The silence of the Man Cave is so very welcoming. In my everyday life, I'm not surrounded by the peace and quiet that I so crave. I'm usually surrounded by screaming babies and yelling teenagers. I'm honestly surprised that it's so quiet here, though. Usually, Ray and Schwoz are here all the time, doing whatever they do on days off. I know that Schwoz is in the lab right now, working on a new invention about something that I couldn't understand, but I have no clue where Ray is. It's better that way, honestly. He would make my headache much worse.
Plopping down on the leather round couch, I turn the old TV on with the large remote that goes along with it. I had to search through the winding and confusing tunnels and rooms of the Man Cave to find this TV, and then I had to look more for a VCR and a VHS tape to play in the background while I lay down on the couch. No one really showed me around this place when I first started working here, and while I was getting annoyed that I was lost, it was quite interesting seeing everything behind the scenes of the Man Cave. That's actually how I stumbled on Schwoz in the lab, scaring him so bad that he peed himself. That was awkward, but he acted like it had happened before.
I lay back on the couch, folding my hands up underneath my head to try and combat the headache that's forming over my right eye. Lately, I haven't been getting that many headaches, but I haven't been working with Gil or Erika, either. There has to be a connection between my headaches and my job, but I can't be sure that there is. I don't want that to be the case, though. Guilt runs through my veins at the thought. Erika would have a cow if she knew that I even had a thought that my headaches were because of her. I told her that they were related to stress, which is half true. She'd never forgive me if she found out. Though, she'll never forgive me for forgetting about her, either.
The TV screen flashes bright colors against my vision, and the ache in my head worsens, pulsating behind my eyes. I take my glasses off, setting it on the table, before I bury my head into the red and black leather, taking a deep breath. The smell of leather washes over me, and I thought it would make me nauseous, but it doesn't. Maybe this headache won't turn into a migraine. Hopefully.
Exhaustion rolls through my body, and for once in my life, I allow myself to fall into the alluring dark abyss. The noises from the TV fall on deaf ears as I enter the land of dreams. A face appears in my head, one that I had seen on the video that Ray forced me to watch after I became an employee here. After watching that video, I dreamt all about the villains Henry and Ray have faced as superheroes, so I'm not that surprised to see his face in my dreams. What surprises me is that I think I've seen her before.
And that's when I hear an elevator dinging.
I shake awake, nearly falling off of the couch in the process. The movie I put on earlier continues to play as I sit up groggily, wondering who could be here. I was once told by Charlotte that no one really comes in this early to the Man Cave, and it is our day off unless something came up, so I was wanting some time by myself. Plus, I don't want anyone to see me sleeping because I don't want them to make fun of all the weird noises I make.
I watch as the door slides open, and a figure walks out into the Man Cave that I can't clearly see just yet. Sighing softly, I put my glasses back on, and I see Henry grinning at me. The first thing he does is take one look at me and the TV in front of me before saying, "Movie day?" He glances around the rest of the Man Cave, his happiness turning to confusion. "Wait, where are the others? And why didn't anyone tell me about it?"
I fiddle with the edge of my shirt, shrinking beneath Henry's confused gaze. The pain in my head makes it hard to even think right now. Embarrassment rolls through my body, and I run a hand through my hair, making sure that there are no tangles in it. Touching my scalp was a mistake, and I wince in pain.
"I don't know where Ray is at. Schwoz is here, but he's working on a new gadget of his, so . . ."
"So, you were watching a movie by yourself?" he asks, and I nod. His face breaks out in a grin, and he bounds over to me, hopping onto the couch right next to me. I let out a surprised gasp, wincing again because my head moves. I would laugh at him for how absurd he looked, but I'm afraid of spilling my guts on him. "You shouldn't watch it by yourself, Laurel. That's no way to watch a movie."
"Maybe I wanted to be alone."
Henry gasps, placing a hand on his chest. He looks like a little boy with the pout on his face. "You'd rather be alone than with your boyfriend?"
I roll my eyes at him. He wraps an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to him. I'm so surprised that he does that; I accidentally move away from him to keep some space between us. He gives me a look, and I suddenly remember that this is my boyfriend, and I should want to sit close to him, to have his hand on my body.
"Sorry," I mutter to him. "I'm not used to anything like this."
Awkwardly settling against him, I'm reminded of our almost kiss in my car on our first date a week ago. It doesn't seem like he's bothered by memories of that awkward (and hot) time. Either that, or he's obsessing over like me but is hiding it really well. I'm not really sure what's going on inside his mind, though. Not for that moment, at least.
"I do like to be alone a lot, though. That's why I'm not used to this stuff." He pulls away from me, glaring at me. I blink at him, wondering why he's glaring at me and to try to help my headache. "What? I'm a loner, and you know that. Besides, I have a bad headache right now, and it was quiet here."
