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Chapter 19: Want a Side Dish of Insomnia?

Dreams are the songs of your soul with added audio. Don't be scared by it, strive towards it and enjoy the show.

~Starlight24

Blink once. Then twice. Stare at the ceiling pointlessly and watch the fan turn. Roll onto one side. Roll onto the other side. Find the cold spot on your pillow. Remove your blankets. Then, if you still can't sleep, turn on Onlinathon.

This was how I spent most of my nights. I sat up on my bed and rubbed my eyes. Then I blankly stared at the darkness enveloping me and tried to adjust my vision to get accustomed to it, feeling my pupils dilate.

Pulling off an all-nighter with yourself wasn't as fun as people made it out to seem. It was boring and lonely and really dark.

Max would keep me company, I hoped. That's what boyfriends did, right? They'd wake up in the middle of the night because their girlfriends had insomnia?

Even if he didn't, I'd wake him up anyway. I'm too selfish to really care.

The phone screen lit up the whole room, and I had to squeeze my eyes shut because of the intensity.

"Max?" I whispered after the third ring and there was someone that picked up on the other side. Since I hadn't slept, my voice was the same as it always was, except softer.

"What?" he replied, groggily.

"I want company," I whispered.

"Whoa, what?" he asked, clearly confused. "You want me to come over at three am?"

"No," I giggled, realizing how that had come out. "I can't sleep."

Now Max sounded kind of pissed off. "And why's that?" Irritation streaked his words.

"Because I have a sleeping disorder called sleep apnea," I continued to whisper and willed myself to not let his blatant annoyance get to me.

"This is not what I signed up for," he muttered bitterly, and those words were like a huge blow.

"What?" I asked, and the hurt in my tone was evident.

"You won't understand," he huffed, not even bothering to apologize. "Goodnight, Day. Not everyone has sleep apnea. Stop being selfish for once in your life." I heard the click of the phone getting cut on the other end. I literally had nothing to say to that. Okay then, that was way ruder than I'd expected.

I turned on Onlinathon and tried to not cry. I wasn't very emotional, so the tears didn't leak out of my eyes but my throat continued to burn because it wanted me to break down, I think.

The site welcomed me with its colorful entourage and I sighed at my inbox. Maybe that Popcorned fellow could keep me company. After all, his time zone could be different for all I knew.

Surprise surprise, his was the first name that popped up.

I decided to check whether he was online and pray and hope that he was.

Starlight24: Hey

In less than two seconds, I saw the blink of his reply. Oh thank the gods.

Popcorned: Yasssss! You're online! I thought you lived in the US so you'd be asleep now.

Starlight24: I do live in the US

Popcorned: Why aren't you sleeping =(

Starlight24: Insomnia =(

Popcorned: Hell me too...
I thought you'd had a nightmare and needed your knight in shining armor to give you a daydream ;)

Starlight24: Hah no way Jose xD

Popcorned: Dammit xD

Starlight24: So you don't live in the States then?

Popcorned: I do

Starlight24: Then...? Oh right, insomnia...

Popcorned: Yep, join the crew.
Which part of the US are you from?

Starlight24: I'm keeping that to myself, stalker...

Popcorned: I'll tell you where I live!

Starlight24: I'm not the stalker here, so it wouldn't matter to me

Popcorned: Ouch, babes. That hit home. No wonder your name is Starlight. You're made of fire

Starpight24: Babes!?

Popcorned: What?

Starlight24: You can't 'Babes' me young man

Popcorned: I may be older than you for all you know

Starlight24: Exactly! I don't know. And I don't want to. This whole secret thing is a lot more fun.

Popcorned: It would be cool if I knew who the amazing Starlight24 was though, so no. The secret thing is not that fun

Starlight24: Too bad

Popcorned: It would be nice if I knew who you were...

Starlight24: It would be nice if I had a trillion dollars... A lot of things would be nice, love.

Popcorned: One hint

Starlight24: My face is green and full of warts

Popcorned: For some reason I think that's way off

Starlight24: Whatever floats your boat

Popcorned: Okay which part of the US do you live in?

Starlight24: A boa constrictor's mouth

Popcorned: Really? REALLY!?

Starlight24: Love you too

Popcorned: You're pretty annoying

Starlight24: Oh, I learnt from the best

Popcorned: You know, a lot of girls would die to be in your place, talking to me I mean

Starlight24: Funny, because a lot of people would die to be in yours too, talking to me I mean

Popcorned: Touché

Starlight24: So you're trying to pull off the bad boy nature with me, huh?

