•••••Austyn's Perspective
Ben got moved back to his room about an hour after he woke up, and fell back asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Josh sent me to bed not too long after.
Having no desire to stay awake anyway, I went straight to my room.
I was sitting on the edge of my bed and re-braiding my hair when my phone rang.
Too tired to even check the caller, I clicked 'accept' and held the phone to my ear.
"Hi!" Aiden's cheerful voice came through the speaker.
"Hey,"
"Whoa. You sound exhausted."
I rubbed my eyes. "Yeah, I was up all night. Sleeping next to a couch is not something I'd recommend before a two-show day."
"Sorry," she apologized, "I'll let you get back to sleep—"
"No, no, it's fine." I managed a light laugh. "It's good to hear your voice again."
"Aww, yours too." she cooed. "I just called to say 'hi', but do you need to talk about anything in particular?"
The events of the previous evening came flooding back to my mind like a slap in the face. "Yeah, actually."
"That sounds bad."
"Yeah," I winced at the memory of Chase's grip on my arm. "It was."
"Hit me with it, sister. What happened?"
"You remember what happened with Chase before? Did I tell you the whole story?"
"No, but Josh texted me about it. Did he bother you again?"
I nodded. "Yeah, he, um,"
I could hear her take in a sharp breath. "Oh my gosh—"
"He tried to kiss me." I forced out.
She was silent for a moment, before letting out a shaky exhale.
"Aiden?"
"I hate him." She stated, her voice trembling with anger and tears. "I hate him so much."
"Aiden," I said with wide eyes. "You never cry,"
"I know I don't." She snapped, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down. "Have you talked to Ben about it?"
"No." I shook my head. "He had a temperature of over a hundred last night,"
"Geez, yesterday was one wild roller coaster, huh?"
"Do you think I should talk to him?" I asked, biting my lip. "I've never had to deal with this before,"
"Austyn, he'd want to know. If someone did something like that to me, don't you think Sky would want to know?"
I nodded, looking down at my feet. "Yes."
"Then you need to talk to him."
"Um," I fidgeted with my braid, twisting a curl around my finger. "Do I have to do it now, or can it wait—"
"Get it over with." She said, firmly but soothingly. "He'll help you sort it out."
"I'm just," I shrugged, "nervous, and I still don't think my heart has stopped pounding,"
"Go find him." Aiden's instructions were quick and clear. "Trust me, talking will help."
I nodded. "Okay."
"I love you, okay?"
My eyes stung. "Gosh, I miss you so much."
She breathed a laugh. "I'll be home soon."
"Not soon enough."
"You're strong, Austyn." She said. "You can do this."
I took a deep breath. "Okay."
"Okay. I'll talk to you later, bye."
"Bye." I added, before cutting the connection.
A short walk—just a couple feet—from my room to the boys', and yet my legs felt like jelly and my pulse continued to race, this time with a pang of anxiety building in my chest.
One foot after the other, I walked across the room, opened the door, and stepped out.
The journey seemed to go by too quickly, and before I knew it, I was standing in front of the door to the other room.
My knuckles collided with the doorframe once or twice, praying that a miracle would happen and he'd still be asleep.
"Yeah?" His voice sounded from inside, much to my despair.
I opened the door and slipped inside, leaving it partially ajar behind me.
Ben was sitting on the edge of one of the twin beds, dressed in a fresh pair of clothes and a hoodie, looking down at his phone. His hair appeared to be slightly damp, suggesting that he'd managed to get a quick shower.
"Sorry," he slipped the device in his hoodie pocket. "I was talking to my mom."
I nodded, not having a clue what to say. "That's—that's good."
He looked up at me and frowned. "You alright?"
Half of me wanted to smile, say "of course!", and leave the room as fast as I could.
But the other half made me stay.
"I, uh, I need to talk to you about something."
His face creased in concern. "Yeah, here," he patted the nearest vacant spot on the bed, "sit down."
Doing as he said, I took the seat next to him and stared down at my hands in my lap.
He bent his head to catch my eye. "Hey,"
I glanced up at him.
"You can talk to me." He said. "Whatever it is, you can tell me anything."