"I thought that you'd enjoy being in my presence." He lifts his hands and flexes, and I can't help but let out a laugh. He quickly drops his arms back to his sides. "Hey! Why are you laughing at me?"
"You have stick thin arms, Henry," I say, reaching out and placing a hand on his arm. Giving it a slight squeeze, I watch as his face falls. I feel bad now. "But you're still an amazing sidekick, so don't worry about it." Henry falls silent, staring at the TV screen in front of us. He clenches his jaw, and it looks like I hit a nerve. My bad feelings rise up in my chest, which means that I have to do something that I don't normally do. "I'm sorry, Henry. I shouldn't make fun of you."
Henry sighs. "It's not that," he says softly. I glance at him. It looks like he has the whole world on his shoulders as he leans against the couch for support. "I just . . . It's nothing, Laurel."
I know it's something. I can tell that he wants to say more to me about whatever's going on inside his mind, but he doesn't just yet. He falls silent again. I wish he would tell me what's wrong with him. I want him to feel safe with me, to feel safe enough to tell me his deepest, darkest secrets. But then I remember that we only started dating a few weeks ago, and we only met, like, a month ago or so. I know it takes me a long time to trust, so I'm sure that's why he isn't telling me about this. Or maybe it's something different. I really don't know.
"So, you had a boyfriend before me," Henry suddenly says. I look at him with a frown on my face. If he's going to talk about this, my headache will get much worse. His voice sounds a little strained, like he doesn't like the idea of me being with another boy. "Why didn't you tell me about that before?"
"I honestly don't like thinking about it." I shudder when I remember that awful relationship. He looks a little more relieved based on how I'm acting. "It was such a mistake, and I'm so embarrassed because of it." He has a small smile on his face. Is he enjoying my obvious discomfort about my ex-boyfriend? "I'm not the only one who didn't talk about their past relationships, Henry."
His smile quickly disappears. "I thought you forgot about that."
"Seriously?" I ask, laughing slightly. The action causes my head to throb even more, and I bring a hand up, running it through my hair. "I already knew that you dated Bianca, but that's about it."
"Before we move on to my exes," he says, trying to throw me off his dating trail, "I want to know who you dated before me." He makes a weird noise. "Ugh, I can't believe you had a boyfriend before me. It's like when I found out Ray had a sidekick before me."
I grimace. He sees the look on my face and laughs, grabbing my hand in his. I've noticed that he's very touchy with me, but not in a sexual way. He loves to hold my hand or touch my shoulders and arms or if we're sitting across from each other, he has to touch my foot with his. It's like he needs to be sure that I'm here. Before him, I wasn't a touchy person, but I kind of like it now.
"Right," I say, looking down at our intertwined hands. I feel ashamed about my past relationship, but if it will help us grow closer, I guess I'll tell him. "Okay, here I go." Taking a deep breath, I look up at him. "I dated Mitch Bilsky for about a month."
Henry grows completely still, and a disgusted look flashes across his face. "No, you did not."
"Yes."
"Oh, my God," he says, blinking. "That's like -- ew. How could you do that? He's a super senior, Laurel. And he's just gross!"
"I know that," I say, sighing. "I knew that then, too, but he was what I thought my type was. He took an interest in me, and I thought I was special because it was the first time any guy had ever seen me as a woman, you know?"
"I guess that's a good reason to think about it," he says. He sounds a little guarded, like he's trying to protect me from his true feelings about me dating Mitch Bilsky. He doesn't have to protect me, though, because I already put myself through it all. "But why him?"
"Don't ask me that question, Henry. I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to date him. He didn't like it when I was independent. I'm not even sure if he liked that I'm half Chinese, especially since he asked me if China was in South America."
"When did you go out with him?"
"Right after Jenny left."
His little 'oh' makes me want to cry. He knows about my feelings toward her since she ghosted me, which makes this a little scarier. No one hardly knows how much I miss my old best friend, how I would stare at her contact every single day, trying to convince myself that she was going to call me someday. That someday never happened.
"No one taught me how to cope with losing a best friend," I say quietly. I can feel the tears well up behind my eyes, and I know that they're going to make my head feel much worse. "I've seen so many movies and shows and read so many books about someone losing their significant other, but I've never seen someone lose their best friend. I didn't know what to do, so I rebounded with Mitch. Let's just say it was the worst decision of my life. I wasn't really a person in that relationship. I was more like an object to get him off."
"Yeah. Yeah, that's how Mitch is," he says, squeezing my hand once. He pulls me closer to him, and I settle against his side yet again. I immediately feel safe in his arms, which is weird. It's a good weird, though. "I remember seeing you and her around the school ever since second grade, so it was surprising to see you . . . alone, I guess."
