Insomnia

Chapter 30

Autumn passed by a lot faster than any of us expected. Before we knew it, we were trading in light jackets for heavy winter coats for the cold city weather. Nothing much happened the rest of November besides Cal going to work and us having a small Thanksgiving meal with Nick and Trinity.

It was also finally December, so Cal was now in the Christmas spirit. He was quick to decorate around the apartment with Christmas lights and Santa figurines. I thought he was excited about buying me sweaters for autumn, but he went all out when it came to the winter. He ended up buying many many weird sweaters with strange designs and material on them.

"It's an ugly Christmas sweater!" Cal exclaimed while wearing one of his own. He looked very pleased and hugged his arms around himself.

"A what?"

"Never mind, it's not important. Just make sure to pack a bunch." It was about a week till Christmas when we decided that we were going to stay out at Nick and Trinity's up until New Years. He looked very excited and packed a lot of sweaters for the stay.

"What was the point of putting up all the decorations if we're going to leave?" He just shushed me while placing a finger over his lips.

"Christmas spirit." I laughed and went back to pack some more of my clothes. This time of the year was also the time that Cal was excited to show me a bunch more movies. All of them were Christmas related. I didn't understand a lot while we were watching them, so Cal was constantly having to explain things. My favorite had been the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I constantly made jokes about Cal being the Grinch, thinking back to what Nick had said.

Despite all this, it had been one of the strangest days. I should say more of one of the strangest nights. Maybe not strange, but exciting. Not exciting, but exhilarating. After a long day of watching movies I didn't understand, I went to bed in Cal's room like I've always been doing lately.

It was a normal routine, even though he still hadn't asked me out. I was glad to say that both of our sleeping schedules had gotten better. We were both healthier now that we didn't stay up all night. Cal would constantly wake up every morning and tell me that I was the reason he was able to sleep, so I wasn't allowed to leave. I was fine with it, because each night I fell asleep breathing in Cal's scent. I could never tell him that though, because he might find it creepy.

Cal never had nightmares anymore. Every once and a while he would wake up, but he was always fine. I didn't have to worry about him anymore. Not until one night.

I was in a deep sleep after watching movies all day. Most of my dreams seemed to be about movies. Staring at the screen all day made me drowsy, so I was grateful to be able to finally sleep. I thought it was just apart of my dream when I heard weeping. I quickly jerked awake when I realized that was not the case. I turned and leaned over Cal to see him still sleeping, but weeping in his sleep. He didn't look aware that he was doing it. His body was trembling and his eyes were squeezed shut.

"Cal?" I tried to shake him awake. He didn't wake up. I grabbed his hand and felt that it was really cold. "Cal? Wake up." I shook him a bit harder, and it didn't take much to jerk him awake that time. His eyes were shining with tears and fear. They flickered around the room till the rested on me.

"Rory..." He looked concerned. His face scrunched up a bit before he clenched his eyes shut again and turned into his pillow. I heard him let out a sob and saw his body tremble.

"Cal? What's wrong?" I wrapped my arm around him, but he didn't react to it. "Calm down, Cal. It's alright. Just stay calm-"

"Rory, I'm sorry." He cried out.