> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.ceteramagazine.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Texts After 3 - URL: https://www.ceteramagazine.com/texts-after-3/ - Published: 2026-04-16T14:20:34.000Z - Updated: 2026-04-16T14:20:34.000Z - Description: Two insomniacs grow closer one 3am text at a time, while the wrong relationship slowly makes the right one impossible to ignore. - Author: Jon Negroni - Tags: romance fiction, Epistolary Fiction, text fiction, slow burn ![audio-thumbnail](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f7/b3/f7b3d002-68ca-4de9-9010-1d89bc125161/content/media/2026/04/texts_short_thumb.png) Texts After 3 0:00 /2102.8005215419503 1× ## Part 1: January ### ***January 1*** **Instagram DM — 3:17 a.m.** **Adam:** hey this is adam. sorry to message you here. mason isn’t answering his phone and i just wanted to make sure you guys got back okay **Nina:** Oh hey Yeah we’re home He’s asleep on the couch with one shoe on The other shoe is in the bathroom sink **Adam:** that tracks **Nina:** Lol You good? How’d you get home **Adam:** uber. And get this, the driver had a 20 minute theory about the moon landing and i didn’t have the energy to not listen **Nina:** At 3am you just got in a car with a conspiracy theorist?? **Adam:** hey i mean he was very committed. i respected it **Nina:** Ominous **Adam:** sure was **Nina:** That was a while ago. Why are you still up **Adam:** i don’t really sleep and that’s not a bit or anything. It’s just true **Nina:** ah sorry. I have to open the coffee shop at 6 So I should absolutely be asleep right now **Adam:** and I absolutely agree sorry though You really should go to sleep. didn’t mean to keep you **Nina:** No no! it’s fine It’s Idk. Nice to know someone else is awake lol Anyway Happy new year adam **Adam:** happy new year! go to sleep **Nina:** You first **Adam:** can’t. I am alive unfortunately **Nina:** Alive unfortunately Yeah Night ### *January 16 — 3:22 a.m.* **Nina:** Hey Alive? **Adam:** alive unfortunately **Nina:** Same Cool cool cool ### *January 19 — 3:09 a.m.* **Nina:** One of my regulars told me today that their oat milk tasted “emotionally flat” **Adam:** i’m sorry what **Nina:** I said thank you for that feedback with my Manager voice of course means I’m Dead inside **Adam:** you have a manager voice? **Nina:** Oh it’s pristine Very “I totally understand” while my entire soul detaches from my body and floats to the ceiling **Adam:** lol yeah i get that. i have a teacher voice. it’s similar but with more concern about bathroom passes ### *January 23 — 3:31 a.m.* **Adam:** one of my seventh graders wrote that romeo and juliet is “basically a skill issue” on her response sheet and i haven’t been able to think about anything else **Nina:** STOP She’s right though It IS a skill issue **Adam:** she is absolutely right and i had to sit there with my teacher voice on pretending to disagree **Nina:** Criminal What did you actually say **Adam:** i said “that’s an interesting reading, Olivia, can you support it with textual evidence” **Nina:** You gave her the teacher voice! **Adam:** the teacher voice is all i have nina ### *January 28 — 3:04 a.m.* **Nina:** Bad day Like bad bad **Adam:** Worse than yesterday's bad bad? **Nina**: Yup. Espresso machine died mid-rush New girl called out I closed alone and then sat in my car for ten minutes staring at the steering wheel before I could drive And I know that’s Whatever It’s a coffee shop. It’s not real problems **Adam:** hey no don’t do that **Nina:** Do what? **Adam:** rank your own bad day against some imaginary worse one. a bad day is a bad day **Nina:** ugh idk I just feel dumb complaining about steam wands when people have real stuff **Adam:** eh, the steam wand is real stuff. **Nina:** Teacher voice tells me I should be fine I am technically fine **Adam:** but how are you actually **Nina:** Tired in a way that sleep doesn’t fix That sounds dramatic huh? **Adam:** it doesn’t sound dramatic to me. it sounds like you’ve been holding a building up with your hands and someone just asked you why your arms hurt **Nina:** Wow Okay That was teacherly Anyway **Adam:** anyway **Nina:** Thanks for being up. Mason was passed out when I got home. **Adam:** always up. that’s my whole deal these days **Nina:** I know That’s actually why this is Helpful I guess Being able to say the thing without having to perform being okay first **Adam:** you don’t ever have to perform being okay **Nina:** Goodnight adam **Adam:** go to sleep nina **Nina:** You first **Adam:** can’t **Nina:** I know --- ## Part 2: March & April ### *March 2 — 3:14 a.m.