Sleepwalker

Chapter Fifteen

He took it with a smile nonetheless. I thought he had understood where I was coming from - minus the whole cheater label.

Before I could question him, Clayton moved the subject along smoothly. "Why did you reject him? He's pretty cool - or maybe that's just the bro code embedded in me making me say that. Ha. . . ha. . ." he cleared his throat.

Weird. "Weird," I found myself saying aloud. When his brows popped up I was quick to backtrack. "I don't know, he seemed really fine with it. Last time I heard he asked Annie Bridges a couple days ago and she said yes."

Clayton's lips straightened at this, but he didn't frown. "Oh." That was becoming a habit of his. Oh, oh, oh. It was starting to annoy me.

"Have you asked a lucky girl to the dance yet?" I sat back in my seat, the question coming out easier than I had expected. I knew he hadn't - news like that would have spread like wildfire, not mine and Wesley's situation.

He was mid-sip so I had to wait a few painful milliseconds before he shook his head no. "I don't think I'm going to go." He shrugged. "Not my kind of scene."

All I could do was play it cool and nod. Hell, the dance wasn't my kind of scene either considering I hate being around people, but going with Clayton would make it all worth it. I could imagine him standing there at my doorway in a dashing black suit and white dress shirt - too cool for a tie and going with a bow tie - with his hair styled with the right amount of gel. His eyes would look me up and down, but not in that checking out sort of way. More of a taking in moment. Then he would hold out his hand and we would head off to the dance.

I sighed against myself.

"You okay?" He asked with such sincerity in his voice, it made my heart hurt a bit more.

"Yeah. Yeah," I repeated, "I'm just getting tired. That's all."

Tired of pining over a boy who will never feel the same way back.

- - - - - - - -

Right when I thought we had made progress, Clayton fell back into only focusing on my sleepwalking instead of me. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - we spent so much time together, but it felt as if we were coworkers and strictly working on a project. Every time I tried to change the conversation, he would deflect it back to being a reason for my sleepwalking, or another way to fix it.

This was not the guy who posted that Instagram photo hinting at asking a girl to fall formal; specifically asking me. I was completely convinced the message was not meant towards me anymore. He was probably going to ask Courtney or another one of those girls always trailing behind him or not go at all.

Speaking of which. . .

"Lucy, hey!" Courtney Fisher and all her glory approached me with a bright smile. She was holding her smoothie close to her, as if I were accustomed to taking things that were hers. "I'm surprised Clayton isn't here with you," her grey eyes scanned my surroundings and when there was no Clayton detected on her radar, she grimly focused back on me. "Do you know where he is by any chance? I really need to talk with him and he still hasn't gotten a new phone."

I wanted to tell her that he did have a new phone, but I hushed. Clayton obviously kept that important detail out of the conversation for a reason.

"No idea," I spoke honestly. Oh, who am I kidding? He was probably back at his house aimlessly scrolling through records of past sleepwalking patients on the internet. Either that or practicing baseball.

Courtney gave me a bleak snapshot of a grin. "Alrighty then. I'll leave you be. If you see Clayton, tell him to come over to my house please."

With a soft toss of her hair over her shoulder, Courtney slowly moved back to her course.