Taking another deep breath, I nodded and began. "Um, do you—do you remember what you said to me last night?"
He attempted to give me a believable laugh, trying to cover up the anticipation in his eyes. "I said a lot of things last night."
"Right," I looked back down at my hands. "You asked me how the show went."
"And you said you'd tell me later," he nodded in realization. "What happened?"
I opened my mouth to speak, then closed it, remembering that he still didn't know about the first encounter. "Before I get to yesterday, something happened the day before, when you were in the hospital."
He sat up straighter, indicating that he was giving me his full attention.
"So, you fell asleep right before they discharged you, and I waited until you woke up." My voice shook, threatening to fail me, but I forced myself to continue. "Chase came to see me while you were asleep...and he, he asked me if I'd go out with him."
Ben's brow furrowed in confusion. "While I was...right there?"
"Yeah." I nodded. "I asked him to leave, but he only left when Josh came back in."
He nodded thoughtfully. "And," now it was his turn for a deep, hesitant breath, "what happened yesterday?"
"I did the evening show, and afterwards, Mr. Calhoun asked me to do him a favor, with the music for our second violinist...I had to go to the orchestra pit—" I broke off, finding it suddenly difficult to get the words out. "Chase found me there, and he...he..." my breathing became uneven and rushed, "he talked to me...told me I deserved better, better than you, and he—he told me I was beautiful, and then he..."
Ben watched me closely, holding his breath and waiting for me to continue, but I stayed silent for another moment, trying to compose myself.
I hadn't realized that recounting the horrifying events would be so difficult, but it felt like everything was happening all over again: the way my heart had pounded against my ribs until I felt like it was going to burst, his tight hold on my arm, his lips mere inches from mine.
My throat grew tight with emotion, and I dug my nails into the palms of my hands, closing my eyes and breathing slowly until I could speak again.
"He wouldn't let me leave—I tried to walk away and he...he caught my arm and wouldn't let go," I suddenly looked down at the spot where his hand had been, and found that I'd been right: five bruises were scattered across my skin, marking the position of how Chase's fingertips had pressed against my arm in a relentless grip.
Ben's face had slowly contorted in disgust as I'd spoken and when he'd followed my gaze to my arm, he couldn't take it anymore and closed his eyes.
"Chase tried to kiss me," I managed to choke the sentence out before my voice shattered and left me once more.
As soon as the words had left my mouth, Ben stood from the edge of the bed and began pacing back and forth.
"I'm gonna kill him." He mumbled. "I'm gonna kill him."
"Ben, no," I pleaded. "Don't be upset like that. I'm fine now—"
"Don't you dare lie to me." He shook his head, fighting to keep from raising his voice in anger. "Don't you dare tell me that this didn't affect you in any way."
"No—"
"I said I'd stay with you. He wouldn't have had the nerve to try anything if I had been there," he was now trembling with livid indignation, squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his fists.
He was too busy to see the tears that slipped silently down my cheeks. "Ben,"
"I shouldn't have gotten sick. If I had just listened to you—"
I tried to swallow the emotion, but his anger was too strong—his words too harsh—that I had to let out a sharp exhale to keep from sobbing.
His rambling ceased, and he looked down at me.
"Please," I begged, covering my mouth with my hands. "Please, just stop."
In an instant, he was on one knee beside the bed, reaching out to touch my arm.
But when his hand touched me, I wasn't in his room anymore. Instead, I was in the orchestra pit, my heart racing and my skin bruising under Chase's hold.
I flinched, hard.
Ben's eyes went dull and lifeless, my reaction hitting him like a punch to the gut.
He dropped his hand to his side. "Hey,"
I looked up, his face bleary through my blurred vision.
"I'm not gonna touch you." He said. "Just talk to me."
"Okay," I breathed.
His eyes studied my face. "Did he hurt you?"
"Bruised my arm." I looked back down at the small splotches of purple and blue, and suddenly my eyes began to sting again. "Ben, I was so scared—"
"Shh," He stared at the fresh tears, restraining himself from wiping them away. "I won't let him hurt you again. I won't let anyone hurt you."
"You can't control that."