* **Nina:** Do you ever think about how unhinged it is that we both just happen to be awake at the same wrong hour every night **Adam:** i’ve thought about it quite often **Nina:** And? **Adam:** and I have decided not to question these things **Nina:** Smart Bleak but smart ### *March 8 — 3:41 a.m.* **Adam:** kid wrote on his vocab sheet today that “melancholy” means “when you’re sad but in a fancy way” **Nina:** Give him an A Give him MY A That’s actually better than anything I’ve ever articulated about my own feelings **Adam:** his other definition was “ominous: when something is about to be bad and it knows it” **Nina:** WHEN IT KNOWS IT That kid is a poet **Adam:** he draws spiders on everything and once asked me if books have feelings so yeah, definitely a poet ### *March 15 — 2:47 a.m.* **Nina:** Hey Are you up **Adam:** yeah. what’s going on **Nina:** Nothing Everything is extremely fine **Adam:** nina **Nina:** Fine I am on the kitchen floor Which I know sounds…ach But it’s The tile is cold and it helps chill out the inner demons in my ass **Adam:** makes perfect sense. shoes on or off **Nina:** What? **Adam:** when you got to the floor. did you take your shoes off first or just go straight down **Nina:** Off I took them off at the door like normal and then ended up here **Adam:** ohhhhh okay **Nina:** Why does that matter **Adam:** well if the shoes are still on it means you didn’t even make it to the regular part of being home **Nina:** Oh Hm that's annoyingly perceptive **Adam:** sorry to hear that. what happened **Nina:** I asked mason to come by after close tonight. I didn’t even want anything from him. I just wanted him to sit with me for like a few minutes. I said that. Specifically. Just come sit And he said yeah definitely And then he didn’t come And when I texted him about it he said sorry babe I crashed, you should try those melatonin gummies, they knock me right out **Adam:** ah **Nina:** And look I know he’s one of your best friends so you have to be the opposite of neutral **Adam:** right so he heard you say “i need something” and didn’t seem to care, just tried to fix it himself **Nina:** Yeah Exactly Exactly that I didn’t want a solution. I wanted a person in my kitchen **Adam:** yeah **Nina:** Is that insane **Adam:** nope, not at all **Nina:** I feel insane I feel like I’m high maintenance for wanting someone to just show up **Adam:** you are not high maintenance. you are on a kitchen floor at 3 a.m. asking to be sat with. that’s just regular maintenance. For people like us at least **Nina:** When you say it like that **Adam:** i do mean it like that **Nina:** Okay I should go to bed 6 a.m. comes regardless **Adam:** i know. go to sleep **Nina:** k. Thanks for being here I mean Up Thanks for being up **Adam:** yeah. here. up. whichever **Nina:** Goodnight adam **Adam:** night nina ### *March 19 — 3:23 a.m.* **Nina:** Floor update: I’m on the couch tonight **Adam:** look at you. upward mobility **Nina:** I know. Ponder at my endless Growth ### *March 22 — 7:14 a.m.* **Mason:** Bro! question for you. What’s a good like belated birthday thing for nina? I kinda forgot to plan anything and she’s being cool about it but I feel bad **Adam:** maybe cook for her? she likes that lemon pasta from that place on clement. you could try to make it **Mason:** Genius. You’re a lifesaver. She’s been kinda weird lately idk **Adam:** Probably work stress **Mason:** yeah probably ### *April 1 — 3:11 a.m.* **Adam:** hey. you up? **Nina:** Always What’s wrong.... **Adam:** nothing’s wrong. bad brain night **Nina:** Tell me everything **Adam:** it’s dumb **Nina:** Adam! **Adam:** i’ve been trying to read this book for like two weeks. same paragraph. every night i open it and i read the same page and none of it goes into my head i don’t think the book is the problem though **Nina:** What’s the book **Adam:** it’s a mary oliver collection mason gave me for christmas two years ago i keep trying to finish it because he remembered that i said i liked her once in college. which was a nice thing for him to remember nevertheless i can’t focus on a single poem **Nina:** What’s it about **Adam:** the poems? everything. geese. grief. paying attention. she has this line about how you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves **Nina:** God **Adam:** yeah **Nina:** That’s a lot for 3am, sir **Adam:** that’s a lot for any hour honestly **Nina:** Are you on the floor? or the couch? **Adam:** bed. but sitting up. which i think is its own category **Nina:** Bed sitting up is the purgatory of insomnia positions You’re not committed to either direction **Adam:** accurate **Nina:** Go lie down Read the poem one more time and then close the book **Adam:** are you using your manager voice via text? **Nina:** No that was just Nina voice **Adam:** oh interesting. okay goodnight nina **Nina:** Night. Let the soft animal etc etc **Adam:** i will do my very best --- ## Part 3: June ### *June 4 — 3:19 a.m.