Miserably Loving You.

I was really glad that Leighton finally decided to go to my dad for help with his insomnia. I hated seeing him so... so tired all the time and so frustrated from the lack of sleep.

Hopefully the pills actually worked for him. But...but now that he has these pills he won't need me anymore. Whenever he needed to sleep he wouldn't come to me for help. He'd just take a freaking pill.

I frowned softly at the sudden realization.

I wouldn't be able to fall asleep next to him or wake up next to him, because he's replacing me with a drug. And I was just starting to get addicted to sharing a bed with him.

A sigh slipped past my lips as I turned the light out in the bathroom and made my way slowly down the stairs and to the kitchen. I grabbed a poptart and ate it before making my way next door.

Unlike Violet, I didn;t feel comfortable just letting myself into their home so I rung the doorbell and waited for someone to let me in.

"Good morning best friend!" Violet said cheerfully while pulling me into a hug.

I wrapped my arms around her and returned the greeting and she dragged me through the door and into the kitchen where her mom and Leighton were.

I greeted them both as I entered the kitchen, my eyes lingering on Leighton until Ms. McQuin pulled me into a hug. It took a while for me to reassure her that I wasn't hungry and that I'd already eaten breakfast. After Leighton and Violet were finished eating we said our goodbyes to Ms. McQuin and made our way out to Leighton's car.

It was the first day Leighton started using his medicine and while I was really happy that it'd help him in the longrun I was also nervous about the effect it'd have on him. I sat in the seat behind the passenger's seat so I could keep an eye on him.

Like usual the ride to school was mostly quiet except for when Violet decided to fill the silence with her voice. I'd give an input every now and again but I mostly kept quiet (while I stared at her brother hopefully without him knowing). His eyes were half-lidded and just on the verge of closing and he'd occasionally let out a yawn.

I wonder if his medicine was already having an effect on his body.

I opened my mouth to say something but we were already pulling into the school's parking lot. As we got out of the car I opened my mouth to say something again but I didn't know exactly what to say so I closed my mouth and Violet dragged me away after saying a brief goodbye to her brother.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Oh my god Gage, you're acting like my brother," Violet sighs dramatically.

I blink and look at my friend with a blank expression on my face.

"He's always staring off into space like that. He's so weird."

Whenever she says things like that I just have this instinct to take up for Leighton. I don't know why. I just do. And I know she doesn't mean any harm by it after all he is her brother.

"I was just thinking," I say shrugging.

Thinking about Leighton and how he looked so close to passing out while driving. Maybe getting these pills was a bad idea. Or maybe he just has to get used to them? I don't know.

I can just see him sitting in class right now with his head down completely passed out. I guess it's a good change since before he couldn't get to sleep at all.

I don't know, but I wouldn't mind sharing a bed with him again to help him sleep.

"And now you have a creepy smile on your face and I don't even want to know."

My face is heating up and Violet is giving me a weird look.

"Violet," I groan.

She laughs at me and my cheeks continue to heat up. I think she lives to embarrass me.

"Jeez, I was just kidding Gage. I love that you fluster so easily."

I pout and Violet pats me on the head. I stuck my tongue out at her and then went back to vaguely paying attention to the teacher.

My mind was mostly fixated on Leighton.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As soon as we entered the cafeteria I immediately scoped out the room for Leighton as usual. When I found him at his usual table a smile lit up my face until I noticed that he was asleep.

I wonder if he even ate anything yet. I ignored Violet's comment about her brother and made my way to the line to get some food.

Once we made it to the table Leighton was sitting at Violet slammed her tray on the table causing Leighton to jump at the sudden action.

I narrowed my eyes at my friend who was laughing at her brother's groggy expression.

"Those drugs are really working, huh?" she asks between giggles.

Ignoring Violet I sat the tray in front of Leighton.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

My stomach flips as he looks up at me with his half-lidded eyes.

Fuck.

"I'm fine. The medicine just makes me a little drowsy," he replies giving me a lazy smile.

Goddamn you, Leighton and your perfection.

"Uhm, I brought you food. I wasn't sure if you ate already or anything so I brought you back a tray just in case and uhm yeah...."

My cheeks were a million shades of red at the end of my little rant.

"Oh, thanks Gage, that was sweet of you."

Dammit.

"N-no problem," I stutter before taking a seat across from him.

I felt eyes burning holes into my side so I turn to see Violet giving me a look I couldn't quite decipher.

"What?" I say wearily.

"Nothing," she says nonchalantly, taking a bite of a fry.

"You didn't get anything to eat?"

I look up to see Leighton looking at me. "Oh, uhm no. I'm not really hungry," I say shrugging.