"I'll do everything I can to control it." He promised. "I swear that on my life."
"But you weren't there yesterday." I said. "What if you go away again?"
"This is not gonna happen again." Ben insisted, raising his hand to touch my cheek, before squeezing his eyes shut and forcing himself to drop it to his side again.
I watched his struggle with regret. "I'm sorry, I know you just want to—"
"No." He shook his head, meeting my eyes again. "I can wait until you're ready."
"Can I..." I took yet another deep breath. "Can I try again?"
He nodded. "Just tell me when to stop."
"Okay," I held my hands out. "I'm ready."
Cautiously, he took my hands in his and intertwined our fingers.
When I didn't pull away, he moved his hands to my wrists, inching his way up my arms until his fingertips rested against my bruised skin.
I stiffened, and he return his hand to my wrist. "I'm sorry."
"No," I shook my head. "It's just you,"
He quirked a smile. "It's just me."
"Can you talk?" I asked, biting my lip. "Can you keep talking to me?"
With a nod, he replaced his hand on my forearm. "You don't need to worry about him anymore,"
His hands made their way to my shoulders, and he stood up off the ground, sitting next to me again. "Mr. Calhoun will send him away."
I stared up into his bright blue eyes, desperately trying to believe his words. "How can you be sure he won't try again before he goes?"
"Because I'll be there." Ben's smile deepened. "I'll keep you safe."
Replicating his expression, I nodded. "Okay."
He rested his hand gently against my cheek, catching my tears with his fingertips. "You're so beautiful."
I breathed a laugh and shook my head, looking down at my hands. "I'm a wreck, and you know it."
"You're still beautiful." He insisted. "You've got the most striking green eyes, the most incredible voice, and the cutest nose," He tapped the tip of my nose, trying to draw a laugh out of me, and succeeding. "And you're mine." He slipped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me in a little closer.
But he was still too far away for me, and I lifted my hand, tugging on the hem of his shirt—not unlike he'd done to me the night before.
His eyes flickered from me down to my lips and back. "Can I?"
"Please," I responded, my voice barely above a whisper.
Settling one of his hands against my back and the other remaining against my cheek, he leaned forward and pressed a few soft kisses to my lips.
His pace was slow, as if he had all the time in the world, and I followed in suit, shyly accepting each kiss until he was done.
Satisfied, I exhaled and let myself melt into the warmth of his chest.
He set his chin atop my head, his hand traveling up and down my back. "I love you, Songbird."
"I love you too." I mumbled, but the air suddenly turned cold, sending a shiver down my spine and goosebumps across my skin.
I snuggled into him further, but it didn't seem to help.
"You're shivering," he noticed, breaking away from me and slipping his hoodie off his shoulders. "Here,"
"I'll be fine—"
"Yeah, you will be, once you put this on." He held it out to me.
Giving in, I allowed him to slide the sleeves up my arms. It was dark grey in color, soft in fabric, and it smelled like him, but it was too big for me in size.
Not that that was a problem, though.
Giggling softly, I hid my hands in the sleeves and hugged my arms around myself, letting the hoodie's warmth spread through my body.
Ben stared down at me for a moment, blinked slowly, then put his hands on my waist so he could pull me in and press a kiss to the tip of my nose.
"You're so cute." He said incredulously, resting his forehead against mine. "How the heck are you this cute?"
I giggled further at his reaction, slipping my arms around his torso and holding him tighter.
He accepted my embrace, but it was short-lived. "You should probably go back to bed."
"I don't want to leave you." I shook my head.
"Austyn," his tone was serious, "you need to sleep. I kept you up pretty late last night, and sleeping next to a couch doesn't exactly help you rest any, does it?"
"No," I admitted. "But I still don't want to leave."
"Well, I'm afraid you're gonna have to."
Stubborn and adamant about being separated from him, I racked my brain for another solution.
Like a lightbulb, I found one.
I removed my arms from around his torso and tucked my feet up next to me, laying my head in his lap.
He shrugged, playing with my messy braid. "I mean, sure, this works too."
•••••
(I am so sorry about all the erratic pov switches)
•••••Benjamin's Perspective
Austyn woke up around 12 o'clock, and managed to shower and change in time to leave for the matinee by one.
