The Backpacker's Dream

25. Is Santa Alive?

A heavy silence was dancing in the dark room. We could only hear each other's breath and sometimes the curtains of the window were trying to intervene in this silence. Sleep wasn't on its way since the spring of the sofa decided to torture my back.

'Brayden, are you asleep?'

He didn't say anything for quite a long time and then he shifted on his bed and looked at me. Only the moonlight was our source to see each other and maybe we needed this serene silence to understand each other.

'Why did you call me carrot when we met for the first time?'

He lightly chuckled but the sound was so clear in this darkness. 'It's because that day you were wearing a t-shirt that had nothing but carrots on it. We were surrounded by cops and that gave me panic and I got muted to everything around us, forgot everything even your name and called you carrot.'

He was still for a second when he asked, 'and why did you call me rabbit?'

'I actually have no idea why did I call you rabbit. At first, I called you because of your teeth...' He groaned. 'But they seem fine to me now. I think sometimes we do things which have no reason, we just do. If you want I can call you Brayden only?'

'I don't know but Brayden seems so...so...' he took an eternity to ponder and I thought he dozed off in the middle itself. 'Yeah, it seems so formal when you say it like that. I think I am fine with Rabbit.'

I even asked him whether the law that had bound us could it be taken seriously? And he simply answered, 'play with Tight Screw Ville's law and they will screw you for the rest of your life.'

The night seemed bearable now and I had endless questions to ask.

'Hey Rabbit!!' His response was a slight hum.

'Will you jerk off in the middle of the night?'

HEAVY DEAD SILENCE

'Yeah, Why not? After all, it's not like I am living with someone who has totally disrupted my peace of mind and definitely not as that every day feels like a terrible hell hole.' 

Sarcasm was dripping like honey from his poisonous tongue.

'I will take this as a compliment. It's not every day I meet with people whose peace I disrupt.'

'Sure, why not?'

And then his grumpy ass settled more comfortably on the bed where his head was getting all the comfort of soft pillow unlike mine that was settled on somewhat hard rock kind of a sofa.

'One more question, will you....'

'SCARLETT, shut up and sleep. Good night.' Idiot didn't even let me finish the question.

'Right away, sir. Good night.'

I tossed and turned and my "good night" was turning into a terrible night. Hours seemed to rush and sleep was miles away. I was getting agitated, frustrated and my bra buckle on top of it was killing me. I uncovered myself from the layers of the quilt and stretched my hands out and did the talent that every girl was a master of 'to take out your bra without removing your shirt.' I was doing it peacefully when suddenly I heard a scream that resonated in the empty walls of the dark room and I sat upright.

'What?? What happened? Why did you scream, Rabbit?' My heart was in my mouth.

'I don't know. I was trying to sleep and suddenly I see two hands up in the air and the moonlight and shadow played a trick...' He stopped to take a deep breath since he was running a marathon while saying it. 'And it looked so huge. Was that you?'