Drown

Chapter 3

I finally passed out sometime in the early hours of the morning.  But the sleep that I had struggled for was short lived.  At 4:04 am, my eyes opened again.  I stared up at the ceiling for the longest time.  I didn't know what exactly had woken me up.  But I had a terrible urge to go check on Greyson.  That sounded creepy, even to me.  We'd only just met and he thought I hated him, but I needed to make sure he was okay.

I got off of the couch, quietly crossing the living room and going down the hall.  The doorknob turned without a sound, and I pushed open the door slowly.  Aaron had told me that Greyson didn't sleep; so I expected him to be sitting up and alert.  But instead, he was completely unconscious.  He was lying on his stomach, using his arms as a pillow, with his head at the foot of the bed.  A notebook was laying open next to him and a pencil was clenched in his left fist.  It seemed that he'd fallen asleep while writing something.  

The city sounds coming in from the street below were accompanied by the quiet sound of Greyson's breathing.  Everything seemed so at peace; and it was killing me that that wasn't true.  Greyson's mind was likely to be spinning, even in his sleep.  He thought I hated him.  I just stood there in the doorway, trying to decide how this was all going to play out.   He might hate me because he thought I hated him.  He might think I was some kind of cute, but nothing more.  He might be feeling what I was feeling; love for a person I hardly knew.  Or he might have never had any feelings towards me at all.  He might not feel a thing. 

There was nothing peaceful about this room.

I forced myself to leave the room after another minute or so.  If Greyson were to wake up with me standing there, things would probably get worse.  I decided not to try and go back to sleep.  I knew it wouldn't happen, and Aaron would be waking up soon anyway.  So I went into the kitchen and made him breakfast; my best attempt at both a goodbye and an apology.

"I smell bacon." Aaron said, ducking into the kitchen around 4:45am.  

"You're lucky we're friends.  This stuff is revolting."  I said, smiling.

"Ah well, you wouldn't be touching it if I wasn't leaving."  he said. "Or if you weren't trying to look like less of a dick."

"What do you want me to say?"  I asked. "I told you I was sorry.  I'll tell him when you leave.  It's going to be okay."

"Well you just better not abuse my family."  he smiled.

"I wouldn't.  Oh, by the way, you lied to me."

"About what?"  he asked.

"He does sleep.  I don't know how much, but he does."

"Did you go into his room last night?"  Aaron gasped, trying to sound dramatic.

"I was, uh, I thought I heard something."  I lied, feeling my face fading to red.

"Okay.  Sure you were.  You love him.  But remember, no hooking up."  

Aaron made a face like he was going to vomit, then cupped his hands around his mouth and screamed.

"GREYSON!  WAKE UP!  FIRE!  DESTRUCTION!  SO MUCH DEATH!" 

I expected him to come out of his room being a little more panicked.  But he just walked out, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"See if that were real you'd be dead."  Aaron laughed. "You failed the fire drill."

Greyson moved his hands away from his face, looked over at us, and shrugged his shoulders.   From my place at the stove, I watched this almost lifeless body walk over to the breakfast bar, pull the second chair closer to Aaron, sit down, and collapse.