Miserably Loving You.

Ten hours of sleep was just pure bliss, but I was fucking kidding myself when I thought I broke the insomnia trend.

The only time I ever slept that much was when my body crashed from physical exhaustion. Usually I was lucky enough to make it home before that happened, but occasionally I wasn't so lucky.

The first night after that wonderful plethora of sleep wasn't so bad, and I did lay in bed for four hours and tried to sleep, but I failed.

The second night was a little more annoying. I could feel how tired I was and I knew how badly I wanted to sleep, and again I did try to make it happen... But nothing.

Night three was almost unbearable so I tried taking some NyQuil, and I got an hour of sleep but that was it.

I figured that was better than nothing so I took it. But as night four rolled around I started getting desperate, so I started playing back all that happened that night I got sleep.

There was rain, it wasn't unbearably hot, and there was Gage. So I looked around my room and did an evaluation. It was raining outside again, I turned down the thermostat, so now all I was missing was Gage.

Ugh that kind of felt weird to say... I mean I like him, don't get me wrong, but I don't think I've ever said more than three sentences to him at a time and now I'm almost about to start completely relying on him as a sleep aide.

But the more I thought about that, the less I cared. He was a sweet kid (unnaturally sweet), he clearly cared about my well being, and he smelled nice. It wasn't like I was planning out my future with him, I just needed his assistance.

But now that sounds like I'm using him, and that's not at all what I wanted to do.

I sighed momentarily but then heard two different laughs coming from down the hall. It was kind of late, and it was a school night so usually Gage didn't sleep over unless there was a specific reason... But maybe I missed a "crucial" conversation earlier.

Instead of waiting for my body to give out on me, I decided to take action and go to my sisters room. I knocked just loud enough for them to hear and then peeked my head in.

"Leighton!" Violet cheered as if she hadn't seen me for years. "Are we being too loud?" I gave her an incredulous look and she just laughed.

"No, actually I was hoping to talk to Gage real quick." Violet glanced over at Gage and he looked back at me nervously.

"Oh uhm... Okay..." He got up quickly and followed me out of the room and into the hallway. I now kind of wish I would have thought this idea of mine out a little bit before trying to execute it. "So... What's up?"

"Okay this is going to sound like a weird request, but I have not slept since Saturday... I don't know what you did or what was different about that night but... After so many years of not sleeping a full nights sleep, I'd really like to be able to again..."

"So you want me to sleep in your room again?" He asked, his eyes larger than saucers now.

"If you wouldn't mind, I understand if you-"

"He can't tonight Leighton, we've got to finish a project tonight." I glanced over to Violets door to see her emerging from it. "I'm sorry brother but we really got to get this done. We probably won't be sleeping tonight either..."

I sighed understandingly, this wasn't their problem, but my hope in any kind of relief was slowly dwindling away.

"I'm sorry Leighton." Gage mumbled, a clear look of grief plaguing his face as Violet started pulling him back into her room.

"Don't worry about it, I just thought I'd ask." I said, offering up one of weird half hearted still waves before retreating back and into my room.

I groaned once I was safely confined in my little cave and decided that I'd just forgo attempting to sleep at all tonight. The less I tried the sooner my body would just give in and crash from exhaustion.

So I broke into my junk food stash, stripped down into just my boxers, and started my Wii U up.

By now I had the maps for Mario Kart memorized so it was all now just about avoiding the assholes online who tried throwing stuff at me.

Eventually I ran out of chips and needed more sustenance so I made myself a bowl of cereal real quick and retreated back into my room; and seeing as playing a two hand required game and eating cereal was almost impossible and inconvenient as hell, I switched my gears and turned on Netflix.

But before I could even start my favorite Liam Neeson movie the door to my room creaked open and Gage crept in.

"Hey Leigh- oh shit I'm so sorry!" He covered his eyes and turned around abruptly. "I should have knocked, I just didn't want to make any noise."

For a second I was curious as to why he was spazzing so badly, but then I realized I was practically naked and scratching part of my manhood.

"Oh no! It's okay, just an itch." I laughed and stood up to put my sweats back on. "What's up?"

"Violet passed out, and I finished the rest of our work... So I wanted to see if you still wanted whatever assistance I can offer." He mumbled as he rubbed the side of his neck.

"Oh really?! That would be great!" I cheered excitedly. "Uh... Well shit. Uhm, here you go ahead and get comfortable and sleep while I go take a shower! So things are almost exactly how they were last time! Thank you thank you thank you!" I pulled him into a tight hug and let him go before awkwardly grabbing my clothes and leaving.

A huge relief washed over me as I showered, I couldn't believe how excited I was now to be unconscious! Usually I cherish my shower time, but I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Once I was dried and dressed I scurried back into my room and found Gage passed out in my bed; so I quickly turned off the light and climbed in beside him. He shuffled a little as I shifted to get more comfortable, but as soon as I settled he was cuddled right up next to me.

It was cute and ridiculously endearing, and for a second I contemplated recording him just to show him how adorable he was, but then I realized how creepy that was and decided against it.

Instead I settled with loosely wrapping my arm around him in my own way of thanking him... Because who doesn't like cuddling? Right?

Before long I could feel that heaviness creeping back to me, and I welcomed it with open arms and fell asleep within minutes.