Insomniacs (#1)

61. uncertainty

"Is the moon made out of cheese?"

I turned my head to Benji, laying besides me. We'd both found a spot on the floor, our legs up on the couch so we were in a sort of L position. He licked at his ice cream.

"Do you think the moon's made out of cheese?" I raised an eyebrow and he turned to look at me too.

"I dunno." He tugged his lips down, "But it'd be cool, huh? I think I wanna be an astronaut. I wanna see stars and moons and space." He smiled, looking up at the ceiling.

I crossed my forearms behind my head, following his gaze to the ceiling too, "Take me with you to the moon, one time. I'm a little curious too."

He smiled at that, "You think I can really do it? Go up to the moon?"

"I'll be waving you off in your rocket from down here." I mused softly.

He leaned his head towards me so it rest on my shoulder and I lifted an arm from behind my head, holding him close.

"Ria?" He tilted his head up to look at me. I hummed in response, "Do you not get along with Rina?"

Rina was short for Carina, my mum. He'd shortened practically everyones name. Luca's permanently Lu. I'm Ria. Valencia is Lenny, which she doesn't appreciate but doesn't contest to either. Malik is Mal. And because Everest calls him Benny, his nickname's Evvy.

I swallowed, not really knowing how to approach that. I was saved by the bell, literally; we both jumped as the doorbell rang. I got up and Benj jumped up on the sofa, essentially code for me giving him a piggy back.

He hopped on my back and I secured my arms around him, walking to the door and unlocking it as he wrapped his arms around me. I pulled open the door.

"First of all, I love you." Everest smiled.

"What the fuck did you do?"

He walked past me and inside, shutting the door behind him. He peered to the window besides it, like he was checking for something. He turned back to me and swallowed, smiling a sheepish and almost nervous grin.

"What-" I began sternly, "Did you do?"

"Promise not to kill me." He said, quickly waving at Benji, "Hey Benny."

"Hey Evvy!" He smiled wide, both of them bumping fists.

"Everest." I reigned back kicking him so he'd answer my question. My suspicion was at an all time high.

"We have approximately a minute. Maybe two. You cannot kill me because I love you dearly and that's the only reason why I did what I did." He rambled, clearly nervous, "Okay? You don't have any kitchen knives present, right?" He mumbled to himself, looking around.

"Why would I kill you, Ev?" I said, my tone deadly calm.

"No reason. Well, I mean it's not that big of a deal-"
Loud bangs on the door made us all jump, Everest wincing before he smiled anxiously at me.

"Good luck, sweetheart." He said and flung the door open. My confusion rose as Luca stood there. It's just Luca-

"Like hell, you're not going to fucking college."

Are you kidding me?

"For fuck's sake. Everest, come on!" I snapped, ready to throttle him. I told him that in confidence and he'd gone and told the one person I didn't want to know. You can never trust these two together.

Everest took quick steps back from me, hands up in the air. Luca slammed the door shut behind him, leaning back against it. Furious, he looked furious. I opened my mouth but held up a hand, wanting to deal with him in a second.