Stay With Me (Sammy x Norman)

Chapter 3

It was Friday afternoon and Sammy was working on his third song, he was nearly finished, then slumped over and fell asleep on his desk.
He woke up to someone shaking him. He looked up to see Jack, looking concerned. "Hey Sammy, you okay?" Jack asked softly. Sammy shot up in his seat with a jolt of panic.
"What time is it?!" He asked Jack with wide eyes. "It's lunchtime, you hungry, you haven't eaten since...the beginning of the week." Jack said.
"NO! I have to finish this before the end of the day, and get it approved!" Sammy shouted in frustration, grabbing his pen.
Jack sighed and left his office. Sammy was so tired and hungry, and his legs were cramped from not getting up for anything but to get coffee.
He finally finished the last song an hour before it was due. Sammy sighed relieved, and felt relaxed for the first time all week.
His stomach growled loudly and his eyelids were droopy. "Jack's wrong, I'm fine." Sammy said. He hugged himself, pulling his arms tightly around his aching stomach. Through his shirt he could feel his own bones.
He yelped and pulled his arms away from his chest. He poked himself again. Yep, he had definitely lost a lot of weight, and that's as bad since he was already really skinny in the first place.
"I'd better go eat something after I give these to Joey." Sammy groaned. He walked to Joey's office, then handed his boss the music sheets.
Joey nodded. "Hand them over to Jack." He said, then shooed Sammy out of his office. Sammy was so tired he could barley walk.
He spotted Jack in the music department and gave him the sheets. "Jeeze Sammy, you look terrible." Jack said.
"Nah, I'm fine, I just need some sleep that's all." Sammy said. "I thought you have been sleeping." Jack said with an eyebrow raised.
"Haven't slept since last weekend, but that's fine, I'll just sleep this weekend." Sammy gave Jack an unreassuring smile.
Sammy went to leave since the day was over and he wanted to go home.
While Sammy left, Jack instantly ran to Norman's office since it was closest. "Hey guess what?" Jack said. "Hmm?" Norman looked up from replacing a lightbulb on a projector.
"Joey's making Sammy overwork and the poor guy hasn't eaten or slept since last Sunday!" Jack said. Norman dropped the old lightbulb that instantly shattered.
"What! Is Sammy okay?" Norman asked. "Well, he says he's fine, but you can literally see his bones through his shirt so I don't think he is." Jack explained.
Jack and Norman went to go tell all their other coworkers about Sammy. All the workers were gathered in the break room, talking about what they should do.
"If we complain to Joey, he'll fire us, simple as that!" Grant said. "But I love my job, I don't want to get fired." Susie said.
"Does Henry know?" Shawn asked. "I'm worried if we tell him he might get us in trouble, he's Joey's best friend after all." Jack said.
They all went home in disappointment, not knowing what to do. Monday came and Sammy was seen at work going to Joey's office to see what song he was supposed to work on now.
"Lawrence, since you completed three songs last week, you seem capable enough to do that every week. Ask Henry for cartoons." Joey then dismisses Sammy.
Sammy went to Henry's office and told him that he needed three more cartoons. "Wow, Joey sure has you busy, you sure it's not too much work?" Henry asked.
Sammy nodded. "I'll manage." He replied. Henry showed him the cartoons and then Sammy walked to his office.
The same thing as last week happened, Sammy got no sleep or food, and stayed all night at the studio working without a brake.
Coffee no longer had an affect on him so he gave up on going to get it. Every few hours he would stand up, stretch for a few seconds, then sit back down.
By the end of the week he had the three songs done but was in worse shape than last time.
Sammy walked down the halls towards Joey's office. He would occasionally bump into the wall and almost fall over, and every worker he passed looked concerned.
Norman was walking down the hall to go to his department to test if the cartoons worked right. He went around the corner and bumped into Sammy. He stumbled backwards, mumbling "sorry," and continued walking without even glancing to see who he'd ran into.
Norman watched in pity as Sammy clumsily stumbled around in the halls and kept bumping into the walls and nearly falling over.
Norman decided there was only one thing he could do. He had to talk to Joey, and risk getting fired.