Popcorned: Nah, I don't need to pull it off. I am a baddie

Starlight24: Mhm? A desperate "baddie" at that. A relentless, stalker bad boy

Popcorned: You're a feisty creature

Starlight24: I'm gonna act like I didn't already know that

Popcorned: I can't believe some people call me self-absorbed! You're insane!

Starlight24: But you love me anyway, so it doesn't matter

Popcorned: I knew you couldn't resist my charm! Wanting me to love you, huh?

Starlight24: Flirt Alert

Popcorned: I can say the same to you, love

Starlight24: I knew you loved me ;P

Popcorned: Weirdo

Starlight24: Go away then! No one's asking you to indulge in conversation at 3:30 am you know

Popcorned: I know no one's asking me too. I want to

Starlight24: Whatever

Popcorned: Aw, did I prick someone's ego? Hurt someone's feelings?

Starlight24: The only one with an ego around here is you, buster

Popcorned: I have every right to have an ego.

Starlight24: Oh? And having 4M followers is not something worthy of inflating an ego?

Popcorned: I'm drop dead gorgeous

Starlight24: I bet you're so ugly people drop dead in front of you because their eyes can't bear the hideous sight. Poor pitied souls.

Popcorned: People's eyes' getting singed causes them to be blind. Not to die

Starlight24: You're a rare case of ugly that causes death

Popcorned: At least I'm a rarity

Starlight24: Idiot.

Popcorned: I still haven't wrapped my head around the fact that I'm chatting with STARLIGHT24

Starlight24: Well what did you expect?

Popcorned: Idk

Starlight24: Seriously! It's a serious question I wanna know the answer!

Popcorned: Less pushy, nicer, philosophical, not so feisty, not so much of a bitchy queen bee kind of attitude, more down to Earth...

Starlight24: Bye

Popcorned: Sheesh! I forgot to add: More of a sense of humor...

Starlight24: Pfffft as if you were joking *eye roll*

Popcorned: It's okay to come to terms with your real behavior and accept that I'm not lying

Starlight24: Why did I even bother talking to you again? Goodnight

Popcorned: Don't go yet...

Starlight24: And why wouldn't I? Just so you could insult me some more?

Popcorned: Babes, calm down...

Starlight24: If you babes me one more time...

Popcorned: Oh and I forgot to add: You're very temperamental. But it's okay, you've just proved to me that even temperamental girls are awesome

Starlight24: Are you trying to butter me up young man?

Popcorned: Hey, I'll call you babes and you call me young man. It'll be our thing

Starlight24: I don't want to have a "thing" with you, thank you very much

Popcorned: Go sleep now and cool down. We'll talk in the morning

Starlight24: Finally! Leaving me alone at last!

Popcorned: I mean, I know you don't want to go, because 5 whole hours away from my words is a lot...

Starlight24: Do you even know how to think of anyone but yourself!?

Popcorned: I have a solution, babes!

Starlight24: I give up on life

Popcorned: Just dream about me! Then we shan't be apart for long. We'll be together in another plane of consciousness, love. We can dream there and do whatever we want.

Starlight24: I will block you right now

Popcorned: Shit! Goodnight!

Starlight24: That did the trick *smirk*

Popcorned: Sweet dreams, if you know what I mean... ;)

Starlight24: I'm this close...

Popcorned: 'Night babes

I turned on the light and groaned. Usually, after a long chat session with anyone, I ended up laughing or at least grinning. This left me annoyed. If he was going to decide to barge into my life with no real purpose just to bug me and not let me sleep- I admit I wasn't going to do that anyway, but that's not the point- he was going to have to deal with Day June Winters. Not some sweet role model of a Starlight24, but the whole package deal. Let's see whether he liked me as much then.

A/N:

Just another random picture of popcorn. Enjoy.

Hey ya'll!

I hope you enjoyed my update. It wasn't as long as usual, so I'll be giving you a really good chapter next. I've come back from my vacation, so I'm free to update now! Please spread the word xD

Question: Who's your favorite character?

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Song of the day: Smoke and Fire by Sabrina Carpenter

Teaser: Sometimes hearts are meant to be broken, but will Day's?

Before I leave, I'd like to give a quick shoutout to these people:

X_Wise_Sunshine_X. I swear to the gods these people are the best everrr and you should totally just follow them. ILY GUYS! Thanks for being so supportive and being my soul sisters on Wattpad. Means the world to me, you have no idea!

Love you all,

~Lexi