I said ooh, ooh
You got me in the mood, mood
I'm scared
But if my heart's gonna break before the night will end
I said, ooh, ooh we're in danger
Sleeping with a friend, sleeping with a friend
-"Sleeping With a Friend" by Neon Trees
Chapter 20
Sage and I are sleeping together.
Well not sleeping together, per se, but sleeping in the same bed. Apparently, there was a specific part needed for my bed that was on back order at the moment, so Chris had no definite time frame for how long it would take to get my bed back. However I knew he was lying to me, because every time I asked him about it, the part had a new name. What these people did for a good show-or more specifically, see me embarrass myself- was limitless.
It had been three nights since that initial awkward mess that started it all. The second night we slept in the bed, I had decided to avoid the awkwardness of going to sleep at the same time by letting him go to bed first, and telling him that I wasn't tired (Despite the fact that I had just walked probably over a mile with Bentley). However, when I went upstairs, he had taken up the whole bed. There was no way I was going to wake him up, so I ended up waiting for an hour until he moved enough so I could squeeze into the bed.
The third night I decided that I would never sleep after him again. This awkward-nervous streak that I was going through had to stop, especially since it was costing me precious sleep. For some reason we ended up switching spots so that I was closest to the wall and not him. In the middle of the night, I kicked him off the bed, and he wasn't happy about that. Frankly, I think it was mostly his fault. He had to have been doing something wrong if a one hundred and forty pound girl could push him off the bed.
However, last night was not insanely bad; nothing terribly embarrassing happened to me. I woke up directly in front of Sage's sleeping face, and I admit that I stared a little bit, but he didn't notice. Plus, who cared if I stared? Sage was a good looking guy, I probably would've stared at any of these boys.
When I realized that Rose was still sleeping, I decided that I would use this free time to do exactly that- be free. I had started using the Twitter app more and more, a habit I should be trying to break, but it was a good time waster. I lay down and scrolled through the app for who knows how long before I heard Sage beginning to stir.
I glanced at him as his eyes opened, and when he noticed me, I gave him a nod.
He slowly propped himself up on his elbow, raising his eyebrow at me. "You're still here," he said.
Sage had a knack for stating the obvious.
"So?" I said, then went back to Twitter. I was in that dangerous position of laying flat on my back and holding my phone above my face, where the device could slip and hit my nose at any moment.
"Well I wanna get up," he said.
"Okay," I told him, not taking my eyes off the screen of my phone. I honestly didn't see how that had anything to do with me.
His silence was loaded; a calculating one. However I didn't notice until it was too late. He moved, and I expected him to just be shuffling or something, but out of absolutely nowhere he climbed on top of me.
Well not on top of me, per se, but hovering (I guess a respectable distance) above me, each of his hands resting beside the opposite sides of my head. With my eyes widened and staring at him, he just gave me a quick nod, as if to say "'sup."
"Wha- why- the-" I stuttered, trying to ask him what he was doing and why, but I couldn't get the words out. However he didn't really let me, as he continued what he was actually doing and climbed over me. He didn't even look awkward doing it, he looked completely natural in fact. How did he do that?
"You wouldn't move," he stated simply when he was upright and not breathing over me.
"Well there were a number of ways you could've gotten on the bed without doing that," I said, my voice growing more high pitched as I spoke.
"That was the easiest way. I won't let this sleeping arrangement inconvenience me," he continued, a small smile on his face.
I blinked at him. He was actually insane. "Whatever. Just check on Rose."
He actually listened to me, and went through the door to the other room. After a couple minutes, he returned with a clean baby in his arms. Honestly, I was really glad that the prize for the show had been revealed, because Sage had definitely become a lot more motivated.
"Rose is clean," he said, handing me the baby.
"Than-" I was cut off by a knock on the connecting door, and then Bryson and Matthew walked in, not bothering to wait for a signal to enter.
