Disastrous

17

I didn't recognize the room I woke up in, not immediately, at least. I didn't really get the chance to look around Colby's room before I went to sleep.

"Morning," Colby mumbled from above my head. I looked up to see him staring at me, then glanced down to his bare chest.

I fell asleep on Colby. Specifically, on his stitches.

"Shit!" I instantly used my arms to push myself off of him, "I'm so sorry Colby. Fuck," I whispered the last part to myself.

"It didn't hurt that bad," He shrugged, going to sit himself up.

The second his face looked like he was in any sort of discomfort I went to help him by putting my hand on his bare back.

He shot me a hard stare, and under normal circumstances I would have pulled my hand away and apologized, but right now I didn't really care.

"Did you fall back to sleep okay?" He asked once he scooted himself back to lean against his headboard.

I was dreading that he was going to bring up that conversation.

I had went to sleep fine, but now here I was, sitting up and struggling to breathe. I did my best to try not to wake Colby up, knowing that he probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep again if he was woken up.

I covered my mouth, doing my best to muffle the heavy breathing and using my other to wipe the tears from my eyes.

I did a pretty good job of calming myself down, focusing on my breathing and distracting myself by thinking about food which usually helped a lot.

It wasn't until I laid back down that I realized I accidentally woke Colby up. "You okay?" He mumbled, now turned on his side to look at me.

I turned my head to see him looking at me with sharp eyes, the tiredness temporarily nonexistent.

I went to nod, seeing him laying there only cause me to cover my mouth to keep my choked up sob from escaping my lips.

"I don't want you to die," I squeezed my eyes shut as he reached out to me, pulling my body towards his.

All that I could hear in my dream was Colby's twisted and pained screams. He shouted for anything and everything. He shouted for mercy, something I never thought would come from him.

He shouted for forgiveness, and for Sam. He screamed until he couldn't any longer, and that's when I saw him.

My grandfather was the one that ended Colby's life, being behind the gun pressed into his forehead. And then my cries were next.

The ones of disbelief and fear. How my grandfather could do something to a person who I felt was misunderstood. What woke me up was my death that was to follow. My grandfather turned to me and pulled the trigger.

And now here I was, in Colby's arms. Feeling bad for waking him up yet feeling better cause there was a reason.

"I'm not going anywhere," Colby whispered, and I could feel his breath on my ear and neck. If I wasn't sweating like a damn pig then it probably would have sent chills down my spine.

"But you did, and I died and I can't -" I was rambling, and I couldn't think straight.

"It's not real, Kiara. I promise you it's not real," Colby reasoned with me, and I began to feel the gentle tugs at my hair as he ran his fingers through it, pulling strands away from my face.

I knew what I was crying over was ridiculous. I haven't cried over dying since I was five, when I'd have trouble sleeping out of fear that I might not wake up in the morning. But I got over that, or so I thought.

"I'm sorry," I wiped my face again, blinking up at his face, "It just seemed so real and I hated it,"

"I know," I felt him shift beside me as he put himself in a more comfortable position.

"You don't deserve my bullshit," I continued, "You should be sleeping,"

"I'd rather be awake and help you instead of being asleep and unaware," He sang quietly to me, and I could tell by the drowsiness in his tone he was falling back asleep.

I didn't move, and neither did he.

And that's how I woke up, confused as to what I was still doing in his arms. The two of us were hardly friends. I was just someone who annoyed him and distracted him from his work while he just had me around to keep me from dying of boredom.

"What?" I asked, hoping he'd repeat his question.

"Did you fall back asleep okay?" He repeated, and to my surprise he didn't sound annoyed like I thought he would.

I hummed and nodded, running my fingers through my hair. "Ouch," I said with a painful smile as my fingers got tangled into my hair.

"You okay?" He asked as I nodded, the smallest of grins making an appearance on his lips before fading away.

"So," I began, "Are you going to be working today?"

Colby brought his hand to his chin, letting it rest there as he spoke, "I'll have to see what Devyn got done, if she got anything at all,"

"Can you tell me what you're working on? Maybe I could help," I felt slightly belittled when he chuckled, doubting that I could be any aide to him whatsoever.

"Just something that has to get sorted out east," He clearly decided to give me as little information as possible, "I was hoping that we could fly out in a couple of days, but that might have to wait," He nodded down to his bandage.

Colby went to add more to what he was saying but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"I can answer it," I offered quietly, but he shook his head, throwing his legs off the edge of the bed and making his way over to the door.

He was moving slower than he would have liked, which I know because of the annoyed huff that he breathed out once he got about halfway across the room.

Colby reached for the doorknob, pulling the door open just enough for his body to fit comfortably in the space between the door and doorframe. I stayed frozen on his bed, unsure whether or not I was to make noise or not. If someone was to see me in his bed they might get the wrong idea or poke fun at one of us later. I know Colby wouldn't appreciate that.

"Yes?" He asked, clear impatience in his tone.

"I came to check on your bandages," The voice I recognized was Xepher's.

"All of your stuff is downstairs I presume?" Colby's tone didn't lighten any, which was odd because Xepher was the reason he was walking around and acting fine right now.

"Yeah. I'm assuming you'll be down?" She sounded like she was walking away, based on the way her voice was fading.

"Give me like two minutes," Colby said while shutting the door.

He stayed quiet until he got back over to the bed, knowing that I heard the entire conversation and there was no need to fill me in on what she needed.

He sat down on his bed, slowly, leaning backwards and folding his hands behind his head.

I didn't know what to do, seeing as he shut his eyes and stayed quiet.

After maybe two or so minutes, I spoke up, "What are you doing?"

"Going to sleep," He mumbled, causing me to laugh, "Wake me up when someone brings me a White Claw,"