Page 54 of Count Down

He nods in agreement. “Tomorrow’s a busy day.”

“Well,” Lexi continues. “I’ll probably be going out to Sinner’s later tonight. If you want to go out. It is Friday night.”

“What’s Sinner’s?” I ask.

“Nightclub downtown,” Luca answers.

Lexi squints at Luca. “I get why shedoesn’tknow what Sinner’s is,” she points to me. “But why do you know it?”

Luca rolls his eyes. “I’ve been to Sinner’s. Quite a bit in my day.”

“Huh,” Lexi tilts her head. “I didn’t think Sinner’s would have been open during Prohibition.”

“You’d be surprised,” Luca answers. I’m glad he doesn’t take Lexi too seriously. If she didn’t tease him, I’d take it as a bad sign.

“I think we’ll just stay in tonight,” I say.

“How longhaveyou two been married?” Lexi asks me.

“Long enough that we should move in together and kick out my annoying roommate,” I tease her.

“Ohha-ha,” Lexi replies. “Well, I’m going to Sinner’s. Where I’m appreciated.” She flicks her head and throws back her hair. She lifts her chin and make a show of marching down the hall to her bedroom.

“Sinner’s is the other way,” Luca calls behind her.

Lexi slams her bedroom door behind her.

Then she immediately opens it and pokes her head out. She pulls her hand down in front of her face like a curtain going down. “And scene.” Then she retreats back to her room.

“Where did you find her?” Luca asks rhetorically.

“Where did I find any of you? At the theater.”

Luca and I order pizza. We eat it and watch tv on the couch. Lexi eventually heads out to the club. She’s wearing a red dress, about as short as it is bright. It almost makes me wish I was going out too. It’d be fun to get dressed up. To see Luca dress up too. Hang out at the club together.

But I’m glad we’re staying in tonight. Tomorrow is a busy day.

Eventually, Luca and I head to bed. I have a hard time falling asleep. I keep thinking about every detail of my piece. There’s nothing I want to change, but I can’t help analyzing every single movement and imagining how people are going to interpret it. I hope people like it. I hope Luca likes it.

I must have fallen asleep, at least partially, because the next thing I know is that I’m being woken up by a sound in the living room. I’ve been splitting nights between Luca’s place and my new apartment, so that sometimes I still wakeup and don’t know where I am.

Gradually, I remember that I’m in my apartment. I can sense Luca’s weight on the mattress next to me. I can hear him breathing quietly. It’s not deep, like when he’s asleep. I hear someone bump into something in the living room.

“Shit,” I hear Lexi whisper. She must have just gotten home from the club. I glance at my clock. It’s almost 2:30am.

I roll over to go back to sleep. Eventually, I hear Lexi shuffle down the hall and close her bedroom door behind her.

The next time I wake up is because I can feel Luca’s weight shift in the bed. It’s still completely dark. My clock reads 3:17am. Luca’s slowly and silently rolling out of bed. Is he sneaking out? I don’t hear him at all. I can only feel his movement next to me and see part of his body as he passes in front of the dim light from my clock.

“Huh?” I moan quietly. I’m too tired to form the words to ask him where he’s going.

I feel Luca freeze, but he doesn’t respond.

Then I hear it. Someone out in the hall. I can hear a weight shift on the floor just outside my door. Then the very slow and quiet turn of my bedroom doorknob.

My heart freezes. I’m paralyzed. I know it’s not Lexi this time. She jokes around, but not like this.

Whoever is there very slowly opens my bedroom door. City light from the living room window just barely reaches the hallway. It’s enough for me to see the silhouette start to squeeze through the door and into my bedroom.

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