For the fifth night in a row, I’m tucked in Ty’s bed, watching a movie as he sleeps blissfully beside me. The rest of the house seems quiet, but history tells me I can’t trust that assumption. Still, I’ve brushed and flossed and I should probably have started readingPersuasion, the next novel on my syllabus, but I’m not. Instead, I’m snuggling in and watching a personal fave,Pretty in Pink.
On screen, Andie’s sitting on the counter in the record store and Duckie’s lip-syncing to Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness.” And that’s when I realize the volume is up a bit too high tonight, because Ty jolts forward. “Holy fuck! What? Who’s here?”
“It’s fine. I’m sorry. Just go back to sleep,” I whisper and try to pull the covers back up around his shoulders. He smacks the nightstand a few times and then finally finds the pull to his lamp, bathing his room in bright fluorescents as Duckie thrash-dances around the store while Andie watches, unimpressed.
He’s shielding his eyes as they adjust to the light. “Jesus. Who’s here? Did one of Whit’s girls get lost?”
“No. It’s fine. It’s my fault. Just go back to sleep.”
“Are you on the phone? Who the hell are you talking to at--wait, is that a TV show?”
I pick up my laptop and hit pause. “It’s a movie. I don’t really sleep, so I watch a lot of movies at night. Usually I have earbuds, but I lost one, and they work in tandem, so...”
“Ah. The '80s movie quotes make a lot more sense now.” He pulls the lamp cord again and the room dims as he pulls the covers up around us and cuddles close. “Ok, so what are we watching?Dirty Dancing?The Breakfast Club?”
“They’re both classics in their own right, but tonight is a personal fave of mine,Pretty in Pink.”
“Is this the one where it’s her birthday?”
“No, that’sSixteen Candles. Anyway, I didn’t mean to wake you. Just go back to sleep. I’ll head downstairs and--”
“No way. I’m not much of a movie guy, but we’ll just cuddle and watch until we fall asleep.” He fluffs his pillow and pulls me closer. His eyes are already at half-mast and his speech is slowing, so I probably should just let him believe that we’ll unpause the movie and both be fast asleep within ten minutes. But that’s not how it is for me. And if Duckie woke him up just by lip-syncing, well, I’d hate to see his reaction when Andie loses her shit on Blane. “Yeah, that’s not really how this works for me.”
“What are you talking about? If movies don’t put you to sleep, why are you watching one at…” he palms his phone, “3:13 in the morning?”
“Yeah...so you know how I said I don’t really sleep? Well, I don’t really sleep. And I’m not one of those people who has trouble falling asleep, or who wakes up a lot, or who sleeps fitfully. I pretty much don’t sleep for more than two or three hours a night for weeks on end and then I crash and sleep for, like, twenty-four hours, and then start the whole cycle over again.”
“Seriously?” I have his full attention now. He’s sitting up in bed, his chest bare, his boxers riding low, and his brow furrowed.
“Yep. So I read sometimes, but mostly at night, I watch movies. It started with a 20 Greatest Films of the '80s list I found a few years ago and just spiraled from there.”
“So, you watch movies every night?”
“Uh-huh. I mean, I do homework, too. And I’ve lost more hours than I can count on social media, but mostly I watch movies. They pass the time quickly and it’s always easy to find one that suits my mood.”
“You’ve done this the last couple of nights?” At my nod, he continues, “How did I not notice?”
“You, Ty Marshall, are a sound sleeper. A few nights ago, though, I was afraid I’d wake you so, uh...I went downstairs, right? And I curled up on the loveseat and I was, like, halfway throughVision Questwhen I heard...this moaning. And, uh…” I can feel my cheeks heating up and turning bright red.
“Christ. I can only imagine where the moaning was coming from.”
“Well, I couldn’t tell at first. It was dark and it had been really quiet, you know? And I seriously thought I was alone in the living room and…”
“Oh, shit…” He laughs drily.
“I nearly screamed when I saw the blankets on the other couch moving.”
He’s full-on laughing now. “I’m guessing the moaning was Whit and the moving was whatever girl he had here on Thursday.”
“Your guess is as good as mine. I didn’t stick around to find out.”
“I still can’t believe you do this every night and I never noticed. Jesus. That makes me a shitty boyfriend.”
“No, it makes you a sound sleeper,” I tell him, “and I usually wear earbuds, but I lost one.”
“Did you do this when you were a kid? I have visions of you sneaking downstairs to watchPower Rangers. Please tell me they’re accurate.”
“Sadly, no. I used to sleep just fine. Not like you, but decent. But, after Dylan died...ugh. So--”
