Sleeping is hard when you're an over thinker. Your mind is constantly running, the imagination an endless void of stress and angst that you are making up within your own head. What you could've said in this situation, what those people thought about you the other day, how dumb you seem whenever you open your mouth. The mind can be a terrible place.
I blinked at the ceiling, rubbing my eyes in frustration, lack of sleep can really make a person aggressive. I dropped my hand to my side, leaning over the side of my bed to glance at the clock.
5:15 am.
I couldn't fall asleep, every time I closed my eyes, my mind would start racing and I'd end up tossing and turning as though being restless was my only distraction from the thoughts. I let out a dramatic sigh and cracked my knuckles, grabbing my phone and turning off my music. I'd had resorted to blasting my favorite playlist in my earbuds while staring up at the ceiling all night long.
Everything had recently gotten so stressful. I was only a small streamer, but even that had become stressful. I couldn't image how difficult it was for larger content creators to keep up with their Twitter feeds. Even a small creator like myself had to keep up because if I didn't, people would wonder what had happened to me.
I buried my head into my arms with a groan. When am I going to get a full night's sleep? I sluggishly got out of bed and decided to get up and do something. Getting out and enjoying the crisp morning air sounded more enjoyable than laying in my bed any longer, hoping to find sleep. The fresh air in the morning was wonderful, the rising light casting an orange glow across the city which I could see through my window.
I wore a huge sweater over my tank top, slipping on some comfortable pants, and tossed my hair back into a bun to keep it out of my face. I pulled on my sneakers and made my way out the door.
I need to go get some caffeine in my system. I decided that driving would be more convenient than walking, so I grabbed my keys and headed towards the car, taking it for a drive.
I strolled into the coffee shop with my small purse in hand. At this time, the small shop was bustling with activity, the line fairly long. As I walked to the end, I sighed, rubbing my bleary eyes. The lack of sleep really had me irritable; you'd think I'd just be used to it by now.
Bump.
"Oh!" I exclaimed, colliding with a man in front of me. I looked up, hearing a soft snicker. This individual was quite tall. Lovely. His dark-blonde hair fluffed up over his eyes, his delicate features blanketed in light freckles. The embarrassment had me immediately spluttering an apology.
"Hey, it's okay," He took a step back, raising an eyebrow with amusement, "Good thing I wasn't holding my coffee though, I would've had to just sue you." The man joked with a smirk.
I could feel my face grow hot. "I'm sorry! I.. wasn't paying attention." I laughed nervously, I visibly ashamed as I struggled to find words. At this point, I was tempted to just excuse myself from the situation and hide in my car, however there was something about this guy that made me feel a little better. Maybe it was the charming, pleasant grin that spread across his face, or the way his soft, green eyes just peered down at me.
I stood there dumbfounded as he took his coffee from the girl behind the counter, and after a minute of staring at him, I let out a breathy laugh and shook my head. In response, the guy just laughed softly.
"See you around?" He asked with a broad grin on his face as he took a step towards the door. I gave him a brief nod, and as I watched him leave, I couldn't help but notice how familiar his voice sounded.
-
When I got home, I went directly to my computer, turned it on, and went straight to Twitch.
People were becoming concerned about my recent lack of streaming, so I needed to stream something. I brushed out my hair and put on my headset, pulling out my phone while the computer loaded.
On my screen, there were several new message notifications as well as a missed call. I pressed on them, concerned, seeing that they were from Darryl.
- Answer!
- Answer dang it where are you?
- Pleaaaseeeeeee
- yes bad, what is it? i'm boutta stream
- That's PERFECT! Hop on Hypixel, we're gonna do a challenge :P
I frowned in confusion.
- who all is "we" ?
- I want to introduce you to some of my friends.
- You know them rightt? Dream, Sapnap, George.
I nodded at my phone in acknowledgement as he listed the names of his buddies. Of course, I was familiar with them; I'd occasionally watch a few of their videos when they appeared in my recommended on YouTube. I mainly watched them because Bad was in a majority of them.
He and I had a very good friendship; we'd been friends since a very young age. We lived near each other during our childhood, but he eventually moved away with family and I rarely got to see him since. He decided to establish a YouTube career, inspiring me to do the same after being in a couple of his videos.
I attempted to summon some excitement and energy, but I was exhausted.