Josh and I sat around lazily, watching the minutes turn into hours.
I was so bored that I subjected myself to watching Josh's favorite alien conspiracy theory shows, nearly falling asleep while he took rapid-fast notes to share with Aiden when she got home.
We had just gotten to the 11th or 12th episode when my phone buzzed.
Mom
«Benjamin Tyler Cook»
My stomach dropped at my full name.
«Yes?»
«Why didn't you tell me that you had a fever?»
«I thought I did.»
«No, you told me that you'd passed out and that you might get a fever here and there, but you did NOT tell me about what happened last night.»
«Oh.»
«Then who did tell you about last night?»
«Joshua did.»
«And I'm flying to Cincinnati tomorrow.»
«Wait, what?»
«Not that I don't want to see you, but why?»
«Because you clearly can't take care of yourself.»
«You could see the show again if you wanted to.»
«I do want to see the show again, but I also want to meet your girlfriend.»
«Oh my gosh she's gonna love you»
«It sounds like I'll love her too, with the way you talk about her.»
«You will. I'm 100% sure.»
«I'm so excited!!»
«I should be there by lunchtime tomorrow."
«See you then, mom!!»
"Hey, Josh," I said as I slipped my phone into my pocket.
He sighed dramatically, as if my conversation starter was greatly inconvenient, and reluctantly paused his tv show. "What?"
"Guess who's coming to visit?"
"The king of Switzerland."
I rolled my eyes. "My mom."
His eyes lit up. "Mama Cook?"
"Mhm." I nodded. "She'll be here tomorrow."
"Yay!" He shrieked, hugging his knees to his chest and compacting into a small ball of happiness. "She can be my mom while Aiden is away!"
"I thought Austyn was your mom while Aiden was away."
He shrugged. "Yeah, but she's at the theater all day long."
"True." I glanced at the time on my watch. 6:30. "Hey, isn't the night show starting pretty soon?"
"Yeah, starts at seven." He replied absentmindedly, resuming his conspiracy theory note-taking.
I nodded. "Cool."
When I was 100% certain that he was completely engrossed in the show again, I stood from the couch and silently slipped into the kitchen to grab a plastic bag before making my way to the bedroom.
Opening the plastic bag, I unscrewed the lid to the Tylenol bottle and shook four pills into my hand, before sliding them into the bag and sealing it up.
I scanned the room for my hoodie, but I seemed to have misplaced it.
Shrugging, I slid the bag of pills into my pocket and grabbed a pair of tennis shoes before heading towards the front door.
My hand had just closed around the doorknob when I heard a voice behind me.
"And where do you think you're going?"
I winced, turning around to face him. "Nowhere?"
"Uh-huh." Josh crossed his arms. "Do you know what she will do to me if I let you out?"
"Hey," I raised my hands in innocent surrender. "I just wanna hang out backstage and hear my girl sing. Is that too much to ask?"
"She will have me murdered, Benjamin. I will die, and you won't be invited to my funeral."
I clasped my hands together and stuck out my bottom lip, visually begging him to amend his response.
He was silent for a moment, before sighing heavily. "But, I'm coming with you anyway."
A smile spread across my lips. "You're a gift, you know that?"
"Don't give me that look." He grumbled, shoving past me and stepping out the door.
We managed to catch a taxi and make it to the theater by 6:45: plenty of time for us to get backstage before anyone had to go on for places.
The next five minutes were mostly made up of hugs from castmates, including an extra six 'get well' cards from Zach, and Sky's uncontrollable giggling at the fact that I'd snuck out without Austyn's approval.
So far, however, the whole 'disobedience' thing had been going pretty well, mostly due to the fact that she hadn't noticed.
But my luck eventually ran out.
Sky and I were trying to see if he could hit the final high note in 'Defying Gravity'—he can, by the way—when we heard a sharp voice from the doorway.
"Benjamin Tyler Cook."
"Ha," I scratched the back of my neck nervously as Sky broke into another fit of giggles. "That's the second time today that someone has used my full name, though admittedly not with such malice."