"Look what we bought!" Bryson sing-songed, as the both of them showcased their new purchase. On both of their chests were those daddy baby carrier things, with their babies in them. You would think that they wouldn't look as ridiculous with them since they were celebrities, but they looked equally insane- if not more.
"Oh my God," I said, covering my mouth as I laughed.
"Laugh now, but it'll be one of us who wins the competition," Matthew stated, strutting around the room with his new accessory.
"You've gone too far," Sage muttered, shaking his head. He looked absolutely appalled.
"This is the greatest thing to ever happen to me," I said, studying them. Despite the fact that they looked flat out weird, the carriers did seem useful. It allowed you to be hands free while still taking care of your child. "Hey Sage-"
"Don't even say it," he said, cutting me off.
I walked over to him and nudged him with my shoulder. "I'm just saying..." I said with a shrug. "We could gain a lot of extra points."
He furiously shook his head. "I know how to hold a baby, and I don't do anything that I can't do with just one hand."
"Fine," I whined, dragging the vowel out.
"Do it for your lady, Sage." Matthew said.
I whipped my head around, and glared at Matthew. He had better been joking.
"My lady?" Sage repeated.
"Yeah," Matthew said, raising his eyebrow. "Aren't you guys...?" He pointed between the two of us.
"No." I stated firmly, my face getting hot. I almost wanted to hit Matthew; I was trying to forget about Sage and I's almost relationship, not have the failure of it rubbed in my face.
"Hmm," Matthew stated. "I thought you guys were sleeping in the same bed."
"Yeah, but that's because tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum broke her bed," Sage deadpanned.
Matthew gave Bryson a look of disgust. "That's foul."
Bryson shrugged, obviously not caring. "I'm gonna go eat," he said and started to leave.
"Wait!" I exclaimed, and grabbed my cellphone from my bed. "I'm working on my selfie skills; lets take a picture with your baby carriers."
Vanessa had given all of us a talk about our social media presence, and basically said that Aubrey shouldn't be the only one posting stuff. Now, we were all trying to make more of an effort to be on social media.
Although I looked pretty bad in the picture since I just woke up, I posted it on Twitter, with the caption 'Sage isn't man enough to get a baby carrier like these two.'
Later on, I was downstairs watching Friends reruns with Emma and Peyton when I heard the front door open. I didn't think anything of it; people were coming in and out of this place all the time, and I think someone had gone out earlier today, so I stayed put.
"Oh."
"My."
I turned to look where Peyton and Emma were facing and finished them off. "God."
Standing there was Bentley, but it was a Bentley I didn't recognize. Gone were his long dreadlocks, replaced instead with dark, straight, normal hair, sticking up in every direction on his head.
Emma jumped up and ran to him. "What did you do?" She asked, appalled just like the rest of this. Peyton and I walked towards him, also studying the way he looked.
"I got tired of them. They were getting too long," he said with a shrug. I then began to study his facial expression, wondering if he was happy with the change. But he still looked indifferent like any other time in his life; he didn't seem at all bothered by his missing hair.
"How is it still so long though?" Emma asked.
"I hadn't gotten them redone in awhile," he said with a shrug.
"Wow," I said and reached up to touch his hair. It was surprisingly soft for hair that had been mangled for who knows how many years.
He laughed and shook his head. "You guys are making a big deal out of nothing." He then held up bags of In-N-Out that none of us had noticed before and walked to set them down on the island in the kitchen.
"This is a pretty big deal," Peyton said as she rummaged through the bags. "If you were me, you'd be crying by now."
"It's a good thing I'm not you, isn't it?"
I rolled my eyes at his passiveness and took out a Coke and some fries. I didn't care that I'd just eaten; there was always room for In-N-Out. "Thanks Bentley," I said and went to sit back down on the couch.
Emma and Peyton each took food and sat down next to me. Bentley, after throwing the keys on the counter, looked in the bags and shook his head to himself. They were empty. He then came into the living room and sat next to me.
"So how's guitar going?" He asked me.
