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“I don’t want to be alone at my house right now. It’s not a sleepover.”
“Yeah, it is. You’re literally sleeping over at my apartment. You want me to order pizza? Oh, I know, we can watch Scooby Doo and eat ice cream like we did when we were eight. I can make up a pallet on the living room floor.”
“I hate you.”
Alex laughs and my lips twitch.
“I’ll see you in ten minutes. And Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“Order the pizza. I’m starving.”
When I walk into his apartment ten minutes later Alex is sitting on his couch watching a baseball game on TV. I drop down next to him and run a hand through my hair.
“I ordered pizza,” he informs me.
“Good. Is Taylor working?”
“Yeah, she gets off at seven tomorrow.”
I shake my head. “How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“How do you make it work? You guys have such weird schedules, when do you even see each other?”
He shrugs, his eyes never leaving the TV.
“We make the most of the hours, and the minutes, and the days. We get more time off together than most couples. She only works three, sometimes four, twelve hour shifts. I get four days off after my shifts. We make it work.”
I look away from him and lean back against the couch, propping my feet up on the end table.
“I started therapy again today.”
Alex whips his head around to face me, eyes wide.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I nod.
“Well, it’s about time.”
“What?”
“You’ve been messed up for years, man. You never should’ve stopped therapy. And I wanted to tell you that, but Taylor told me that you had to want it. She said you can’t help someone who doesn’t know they need help in the first place.”
I grunt, “It’s annoying how smart Taylor is.”
“Tell me about it. Seriously, though, I’m glad you’re doing this. You deserve to be happy, man.”
“What do you mean? I am happy.”
“You’re content, not happy. There’s a difference.”
“How do you know?” I ask defensively.
“Because you’re not nearly as mysterious and hard to read as you think you are. You’ve spent almost six years telling yourself you're happy with the life you're living, but I know it’s not the one you want.”
