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His bed is lumpy, the covers are stuffy and in general, the night is a very uncomfortable one. Now, none of this is actually true, because his mattress is memory foam. But tonight it just feels off. Dylan doesn't usually have a problem getting to sleep, his life is so hands-on, studies are nonstop too so he always makes sure to catch some winks when he can. But tonight there's just something making him feel weird. Making him feel... down.
With a hefty sigh, he rolls over to the left side of his bed and grabs his phone from the nightstand. The time reads 01:15 AM. So, it's officially tomorrow already. And he's got to be up by 6, so this is great. Biting down on the inside of his cheek lightly, he considers another round of wrestling with his covers until he dozes off, but there's little to no point since he's been doing that for heaven knows how long.
Dylan rubs his eye with the stump on his left arm and decides on scrolling through his Instagram feed. Maybe that'll bore him to sleep.
He scrolls for a few minutes, liking various music posts from indie artists he follows and a few nerdy science posts sneak in here and there too. After a while, he stops on one particular post. It's an animation of a cat chewing on a fish bone. Nothing too fancy and detailed but it's impressive enough to make Dylan grin and give it a like before noticing that it's Ryan's post.
Oh.
Dylan reads the caption.
[Too restless right now, so I'm trying to keep myself busy.]
So he can't sleep either? Interesting.
Chewing on his bottom lip, Dylan taps on Ryan's profile and heads to his direct messages. Just as he's about to type one, a message pops up and Ryan beat him to it.
Ryan: 'You can't sleep either?'
Dylan makes a side glance, wondering what to reply. Before long, he slowly types out his message. Typing one-handed is still a struggle.
Dylan: 'Is there something in the air tonight, or what?'
He hits send and waits, the three dots next to Ryan's picture soon start dancing. He's already replying.
Ryan: 'Wait, what do you mean? You didn't realise? Check the date, man.'
With furrowed brows, Dylan drags the drop-down screen on his phone and looks at the date.
Oh.
He hadn't even realised. It's exactly six months since the night they were trapped at Hackett's Quarry.
Dylan: 'Fuck, I didn't even realise. No wonder I can't sleep... but how did my body know and I didn't?'
Ryan: 'Trauma gets stored in your brain. You don't need to be actively thinking about it to be affected by it.'
Dylan’s eyes shift briefly to his stump, for some reason he can feel a twinge of pain. Pain in a hand that's no longer part of his body. He thought he was over this. Ryan saved him from turning into a grotesque monster back then, he shouldn't be feeling like this.
Ryan: 'Hey, you still there?'
Snapping back to the present, Dylan starts to type. Suddenly he's gotten a lot faster.
Dylan: 'Yeah, sorry. Was just... reminiscing. Anyways, enough about our past horror fest. How have you been? Sweet animation, by the way.'
Ryan: 'Thanks, but it's still early days. Need a lot of improvement and I couldn't think of a better way to spend a sleepless night. As for me, I'm... alright.'
The last part of Ryan's message is entirely unconvincing and Dylan sees right through it. Although, he can hardly judge since he's also guilty of lying about how he's doing.
Dylan: 'You're shit at lying, but I get it. I'm "alright" too. Have you been in touch with anyone else from camp?'
Dylan rolls onto his left side and looks at the time in the corner of his phone screen. He never thought in a million years he'd end up talking to mysterious and alluring Ryan in the early hours of the morning.
Ryan: 'Yeah, I've spoken to Abi a couple of times, I was just messaging Kaitlyn before you too. That reminds me, I should probably reply, been stuck in our chat since it started.'
So others have been in touch too. Dylan himself has kept in touch with Jacob and Emma from time to time. Somehow he found them the most unlikely two beforehand, but now he's glad to still talk to them. He's even subscribed to all of Emma's content platforms.
Dylan: 'Glad to hear we haven't shut off from each other. That reminds me, did you and Kaitlyn ever hit it off after your hot kiss during t or d?'
Nerves hit him as he hits send this time. He remembers so vividly just how disappointed he was when Ryan chose to kiss Kaitlyn that night. Before everything else, that seemed like his biggest problem. Oh, how wrong he was.
Ryan: 'What? No no, we're not into each other like that. At all. We're friends, but that's as far as it goes.'
Dylan toys with the idea of pressing further on the matter. He knew back then that Kaitlyn also had the hots for Ryan, but she never seemed to pursue him the way he did. Deciding to just go for it, he types again, tongue poking out the corner of his mouth.
Dylan: 'Could've sworn you two had some potential.'
Ryan: 'No, not really. Besides I didn't kiss her because I liked her.'
Dylan, now intrigued, moves to reply but sees Ryan is typing again. He waits and for some reason he's holding his breath.
Ryan: 'I kissed her because I didn't want my first kiss with you to be some dare.'
Just like that, Dylan’s brain goes into a momentary malfunction. He blinks a few times over and reads the message again. It's real, Ryan really said it and oh how he wishes he could see Ryan's face right now, after admitting to that all of a sudden. Dylan’s heart is racing and his chest feels like a cage full of butterflies.
Composing himself, he feels a fresh, bright grin stretch across his face.
Dylan: 'So... are you saying all that charm I brought upon you was actually working?'
He can't miss taking this moment to be cheeky.
Ryan: 'Your charm? No. Not at all, definitely not. "Boner fide" will forever be burned into my mind.'
Dylan laughs out loud, totally hearing Ryan's eyes glaze over in that message.
Ryan: 'Hey, as much as I'd love to keep talking, I should really try getting some sleep. And if your schedule is anything like mine, you should too.'
Pouting his soaring heart out, Dylan sighs but agrees silently upon seeing it's almost 02:00 AM. Damn, they'd been talking a while.
Dylan: 'Awh, sad face. But you're right, I have a lecture first thing in the morning. Let's not leave it weeks or months to talk again, though. I need to find out more about your undying love for me. Night. ;)'
Once he catches that Ryan liked his message, Dylan backs out of Instagram and sets his phone back on the nightstand before rolling over. For a moment he wonders why his cheeks hurt, then he realises he's been grinning ever since Ryan mentioned his reason for kissing Kaitlyn. Was that for real? Or was he messing with him? Either way, Dylan is in a much better mood than he was before that much-needed re-connection with Ryan. And even better, he feels tired enough to fall asleep now.
He better not miss his alarm in four hours.