Journey || Erik Durm

♀

CHARLOTTE:

        AS midnight approached, I struggled to fall asleep. Even with my ears wedged between my pillows, I could hear the palpitating sound of Erik's ragged breathing from the other room. I tossed and turned on the bed, pressing layered blankets over my head; however, despite the immense number of sheeps  I counted, I found myself magnetized to reality.

Eventually, I succumbed to the unrest and hurled out of bed, groggily walking to the room where Erik was. "God damn it, Durm," I grumbled, rubbing my eyes.

From his signature spot behind the counter, he raised his head. "You're awake."

"It's hard not to be. You're breathing so heavily."

"Oh."

"Erik, there's literally no one here tonight," I muttered. "Why are you still here?"

"I promised Mama I'd stay the night," he replied with a shrug.

I puckered my lips, sliding a stool next to him.

"What are you doing?" he asked, eyeing the stool as I occupied it.

"Taking your place," I answered coolly.

"Go to sleep, Charlotte."

I shook my head stubbornly, flickering my eyes to the bottom of Erik's eyes, where his exhaustion was outlined. Dark circles were prominently forming under his eyes, and as he slowly raised his head in response to my comment, I wanted nothing more than to smother him to sleep so that he could receive the proper rest he required.

"You need to rest," I deadpanned, frowning. "Erik, you're drunk and you look like you haven't slept at all in the past few days."

He guiltily strayed his eyes from my own, and I immediately knew that he hadn't—in fact—slept in the past few days. Maybe that was why he hadn't been as hostile as he usually was; he was just too tired.

"Come on," I urged, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Let's get you to bed."

Erik stood up from the chair he was sitting on, forcing my hand away. "Don't dig those hands onto me, Charlotte," he said awkwardly. "You're giving me heat flashes in this freezing room."

I opened my mouth to speak, but Erik stubbornly went on, "Just go to sleep and lower the temperature of the room before you go, okay?"

"No."

"No?"

"No, you twat," I screeched, curling my lips into a scowl. "You're going to bed this instant and I'm going to close this diner because it's slow as fuck and you're not going to complain!" With that, I marched to the front of the diner, locking the doors and drawing the curtains, and then back to where Erik was, stunned on his usual spot.

Without giving him a chance to react, I grabbed his arm and dragged him to my room and shoved him by the chest onto the bed that was aligned in center. His body fell limply onto the mattress, his elbows creating a dent on the cushion that he fell onto.

Scratching his temples, Erik stared at me. The stare was penetrating, the kind to drive a girl insane, especially when her thoughts were as jumbled as mine were.

"Close your eyes," I instructed, throwing a pillow to his face.

"But I—"

"Sh!"

"What about you? Where are you going to sleep?"

I raised my hand to the back of my head, rubbing the area slightly before flashing Erik a hesitant glance. "The floor, I guess," I answered coolly. "It's whatever."