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What?
Who set an alarm for 4:30 in the morning?
Decker stirred, swiping his phone off the table by the bed. “Shit, I swear I turned this off.”
“Do you get up this early?” Essence was sitting up in the bed.
“Uh, yeah, to lift weights. Then I go back to bed, sleep for, like, two hours, and then I get up for real.”
“That is insane,” said Essence. “Just sleep for two extra hours.”
“Well, no,” he said. “Because the only way I can convince myself to exercise is if I get a reward afterwards.”
“You… seriously?”
“Yeah, and I used to do food, but that got… problematic, so I decided… sleep.”
“But it’s not a reward,” she said. “You’re just getting up before it makes any sense to get up.”
“I mean, yes,” he said. “But my body processes it like a reward, so win-win.”
“Plus, you take pleasure from torturing yourself,” she said.
He considered. “I mean… I don’t know.”
She flopped back on the bed. She lay on the pillow and shook her head. “Decker, there are so many things that are wrong with you.”
He laughed. “I think we’re making progress. Last night, you were all, ‘Decker, you’re perfect.’”
“I never said that.”
“You said I was deep-down good.”
“That is not the same thing. This part of you, this perfectionistic, I-like-pain part, it’s not good.”
“I know,” he said. “I mean, I wish I could be more like you. You’re so, you know, adaptable.”
“I am not.”
“Sorry about the alarm.”
“Yes, we need to go back to sleep. We have only slept for three hours.”
“Okay.” He yawned.
She shook her head. Maybe two hours, really. She’d lain awake a very long time thinking about the disaster that was awaiting them at the office on Monday. She climbed over him, getting out of the bed.
“Hey, where are you going? I thought we were going back to sleep.”
“Well, I have to pee,” she said. “And my head hurts, so I’m going to go take some ibuprofen and drink some water.”
“Ooh, water,” he said.
“I’ll bring you some,” she said.
“No, no,” he said. “You pee. I’ll get water.” He climbed out of bed.
When she came out of the bathroom, he was there with a glass of water for her. She took it gratefully, and they switched places. He used the bathroom while she sat on the edge of the bed and gulped at the water. Her head was pounding.