She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, unamused. "Would you like to tell me why you're not in bed at the moment?"
I took a step away from her, running into Sky and causing him to stumble backwards into the wall. "Uh, Josh let me out?"
"And where is he?"
"Gone!" Sky blurted out, peeking at her from behind my shoulder. "Haven't seen him!"
The fire in her eyes burned brighter. "Why don't we go look?"
"It's okay," I stepped forward, taking the plastic bag out of my pocket. "I brought medicine."
She narrowed her eyes.
"And I'll sit down the entire show." I added. "I promise."
A look of relent crossed her face, and she sighed. "If you pass out again—"
"I'm not gonna pass out again." I assured her. "I'm not doing choreo."
"Alright, fine." She shook her head. "But don't say I didn't warn you."
Even though I couldn't watch the show, I could hear it pretty well, and passed the time by humming along.
Intermission was particularly uneventful, but Austyn did allow me to walk around the hallways until she had to go on again.
After that, the rest of the show flew by.
Well, omitting 'Something to Believe In', but that song always dragged on agonizingly slow for me.
Though the tension of our brief argument had cooled, Austyn still continued to spell out more instructions for me as she cleaned the makeup off her face and made ready to leave the theater for the night.
"...and you're going straight to bed as soon as we get back to the house, and, please, at least try to stay in bed until eight a.m.?"
I nodded. "I will."
"Don't get me wrong, I am glad to see you on your feet again, but after last night—"
"I'll go to bed as early as I can, I'll sleep in late, and I promise I'll take it easy tomorrow." I shot her a smirk. "And I won't sneak out for at least another day."
She rolled her eyes, slipping on a familiar, slightly oversized grey hoodie.
"Oh," I pulled the hood up over her head. "So that's where my hoodie went."
"Yeah, you're never getting this back." She said, pulling the hood back down and stepping out into the hallway.
"Never?" I laughed, following her.
She shrugged. "Well, when I wash it and it doesn't smell like you anymore, then you'll have to take it back for a day or two."
"Just so you can steal it again?"
"Precisely."
"You do you." I gave up trying to understand her reasoning, and took her hand in mine as we made our way back to the boys' dressing room.
It was far from being empty, but it was significantly quieter than usual.
Go figure: Sky and Josh were nowhere to be seen.
"Maybe they're already at the front?" Austyn suggested, craning her neck to see the back corner of the room. "I could run up and check."
"Yeah, we should probably—"
"Ben!" An annoying, easily recognizable voice interrupted my sentence. "Good to see you back!"
Austyn squeezed my hand as I turned to face him.
"Good to see you too, Chase. The show sounded great tonight."
He shrugged, offering a grin. "Well, everyone says your Race is the best Race, but I enjoyed showing them what it looks like for someone more...experienced...to fill the role."
I nodded, fighting to keep the burning anger at bay. "I'm sure they loved your take on it. Have you liked working with this production so far?"
"Oh, yeah." He nodded, his gaze landing on Austyn. "I especially like the people I get to work with."
She averted her eyes.
I looked down at her. "Did you want to go check up by the front to see if you could find Sky and Josh?"
"Yeah." She nearly breathed her words like a sigh of relief. "Are you coming with?"
"I'll go with her." Chase offered, causing some of the color to drain from Austyn's face.
"Actually," I set my eyes back on him, "could you help me look around down here? There's more ground to cover, and an extra pair of eyes would be more useful."
Getting the hint that I was planning on something other than searching for two missing newsies, his eyes gave me a subtle once-over, sizing me up. "Sure."
I forced a smile, addressing Austyn once more. "I'll see you in a few minutes."
A light glimmer of fear passed over her expression, but she nodded, setting her hand briefly on my arm before exiting the room.
"I'm sure they're around here somewhere." I stated as Chase and I made our way down the hall. "This shouldn't take too long."
"I'm glad to see you're feeling better." Chase commented in a nonchalant tone.
"I'm sure you are. Anything exciting happen while I was out?"
He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "Depends on what your definition of 'exciting' is. Why do you ask?"
"No reason." I shrugged. "I just heard that you had a bit of fun."
"Oh, yeah." He laughed, nudging my shoulder. "Your girlfriend's a good kisser."
