blood and dreams

can't sleep

Next thing Henry and Ray knew, it was midnight, and both of them were wide awake. They'd basically spent all day either sleeping or doing nothing and now they had energy. Henry claimed his side didn't hurt that much, but he was squeezing Ray's hand so hard it was hurting him. They were sitting on the couch, and it was dim in the man cave. They were trying to have a conversation about random things, but Henry kept pausing and shifting around uncomfortably to make the pain stop. 

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ray asked doubtfully.   

"Trust me, I've been a lot worse." 

"Yeah but-" 

"I promise it's okay, I'm used to it" 

"If you say so" Ray said, thinking of other things they could do. He was painfully bored. 

"We should ask Charlotte to come over" Henry suggested. 

"She's probably sleeping though" Ray pointed out. 

"I doubt it honestly " Henry laughed. He texted Charlotte and she answered right away.  

"She's coming" Henry said, not a minute later. Ray laughed. 

"Okay then" He said,  smiling.  

Charlotte got there around 15 minutes later. She walked in as Henry and Ray were arguing over what the worst day of the week is, and sat down next to them. 

"So what's up. Why are you guys awake right now?" Charlotte asked. 

"We slept all day" Henry said. Charlotte wasn't surprised that they'd do something like that. 

"Well, what do you wanna do?"  

"We don't know, that's why we invited you here." Henry said. 

"Yeah you're smart we thought you'd have an answer." Ray added. 

"Entertain us." Henry said. 

"Okayyyyy well we could play games." Charlotte suggested. 

"Oh yeah that's a good idea why didn't we think of that Ray?" 

"I don't know" Ray said.  

They ended up playing Trouble for 3 hours straight. Henry was red, Ray was blue, and Charlotte was green. Henry paused occasionally to check his phone, or get some water, and every time Ray and Charlotte rolled their eyes at him. 

"Do you really need to post this on your private story? There's only like 3 people on it and one of them is me" Charlotte said, as Henry took a selfie with the game board.

"Yes this is a very important moment in my life, I just won Trouble against YOU" Henry said. 

"Yeah, but you still lost the last 9 games in a row" Charlotte said. 

"Doesn't matter."  

"I haven't won at all" Ray pointed out. 

"We know." Charlotte said sarcastically. Henry laughed. Charlotte picked up her own phone now, accepting that Henry wouldn't be paying attention again any time soon. 

"It's almost 4 in the morning" Charlotte said, looking shocked. 

"Just stay here tonight" Henry suggested 

"No, my parents don't know I'm here right now." Charlotte said, "I should go." 

"Alright then, see you tomorrow right?" Ray asked. 

"Yeah I'm working in the afternoon." 

"Alright byeee" Henry said, as Charlotte started to leave. 

They sat in silence for a couple minutes, feeling sort of alone. 

"What now?" Henry asked Ray. 

"We could try to sleep?" Ray suggested. 

"Ughhh okay." Henry said. 

They made their way to the room and Henry tried to lay in a way that was comfortable, but he couldn't find a position that worked. He tossed and turned for a long time, unable to fall asleep, while Ray layed still, not quite sleeping but barely awake.  

"Ray?" Henry whispered. 

"Yeah" Ray said quietly. 

"I can't sleep" 

Ray just moved closer and let Henry rest his head on him. It didn't make sense, but it really did make Henry's pain dull. Within minutes they had both dozed off.