Life in the Shadows

16.

Needless to say, that dinner mom had made me and Jack go to, well, it was awful.

The highlight of the meal was getting fried ice cream for dessert.

I hated every second of it. It was not my ideal social situation. At all.

Those people were really, really strange, and to be honest, they creeped the shit out of me.

Afterwards, we all went home, and I just kind of laid around, watching Parks and Recreation reruns until my phone buzzed.

From: xxx-xxx-xxxx

Hey Maggie(: it's trevor

I smiled, knowing that he wasn't bullshitting me about wanting to stay in touch and be my friend.

To: Trevor Moran

Hey Trevor(: it's maggie

He apologized for not reaching me sooner, explaining that he was writing and making music, then we started talking about random topics.

We started playing a game of 21 questions, and I must have fallen asleep somewhere during that time, because it's now two in the morning, and I can't sleep.

I've been trying to fall asleep for about forty-five minutes, and nothing I tried has helped.

So, I do what everyone else does.

I go downstairs to watch TV.

As I'm turning it on, a creak on the floor makes me jump.

"Shh,"

"Holy shit!" I shriek.

"Maggie," Jack hisses, throwing his hand over my mouth. "Shut up,"

"What are you doing up this late?" I ask, narrowing my eyes at him suspiciously.

"I could ask you the same thing," he counters.

"I asked you first,"

"Well," he sighs heavily, "Gilinsky is on his way, so I came down to let him in."

"Why is he coming here so late?"

"Why not?"

I roll my eyes, plopping down on the couch.

"Can you not sleep?" He asks, noticing the fatigued expression painted on my face.

I nod, pulling a pillow to my chest.

He gets up, opens the front door, and Gilinsky follows him inside after silently closing the door.

"Hey, Mags," he smiles.

"Hey, Gilinsky," I tiredly grin back.

"We're gonna sleep upstairs, okay? I already locked up. Is there anything I can do?"

"No,"

"What's wrong?" Gilinsky asks.

"I can't sleep," I shrug.

"We could always stay down here," he suggests, "if you want,"

"That's okay," I answer, "I'm probably not going to sleep anytime soon, anyways,"

"Let's stay down here," Jack butts in.

I roll my eyes at the fact that he can't take the hint that I kinda just wanna be alone down here.

"Whatever," I glance over at the clock and see that it's just past three fifteen.

Jack takes one side of the couch, while Gilinsky takes the other.