Two People Talking Beside A Fireplace

They lied next to each other, counting the holes in the ceiling. There were none.

"Don't you think it's kind of stupid to run your air conditioning just so you can use the fireplace?" asked the young woman.

"I don't care," sighed the young man.

"Also, should we even be smoking in the house? Every window is shut."

"Ok, I guess that is stupid."

He sat up.

"But I don't plan to change what I'm doing," he remarked gently. "I'm too comfortable."

She sat up.

"This conversation just took a turn for the worse, didn't it?"

"Every conversation with me takes a turn for the worse."

"You're in rare form, even for a Saturday night."

He laughed.

"I'm not even depressed. Not really apathetic. Can't say I'm drifting either," he laughed with a shrug. "Is it possible for a person to have a heightened sense of entitlement so bad that they grow delirious from confusion?"

She stared at him.

"You have to start sleeping."

"Can't. The coke makes a loud racket."

"Oh man, that explains so much," she said, shaking her head.

"It really doesn't. I started doing the coke because I wasn't sleeping. I started doing coke again because it gave me something to do at 3 a.m."

"Everything you're saying sounds like the most unhealthy thing I've ever heard."

He shrugged.

"WebMD would tell you that you have cancer of the conscience," she said with a wry smile.

"No guilt, no reckoning. Maybe boredom is a symptom."

"Do you hear yourself?" she asked. "Ok, I know how that sounds, but you're clearly dealing with some turmoil."

"I don't think I am. What if insomnia is just a way to get by? What if sleep was really killing me?"

"You need to get out of this empty house. Where are your roommates anyway?"

"One's in L.A. Other's in San Francisco."

"Place is all yours all weekend?"

"Afraid so."

"And you wanted to spend it smoking cigarettes with me?"

"And you wanted to spend your weekend in an empty house with a guy who can't sleep?"

"Fair enough," she answered. "So what's your big problem anyway?"

"I think I wear too much plaid."

"No, really."

"Honestly, I couldn't tell you. I don't drink enough?"

"We both know that's not the problem. Loneliness?"

"My sheets may have thinned out, but they aren't without filler."

"Ew."

"You asked."

"So it's just boredom?"

"Maybe it's worse than that."

"Nothing's worse than boredom."

"Maybe it's that. Maybe that sentence is the problem."

"I think we nailed it."

"Right to the cross."

He laid back down.

"By the way, your new man seems nice," he said, shadows fang.

"Listen, you can be psychiatrist next time. I think it's obvious you're the patient tonight."

There was a heavy silence. He finally broke it.

"You ever watch Korean game shows?"

"Jesus, you're in trouble."