Asterism

25. no but's

"WE'RE great, yeah, I-I asked her to move in with me last night...she said yes...no particular reason...I'm not lying, Ian...we're obviously fine if she's moving in...I don't sound upset, it's six am here-...I'm not always happy in the morning....it's three there, so why are you awake right now...you have school in five hours...PA day, since when...Ian, you know how pulling all nighters fucks up your sleep, and it's important you take your pill at the same time every night...it's not a bandaid medication, it's meant to get you back on track so that you can wean off of it and onto the melatonin..."

Marley rolled over in bed, letting out a quiet yawn and blinking the balcony windows into focus as she tucked the duvet up under her chin.

Aiden was sat on one of the patio chairs outside, a steaming mug of coffee on the table in front of him. He was still in the sweatpants he fell asleep in - which meant he hadn't gone to the gym this morning - but he'd thrown on one of his hoodies so he could sit outside to talk to his brother like he does every day, except usually that daily conversation is far later than six in the morning Providence time, and three in the morning in their time zone back home in California.

Marley watched Aiden's body sag, rubbing a tired hand over his face as he spoke again. "You have insomnia, Ian, you will never get tired...if you need to go back on the prescription, I'll call your doctor, but it's not a long-term solution-...then you can't stay up late at all, and you need to accept that..."

Awake now, Marley curled her legs up as she watched her boyfriend fight a very familiar fight with his younger brother, Ian. They kept it private for a while, but eventually Marley found out about Ian's chronic insomnia - a condition that makes it difficult for him to fall asleep, stay asleep, and get proper sleep to not feel tired during the day. Over the last couple of years, Ian has been taking sleeping pills but no sleeping pills are meant to be a long-term solution, they are only to set a sleeping schedule that Ian then has to abide by to a T. Ian's end of the work has been a struggle to say the least, because any sixteen year old would hate to go to bed at ten every night with no exceptions.

Ian and Aiden get to this place quite often, where he is weaning off of his sleeping meds, then stays up late a few nights which means his insomnia comes right back. He then, either doesn't sleep at all for days or only gets two hours of sleep when he does end up sleeping. Other fights include when Ian gets back on the meds but only takes them when he wants to go to bed early.

"...I don't care what Douchebag Dylan's time zone is, he can stay up late without it affecting his health...then don't talk to him every day if he's so busy...I'll call him myself-the fuck I scare him, that's bullshit...he's still dating you, isn't he?"

Marley watched Aiden tiredly rub his face again, and felt an insane amount of guilt spike through her. The fact that he already has to deal with his brother's day-to-day problems back home, and clearly has plenty to worry about in the case of Ian's mental health on top of his school work and football commitments - means that he doesn't need his girlfriend falling apart too. Her boyfriend is eighteen years old, and he has the weight of the world on his shoulders as it is.

Marley's should've kept lying to him last night.

She should've maintained the act until he believed her, she should've devoured that entire damn soup as soon as it was in front of her - she could've left the diner and not eaten the entire next day, and her weight and Aiden's stress levels wouldn't have been affected. Marley should've told him she was physically sick, she should've told him she had a freaking stomach ulcer, anything but the truth, anything but this. Because he's dealing with enough. He has enough going on in his life without having to be strong for another broken person.