It's now 10:07pm, and I'm dead tired. From all the crying, trying to not cry and failing, and anxiety, I'm practically dead. I know Asher senses and sees this, since he starts talking.
"Do you want to go to sleep?" He asked. The air mattress was sitting in the corner, not yet blown up.
I nodded slowly, definitely not arguing about that. He nodded back.
"Ok so do you want the air mattress or bed?" He asked.
"I'll take the air mattress," I said, not going to take his bed away from him. That just felt like I would be needy.
He shook his head. "Take my bed," he said, walking over to the air mattress. He plugged the thing to blow it up in, and it started filling up.
I sighed, not having the energy to argue. I stood up and crawled into his bed, and I had to admit, it was extremely comfortable. Much better than the one at my house.
The air mattress was now blown up, and he grabbed some sheets, a comforter, and two pillows. He put them on top of it, and walked over to the lightswitch. Asher clicked them off and then crawled onto the air mattress.
Now in darkness and laying on my own, the crushing weight of the situation crashed down onto my shoulders instantly.
She's going to die. I won't have my sister, the one person that cares about me. Everything is a lie.
I struggle to keep back the tears again, managing to cry silently. It's going pretty well, but my mind won't stop.
I'm now louder, and I can tell Asher heard me because I heard the fabric swish. It sounded like he lifted his head of the pillow.
I bite my tongue and stop for about five seconds, relaxing when I hear his head touch the pillow again.
As soon as I unclench my teeth off of my tongue, I start crying audibly again.
Why am I so stupid, just stop crying.
I just want to fall asleep. I close my eyes, trying to control the sounds coming out of my mouth. I hear the sheets that Asher is using move, and then I see him stand up.
What the heck is he doing? Maybe he has to get some water, or go to the bathroom, or go to the couch because he can't stand my crying. I need to stop.
He starts walking, first I think it's towards the door, but then I realize it's towards the bed I am laying in. My heart stops, I don't know what to think.
•••
I don't know why I'm doing this. I'm just tired of being the guy that has no emotions, the guy that always wears black shirts with ripped jeans, the guy that has no friends.
I go over to my bed where Riley is supposed to be sleeping, but obviously having a rough time.
I feel so bad. She's had more happen than I know of, she has to take up jobs to support her family, and she's probably going to get fired for missing days while she's here. Her sister isn't in good condition, everything is just going so badly for her. I have to help, I just have to.
I sit down on the bed, looking down at her. I see that she has closed her eyes and is now pretending like she had been sleep crying or some stupid excuse.
"I'm not that dumb, you know," I whispered with a smile.
She opened her eyes, I couldn't see them too well since it was dark, but I could infer they were red.
I get under the covers, and she moves away slowly, trying to not let me notice. I don't know if she wants me to do this, but it just feels like the right thing to do. The least I can do is to not let her cry alone.
She's probably shocked by what I'm doing, but she rolls over and appears to be unfazed on the outside.
I have a feeling her mind will start going again, being she's now staring into darkness. Out of all of the people I know, I would bet that she would be the one to go into deep thought at any given moment.
She starts to cry again. I guessed right. She's trying to hold it in and be silent, and doing pretty well, but I'm not that dumb.
"Turn over," I say quietly to her, wanting to help.
No response.
"Hey, can you hear me? Please turn over," I say a little louder.
No response again.
"I want to help, Riley. I really do. Please, just turn over. It's ok, I promise," I state again, speaking at a normal volume when saying this.
She finally rolls over, I don't need to see her face to know she had been crying. It's not an uncommon thing.
"Thank you. I just want you to know, I'm here for you. I won't make fun of you, ok? I'm going to really try and change up my act. Please just give it a chance," I say quieter again, really meaning it.
"Ok, ok," she says, her voice crackly, nodding slightly. "Please don't be lying to me, oh please don't be. I really don't want anything else to go wrong right now. I'm trusting you Asher," she added, almost a hint of begging in her voice.
"I'm not lying, I'm really going to try. If you need anything at all, just ask. You deserve something after all of this," I say, almost surprised at how sincere my voice is. I haven't been this nice since, well, probably forever.
She nods, and that's all she needed to do. I smile at her and close my eyes, wanting to go to sleep, hoping she would be better in the morning.
I'm guessing she closed her eyes as well, and I'm stupid for thinking her thoughts would just disappear. I hear the quiet sound of her crying again.
I don't know what I'm supposed to do. What do I do, what do I do?
Without thinking it through, I move forward towards her slightly and open my eyes. I wrap my one arm around her, and she stops crying out of shock. She jumps slightly at first contact, and her eyes widen at me.
I just pull her close and shut my eyes. She doesn't move away, she gets comfortable onto the pillow and stays in my arm.
I slightly open one eye, and I see that her eyes are closed. I shut mine again.
A small smile spreads on my face as I drift into sleep, knowing I helped, and it was my first step to being a better person.
AUTHORS NOTE:
100 reads?!? Thank you so so SO much for the support on this. I can't believe people like this. I hope you like this part, I moved along the ship. If you think this is the end and everything is all perfect, I'll give you a little glance into the future, I'm really hoping this isn't close to one. I really enjoy writing, so I'll try to keep it interesting. Thank you so much!! Trying to write as quick as possible without making it bad.
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General FictionRiley, a girl trying to support her family by working two jobs under aged, has to deal with school life, work, and life at home. • Asher has everything, a loving family, cozy house, full meals every day, but still has a reputation that he hates ever...