- OK, but i'm a little weary right now, i hope they dont get bored of my lack of enthusiasm lol
I hopped onto Minecraft and began streaming. When I entered their voice channel, I was met with a barrage of yelling that nearly knocked me out of my chair in freight. "Oh my gosh, you guys scared the living hell out of me, what's happening?"
The call fell silent, only to be broken by a loud wheezing laugh, which made the rest of them laugh as well.
Bad cleared his throat over the call, interrupting the laughter, "Finally you're here! These are my friends."
The call grew loud again as they all greeted me in union, the warmth evident in their voices.
When the silence resurfaced, I used the opportunity to introduce myself: "Nice to meet you guys, I'm y/n." On the game, I joined their party and met them on the server.
They all reacted, but when dream spoke, my breath came to a halt. "Nice to meet you, I'm Dream." I froze at the recognizable voice of this morning. That was him? I knew it sounded so familiar, but it couldn't possibly be. Why would he be at a coffee shop in my small town at 6:00 in the morning?
-
"No!" George and Sapnap screeched as I flung them off into the void. Victory. I squealed with delight, I had defeated the literal pros of pvp. "Alright chat, that should should be the end of it!" I laughed, leaning back in my seat, "Say your goodbyes y'all." The boys all said goodbye, and I ended with Dream's loud, cheerful "Bye!" in the voice channel.
"Oh my gosh," I exclaimed, smiling. "That was a lot of fun guys!"
"It really was, but I've got to go," George remarked, "I've got a lot of editing to catch up on."
Bad and Sapnap agreed, "It was fun talking to y'all! I have to leave too though," Bad said, Nick humming in acknowledgment. They all left at the same time. I let out a long, dramatic sigh and sank my head to the desk.
"You good?"
I jumped up in my seat, I had been oblivious to the fact that Dream was still there. "Oh sorry, I thought you left as well," I sighed, "I'm so exhausted I wasn't paying attention."
"It's fine," he said with a laugh, "but I was wondering, were you in the coffee shop this morning? There was a girl who sounded identical to you."
I opened my mouth to speak, but felt my cheeks flush once more. So it was him I had ran into, the towering, dirty-blonde-haired man.
"Oh, that was you?" I finally got out.
"Yes it was, indeed. Man, you got a face reveal before most people" He replied with a scoff, followed by a laugh at his own remark.
I simply rolled my eyes, exhausted from the long day. However, I didn't mind being here and talking to him because he was intriguing and enjoyable to talk to. "Same with you," I continued. Despite having a small fan base, I decided not to disclose my face in case I grew into something bigger in the future and wanted to keep my personal life private. "I'm a faceless streamer as well." I shrugged, reclining back in my chair, my arm stretched in front of me.
"I know. I occasionally watch your streams" Dream hummed casually.
"You do?" I gasped, dropping my arm to my side and looking at the screen in astonishment as if he could see my expression.
"Yeah! Bad told me that you were pretty good at Minecraft, so I had to check out your vids," He told me, his voice gentle and amused.
We sat for another hour in the call, simply chatting and getting to know each other. I felt like I'd known him for years, even after just a few minutes of sitting with him; he was such a kind, trustworthy guy. It's no surprise that he's idolized by so many people. George's sleeping habits were a source of amusement for us. Dream told me a slew of stories about the dream team and his friends, making me laugh so hard that my chest hurt.
However, overtime, I became increasingly silent, almost falling asleep at my computer. Dream became quieter as well, presumably because he sensed my exhaustion.
"Do you live around here," I asked, yawning, "I thought you lived in the bigger part of Florida?"
"I do," he said, mirroring my yawn, "but I have some family down here that I like to visit regularly." "How do you like living in this small town?" he asked.
"It's great! However, I'm hoping to move soon. This dismal old apartment I'm in," I glanced up at my dark, lofty ceiling, "is too lonely for me. I'm just looking for a roommate to share rent with, hah." I told him lazily, half-closed eyes.
"Oh really?" He sounded genuinely intrigued.
"I'm fine with living alone," I responded, leaning forward in my chair. "However, rent is pretty expensive, I'm not sure yet."
There were a couple moments of silence where I was just checking my stream to make sure it uploaded, and closing several tabs on my computer before we both said goodbye.
"Alright, it's getting late, so I'm going to go," Clay said after a little pause. "We should talk again sometime; it was fun."
I hummed a sleepy reply, clicking out of discord and leaning back. I stared at my screen for a moment before getting up and turning to my bed, jumping in and immediately falling asleep for the first time in a while.