I glanced up at him sheepishly. I had been practicing a lot less often than I needed to be practicing, and I needed a lot of practice. "Have a fry," I said, avoiding the question.
He laughed and shook his head, but still took the french fry and ate it. "You'll never play like me at this rate."
"She'll never play like you ever," Emma said, not taking her eyes off the television. "She sucks."
"Hey! When have you even heard me play?" I exclaimed.
"Too often," she muttered.
I kept my mouth shut for a couple reasons: One, I didn't really have a good comeback. I wasn't good at those. Two, because if I did have a good comeback, I didn't want it to put me on Emma's bad side. We all know what she's capable of.
Oh! Aubrey's baby? It turns out that Emma had hid it under Aubrey's bed. Unfortunately for Aubrey, "Harry Styles" had just fallen asleep, so she only found it three hours later when he finally started crying. The whole ordeal was amazing to watch, even Sage was amused. However, now, a majority of us were living in constant fear of Emma, whether we wanted to admit it or not.
Interrupting me from my thoughts, Midas came bounding down the stairs, then slowed down as he approached us. I glanced wearily at Rose, who I'd discarded haphazardly on the couch a little ways from me, then back at Midas. I swear to you he caught my eye, looked at Rose, and challenged me. In a split second he dashed for the baby doll, and I did the same, accidentally using Bentley to propel myself forward.
"No!" I exclaimed, but luckily, I got to my child first, and held her away from Midas.
"He needs a walk," Emma muttered, and I assumed she would get up to go do so, but she stayed seated.
"I guess I'll do it," I said, standing up. "Where's his leash?" I asked.
"Upstairs in my room," she answered.
I made my way upstairs, Midas following happily behind me. I entered Emma's room, finding Sage scrolling scrolling through his phone and eating a granola bar. Honestly, Sage was kind of boring.
He looked up at me as I entered, and watched as I rummaged around Emma's belongings until I found the leash.
"Are you taking him for a walk?" He asked, gesturing to the dog sitting patiently at my feet.
I simply nodded. I got on my knee and fastened the leash onto Midas' collar, and he let out a happy bark.
"I'll come with you," Sage said, except he had just stuffed the rest of the bar into his mouth, so I could barely make out what he was saying.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because I'm bored." He stood up and walked into his closet, and came out with a baseball cap and sunglasses.
I sighed. I honestly didn't get Sage's endgame here. We kissed, and he had specifically said that the kiss meant absolutely nothing, and he's gone back to acting how he acted before the kiss. And that would be all fine and dandy, except I'm almost positive that how we were acting was what caused us to kiss in the first place.
"Alright," I said, not speaking my mind. "I'll go get her stroller."
When we were downstairs and ready, with Rose securely in her stroller, and Midas securely strapped up, Sage and I left the house. It was a nice day out, not because of the temperature, but because of the small breeze that passed through every couple of minutes.
"I'm kind of anxious," I told Sage as we started the walk.
"Why?" He asked. He was surprisingly at ease considering Midas was pulling on his leash pretty hard.
"Chris hasn't thrown us a random challenge in awhile. It's getting too quiet," I explained.
He gave a short laugh. "I feel like all of us are creating challenges for ourselves."
"Yeah that's true," I said. "I feel like we've been pretty good about not getting involved with all of that, though."
He glanced at me. "What do you mean?" he asked.
I shrugged. "I mean we haven't gotten our baby kidnapped by Aubrey or Emma yet."
He laughed. "We're definitely going to win this thing."
I smiled. "And when we win, I keep the trophy," I joked.
He stopped walking, and Midas' confusion was indicated with a bark. "No you will not."
"I do most of the work," I said.
He scoffed. "Yeah, right. I'll admit you have her a lot, but when she's with you she does nothing. Anytime I have to take care of her she becomes the devil."
I was going to argue, but the thought made me smile. Rose liked me better than Sage. How great was that?
"Oh," I said, and began walking again.
"Oh," he mimicked, making his voice extremely high pitched.
