The Cure for Sleeping

Chapter Thirteen

"Naw, you just need to drink more. Build up the ol' immune system.' Josh stretches walking in a steady line towards us.

"Says the guy who was just chucking up his protein bar."

Josh's grin freezes in place, caught. Then, he walks over to Thea, a spring in his step. "Wake up, sleeping beauty." He pokes her with the toe of his Chucks.

"Touch me again and I will tear you apart, mix your still-warm remains with breadcrumbs and feed you to the Insomniacs as chum."

Josh frowns. "You only do that when you want to attract the fish."

Thea throws her boot at him.

Hazel walks over with a bottle of water. I think she's just going to hand it over, but instead Hazel unscrews the cap and slashes a little on Thea's face. Thea splutters, coughing and swearing in equal measure. Upon regaining her breath, she levels her dark eyes on the pair of them. She starts on Josh and ends her sentence with her glare on Hazel.

"I will kill you both."

"You can kill us outside. We need to go get more toothpaste."

"Is that really a necessity right now?"

"I am not dealing with your morning-after breath all day."

Josh chokes on a laugh. "Do you even know what that means, Hazel?"

Her face is perfectly still as her left eyebrow goes up.

"And why am I being enlisted for this task?" Thea grinds her teeth.

Hazel looks over at me, and then shifts her gaze to Noah, blankets twisted around his legs. She turns back to Thea, who sighs.

"Fair enough. Well, let's go, then. I'll see if we can find some coffee on the way." Thea climbs to her feet, the least shaky of all of us. She grabs a pair of sunglasses out of her bag and snaps them onto her face. "God, I would kill for some Starbucks right now."

Thea follows Hazel out into the bright, letting in a wide spray of sun. I only cringe a little bit. Josh is right behind them, stopping to pick up a pistol and a clip of bullets, far too chipper for one who drank more than a quarter bottle of vodka by himself. "Have fun, you two!" He chirps, waggles his eyebrows and swings the door shut behind him. Blessed dark, how I love you.

Quiet descends over the church, and for once it feels like hallowed ground. The soft sounds from outside are all but drowned out by the think walls, and sun filters through the dusty air. I stick my hand out in front of me, let the light paint it gold.

Noah watches me, eyes on the little circle of light. I smile at him, let my arm drop to my side, and he blushes in the way that his fair skin is prone to. "Were we...?" He leaves the question to hang.

"You were using me as your teddy bear."

The flush reaches his neck.

"Yup, I was your cuddle bunny. Your bed bud. You were latched onto me the way a baby koala–"

He laughs; a sweet, low sound. It echoes around the church like a prayer. "Do all Australians reference their native wildlife so often?"

"Only the best ones. We like to rub your American noses in the fact that our animals are cooler than your ...squirrels."

"We have more native animals than squirrels, you know."

"Oh, yeah? Like what?"

"...raccoons."

"What an improvement."

We grin at each other, until the distance between us becomes obvious. I'm over the other side of the room, and he's still on the dais, raised two feet higher than me. With a breath, I cross the space. It's just Noah. No need to feel nervous.