"You noticed me before we became friends?"
"Of course. We've been going to school together ever since forever, so I couldn't not know you, you know?" He clears his throat, and I glance back up at him. His cheeks are rosy, and I smile softly. "I've always thought you were cute, but we were in two different circles."
My smile grows wider, and a fuzzy, warm feeling spreads through my body. It's nice to know that he has seen me before this, and that he liked what he saw. "I knew about you, too, but I didn't think that much about you."
"Ouch."
"Well, Erika doesn't really like you, so there's that."
"Wait, what?" Henry asks, laughing. "She doesn't like me? Why?"
"I don't know. She just doesn't like you."
"Rude."
"I know." I roll my eyes. Erika would kill me if she knew that I told Henry that, but I can't go back on it now. "Anyway, tell me about your exes." I hear his breath catch in his throat, and I can tell that he isn't smiling anymore. "Come on, Henry. I told you about my horrible relationship with Mitch, so it's your turn."
He sighs, slightly ruffling the hair on top of my head. Slowly, Henry wraps his arm around my shoulders, holding me tight to his chest. My glasses are pressed against my nose, but I don't say anything about how much it's hurting my head because I love being in his arms like this.
"I don't want you to get jealous," he says, and I snort. "What? I know you, Laurel. You don't like sharing things, and that includes me."
"Touché."
"Do you promise not to get jealous?"
I sit there for a second. "You know I can't promise that. I'll get jealous because I'm with you right now, but I'm not going to act on my jealousy."
"Deal." He goes silent again, and I bet he's working himself up. The movie fills our silence, but I'm not paying attention to that. The pain in my head is growing, but I want to hear what he has to say. "My first girlfriend was Chloe. Do you remember her?"
"Not really."
"Well, she was my first girlfriend. Then, she went on a random reality TV show, so I moved on from her with Bianca."
"She definitely rings a bell."
"Yeah. I don't remember if I sort of dated this criminal named Veronika as Kid Danger when I was with her or if it was after her, though. Then there was this time when the three of them came back into my life, and it was just horrible. After that, I liked Phoebe Thunderman, who is the daughter of Thunder Man, a superhero. There was this girl from New York -- one of the Game Shakers creators -- liked me, but I didn't like her back. And then there was obviously Heather, so . . . that's it."
I blink. "That's a lot of information you just spouted out."
"Yeah," he says, chuckling awkwardly. "Honestly, I don't remember if there's anyone else that I liked."
"What? Does that mean you're just going to forget about me one day?"
"Um, no?"
"You better not."
We fall silent again, and I stare ahead at the computer area. All of the different screen's flash, the bright colors piercing my brain. My stomach rolls at the sight, so I tightly shut my eyes as he shifts next to me. "Oh! I forgot that I was in love with Jasper once."
"Excuse me?"
"A few years ago, I was basically brainwashed into loving Jasper by a villain. It wasn't a big deal."
"You know," I say, shifting slightly in his arms, "I thought you and Charlotte were a couple. You two are very close and fight like you've been married for years."
"I've thought about dating her before," he says, surprising me. I don't want to feel bad about her, so I swallow the bad feelings because she's my friend, too. "But we're too close of friends."
"That's how I tried to convince myself that I shouldn't date you. I said that we were better off friends, that you wouldn't like me like that because I'm . . . well, me."
"What does that mean, Laurel?"
"I'm not really sure, Henry."
I'm glad he doesn't press me about my little comment because I'm not really ready to tell him about it. I don't think I'm even ready to talk to myself about it yet. But this is a step forward in my journey to becoming my better self. I want to fix my issues and be a better person for Henry and Charlotte and even Erika and Gil. I want to finally be happy without any fear.
"You look exhausted," Henry comments. I glance up at him to see a small smile on his face. He gently takes my glasses off my face, so I bury my head into his chest. "Does all this mushy talking make you tired?"
"I have a headache," I mumble into his chest. "That's why I was alone down here." I stay silent for a second, debating with myself on whether I should tell him that he's right. "And, yeah, I am tired from opening up to you about my feelings and things."
"I'll find us a blanket, and we can cuddle for as long as you want," he says. Usually, I don't like cuddling and constantly being near someone (besides Vera), but Henry has shown me in such a short time that with him, I do like it.
I don't want to let go of him, though, but I do because I do want a blanket. "Hurry back," I say, unwrapping myself from him. He hops up from the couch, and I flop down onto the leather. My head feels like it's going to explode, so hopefully I'll be able to nap for a little bit.
I'm not sure how long it takes Henry to come back. For the entire time he was gone, I just laid there and prayed to God that He would take my pain away from me. My headaches have been getting worse, and while they are becoming more infrequent, I just want them gone forever. I'm so done with dealing them.