I shoved him back, and he stumbled into the wall. "Who do you think you are?"
He pressed a hand to his chest, still snickering. "I'm sorry, I thought we'd been introduced."
"Hey," I snapped, "don't give me that."
"Easy," Staring at me like I was insane, Chase raised his hands in surrender. "What'd I do?"
I crossed my arms. "Would you like me to talk you through it?"
"I was just, like you said," a smirk made its way across his face, "having a little fun."
"You have a pretty twisted idea of 'fun'." I spat in disgust. "Couldn't you tell that she didn't like what you were doing?"
He rolled his eyes. "She just needs to learn how to lighten up a bit."
"Oh, so she's the one at fault here?"
"Yeah," he shrugged, "she doesn't know how to accept a little help. Too uptight."
Anger bubbled underneath my skin, and I fought to keep my voice steady. "Don't talk about her like that."
"Like what?"
"Like she's—she's an object with flaws for you to correct."
He blinked. "Isn't that what she is?"
Letting out a slow, controlled exhale, I clenched my fists at my sides. "She's a woman, a person, and I won't tolerate you treating her like she deserves anything less than she does."
"Yeah? And what do you say she deserves?"
"Respect." I said through gritted teeth. "And people who respect and love her."
"Well, clearly I'm better at that than you are."
"And what on earth gives you that impression?"
"Oh, I don't know, the fact that she's clearly unhappy?"
"Unhappy?" I narrowed my eyes in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
His eyebrows shot up. "You haven't noticed?"
"Haven't noticed what?"
"That she's done? That she's tired of you?"
I scoffed. "If she was, she would tell me."
He tilted his head. "Or she'd keep it locked up because she's afraid you'll get upset."
"Whether that's true or not," I shook my head, "that's between her and me. You don't need to insert yourself."
"Oh, please," he sneered, "inserting myself was good for her and fun for me, until she spoiled it, but if she had gone along, everything would've turned out fine."
"'Good for her'? You left her scared for her life. What part of that rings 'good for her'?"
He rolled his eyes. "Toughened her up a bit, at least."
"Who gave you the right to toughen her up?" I demanded. "Tell me, who told you that it's okay to treat people like that?"
"Wouldn't you have done the same thing?"
'Punch him.' My mind whispered, but I miraculously managed to keep my cool. "No, I would not."
"Yeesh." He crossed his arms. "You're almost as uptight as she is."
"Look," I took a deep breath, "just leave her alone. That's all I'm asking."
He took a step towards me, his eyes inches from mine with a threatening glare. "And what if I don't want to?"
"Then I'll hit you so hard," I set my feet parallel to his, "you won't even remember your name."
About to protest further, he opened his mouth to speak, but our argument was brought to an abrupt halt.
"Chase." Mr. Calhoun spoke the name with a fierce, biting tone. "May I please see you in my office?"
"I'm in the middle of something—"
"Now." The director didn't wait for him to finish. "This is not up for negotiation."
Shooting me one last scowl, Chase left me in the hallway.
I stared up at the ceiling, breathing deeply and letting the bright red color fade from my cheeks.
I'd said what I'd wanted to say, though I did slightly regret my decision not to punch him.
'God loves people.' I reminded myself. 'God loves people.'
The sound of running footsteps suddenly began to echo across the tile floor, getting louder and louder until someone slammed into me.
Austyn knocked me back against the wall, locking her arms around my neck and kissing me harder than she'd ever kissed me before.
"What was that for?" I asked when she pulled away.
"You were right," she said, breathing rapidly. "You were right,"
"About what?"
An excited smile spread across her lips. "Mr. Calhoun is going to send him away. Just like you said he would."
Her happiness was severely contagious, and I couldn't stop myself from returning her grin. "Did they find proof of anything?"
She nodded. "Jerry, the second violinist, always has a camera rolling during the show, recording the orchestra play the score." Tilting her head as if she'd just realized something, she shrugged, "I'm not sure that's entirely legal, but he forgot to turn it off that night and accidentally got the whole thing on video."
(I told you guys Jerry was awesome.)
