Are you drunk?
Steven
I’m not drunk. I’m fucking tired. I haven’t slept through 3 am in months.
Chloe
Your guilty conscience is not my problem.
I hit send before I thought it through, but I meant it. I wasn’t the only thing keeping him awake, and as far as I knew, he had never once apologized to James for his role in her accident—although, to be fair, apologizing to James might be physically impossible considering that if Steven came within speaking distance of her, Adam would put him six feet under in a heartbeat.
But I didn’t want to be fair.
Steven didn’t deserve fair.
I shoveled a forkful of macaroni and cheese into my mouth and chewed with my eyes glued to my phone screen. It took a second before the waving dots appeared.Go ahead and say something ugly. Prove me right about you.
Steven
So what is your problem? I mean, why are you up?
Concern for my mental health? That wasn’t what I expected. My eyes narrowed. I licked cheese goop from the fork tines and then typed back. “I took a nap and now I’m paying for it.”
Steven
No good nap goes unpunished. My mom says that.
So what do you do when you can’t sleep? I’m looking for ideas.
Chloe
It depends. If I’m anxious, I look at animal videos. Eventually that turns to doom scrolling, which obviously doesn’t help with the anxiety. Sometimes I read a chapter or two. Hannah puts a romance book aside for me every week. She’s great at choosing things I’ll like.
But I’m not anxious now. I’m just hungry because I slept through dinner. So I made myself food.
Steven
Sounds like a better use of time than how I usually spend 3 a.m.
Chloe
What do you do?
Steven
Argue with you. ;)
Mostly in my head, but sometimes you’re awake and argue back.
Chloe
Yeah? And how does that work out for you?
Steven
Not great, thanks for asking. I never win, even when you’re sleeping.
Good night, Chloe.
