Overstimulated

Bonus: No Sleep Club

Melatonin - a natural supplement used as a short term treatment to combat sleep troubles caused by stress, jetlag, shift work, and the like.

Or so it's supposed to.

Aurora had taken the prescribed dosage at the prescribed two hours before she had gotten into bed but had yet to feel the prescribed sleepiness it was supposed to induce.

Disdain had settled deeply into her bones as she looked from her star-speckled ceiling over to her nightstand, dreading the time her digital clock would display.

1:13 AM.

Four hours of tossing and turning since she swallowed the two tablets and she was no closer to sleep than before. The 7:30 wake up call that was programmed into her phone felt like a ghastly ghoul stalking her through the night. It's icy fingers ghosting over the hairs on the back of her neck doing nothing to dispel the anxiety she could feel churning in her gut. She was anxious about the photoshoot Kamia had scheduled for her. That anxiety was currently eating at her like a nightmarish game of Pac Man, forcing sleep further away and landing her into her current predicament. She couldn't sleep because she was anxious which in turn made her anxious about not sleeping.

"This some bullshit," she fumed before tossing the covers to the side and swinging her legs over the edge.

Laying in bed was getting her exactly nowhere and she was hungry for..... something, a side effect of the medicine no doubt.

She retrieved the box of Ritz Bits crackers from her cabinet, munching on the cheese-flavored snack by the fistful as her electric kettle kicked to life on its stand.

In all reality, Aurora shouldn't be this nervous. She would be with familiar company after all. Her cousin had accepted the offer to be the photographer for the shoot instantly. Refusing all forms of payment the trio had offered him; citing that the opportunity to finally photograph his "favorite cousin" and contribute to her growing success as more than enough to cover the two hours of time they were borrowing from him.

Aurora had rolled her eyes at the email for a number of reasons; her being his only cousin was at the top of that list. But he was doing them a huge favor, nevertheless. With how sought after he was in the fashion world, they were probably offering him pennies compared to what he would normally charge. His generosity was genuine and much appreciated.

A thick chunk of honeycomb was added almost robotically to the mug of spearmint rose tea Ari was now shuffling over to the couch with, her thoughts consumed by the schedule set out for her tomorrow. As it stood, she barely had enough time to squeeze in a proper lunch with the back to back meetings on the lineup, so the lack of sleep she was hoping to get was already working against her.

"Ugh," she moaned pitifully. Jade was probably going to make her take a 5-hour energy. She hated those fucking things.

She ate a few more crackers between sips of the fragrant tea, not bothering to turn the television on, as she forced all thoughts of tomorrow away from her mind. There was no use dwelling over an outcome she couldn't change.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The surprised and slightly panicked squeak Aurora had let out quickly morphed into a groan of pain when the still hot tea she was sipping spilled onto her bare thigh.

"Fuck!" she hissed, mopping it up quickly with the throw cover that hung over the back of the couch. The beginnings of a splotch red mark was already starting to form on the skin that only promised to darken as time went on.