* **Nina:** This day has had too much plot **Adam:** tell me every thing? **Nina:** No I just needed to say it out loud to someone who wouldn’t try to fix it **Adam:** noted **Nina:** Thank you How are the summer school kids **Adam:** one of them told me that books are “just someone’s really long thought” and i had to sit down for about a minute **Nina:** Oh that’s the best one yet She’s not wrong like at all **Adam:** she’s thirteen and already more philosophically attuned than i am **Nina:** amazing **Adam:** i know ### *June 9 — 3:45 a.m.* **Nina:** Can I ask you something weird **Adam:** always **Nina:** What do you think about when you can’t sleep **Adam:** honestly? **Nina:** No lie to me Yes honestly **Adam:** i think about all the conversations i had that day but the versions where i said the risky thing instead of the safe thing **Nina:** Oh? **Adam:** and then i think about what would happen if i actually said those things all the time. and then i don’t sleep because my mind fixates on all the branching realities I just concocted **Nina:** That’s wow I do that too except mine is more like I replay every moment where I smiled and said “no totally it’s fine!” and I think about what my face was actually doing in that moment **Adam:** the gap between the fine voice and the actual face **Nina:** so true That gap is where my insomnia lives and grows like a fungus **Adam:** mine too ### *June 14 — 11:52 p.m.* **Nina:** Hey tonight was fun **Adam:** yeah ### *June 14 — 3:03 a.m.* **Adam:** hey. are you still up **Nina:** Yeah Can’t turn off **Adam:** can i say something **Nina:** You’re doing the thing where you ask permission which means it’s going to be a risky thing **Adam:** at the party tonight you seemed like you’d already left before you actually left like you were there but the version of you that was there was the one you send when you can’t send the real one **Nina:** Wow Okay **Adam:** sorry **Nina:** No Don’t apologize You’re right **Adam:** i noticed when we were outside. you were different on the stairs. like you came back online for a few minutes **Nina:** I liked being on the stairs with you **Adam:** i liked it too **Nina:** and it was only a few minutes **Adam:** i know **Nina:** I need to say something and I need you to not make it into a thing **Adam:** okay **Nina:** You notice things about me that I don’t think anyone else notices And I don’t know what to do with that And also it’s 3am and I should not be saying this **Adam:** you’re allowed to say it **Nina:** Am I though **Adam:** (three dots) **Nina:** I should go to sleep **Adam:** go to sleep **Nina:** You first **Adam:** can’t --- ## Part 4: July / August ### *July 2 — 3:26 a.m.* **Nina:** Summer school update. Please. I need something that isn’t my own brain **Adam:** kid asked me today if the sun has a night shift or if it just works all the time **Nina:** THE SUN’S NIGHT SHIFT Adam the kids are all right **Adam:** he also asked if teachers sleep at school **Nina:** mmmmm. Well do you **Adam:** sometimes it feels like it ### *July 11 — 11:43 p.m.* **Nina:** Hey **Adam:** hey. how was the birthday dinner **Nina:** Good! It was great Really fun. wish you could've made it though ### *July 12 — 3:01 a.m.* **Nina:** Okay I lied **Adam:** i know **Nina:** How did you know **Adam:** you used an exclamation point. you never use exclamation points **Nina:** I hate that you know that **Adam:** what happened **Nina:** He invited 30 people I said I wanted small. I said it twice. I said maybe just us and like two others And I walk in and there’s 30 people and a banner and he’s so proud of himself And it was Everyone was so nice And it was loud and fun and exactly the kind of night that should have been great And then I spent 40 minutes in the bathroom looking at my phone **Adam:** that sounds pretty lonely **Nina:** It WAS lonely It was a room full of people who love me and I felt like I was watching it from across the street **Adam:** i’m sorry **Nina:** The worst part is he wasn’t wrong. Like objectively it was a good party. Mason tried. He really tried. He just He threw the party he would have wanted Which is a generous thing to do for someone who isn’t me **Adam:** that’s...a tough sentence to read **Nina:** Is it you know I almost texted you from the bathroom I had the screen open and everything **Adam:** oh? why didn’t you **Nina:** for one thing I had a feeling Mason invited you but you didn’t come because you knew i would feel overwhelmed by a crowd. And don’t even try to deny it. **Adam:** I should’ve told you I suspected he planned to invite a lot of people. Given you a heads up. But I didn’t feel like it was really my place **Nina:** And that’s that That’s also maybe the problem itself **Adam:** which part **Nina:** That you’re the person I wanted to text from a bathroom at my own birthday party **Adam:** yeah that’s also maybe the problem **Nina:** We keep saying “the problem” **Adam:** i know **Nina:** What is the problem adam **Adam:** hard to pick just one **Nina:** yup Anyway **Adam:** anyway **Nina:** Say something normal. Please **Adam:** summer school kid says the moon is “the sun’s best friend” **Nina:** aw That one’s going to stay with me **Adam:** same **Nina:** Goodnight **Adam:** goodnight moon ### *August 4 — 3:33 a.m.* **Adam:** hey **Nina:** Hey **Adam:** do you ever listen to anything while you can’t sleep **Nina:** Sometimes There’s this one Novo Amor song I’ve played like 400 times It doesn’t help me sleep but it makes being awake feel less like a punishment **Adam:** what’s the song **Nina:** Carry You Don’t judge me **Adam:** why would i judge you **Nina:** Because it’s earnest and I have a reputation for being cool and detached **Adam:** nina you text me from your kitchen floor at 3 a.m. basically every night. the cool detached thing is not working on me **Nina:** Rude Accurate but rude oops that’s your line **Adam:** eh you can borrow it ### *August 8 — 3:17 a.m.* **Nina:** I’ve been thinking about the mary oliver line The soft animal one **Adam:** yeah? **Nina:** I think my problem is I know what the soft animal wants I just don’t think I’m allowed to let it **Adam:** allowed by who?? **Nina:** By the version of me that keeps everything running sorry. Manager voice She has so many opinions **Adam:** maybe manager voice doesn’t get a vote on this one **Nina:** She gets a vote on everything **Adam:** Nina **Nina:** Don’t Don’t do the name thing **Adam:** sorryyyy **Nina:** Don’t be sorry either ughhhh just Be normal for a second **Adam:** sure. a kid asked me last week if birds are afraid of the sky and i think about it every day **Nina:** WHAT Are they?? **Adam:** i genuinely don’t know **Nina:** Okay I guess that helped Goodnight --- ## Part 5: October ### *October 2 — 3:41 a.m.* **Adam:** hey **Nina:** Hey Weird day **Adam:** same tell me about yours **Nina:** No you go first for once **Adam:** ok sure. parent-teacher conferences. one mom asked me if i think her son is “emotionally gifted” because he cried during the poetry unit **Nina:** Well is he? **Adam:** Sadly, no. He only cried because he dropped his pencil and it rolled under the radiator **Nina:** awwwww Less gifted then, I’m afraid **Adam:** or just a different kind of gifted ### *October 9 — 3:07 a.m.* **Nina:** Hello **Adam:** hello there **Nina:** How are you **Adam:** fine. you? **Nina:** Fine **Adam:** cool ### *October 14 — 3:22 a.m.* **Nina:** Okay I need to tell you something **Adam:** ready **Nina:** Mason made a comment last night At dinner with his friends Called you my “night shift boyfriend” Said it like a joke which I guess it was because everyone laughed **Adam:** oh… **Nina:** And I laughed too Like it was nothing And then I went home and (you guessed it) sat on the floor **Adam:** shoes on or off **Nina:** On **Adam:** nina! **Nina:** I know. On is worse. You said that **Adam:** what did he mean by it **Nina:** I don’t think he meant anything I think he noticed I’m up late texting someone and he made it into a joke because that’s how he processes things he doesn’t want to talk about directly Which I can’t really blame him for **Adam:** me neither **Nina:** Adam **Adam:** yes **Nina:** I don’t want to be something bad that happens to him **Adam:** i know. i don’t want to be something bad that happens to you **Nina:** Maybe we should I don’t know Less of this For a while **Adam:** ok. if that’s what you need **Nina:** I don’t know what I need That’s kinda the whole thing **Adam:** okay. less of this **Nina:** Okay ### *October 18 — 3:33 a.m.* **Adam:** hey *Read 3:34 a.m.* ### *October 22 — 3:15 a.m.* **Adam:** hope you’re sleeping better *Read 7:02 a.m.* ### *October 27 — 3:09 a.m.* **Nina:** Did this get weird **Adam:** i think it was always a little weird **Nina:** I miss when this was just insomnia **Adam:** same **Nina:** Liar **Adam:** always ### *October 30 — 3:44 a.m.