A Wild Thing - Troy Otto

thirty-eight

     Troy laid awake with a sleeping Evelyn right beside him. He didn't know what time it was. He didn't care enough to get up and check. He knew it was late though, or he thought it was, because time always seemed to slow down by miles when he had something on his mind.

       It wasn't letting him do anything in peace. The pity, the jealousy, the anger, the hatred, and the guilt. the confusion. Since when did he ever feel confused about things like this? Things were really beginning to change. He didn't know what the feeling was, much less how to deal with it, but he knew hated it. It wasn't like him. It shouldn't be this way. This was going to end soon.

       Then Evelyn began to stir in her sleep, and Troy sighed with an unreadable tone. At least he'd have her to distract him, she'd always been good at that. Soon, Evelyn sat up, the moonlight that crept in through her open curtains being the only thing that allowed Troy to see her. He watched silently as she stretched out her arms and back and let out a quiet groan.

     "You okay?" Troy broke the silence. Evelyn almost jumped out of her skin.

     "Yeah," she turned to face her boyfriend. She was surprised to see him wide awake. "What are you doing up?"

     "Just can't sleep," he responded simply.

     "My back hurts," Evelyn complained. Troy moved his hand to rub gentle circles on her lower back. She sighed before laying back down. "Goodnight. Again."

     "Goodnight, Evelyn."

     It was quiet for a few more minutes as Troy stared up at the dark ceiling and Evelyn twisted and turned and alternated between her sides, desperately trying to get comfortable fall back asleep. She couldn't. But he couldn't either.

     "Troy?"

     He hummed.

     "Can we like- cuddle or something?" Evelyn asked sleepily.

     Troy let out a breathy chuckle, for a reason Evelyn couldn't for sure understand, before he responded. "Get over here."

     Evelyn moved over to him with a tired smile on her face. She wrapped her arm around his torso, placed her leg between his, and rested her head on his shoulder. She always loved when they laid like this. It made everything feel a whole lot easier.

     Soon enough, Evelyn woke to the feeling of Troy wriggling out of her grip. "Where are you going?"

     "Home," he gave a simple reply as he sat up. "I have places to be, you know."

     "You don't have to go," Evelyn titled her head with a small pout. She copied his actions and sat up as well.

     Troy laughed as he grabbed her smaller hand. "I got things to do. Plus, I can't get caught leaving. Your brother will kill me," Evelyn sighed at his words, frowning. "Don't look at me like that, Ev. I'll be back."

    "Fine," Evelyn raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms, pretending to be annoyed. "Just say you don't like me anymore."

     "So that's how it's gonna be?" Troy shot back at her sarcasm with even more sarcasm.

     "Yeah, that's how it's gonna be."

    "Okay," Troy shrugged. "Bye, Evelyn."

     Evelyn scoffed as she watched him get up from the bed without giving her a kiss or a proper goodbye. He didn't even say 'Ev', he said 'Evelyn'. "Um— hello?" she exclaimed.

     Troy slowly turned, and Evelyn struggled to hold in her laughter at the sass. "What? You were the one who said 'that's how it's gonna be,'" Troy exaggeratedly mocked his girlfriend. Evelyn threw a pillow at him.