Page 56 of The Very First Night

I’m thankful when they don’t ask about my summer…even if I know it’s because they’re both well aware of how it was spent.

We spend a disproportionate amount of time discussing Brendan’s new haircut and how someone needs to tell him it doesn’t look good. Jenna and I both agree that, of the three of us, it should be Tanner, but he insists it is weird and that we should just wait until it grows out.

“People are going to make fun of him,” Jenna says, stuffing her last bite of pizza in her mouth.

“He’ll be fine.”

The sunset passes and we continue to talk incessantly about the most random topics, but it isn’t until Jenna is standing up and stretching her arms—the telltale sign that she is ready for bed—that I realize this is the first time in months I’ve truly felt at peace.

“I’m gonna head up to bed.” Jenna yawns and I can’t help the disappointment that washes over me.

“Oh, uh—okay.”

Silence creeps in before Tanner speaks. “Do you want to watch Community? I seem to recall you agreeing to watch it with me last semester and we never picked it back up.”

Jenna relaxes her shoulders when I say, “Sure.”

She kneels, her arms encircling me in a warm hug. She whispers “Good night” before she slips out of my room, leaving Tanner and me alone. The silence is heavy and suffocating.

He quickly turns on the television, opens Netflix, and queues up the show. Within minutes, booming laughter fills the room as we watch the episode where the crew plays Dungeons and Dragons.

“No, it one hundred percent makes him an asshole. Why would Jeff call him Fat Neil?” I ask, holding my hands up to emphasize “Fat Neil.”

“Because it’s Jeff—he is inherently an ass, but it doesn’t mean he hates him more than any other character.”

“Jeff is the worst.”

“Not as bad as Dennis from Always Sunny.”

“Dennis is also a predator, and probably a serial killer.”

“See! So you agree Jeff is tame by comparison!” His voice elevates as he tries not to laugh.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

“I don’t think that applies here.” He finally breaks and laughs at the absurdity of the argument.

I can’t help but fall into the same laughter before smacking him in the arm. “Forget Jeff, you’re an ass.”

“You know what they say, you are what you ea?—”

“Tanner!”

We both burst into uncontrollable laughter as I shift to hit him with a throw pillow, but Tanner manages to jump off the bed just in time to evade it. He walks over to the pizza box and sets our empty paper plates atop the cardboard. He leans down to grab a water bottle from my freshly stocked mini fridge before nodding in my direction. I nod back, and he grabs a second cold bottle.

“Milady,” he says with an overly dramatic inflection—the term of endearment used in Jeff and Annie’s interactions throughout the show—and he bows, holding the water out to me.

“Milord.” I grab the bottle and he plops down on the bed next to me again, this time laying his head against the pillow.

We stay like that, lying on the bed, watching the equal parts hilarious and perplexing show he initially forced me to watch last year, except now I’m deeply entranced…and I’ve never been so content.

TWENTY-SIX

KAT

The sun peeks through the sheer curtains, casting a soft glow on the tousled sheets. As I stir from my slumber, I feel warm breath tickling my neck and strong arms holding me close. My eyes widen as I realize it’s not just a dream—there is a body pressed against mine and fingers gently tracing circles on my stomach.

My eyes snap open in a moment of panic, my heart racing until I remember that Tanner and I must have fallen asleep together after our late-night marathon of Community. I try to sit up and remind him that this is not something friends do, but the comforting warmth of his arms around me makes it hard to move. It’s been so long since I’ve felt this sense of closeness with someone and it feels nice.

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