"Don't be mad because Rose likes me better," I teased.
"It's a baby doll," he deadpanned, then he let out a huge yawn.
I raised my eyebrow. "Tired?" I asked.
"Yeah, because you don't let me sleep," he grumbled.
"What are you talking about?"
"You snore."
I opened my mouth to argue, then actually thought about it. Both my dad and mom snored, I wouldn't be surprised if I did too. "Get some earplugs," I said instead.
"Get your own bed."
Midas, obviously thinking that we weren't paying him enough attention, barked then, and tugged on his leash.
"I think we're walking a little too leisurely for him," I commented.
We picked up the pace. We walked for about five more minutes, enjoying the weather, and talking about nothing. We barely noticed when Midas stopped, we had begun arguing on who was the better parent again.
"No, but I- oh my God," I said.
Sage followed my eyes, then physically took a step back when he saw it. "That is the biggest piece of shit I've ever seen."
It was. Midas was a big dog, so in a way I should've expected that the stuff that came out of him would be big too. But that had never crossed my mind, and now I was staring at the biggest turd I had ever come across. It was almost like looking at a bad accident; It looked so horrible but I almost couldn't really look away. Almost
But I did. "That's disgusting," I said, and covered my nose as the smell hit me. "Will the bag we brought even be big enough?"
Sage looked at me. "I'm not picking that up."
"Well we can't just leave it here, thats-"
"No. I mean, I'm not picking it up."
"And why not?" I asked, putting my hand on my hip.
"Well I walked him, and he was very hard to control," he replied.
I gave him a look. "That is not fair!"
"Only one of us was going to have to do it anyways, Avery. Did you honestly expect us both to do it?"
"No, but you refusing to do it like you have the right makes me not want to do it." I admitted.
He rolled his eyes. "Come on, don't be so petty. Just do it," he said. He had a smile on his face. It was full of fake pity.
"You-" Midas interrupted me with another bark, obviously wanting to move along now that he was done with his duty.
"You heard the dog," Sage said, still with the smile. "Get to it."
"Don't boss me around," I grumbled, as I went to the stroller and got out the poop bag. I also took out a thick, cleaning glove, which I was so glad I had thought to bring. I put the glove on, then the bag over around it. I walked over to the feces, trying hard not to gag. I bent down, and almost picked it up, but lost my nerve at the last second. "I can't do this!" I said, and backed away.
"That was pretty terrible to watch," Sage said, looking at me. His look of fake pity had quickly turned into one of true pity... and maybe even guilt.
With the newfound knowledge that Sage had a soul, and actually felt guilty, I begged. "Sage, please do it. Or at least help me. It seems like a two person job anyway."
He made a noise of disdain and coupled it with a look of disgust, but I saw that he was swaying.
"Pretty please with a cherry on top?" I said, and leaned closer to him.
He backed away. "Fine," he groaned, and retrieved the other glove. "I'm never doing anything for you again."
I bit back my snarky comment, which was a hard task to do. It was a good one. "Thank you! Okay, come on," I said, and took his elbow. I dragged him closer to the poop, and stopped. "Alright, I'll fold it into the baggie, and you give it a push to get it in."
He nodded, and we both squatted down, making sure that we were taking the tiniest breaths possible, if breathing at all. We got the job done relatively easily and quickly, but the idea of it made it a terrible experience. When we were done, we disposed of it in one of those community pet waste baskets. We threw away the gloves too- there was no way we would be ever be able to use those again with a sound mind.
"Well that wasn't too bad," I said, as we began our walk back home.
Sage shook his head. "No, it was pretty bad. I can never look at you the same way again."
"Oh, shut up," I said, although I knew he was joking.
"No, honestly," he said, half-smiling. "Don't even sleep on my bed tonight."
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How did that happen? How did I wait so long??? Anyways, super sorry and I hope to upload sooner next time!
So how did you like the chapter? Tell me in the comments, you know those are my biggest motivators!
Comment! Vote! Fanimos!