I let my bottom lip ache slightly after I'd bitten it for the entirety of my first class. I wanted to go back to sleep and snuggle up in my blankets. My eyelids felt heavy, too heavy and too thick as they slowly and stubbornly kept lowering over my pupils. I stayed behind in the classroom as the rest of my classmates scurried out the door. Finally some peace and quiet.
"Micah?" The professor said with her clumsy, yet charming accent. "Are you not going to take a break before the next lesson begins?"
"No, I'm fine Mrs Taraha..." I mumbled and gave her a sleepy smile. Her surname stumbled over my tongue as I tried to pronounce it but she didn't seem to mind.
"Alright..." she huffed and went back to her own desk by the whiteboard.
I leaned my head on the white desk and sighed. At least the chair was comfy. My arms were not enough of a pillow as I laid my head on them. They were too bony and not soft enough. I liked my pillows overly soft so I could shape them and nuzzle them. My arms could not do that for me. The thought of my bed made my eyes feel even heavier. I desperately needed some sleep. I was getting close to the third day without as much as a slight slumber. My insomnia got worse with every week that passed. It didn't matter how tired I was, how exhausted my body became, I just couldn't fall asleep. I spent my nights with my eyes closed as I tried to doze off. The melatonin pills weren't enough. I could probably take an entire jar of them and they would only cause me to get tired, but I wouldn't fall asleep. My brain would be busy thinking, refusing to rest and shut itself off.
I was exhausted, to say the least. The only time I ever got sleep was when I either forced myself to faint or when exhaustion finally got the best of me. My doctor refused to give me any sleeping pills. He said that "I should try to get healthier first". I was fucking healthy. The only unhealthy part was the fact that I couldn't fall a-fucking-sleep. "Exercise more and eat healthier," he said. I go on daily runs and I eat a balanced diet with around 2500 calories a day. I should be able to fall asleep just as easily as everyone else. My situation was just unfair.
Everything felt distant. I could tell my head was still resting on my arms and that I was in the classroom but something was different. I wasn't in the classroom anymore. I was deep within myself. All the sounds around me were cancelled out by my own breathing, my own slow heartbeat gently clapping in my chest. The voices around me entered my thought process only to slip right out before I had time to fully process them. Was I... asleep? Was I falling asleep? For how long had I been like this? Someone was touching me. Touching my head.
"Do we wake him up?" Someone whispered.
"No... I hear he hasn't been sleeping like... at all for quite some time... so uh... just leave him be..."
Someone was playing with my hair, gently rubbing my scalp and stroking my forehead. I didn't know who it was and I couldn't care less. It. Felt. Amazing. Whoever was touching me was distracting my mind away from literally everything else. My body didn't want to move and I felt like I was drifting.
⚥ ⚥ ⚥
"Micah..." Someone whispered as they moved some hair away from my face. "Hey... Wake up..."
I'd been dreaming about water. In my dream, I was in a small rowing boat filled with soft pillows. The ores were gone and the wooden seats were torn out. I was laying in the pillows wrapped in a soft blanket. It was quiet. The waves curiously tapped against the sides of the boat and the wind was still. It was peaceful. Beautiful. Not a single cloud roamed the night sky. The stars sparkled above me and the only light was that of the moon's pale glow where she gazed down at me from her throne in the sky. Constellations decorated the void outside the atmosphere, twinkling gracefully.
"Micah..." The same voice hummed, holding out the 'a' in my name with a soft melody.
"Hey, Kennedy..." I mumbled as I forced my eyes open.
"Slept well?"
"Yes actually... it felt amazing..." I stretched my limbs and found myself in the nurse's private room where she had a soft bed and blankets. I looked over at my wrist and glanced at my watch. It was already 4 pm. "Damn..." I mumbled.
"The teachers let you sleep... they didn't even mark you as absent."
"Oh, so they pity me now?" I chuckled as I grabbed his hand. Kennedy pulled me to my feet and I leaned on him as I got my shoes off the floor and pulled them onto my feet.
"Actually... That muscular guy from the class after ours kinda pulled some strings for you..." Kennedy said and scratched the back of his head. I raised a brow and shrugged.
"Is that so..? Well... I'll have to thank him later I guess..."
"So do you guys, like, know each other?" Kennedy's voice was sheepish and a bit shy. He got like this every time he thought someone was trying to steal me away from him. It was understandable since I was pretty much his only friend. Kennedy was the defensive type of a loner. He was introverted, shy and lacked all basic social skills.
"Nope... he's that frat guy, right? The senior?"
Kennedy nodded and lowered his head. I couldn't help but smile at him. A part of me just wanted to squeeze his innocent face. He was such a sweetheart.
"Hey, Micah..." He mumbled. I looked up at him and he glanced down at me. His face slowly turned red as I remained eye contact and he tensed up. "N... never mind..." he mumbled and awkwardly chuckled.
"Okay, big guy..." I shrugged and pulled my phone out of my pocket. A new episode of my favourite podcast had been released and I grinned. I had been waiting a week for that episode.
"Do you wanna go do something?" Kennedy sheepishly asked and I glanced up at him.
