*****
*Corey*
I was supposed to be driving, and I was but was putting everyone in danger because my eyes just couldn’t stay on the road. I kept glancing into the rear-view mirror at Jayden. He was seated in the back behind Sean and Izabella and he hadn’t spoken since before we left the house. His face looked Sullen, his eyes unfocused and dull.
Kaden, Trent and Rita were in the trailer while the rest of us were in the car. Adan sat in the passenger seat beside me while Hayley was beside Jayden in the back with Zeke seated next to her.
I let my eyes flicker to the road to make sure we were still on it before looking back at Jayden. Something was off with him today… No, since he got back from the store yesterday. He had been so quiet.
“Anyone hungry?” Izabella spoke.
“Yeah,” Everyone replied except Jayden and me. I was too busy watching him and he seemed to be staring out of his window into nothing as he had been doing for the past two hours of the drive.
Izabella had handed everyone what looked like Twinkies before she looked at Jayden.
“Jay, do want one?” She asked.
When he didn’t reply Hayley nudged his arm. “Jayden,” She called to him softly.
“Huh?” He looked at her and then Izabella, “Oh – no… Uh… No, thank you.” His voice was hoarse and I took note that he hadn’t eaten all day. Had barely eaten dinner last night as well, but then his excuse for not eating had been that he had eaten a lot at Bianca’s house which I knew was a lie but I let it slide.
“Are you okay?” Izabella asked him.
“Yeah, yeah. Of course. Why… why wouldn’t I be?” He faked a smile.
“You –” Izabella began.
“Corey!” My neck almost snapped as my head swung back to face the front as a loud horn blared, my eyes widening as I saw a massive truck coming right at us. I felt Adan shove the steering wheel to make us swerve back into the lane we were supposed to be in before I swung to the side of the road and stepped on the breaks.
The car was silent as I let out a cough of air while my hands gripped the steering wheel tightly in shock. I had not even reacted to driving straight towards that truck…
“You know, Corey… Maybe I should drive.” Adan suggested.
“Y-yeah. Great idea,” I was actually very relieved, “I’m going to check on the others,” I hopped out of the car and proceeded to make my way to the back while waving my hands trying to shake off the shock but I stopped when my eyes fell on Jayden. “Come.” I tapped on his window.
He looked at me confused and I repeated what I said before he got out of the car. “What’s going on?” He asked once outside.
“You’re switching places with Kade, you look like you need sleep,” I said.
“I don’t,” Jayden said.
“Tell that to your face.” Sean’s mutter immediately earned a light smack on his arm from Izabella. Jayden did look visibly exhausted though.
I chuckled walking away and knocking on the trailer door. It unlocked and opened to reveal a pissed-off looking Trent.
“At least give a warning the next time you decide to drive like you’re fucking drunk, Corey.” He snapped at me and I laughed although embarrassed.
“Sorry, Man.” I said, “Jay’s going to sleep for some time, as you can see, he’s in desperate need of it,” I shoved Jayden into the trailer without warning resulting in him tripping slightly before he turned to glare back at me, I smiled back and he shook his head as the tiniest of smiles tugged at the corner of his mouth. I had never felt more proud of myself.
“Stay with him, we want to move to the front,” Rita grabbed Trent and pulled him by us.
“You know what? I’m sick of being with lovers so I’m moving too,” Kaden jumped out.
Jayden frowned but didn’t say anything. I followed him into the trailer before locking the door once inside.
“Why-why are you locking it?” I turned to see Jayden staring at the door, a look on his face that I couldn’t decipher.
“So that it doesn’t swing open while we’re driving…” It was obvious, wasn’t it?
“Oh… Right. Y-yeah, okay…” He mumbled before heading over to the double bunker beds and taking a seat on the corner of the lower bed.
I didn’t understand what was up with him. He was behaving so oddly. As we began moving, I watched for a few seconds while he just sat there staring down at the cover of his notebook. He did not seem to want to talk, seemed caught in his thoughts so I eventually made my way over and climbed onto the top bed. I lay staring at the roof while hoping to drift off to sleep eventually but my senses seemed more interested in listening to Jayden shuffle around beneath me. There was the sound of pages and a pen clicking, he must have been writing again. After a few minutes, the writing stopped and I heard ruffling before it went completely silent.
For the next while, I did not move and just listened to the sounds outside of our trailer but when we seemed to get past the traffic there was nothing left to hear but wind and my ears turned their attention to the steady breathing coming from below me. Was Jayden sleeping?
“Jay?” I spoke but got no answer.
I rolled over onto my stomach before leaning to hang over the side of the bed so that I could have a look at him, my hands clutching the base to keep me steady. He was asleep, his notepad open beside him. He looked at ease, one of his legs stretched out towards the side of the car leaving me confused. How was he sleeping so freely with those skinny jeans on? Weren’t they cutting off all the blood flow to his legs? Nah. I bet to Jayden those jeans felt wide. He was quite skinny.
My eyes shifted to the book. He said no one ever read his lyrics. Should I? It was incredibly tempting. He probably would never know I took it. I mean, forget a rock; he sleeps like a mountain. It was kind of concerning sometimes. I bit my lip staring at the book. It was not like I was invading his privacy by reading his diary – not that I wouldn’t have read it if he did have one… I leaned down and began to reach out to grab the book but pulled my hand back as he gave a soft, distraught whine in his sleep. I froze hearing him whimper again. Nightmare?
