Eight Dollars (Trixya)

Night 6

It was about four am, and I couldn't  sleep, the new information of the day rushing around my head. The normally soothing hum of the bus' engine seemed now to be mocking my inability to find rest, even when I was trying every technique I knew to help me drop off. I gave a a deep sigh, half resigned to my fate of never finding sleep again.

"Brian?" Came the whisper from the bunk below me.

"Yeah?"

"Can you not sleep either?"

"No,"

"Do you wanna sit in the lounge and just give up for a bit?" he asked, and I thought that sounded like a great idea.

We both emerged from our bunks, and I quickly pulled on my hoodie to shield me from the chill air of the dark bus. I sat down on the sofa, switching on a lamp, watching in amusement as Brian struggled to put his hoodie on as it was half inside out. After a moment, he whisper-shouted for me to come and help him out, which I did. Eventually, his face emerged, a joking scowl on his face.

"I could totally hear you laughing at me, you know!"

We both made our way over to the sofa, sitting next to each other. Brian seemed particularly cuddly that night, so he ended up shifting to be lying down resting his head in my lap as we both went through social media on our phones, occasionally showing each other posts we thought the other would like (but thankfully none like the tweets I knew he'd seen earlier). We were in our own little world as the bus moved along.

I found myself absent-mindedly running my hand through his short hair, and he made a noise of contention. I already felt more peaceful than I had in my bunk.

Somewhere between Brian falling asleep, still lying on me, and me also drifting off, I realised that this thing was so much more than just a silly crush. I wasn't sure how I hadn't seen it before, but it hit me then. I was in love with Brian. I couldn't tell when I'd fallen for him, but I was so far gone, some part of me must have known it was long ago.

I gently ran my hand through his hair again, watching his slow breaths as my eyes began to close, and decided that just maybe it was all ok.