neurotic | ashton irwin

part nine

"Whiley, you and Michael are in this room, and all the Irwin's are in this one!" Mrs. Irwin said, showing me the connected hotel rooms. I nodded at her, moving farther into the clean room that seemed to be the exact opposite of the run-down home Michael and I lived in.

"Cool, thanks," I said, nodding.

I was slightly shaken up from the car ride still, and wanted to take a nap. It was just after 6 in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, and Harry saw at least three restaurants that he wanted to go to that night. I wasn't in the mood to eat anything, but I knew Michael wanted me to be as well as I could while with the Irwin's.

I was sure that in my Whiley way, I would screw something up.

"Whiles and I are going to unpack, but we will be ready for dinner around seven, sound good?" Michael said, hinting that the straggling Irwin's looking our room should head back through the shared door. They all quickly got the message, muttering goodbye's and walking out. Michael shut the door behind Harry, who had been the hardest to convince to leave.

Instead of unpacking like Michael said, I plopped down onto the bed nearest the balcony and burried my face into the white fluffy pillows.

"Whiles, are you going to be okay?" Michael's voice met my ears even though I had the down pillows pressed to them. I groaned in response.

I probably wasn't going to be okay. I probably wasn't going to manage to pull through mental instabilitites. Like, really? My brain just creates it's own stress by itself and I am completely fucked over by it. I can't even sit in a car with people and be normal.

I felt the bed dipped near my side and a hand was placed on my back, slowly rubbing in big and comforting circles. I recoiled from the touch, flipping onto my back and scooting away from my brother. His face was contorted into a look of worry.

"Whiley?" He asked.

"I am going to be okay," I said, hoping more than confirming. It felt like a lie.

"I know, I know that you are, but how are you feeling right now?" Michael asked, moving farther onto my bed.

"I am fine, Mike, I'm fine." I was getting annoyed with the Brother Bear act. I didn't want him treating me like I was an incredibly fragile porcelien doll (even if that is exaclty what I am).

"Okay, okay. You're fine," Michael said, clearly understanding my irritation. "How about a quick nap before dinner?"

My brother sure did know me well enough to know that if there is one thing I want to do in life, it's sleep. I lucked out. Sometimes, some people's demons don't go away when they sleep. Sometimes, some people's demons arrive when they sleep. However, I don't even remember any of my dreams anyway, so nightmares are not a problem of mine. (Although, can you imagine someone as fucked up as me having nightmares, too? That would be simply cruel.)

"Yes, I have been waiting for a nap my whole life!" I moaned, pushing Michael off of my bed. I pulled back the covers and climbed underneath, deeming the leggings and t-shirt were fine options for a quick nap.

=

By the time I woke up, a lot of different things were happening. For one, the entire left half of my body had managed to fall asleep, as had the right hand I had been lying on. The majority of my body was now a tingling mess.

Another thing happening was the scattering of millions of beads that were once in the bowl on the coffee table, rolling against the hard wood floor.

Ashton's mother was yelling at Harry to be more careful, Harry was yelling at Lauren, saying she had been the one to do it, Lauren was yelling at Ashton for tickling her, and Ashton was laughing. He was keeling in fits of laughter, adding to the confusion level that my brain wasn't handling well. Michael was sitting at the end of my bed, glancing between the mess he had let into our hotel room and me.