He rolled over and ended up covering half of the book. I cursed under my breath. Should have grabbed it before. I decided to try my luck anyway by pulling it out from beneath him. I reached to take hold of the book and slowly began to pull it but stopped when he let out a low groan. The angry growl was not that that freaked me out though, it was what happened next.
He began fighting. In his sleep. He was shoving the bed and kicking slightly all while letting out distressed moans that quickly advanced to light screaming. It was terrifying. His father?
I jumped off my bed his troubled cries made my stomach twist in concern and reached to shake his arm gently but paused before touching him because I did not want to scare him more.
“Jay, wake up.” I said, “Jay,” I repeated when he didn’t wake, instead just continuing to cry out, “Jayden!” I was really freaking out so I grabbed his wrist. That proved to be a mistake when he let out a shout and basically swung at me. I caught his hand before it could touch my face, “Ja –”
“No –” He growled.
“Jayden,” How was he still sleeping? The thought of being unable to wake him only made more fear and worry course through me. I reached my other hand out and this time grabbed his shoulders to shake him awake. He still fought desperately to get away from me.
“No –!” He repeated.
“Jayden! Wake up.” The shaking was not working, “Fucking wake up, you’re freaking me out!” I pleaded.
“No, I –” His brown eyes shot open and he immediately cut himself off as his eyes met mine. They quickly glanced away from me looking disoriented.
“What was that?” I asked as he pushed my hands from his shoulders and proceeded to try to compose himself while sitting up.
“What?” He asked casually as if he had not just freaked out in his sleep. I knew he knew what happened because of how much he was trying to hide how unusual it was and just brush by it by acting calm despite his still-rugged breathing.
“That! Why were you trying to beat up the bed? And why were you screaming? Were you dreaming? What were you dreaming about?” I was still freaked out, and if I was still shaken he definitely was as well.
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said. I opened my mouth but shut it. There was no point in trying, everything about his demeanour told me he was not going to explain it and pushing him would just upset him. I did not want to fight, especially after that.
So, trying to change the mood, I snatched the book from behind him before stepping back as I smirked while opening to a random page. It had a date! It was a diary!
“It’s funny, I –” I began reading it out loud but he launched at me. I let out a laugh at his terrible attempt at a spear and that seemed to irritate him more because he shoved me back before snatching the book.
“Quit taking my stuff!” He glared at me. I rolled my eyes grabbing his free hand to pull him close to me.
“Sorry?” I smiled.
He snorted. “You’re not sorry.” He said.
“You’re right,” I chuckled grabbing the book back from him. It seemed like he wasn’t expecting that answer because he hesitated before launching at me again, trying to grab his book. I threw it over him and it landed on the bottom bunk. He tried to get to it but I dove by him and grabbed the book again.
“This isn’t funny, Corey! Grow up and give it back. Now.” He said as he jumped on top of me trying to wrestle the book from my hands while I successfully dodged his every time.
“You’re slow.” I joked.
“Corey!” He grabbed my wrist and tried to pin me down. It was amusing and I easily rolled us over so that I was above him, the movement making him let go of me. I laughed looking down at him and tossing the book aside for a second as I grabbed his wrists. I smirked as he struggled to get his arms out of my grip, I obviously was much better at pinning than he was. “Move –” he said, “Corey, please –” My smirk dropped into surprise as terror suddenly covered his face, his eyes shutting tightly as he struggled to get his arms free. I was too stunned and confused to move though. Especially when he began violently struggling to get away from under me. “Please – Please, move –” His voice struggled out breathlessly through the terror, his chest heaving. What the hell was going on?
“Jay,” I spoke softly. He let out a cry as I finally removed my grip from his wrists but I grabbed his hands when he tried to shove me away from him. “Jayden, calm down. What’s going on? Jay,” I let his hands go but grab his face because he refused to open his eyes, “Open your damn eyes and look at me!” My voice rose slightly because being calm was not working.
“No! Get away from me –” His hands slammed against my chest.
“Open your fucking eyes.” I snapped getting frustrated. His eyes opened to reveal the same look of terror his features had already been showing me. He blinked a few times, trying to compose himself again despite his eyes glossing up before he looked at me again. I felt my shoulders relax as my hands moved from his face to rest on his chest gently, “Jayden.”
“Corey…” His voice was barely a whisper.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Please move.” He mumbled softly. I tilted us so he was once again on top of me but grabbed his arms to keep him in place when he tried to leave.
“Why did you freak out? What did I do?” I asked.
His eyes widened slightly before he shook his head. “You –? Nothing. You did nothing. I just…” He gave a dry chuckle, “I was being stupid. You were too heavy. I was getting squashed.” A light laugh followed his blatant lie.
“Are you sure?” I asked frowning slightly. He nodded smiling.
“I’m weird.” I chuckled.
“You are, very weird.”
“You’re not supposed to agree.” He frowned.
“I agree to whatever I want to and you, Teddy, are incredibly weird.” He grinned shyly and I lifted my hands to his neck before pulling him down close to me, “But in case you haven’t noticed by all the people I hang out with, I like weirdos.” I said. He chuckled as brought him close to kiss him. I smiled feeling him run his hands from my chest to hold onto my waist. “Wait,” I shoved him back quickly. He looked down at me confused and a little annoyed, the face was adorable with his puppy-like brown eyes. “Your weird freak-out moments: it’s not contagious, is it? Because I don’t want to kiss you if it is. I mean, I might like weirdos but that doesn’t mean I’d like to be one and –”
“Corey?” He cut me off.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Shut up.” I laughed as he pushed his lips back to mine.
*****
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