Feathers

20. How Do You Sleep At Night?

By the time Michael and Kobie fell into bed that night, Michael was so exhausted he could barely talk. But as Kobie slept on his chest, as tired as he was, Michael found he couldn't sleep. He gently moved his wrist out from under the covers so he could peer down and try to see the time, careful not to wake Kobie. It was 5 am, looking through the thin curtains of his bedroom window he could see the sky was already lightening outside.

He carefully wriggled his hand free of Kobie's draped arm and waited a few seconds to check her breathing hadn't changed. She was still breathing slowly and deeply. There was something so comforting about the sound of her breath. With everything they'd just witnessed, feeling the warmth of Kobie's body pressed against his and hearing her heavy breathing reminded him of normal life.

Once he was reassured that his arm movement hadn't woken her, Michael picked up his phone from the bedside table and texted Spencer.

"Are you still up?"

While he waited for a response he quickly checked his settings and made sure the phone was on silent.

A few seconds later the power light blinked blue and a message notification popped up on his screen.

"I can't sleep."

So Michael wasn't the only one caught in a sleepless zombie state. He felt bad for dragging Spencer into this. He also felt bad because they were both supposed to be at work in a few hours.

He texted back: "Me either. What are we going to do about work? I don't think I'm gonna cope on no sleep."

A moment later Spencer replied.

"Ideally, we would both go to work. But I think the best course of action would be to call in sick, considering our lack of sleep. Also, we need to meet, later today. To discuss things."

He wasn't sure if Spencer was writing in a slightly odd way because he was being careful of what they sent to each other, or because he was Spencer.

"Okay sounds good. Goldbergs at 1 pm?"

"Agreed"

Michael closed his eyes and tried to rest.

++++

After finally getting a restless four hours of sleep, having an awkward phone call to his boss to lie about being sick and enduring a difficult encounter trying to wake up a very grumpy Gretchen, Michael, Kobie and a reluctant Gretchen bundled into Michael's car and headed into town to meet Spencer.

They found Spencer waiting for them at one of the wooden tables in the leafy courtyard of Goldberg's coffee house. Being a Tuesday, and having picked a location as far into the corner of the courtyard as possible, they were thankfully out of earshot of any other diners, as long as they talked quietly.

If Spencer was as distraught as the others you couldn't tell by looking at him. Unlike the trio from Michael's house who looked like they'd just come from a three-day camping rave without a shower or a change of clothes, Spencer looked his usual impeccable self.

Michael was wearing yellow board shorts and a floral Hawaiian shirt, which just happened to be the first thing he found on his floor. Kobie was in one of Michael's oversized T-shirts and Gretchen - who had begrudged putting on any clothes at all - was wearing what looked like a towel pinned up at her armpit but which she assured him was her "comfort dress". Spencer on the other hand was wearing a neatly pressed pair of grey chinos and a charcoal linen shirt.

A tanned waitress with a strong American accent and dazzlingly white teeth approached their table.

"Heey guuys," she said, drawing out the length of the vowels in a way that irritated Michael, "What can I get for you guys today?"