My Best Friends Brother

Chapter 70

Brie came to get Steve’s at some point after midnight. I love my brother and I love my best friend, but hearing them both chuckle as they walk down the path from my home, only to have those chuckles replaced with Brie’s not so quiet shrieks of pleasure from the back seat of the bug directly outside, is something I could definitely have lived without. I’m definitely getting another fucking evil glare from the bitch across the street in the morning after hearing that.

It’s now the early hours of the morning, those two are long gone but here I am still wide a-fucking-wake because my stupid fucking brain won't shut off without saying goodnight to Miles.

Since the night we’ve kissed, there’s only been a single time I’ve fallen asleep without hearing him say goodnight, the night I chickened out from calling him right back at the beginning. Now I can’t seem to be able to relax without hearing from him.

He was probably exhausted from today, he had practise and then that project with Zoe and Luke for bio, so he probably just crashed straight after. It’s just not like him to not respond at all.

It’s nothing Josh... Stop panicking just because of what you know, it's got nothing to do with it. He’s just tired.

I scan again through my emails, obviously nothing has changed in the ten minutes since I checked last, but I still find my finger scrolling through the abundance of junk and all the messages from Charlie trying to get all the useless information he can before we all go to the lake house. I don’t know how many times I’ve told him that I don’t own a Speedo, so we can’t play twinsies, but if he asks me to get one again then I’m throwing that guy in the lake and fucking leaving him there.

Finding my level of boredom so extreme, I’m now debating over the twelve different centrepieces Brie has sent me links to in the last twenty-four hours. I’m about ready to vote for the glass vases with those fluffy things coming out of it when all of a sudden a message shoots through to my screen.

The heart I once thought was burying itself away for safe-keeping after Steve dropped that little bombshell on me earlier, starts to make up for it as it pounds without mercy against my rib cage whilst I take in every word.

‘I’m so sorry, I got distracted with work and I kind of fucked my shoulder at practise today so I pretty much passed out when my head hit the pillow. When you wake up and read this I hope you know that I was thinking about you even when I was unconscious, and that I will definitely make it up to you 😉 I hope you dreamt of stars, call me when you wake up if you can❤’

My finger hesitates over the call button, I don’t want to get him in shit for being on the phone at stupid o’clock, or keep him awake if he’s exhausted, but I also know I won’t sleep unless I hear his voice.

Fuck it.

The phone only rings once before his beautiful tone fills my hearing and I can practically feel my whole body relaxing at the simple sound.

“Josh? Oh fuck, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. Shit, go back to sleep, it's like three in the morning.”

He’s so cute when he rambles.

“I wasn’t sleeping, even if I was I’d rather talk to you anyway... How’s your shoulder? What happened?”

He lets out a deep exhale from the other side of the screen, the sound so familiar to me now it’s like he’s right here in the room. Fuck I wish he was.

“It fucking kills actually, better now it's had some ice on it but it's still pretty much black all over. Coach said these things look worse than they actually are so I’m hoping that I’ll still be good for Friday. What about you? Steve make you watch anymore of those documentaries?”

“Worse... He made me watch drag race.”

Miles laughs, loudly until I realise that he’s muffling it with something. He’s probably laying on his bed right now isn’t he, looking effortlessly fucking gorgeous whilst attempting to use his pillow to silence his own chuckling.

“That's not that bad, May makes me watch it with her when she needs a pick me up. That usually ends up being once a month... Actually it’s every month... The same time of the month too... Oh shit, I’ve just realised why she’s so depressed then...”

I explode with laughter, that luckily I don’t have to keep contained to maintain the sleep pattern of others.

“Well next time we’ll let them watch it together and we can go do something else, anything fucking else.” Miles cackles lightly but it soon turns into a wince that I recognise instantly as pain. “Shit, it's really bad? Is there anything I can do? You should sleep, you’ll heal quicker if you sleep.”

“yeah, it’s bad.. You can give me a massage the next time I see you...” That will not be a problem... “I should sleep though.” He yawns, forcing me to release one of my own as I sink into the pillows that seemed to have turned from rocks into squishy marshmallows at the sound of his voice. “You got a busy day tomorrow?”

Sleep begins to call my name, I put him on speakerphone whilst resting it against the pillow on the opposite side of me and letting my eyes fall shut.

“Work should be chilled... I’ve got Liam after... then...”

My train of thought collides with the sandman that has come to take me to the land of nod and I lose track of what I was trying to say.

Miles’ breath draws heavy and I find myself echoing it as I begin to leave my conscious state.

“Goodnight... my... stars...”

His sleepy words are the last thing I hear before I completely slip away, the call still very much active and his comforting rhythm of breath seducing me into the perfect slumber that had evaded me before I once again felt his presence.

What do you do when you realise you can’t fall asleep without someone?

.... I guess you make sure you never have to.