"Like what?" I asked, scrolling through a twitter news feed.
"Uh... I dunno like go eat..?"
"Now?" I said and raised a brow. "Isn't it a bit early?"
I could tell how nervous I had made him because he started fidgeting with the hem of his shirt and agreeing with me while shaking his suggestion off as a joke. I looked up at him to see him flushed red as a tomato with beads of sweat forming on his forehead. A bit of guilt crawled into me and I shivered.
"No..." I mumbled and bumped his arm. "I suppose I could have a small bite..."
"Oh good, cause I know this great place a short walk from here and they have amazing kimchi burgers. You'll love them!" He exclaimed and smiled brightly at me.
A small chuckle made its way out of my mouth and I quickly muffled it with my hand. "Sure..." I said and hooked my arm in his.
⚥ ⚥ ⚥
I breathed in the chilly air and let it embrace me and I waved to Kennedy as I walked down towards the bus station. It was around six o'clock and my stomach was full, meaning that Brian would probably scold me. Whatever.
The bus was fifteen minutes away, how annoying. I slumped onto the bench behind me with a deep sigh and pulled my phone out of my pocket. 24%, great. Instead of wasting the last bit of my phone's battery I stuffed it away in my bag to keep myself from touching it. Boredom. I didn't even have my headphones. I leaned my head back and sighed, letting the autumn darkness surround me. It was quiet.
A car drove past the bus stop. The tires crunched over the dry leaves that had fallen into the street. I liked that sound. The sound of crunching leaves. I took a deep breath and let my lungs soak in the cold air. It smelled musty, but not in a bad way. It smelled of leaves and the wind carried the earthy scent of sour apples and rain. I pulled my coat closer to my body and leaned back further against the bench.
I had been so busy taking in the scent of my surroundings that I hadn't heard the car that drove past me stop and start to back up. The tires rolled slowly, too slowly. Everything about the sight sent shivers down my spine. The black car, slowly getting closer until it stopped in front of me, waiting in front of the bus stop. The tinted window rolled down, descending into the car's door until it was fully open. My eyes wandered. The person sitting in the car looked at me from the driver's seat. He looked familiar but I couldn't place him in any of my memories.
"Micah?" He asked. "Micah Keller?"
I looked up as he spoke my name, meeting his grey eyes.
"Yeah..." I answered. I couldn't place his face anywhere. I knew his voice, I had heard it before. "Sorry... Do I know you..?" I blushed as I asked the question. I hated not knowing things when people assumed I did.
"I suppose you wouldn't..." He chuckled. "I'm Jayden! Jayden Marston!"
Oh. OH. "You the guy who took me to the nurse earlier?"
"Yeah!" He chuckled.
"Well! Thanks for that, I guess!"
"Hey... do you want a ride? It's getting dark..."
I looked at the time and sighed. I would rather ride with Jayden than wait ten minutes for the bus, as lazy as it sounds. I had to admit to myself that sitting in a warm car, potentially charging my phone while having a friendly conversation sounded much better than waiting in the cold.
I skipped over to his car and slipped into the passenger seat. "Thanks!" I said and fastened the seatbelt. His car was nice, it had a faint leather smell and it was clean and organised.
"You feeling better?" He asked and gently drove down the street. The car was electrical and therefore incredibly quiet which was quite nice. "You seemed pretty beat earlier today."
I thought back to what Kennedy said about Jayden "pulling some strings" for me when I fell asleep. Kennedy wasn't one to lie and judging by the way Jayden was talking, it seemed to be true.
"Yeah..." I mumbled and ran my hand over the undercut on the back of my head. It felt good to touch the smooth yet stubbly hairs on my head. "I usually don't get a lot of sleep..." after moving my hand over the shorter part of my hair I let it drift upwards to the longer part. The longer part of my hair as a fluffy mess on top of my head.
"Ah..." Jayden sighed and stopped at a red light. "Want me to drive you home or drop you off somewhere?" He asked.
"I don't live too far away if you're okay with driving all the way... it's just over the bridge, to the right and down to the left until you get to the apartment buildings...."
"Sure thing..." he said.
I caught his reflection in the window and saw how his grey eyes concentrated on the road ahead. That was something I could appreciate. I appreciated it when people focused on the task at hand instead of finding small distractions. Jayden was a good driver. His turns were gentle and he carefully stuck to the speed limit. Either he was a perfectionist or he was just a really responsible driver. Either way, I appreciated it.
As he slowed down outside of my apartment building he gave me a gentle smile. "Well! Hopefully, you can get some more sleep!" He said.
"Thanks..." I chuckled. Before I could open the door he stopped me by saying my name.
"If you're interested, there's a small house party at my place next weekend. My friends are kinda throwing a 'welcome to town' party... It's silly but if you want, you could come, maybe bring that friend of yours if you want... I'd like to see you there..."
I raised a brow and gave him a mischievous smile. "Maybe I will..." I snickered.
I hopped out of the car and thanked Jayden for the ride before he drove off. I saved a lot of time by going with him and it felt good to know that Brian wouldn't be upset because I came home late.
•••
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