Leighton gave me a skeptical look before setting a fruit cup in front of me. "You should eat something."

"Oh, thank you," I say softly.

I steal Violet's spork and stab at a grape before putting it in my mouth. The rest of lunch was mostly spent in silence, but I didn't really mind much.

"Make sure you don't fall asleep in class," Violet said as we exited the cafeteria.

Her brother rolls his eyes at her and I just smiled softly. "See you after school," I say quietly, blushing when Leighton turns and smiles at me.

Violet hooks her arm with mine and drags me away too soon.

"Don't be such a jerk to him," I mutter.

I can feel Violet look at me, but I keep my eyes straight ahead. She snorts, "I'm just kidding with him! Besides, he's a big boy he can handle it."

I just roll my eyes at her and stay quiet. "I just don't understand why you're always taking up for him. You're supposed to be my best friend."

You don't need to understand I want to say, but don't. I just let it go.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After school Violet and I walked back to Leighton's car together as usual and waited for Leighton to come out. When he finally made it out Violet let out an exaggerated groan and complained about how he took so long or something. I wasn't really paying attention.

Leighton was still heavy-eyed and looked like he would pass out at any moment.

"What're you doing?" Violet asks suddenly.

"Huh?" I asked confusedly.

"Why are you getting in the front?"

"Oh..." I looked down at my hand reaching for the passenger door and then back at Violet shrugging sheepishly.

"Because he's finally grown sick of you," Leighton laughs.

Violet glares and sticks her tongue out at him. "Whatever, Gage. You can trade me for his lame ass I don't care," Violet pouts.

I smile at my friend. "Don't worry. No one could ever replace you," I say patting her shoulder.

"Damn right no one will replace me. Especially not him," she says motioning to Leighton, who was already in the car.

I just grin as we finally get into the car and Leighton pulls out of the parking lot. I glance over at him every now and again making sure he was okay and wasn't falling asleep. The last thing we needed was Leighton falling asleep at the wheel. Every now and again I'd see his eyes on the verge of closing before he'd blink them open again.

I frown at him and absentmindedly place my hand on top of his hand that wasn't on the steering wheel. My eyes widened and my cheeks flared as he glanced over at me.

"I-I'm s-sorry I just-you looked like you were about to fall asleep and I-"

I quickly remove my hand and place both of them in my lap.

Leighton lets out a laugh and I reluctantly look back over at him. "It's okay. I'm not going to fall asleep, I'm fine. So you don't have to worry."

I nod, but keep glancing at him just to make sure.

When we made it home, I followed them into their house and Violet and I went up to her room to start on our homework.

"Ugh, I hate homework," Violet groans as she falls onto her bed.

I smile at her as I sit on the floor and begin pulling books out of my backpack. "You hate anything school related."

"That's why I'm not going to college and I'm gonna marry a billionaire so I won't have to work," Violet replies as she joins me on the floor.

Speaking of college...Leighton will be going off to college soon. I didn't want to think about it though.

After a while of homework we decided to take a break. Violet went to go get snacks and I picked a movie. After setting up the movie I decided to go check on Leighton.

I knocked on the door and then open it peeking my head inside. "Leighton?" I call quietly.

He was sitting on his bed playing his Wii U in his underwear as usual. He looked up at the sound of my voice and I blushed lightly. "Uhmm if you're not busy Violet and I are gonna watch a movie. I-if you want to join us. I mean unless you want to sleep."

"I'm not sleeping until later, so I'll join you two let me just put on some pants."

I nod and then quickly make my way back to Violet's room. I sat on her bed grabbing one of her fluffy pillows and she grabs one of her beanbags and lays on the floor. When Leighton joins us he takes the spot next to me.

I smile to myself as I made myself comfortable. I like how after that sort-of-fight Violet and I had we fell back into our normal routine like nothing ever happened. I don't know what I'd do without her.

It wasn't even halfway through the movie when I felt a weight against me and looked over to see that Leighton had fell asleep. And his head was on my shoulder. My heart started beating fast and I started to inwardly freak out.

Somehow I got my heart rate back to normal and relaxed back into Violet's bed. I didn't want to move and knock him off of me so I tried to stay as still as possible. I let out a soft content sigh and bit my lip as I looked down at Leighton. A small smile slid across my lips as I stared adoringly down at him running my fingers through his short hair.

For a second I forgot that Violet was in the room. I froze and turned to look at my friend, but her eyes were trained on the movie still. I let out a silent sigh of relief and went back to running my fingers through Leighton's hair, the smile back on my face as I turned my attention back to the movie.