"I'm assuming he showed it to Mr. Calhoun?" I nodded in the opposite direction of the hallway, gesturing to the director's temporary office.
"Jerry showed it to me first, and then we practically sprinted through the theater to find him." Her smile deepened. "Mr. Calhoun said he'd fire Chase before he could blink twice."
I pressed my hand to her cheek, letting my eyes study hers. "You won't ever have to worry about him again. How does that feel?"
She laughed, letting her shoulders sag with relief. "It's inexplicable."
"English, please."
"Unexplainable." She translated, placing another, gentler kiss against my lips. "I'll sleep better tonight than I have in months."
"We should probably get you home." I noted. Despite her joyful expression, her eyes were tired. "I think both of us should go to bed as soon as possible."
She nodded. "I'd like that very much."
I slipped my arm around her shoulders, holding her against me. "Did you ever end up finding Josh and Sky?"
"Mhm. They're waiting for us at the door."
•••••
(One more thing and then I promise we're done this is obscenely long I'm so sorry)
My eyes cracked open, greeted by complete darkness.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes, checking the time on the little alarm clock by the bed.
12:30 a.m.
Josh's steady breathing could be heard from his spot on the floor, in addition to the occasional mutter of his sleep-talking.
I couldn't quite make out what he was saying—something about crickets?
I looked over at Sky's bed, expecting to see him curled up and dosing peacefully, but he'd apparently been woken up as well.
He sat wrapped up in a blanket with his legs crossed, the blue light from his phone illuminating his face.
I climbed out of bed, cautiously stepping over Josh, and sat down next to the redhead.
He glanced up at me. "Couldn't sleep?"
"I guess not." I shrugged.
"Neither could I." He replied, continuing to stare down at the phone's screen with a slight frown on his lips.
I nudged him. "You okay?"
He shook his head. "Homesick."
"For New York?"
He shook his head again, handing his phone to me.
I had expected him to be on social media, but instead, he had a picture of Aiden pulled up.
It was a recent picture—one that had to have been taken no earlier than that summer.
Her hair was done up in braids that fell over her shoulders as she smiled up at the dark clouds of an oncoming storm. Drops of rain were splattered against her dark skin, but she didn't seem to mind.
"She always liked thunderstorms." Sky mumbled, smiling softly. "That one's from last July."
I handed the phone back to him, replicating his smile. "She's beautiful."
He nodded in agreement. "I miss her. I miss both of them."
"Both of them?"
Scrolling once to the right, he showed me another photo. "Her name's Margo."
"Aww," I laughed, "a dalmatian?"
"I met her in Appleton." He explained. "Aiden let me go to the pet store to play with her for a little while, and then we went back the the hotel—" he stopped abruptly, a look of regret in his eyes. "I almost asked her that night."
My eyes lit up. "You did?"
"But then she told me that she was gonna be gone, and..." he shrugged, "I just got scared."
"That's okay. You'll get another chance."
"I know." He nodded. "I wish I could ask her now."
"I'd say 'go for it', but this really isn't something to take care of over the phone."
"It's late, anyway." He said, glancing at the clock.
"Don't worry." I clapped him on the shoulder. "She'll be home soon."
He rolled his eyes. "Everybody keeps telling me that."
"It's true. She has a flight scheduled, a contract for the rest of the tour, and everything."
"But does time have to go by this slow?"
"Time keeps moving, regardless of how slow you feel like it's going." I shrugged. "You can talk to her over the phone."
"She can't talk right now!" He groaned. "She's asleep!"
"Can you guys please be quiet?" Josh murmured, his words strung together.
"Sorry," I whispered, before turning back to Sky. "Let her sleep. We should probably be asleep too."
He sighed, shutting his phone off. "You're right."
"Sleeping is actually good." I said quietly, sliding off the bed and stepping over Josh again. "When you sleep, it removes a significant amount of hours of waiting time."
"I guess that's true." He said, shrugging. "It's definitely faster than solitaire."
I laughed. "Playing games of solitaire is a pretty insufficient way to kill time."
"Solitaire isn't a game, Benjamin." Josh spoke up again, snuggling angrily into his blanket. "It's a lifestyle."