Not our last night

Chapter 7

     Jedediah leapt from his western domain and dashed across the floor to find Larry. Why was he alive another night? Had they stayed an extra day? Or maybe he miscounted the nights.
     He froze in his steps and glanced back at the Roman city. He watched as Octavius climbed down and glanced at Jedediah for a split second before turning and walking the other way.
     Jed felt his heart hurt, as Octavius was clearly distraught at their last encounter. The cowboy sighed and kept walking along to look for Larry. He found the night guard playing with Rexy.
     "Hey Gigantor, what's goin on? I thought yesterday was our last night, and the British museum artifacts were s'posed to go home?" Jedediah yelled up at him.
     Larry kneeled down to talk to the cowboy. "They did. Ahkmanrah said he realized he belonged here, so you've got all the time you could ever want to stay alive at night." Larry grinned, picking up Rexy's bone from where the dinosaur dropped it.
     Jed felt both fear and glee spike up in his chest. "What's wrong? You don't look happy." Larry said as he chucked the bone across the museum.
     "I uh...I might have yelled at Octavius last night and now he thinks I'm real mad at him. I'm not, but I screwed up real bad." Jedediah sighed, pulling his hat down against his face.
     "Then go talk to him. He only wants to help you, he's not the only one who's noticed you've been off Y'know. Most of us have noticed it. He's your closest friend Jed, I bet you he'd offer to listen if you needed." Larry said.
     "Right...thanks Larry." Jedediah responded, turning and beginning to walk. He knew where Octavius went when he wasn't feeling his best, so he started towards the planetarium.
     He spotted across the starlit room Octavius laying under the same bench he was a few days ago, helmet on the ground beside him and running his fingers along the red brush.
     Jedediah walked over and laid down beside him. "Hey Octy." He started, voice already faltering. Octavius continued to silently stare at the ceiling. "I'm sorry I yelled at ya yesterday." Jedediah apologized.
     Octavius sighed. "I don't know what I did but I'm sorry I made you mad." Octavius responded softly, still refusing to look at him.
     "I'm not mad at you, I never was." Jedediah said, placing his own hat beside him. "I'm just...I'm really mad at myself, so just don't worry about it." The cowboy crossed his arms across his chest.
     The constellations chased each other around the fake sky as the two miniatures watched. "Jedediah, I can't help but worry about you when you're being bothered this much by something." Octavius finally turned his head to look at him.
     "You've been acting quite odd as of lately, and I'm just concerned is all." Octavius sighed, returning his gaze to the stars. Jed chewed his lip as he thought of something to say, although his mind was drawing a blank.
     He didn't want to talk about how he felt, he didn't like talking about feelings, he thought it was childish. "Just...don't be worried about it." Jedediah said quietly.
     "I can't not be worried, I don't control that. I don't control feelings, nobody does." Octavius replied, glancing at the cowboy to see him staring worriedly up at the ceiling. "If you wanted to you can tell me." He added.
     "I...I don't like talkin bout feelins' an problem stuff, it's childish." Jed murmured, crossing his arms and hunching his shoulders in a way to show he was already uncomfortable.
     Octavius let out a small sigh. "Jed, talking about feeling and problems is not childish at all. It's actually quite brave I'd say. Not only that but talking about it can help greatly." The Roman said.
     Jedediah gave him a weird look. "Where the hell'd ya hear that?" He asked, his shaggy blonde hair flopping onto the floor as he looked at the Roman general.
     "Sacagawea. She's quite wise." Octavius said, also turning his head to meet eyes with Jedediah. "So you don't have to tell me, but it helps greatly to tell people. I would know, I told Sacagawea about a problem I had and it made me feel better just to talk about it." Octavius admitted.
     Jedediah was silent for a few moments. "I...I want to tell ya but I can't. You'd hate my guts." He sighed, turning his gaze back to the playful constellations.
     "Jedediah, nothing you say will make me hate you, don't be ridiculous." Octavius said. "I promise I won't judge you." He added with a hopeful look to the cowboy.
     "Okay..." Jed thought for a moment how he should say what he needed to say. "I uh- s-so I..." Jed stuttered, then just stopped. He let out a long sigh and took a breath.
"So you remember yesterday when we were talkin to that lady from the western diorama?" Jedediah asked, face beginning to grow warm and refusing to meet Octavius's eyes.
"Yes, what was her name again? Dahlia, wasn't it? She was such a lovely lady." Octavius said.
     "Yeah well...she uh..." Jedediah felt like his throat constricted had he couldn't speak, but his face was burning red and Octavius had a sudden horrific realization.
     "You...do you like her? Is that what's going on?" Octavius said, voice cracking. "I-I guess that would make sense since you started talking about her and became very flustered and have been acting awkward, yep that explains it." Octavius said quickly, holding back how much he wanted to cry at the moment.