Unspoken - 2. Silence

Half an hour had passed in silence, with Bryce only looking over at me once, giving me a fond smile maybe ten minutes ago, before going back to stargazing.

I stood up, grabbing the pistol, to jump inside to the kitchen. Dropping the mag, I racked the slide on the pistol to empty the chamber so it would be safe to slide into my pocket. The fridge swung open and I grabbed a can of diet soda for me and a small bottle of orange juice for Bryce.

I was only gone for about one minute, if that, but when I returned to the deck, Bryce’s eyes could be seen drooping a bit, where before they had been wide open. I handed him the juice as I sat down, and he accepted with a wide smile, popping the cap off and gulping half of it down. He set it on the table next to him, and stood, taking the two steps over two me, and pulled me forward into a crushing hug. It lasted only seconds, before he pulled back and grabbed the juice, heading inside. I gave myself a quarter hour to drink my own beverage before I headed inside myself. A quick stop at the kitchen island to reload the pistol and I was on my way back up the stairs.

I peeked into Bryce’s room to see him knocked out, and satisfied I returned to our room, replacing the pistol and mag to their hidden locations, before surreptitiously reinserting myself into the bed. It only took seconds before an arm crossed my chest, and I was pulled to the center of the bed. Nicolo sleepily mumbled unintelligible nothings at me before resuming his light snore.

Whatever it was that woke Bryce up, he didn’t seem quite ready to talk about it. I wasn’t worried.