The credits roll on the screen and he reaches for the remote.
-“Well that sucked. What do you think?”
-“Three out of ten. Really bad.”
He laughs and stops the movie, the screen shows the index of movies on my external hard drive.
-“So, what should we watch now?”
I give a tired laugh.
It’s an inside joke we have, because we watch so many movies together. We’re constantly trying to find new movies to watch. Soon we’ll have seen every single one that’s ever been made.
-“I don’t know, and I don’t really care. You pick one, I’ll just go have a cigarette.”
He sighs deeply as I get up from the couch.
It’s cloudy and gray, but not too cold outside. I stand in the kitchen window and blow out a puff of smoke. He comes into the kitchen and opens the refrigerator, grabs a bottle of cider and pours it in his glass.
If I had been by myself I’d have gone for a walk, been with friends, gone shopping.
When I’m with him, I want to do and feel the way I used to. I still do, of course, at times. Just not as often as before. But I guess that’s what happens when you’ve been together for a while. Every once in a while, I try to initiate having sex with him but I always get shot down. Until recently we used to sleep together at least once or twice a day on the weekends when we live together. But now it’s a miracle if it happens more than once a week. And yeah, sex isn’t the most important part of a relationship, but it’s something I like to do, and especially with the man I love.
-“Oh, remember that we’re going to see John play with his band next Friday. It’s in a garage, isn’t that cool? Just like in the movies. Except he’s middle-aged.”
-“Right. What time?”
-“They start playing at seven, but then they take a break and do the second set at eight. I figured we might not be able to get there for the first part, so if we aim for getting there to the second set?”
-“Yeah, fine. What are we going to eat before that?”
-“ I don’t know, maybe I can get sushi on the way home?”
-“ Oh my god that would be great! Get me the big one you know, without the avocado.”
-“Sure.”
He takes big gulps of his cider and opens the pantry to look for snacks.
-“By the way, Anne is coming too. We’re meeting her on the way there.”
He’s silent for a minute while he places the bag of chips on the counter.
-“Doesn’t she hate me?” I sigh and inhale as much smoke as I can in my lungs. The wind blows the smoke inside but I don’t care.
-“She doesn’t hate you.”
-“Even though I’ve hit you?”
I close my eyes.
Every time the words are said, it feels like my chest cramps up.
-“She doesn’t like you, no. But she’s agreed to be civil.”
He snickers and grab his glass, bag of chips and go back to the couch.
I closed the window and join him.
Submitted May 17, 2017 at 03:10PM by thisisasecretwriting http://ift.tt/2rpS4Lu shortstories
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