SLEEPSONG (BoyxBoy)✔️

Chapter 180

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty

It was raining.

It seemed to have been raining every single night, despite Christmas being only two days away.

I listened to the sounds of water falling on the balcony behind the closed blackout curtains, unsure of what time it really was or even how much time had passed. My hair was bunched around my ears and neck, cool silk that brushed my skin pleasantly every time I moved.

Jak's gentle snores and the sound of pages being turned saturated the dim rumbles of thunder that occasionally broke through the plinking and splattering and plopping of rain hitting the glass and wood just beyond my room. I didn't have the energy or motivation to move, so I lay on my back and counted the ceiling tiles to give my brain something to focus on while I waited.

There were forty-seven of them. I'd counted them three times... but wait, was it forty-seven or forty-eight? Had I counted the half-tiles as one each or added them in as halves?

Well. Better count them again.

At tile number seventeen and a half--since I was counting half-tiles as halves now--Richard finally closed the journal with a snap, which halted Jak's snoring and made his head come up. I didn't look away from the ceiling tiles to look at either of them, lest I lose count.

"What the hell is taking him so long?" Richard finally growled, fiddling with his phone before putting it to his ear. "It's been five hours since he left and nobody's picking up my calls. The sun is already up... someone should have answered."

"I got a text from Leonardo an hour ago," Jak sleepily noted. "He said that Louise and Sebastian fought and it got real bloody real quick. He managed to subdue her, of course, but both of them need some time to heal up even though the sod has been bugging them to let him come back."

I had to fight back a wash of extreme anxiety upon hearing that. "Are they okay?"

"No idea, but since they can both heal up and talk, I assume they're fine," Dick grunted, fiddling with his phone. "Either way, they'd better get their shit together and he had better come the fuck back before I lose my God damn temper. My boyfriend and I have more important things to be doing right now than babysitting you and a couple humans."

"Like what?" I asked, confused.

"Is your brain scrambled?" Richard snapped. "Christmas Eve is tomorrow! For one thing, your family is gonna be coming back up here to spend it with you! For another, we're all gonna have to figure out how to celebrate it with you being stuck in the hospital, and lastly, gifts, you idiot... gifts! None of us have really gone shopping for anything!"

I had to fight down a smirk that made my lips twitch on instinct.

"That... actually makes me feel better," I said, ignoring the scowl I saw out of my peripherals. "I haven't been able to look for anything nice, either. I was really upset about it, but I've also kinda been writing a song I intend to sing for all of you on Christmas to make up for no real presents."

"Wow. You spew so much fuckin' corn I'm surprised your shit doesn't come out with kernels stuck to it," Richard deadpanned; he only rolled his eyes when I gawked at him. "A song, he says."

"Well if you don't wanna hear it you can wait outside while I'm singing it," I snipped, folding my arms and glaring back up at the ceiling. "Dick."

"That's my name," he mocked. "Get used to it, bitch."

"DICKY!" Kyle's very distant, very muffled voice bellowed threateningly. "BE NICE!"