Tim mentally tallied another day survived, another day of nothing but driving with Jay. Jay was still "out of it", spacing out a lot and not talking much. Tim checked them both into a hotel around midnight, Jay silently following him everywhere. He wasn't filming, Tim had confiscated his camera after he had filmed the highway for nearly 5 hours one day while driving, and refused to stop recording. "Get your bag Jay, we're going up to the room," Tim instructed. Jay silently picked up the duffel bag and followed Tim into the hotel. He looked tired, he always did now. Tim decided that sleep would be good for both of them. He could check the youtube channels later.
They were both in bed and the lights had only been out for a few minutes when Jay started mumbling. He would do that sometimes, like he was dreaming out loud. "Jay, shut up," Tim said. "Sorry," he mumbled. A moment of silence passed. "I'm sorry for a lot of stuff. I left you alone in the tunnel, and in the hospital..." he trailed off into mumbles again. His voice was...lucid, almost. Tim listened to his apology, as much as he could understand. "You don't have to be sorry for all of that, buddy" Tim said to Jay, who had gone silent. "A lot of that was out of your control." Jay shifted under his covers. "So you forgive me? For everything?"
"I forgive you, yeah. For all of it. It's okay."
Tim never thought Jay would be one to ask for forgiveness, especially from him. Then, a thought crossed his mind.
"Hey Jay," Tim asked.
"Yessir." Tim cracked a little grin at the response.
"Are you asleep right now?"
"Yes."
"Really asleep?"
"Yes."
"So right now, you're sleeptalking?"
"Yes."
Tim felt a pang of sympathy when he realized that when Jay asked for forgiveness, that maybe that was something he wanted on a subconscious level, like he felt all of this was his fault... Tim made a mental note to (carefully) confront him about it when he was awake. For now though, Tim had another question.
"Jay?"
"That's me."
"Do you remember the box of oreos we had in the car yesterday?"
"Mhm."
"Did you eat the last one?"
Silence.
"Jay," Tim said firmly. "Did you eat the last oreo in the box?"
"...you said all was forgiven," Jay said sleepily. Tim had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing and waking up Jay. "Go to sleep, you idiot." Tim said. "Mhm...goodnight Tim..." Jay mumbled, near a whisper now. "Goodnight Jay," Tim responded, smiling.
"Mhm."
