. I just-"

"Hey, no need to be sorry. " The pain fades away and I sit back down. "Let's just pick up where you left off again. Sorry. Where were you? I've already forgotten."

"Can we.. have a bite to eat first?"

"We're allowed to eat this late?" To my relief, he smiles childishly, climbing out of bed and walking over to a tiny microphone I've never noticed, gesturing to a giant menu I also managed to completely miss. "What do you want?" I scan the menu and point to an appetizer. It's potatoes cut into thin pieces and fried. "Fried potato strips," he says into the mouth piece. "And vanilla ice cream," He looks at me and I give him a look. "Two bowls of that."

And in less than a minute, the dishes appear. My jaw drops. "Have you been abusing this device?"

He shrugs innocently. "Maybe."

"Good thinking." And I snatch up my food and run over to the bed. I over zealously pick up a fried potato strip and look at the little prism in hand. It seems crunchy and slightly salted. I'm about to toss into my mouth, but I drop into my ice cream. I wrinkle my nose, but Phillip comes over and eats it. I cover my mouth and hiss, "Ew! That's disgusting!"

He swallows and reaches for another potato and dips it in his ice cream and holds it out to me. "Everything tastes good with ice cream. Try it." And without arguement, I open my mouth and he pops it in. My eyebrows raise in shock. "Ice cream makes everything better." And he throws a potato at me.

For quite some time, we eat and talk. Then I start telling him about my family and life before this mess. I tell him about my fraternal twin siblings, my hard working parents, the life in the special school. I'm glad I get to talk to him about this. He's already told me so much, it's only fair. But yet again, he manages to fall asleep first. I do my ritual of tucking him in, kissing his cheek and saying good night. Instead of sleeping on the chair though, I grab my things and place it on the bed, with my feet pointed in the same direction as his head. I fall asleep, content, ready for the next day.