The Long Game, Lucas Sinclair

the inherent romanticism of truly seeing a person

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Sam Hughes had been awake for 96 hours straight, and that was still ongoing. Yesterday, she'd told herself she'd put aside her foolish fear of having nightmares around other people so she could finally get some sleep — she didn't know the next time they'd have a calm enough night to properly get some shut-eye.

But this time, she physically couldn't sleep. Thoughts of the Creel house and the living lights and Alice's room and Lucas kept her up for so long that Dustin was waking up for the final shift of Max Watch when Sam finally felt drowsy. So now, she was running on pure, black coffee and adrenaline to get her through this off-putting Wednesday.

Sam was riding in the backseat of Nancy's car with Max and Lucas at either side of her. Nancy was driving, of course, with Robin in the passenger seat; Auggie, Steve, and Dustin were all the way in the spacious trunk. The current plan (and the first, non-terrifying plan) was to go visit Eddie Munson at Reefer Rick's boat house and provide him with food (and alcohol) as he hid from the cops who thought him a murderer.

To her right, Max was staring out her window and listening to Kate Bush through her headphones. Sam didn't know what Lucas was doing to her left, but she was yawning too much to even figure it out.

"Did you sleep last night?" Lucas whispered to her, a note of concern in his voice.

Sam sobered herself up from yawning, turning her head to look at him. "Uh — I mean, I guess. I don't know. For sure."

One day Sam would get better at lying. Today was not that day.

I know who I am, what I'm good at, what I can and can't do. I'm just... I'm what I am. A good friend, a bad liar. Why can't that be enough?

Lucas looked at Sam like he saw right through her, but he always did, didn't he? Sam was seeing life through new spectacles recently. Not her glasses or contacts, just enlightenment. All of this she found out about Lucas yesterday, it made the world around her look a little brighter; warmer, happier.

"You're still having nightmares?" he asked.

I'm just tired, Lucas.

You haven't been sleeping?

Can't.

Can't fall asleep, or can't stay asleep?

Just... It's stupid, really, but I have... I mean, I keep waking up, can't stay asleep, because—

Nightmares?

Sam shrugged, feeling caught. "Yeah. I mean, it's... I'm used to them, but... Yeah."

Lucas softened, the same way he always did when Sam presented him with another concerning fact about herself. Well, concerning to him. Sam didn't really see the big deal. The inability to sleep was a constant in her life at this point. Right now, it was Sam and her 96 hours awake against the world.

"You could sleep now," Lucas advised, increasingly more worried. "Just for a little in the car."

Sam shrugged. "I mean, there's not really a point. We're almost there, anyways."