Soon enough, Henry lets me know that he's back my dropping the blanket on my back. I sit up, wrapping the blanket around my shoulders. "Um, don't you want to share that with me?" he asks, raising his eyebrows at me.
"No, I'm good."
He rolls his eyes at me, but he still wraps me up in his arms as we both lay down on the couch together. I bury my head in his shoulder to try to block out all the light from around me because I know that's hurting my head even more.
While I'm lying there, I can't help but think about the work I have to do soon. Erika and Gil went to the latest museum outing without me since I had to take care of Vera, but I know Erika wants to go out with me sometime in the near future. It's her idea of spending time together, but for me, it's just work.
The pain in my head reaches its zenith, which makes my heart (and stomach) drop. I can't think about work anymore. It's stressing me out too much, and that's probably the cause of my headache. Too bad that my mind loves to race when I try to relax.
There's a weird feeling on my ear that breaks me away from my thoughts, so I turn slightly, trying to fix it. However, it still tickles and itches even though I moved away from what I thought was bothering it. I reach up and brush my ear with my fingers before letting out a yelp in surprise. Something wet just touched my hand, and it feels absolutely gross.
"Henry, is there something near my ear?" I ask him without opening my eyes. I don't want to hurt my head even more by letting in the light. "It itches, and I think I felt something wet."
"It's totally not a worm," he says, giggling nervously.
At the word 'worm,' my eyes flash open. My stomach rolls at the thought of worms. They are the most disgusting, vilest creatures alive, and I would much rather them be dead than in my line of sight. I just don't know why he's even talking about them in the first place because we're in the Man Cave without a worm in sight.
That's when I see the worm wriggling above my eyes, hanging from Henry's pinched thumb and pointer.
I jump up from the couch as quickly as I can, sprinting as far away from him as possible with a scream. I'm not sure where my blanket goes because I'm moving very quickly. There's a suspicious looking gray bucket sitting next to Henry. He places the worm that was dangling above my face into the bucket and stands up, holding onto it tightly. I don't like the look on his face right now.
"Are you scared of worms, Laurel?" he asks with a sly grin on his face.
"Why in the world would you even have a bucket of worms with you?" I ask him instead. I glare at him when he takes a few steps closer to me. I climb the stairs toward Ray's bedroom in the Man Cave. "Did you just have your hands deep in the worms while you were watching the movie?"
"It's not mine," he explains. "It's Schwoz's. He loves to eat worms, but Ray won't let him, so he has to smuggle them in."
I'm very tempted to jump through the huge gear that blocks the Man Cave from Ray's bedroom, especially because Henry keeps getting even closer to me with the bucket of worms in his hands.
"That doesn't make it any better," I say, shaking my head at him. "Why do you have the bucket of worms with you?"
"I love watching you squirm."
"Henry, I swear I will puke on you if you get any closer to me."
He doesn't listen to me because he has me trapped against the wall. I try to shove him away from me, but he's much too strong for me. We struggle together, and before I know it, the whole bucket of worms is dumped on my head. Both Henry and I stare at each other as the worms wriggle across my shoulders and the ground beneath our feet.
I can't help but empty the contents of my stomach onto the floor in front of me.
Henry lets out his little scream as I slightly dry heave. When I look back up, I see that I spilled my guts on his sneakers instead of the floor like I had originally thought. I initially feel bad for puking on him, but I remember that it's his fault we're in this position.
"I told you I was going to puke," I mutter, swiping a hand across my mouth. I quickly walk down the stairs, leaving the mess of puke and worms behind me before I vomit again. Henry is right beside me, now shoeless. Henry looks like he's going to gag, but he swallows hard instead. "Now you feel as gross as I do for dating Mitch Bilsky."
"I did the same thing to Ray when I was sick once." There's a slight green tinge to his cheeks. "Come on, let's go clean up," he says with a laugh, taking my hand and leading me over to the tubes. He doesn't seem to be that disturbed by my vomit, which is kind of weird. "I'm sure you want to shower, right? I know I do."
"It might cure my headache," I say with a nod.
"Okay."
We step underneath one of the tubes together, and I wrap my arms around his waist, holding on tightly to him. "Up the tube," I say.
Just as the tube descends around us, Schwoz steps into the Man Cave. His eyes narrow on the puddle of puke and the worms on the ground directly in front of the huge gear on the wall. He lets out the loudest shriek as he screams, "My worms!"
Our laughter rings out in the tubes as we fly upward. I'm still angry that he made me puke, but right now, I'm too delirious to care. My head is pounding, and my stomach is rolling, but Henry makes me feel safe and cared for. He is the reason why we're in this gross mess, but otherwise, he's been helping me with opening up and my headaches. My life with him has already been full of twists and turns, but there's a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach growing. Something is going to happen soon. Something bad.