* **Nina:** I keep going back through old messages Like if I scroll far enough I’ll find the exact place where “it” turned **Adam:** oh interesting. did you find it **Nina:** No Because it didn’t “turn” anywhere It was just already it **Adam:** i think I agree **Nina:** i was hoping you wouldn’t **Adam:** i agree with that too --- ## Part 6: November / December ### *November 6 — 3:02 a.m.* **Nina:** Hey **Adam:** hey **Nina:** I didn’t know who else to text **Adam:** that’s not good **Nina:** I know and yet I’m texting you anyway **Adam:** what happened **Nina:** Nothing happened Nothing ever happens Nothing is wrong. He is nice to me. He brings me coffee even though I work at a coffee shop which is actually very sweet if you think about it. He texts back. He shows up And I feel like I’m disappearing inside a version of my life where nothing is technically wrong **Adam:** that’s not nothing **Nina:** I feel like the villain in an A24 movie The kind where the audience understands why she's bad but still thinks she should have tried harder to be a good person **Adam:** wanting to feel known by your partner is not villain behavior **Nina:** Then what is it **Adam:** i think it’s just being a person **Nina:** He knows me in theory Like he has all the information He knows I like that lemon pasta and that I hate crowds and that I can’t sleep But he doesn’t I don’t know how to say this **Adam:** he has the facts but not the you. He has the lyrics to the songs but not the sound **Nina:** Yes That He’s tuned to the right station but it’s coming through in a language he doesn’t speak And I keep turning the volume up and it just gets louder without getting clearer **Adam:** Nina. **Nina:** I know I can hear you loud and clear when you're not saying anything **Adam:** i’m trying very hard to not say the wrong thing right now **Nina:** I know So say something normal **Adam:** a kid told me today that the word “friend” looks like it should rhyme with “fiend” **Nina:** Ha God That kid again **Adam:** he’s consistent **Nina:** I think something is ending And I think I’m the one ending it And I don’t know how to be the person who ruins something that everyone else thinks is fine **Adam:** i don’t think you’re ruining anything. i think you’re just the first one to say it out loud **Nina:** When did you get like this **Adam:** like what **Nina:** Like someone who says the right thing **Adam:** i’ve always been like this. you just started listening at 3 a.m. **Nina:** uh huh Okay Goodnight adam **Adam:** go to sleep nina ### *November 19 — 2:58 a.m.* **Nina:** I told him I think we need to talk He said okay and then asked if I wanted to order thai food I didn't realize until later that he wasn’t deflecting He genuinely thought we could do both **Adam:** that’s mason **Nina:** Yeah That’s mason ### *December 4 — 3:12 a.m.* **Nina:** It’s over **Adam:** are you okay **Nina:** I don’t know We talked for a long time He cried I cried **Adam:** sorry Nina **Nina:** He asked me to explain what was missing and I tried and he kept saying “but I would have done that if you’d asked” and I didn’t know how to say that shouldn’t require asking **Adam:** yeah **Nina:** He’s not a bad person **Adam:** he’s not. he’s a good person who loved you in the way he knew how. He’s always been a good friend to me too **Nina:** That’s the thing that makes me feel worst Because it was a good way to love me It just wasn’t mine **Adam:** i know **Nina:** He asked if there was someone else I said no And that was true And also **Adam:** yeah **Nina:** I don’t know what to call it **Adam:** you don’t have to call it anything right now **Nina:** it’s like. Once someone sees you clearly it gets harder to keep pretending blurry is enough And I don’t know if that makes me brave or terrible **Adam:** i think it makes you honest **Nina:** I don’t feel honest I feel like I detonated a nuclear weapon for no reason **Adam:** nina **Nina:** I keep waiting for you to use your teacher voice **Adam:** i am trying very hard not to do that **Nina:** I know That’s such a you thing To hold the selfish thought and not let it touch me **Adam:** i don’t know if that’s good or I’m just repressed **Nina:** Both probably **Adam:** probably **Nina:** How are you. Actually **Adam:** confused. sad for mason. sad for you. and something else **Nina:** Fair **Adam:** say something normal **Nina:** That’s my line **Adam:** you can have it back after I'm done **Nina:** Okay A customer today asked me what the difference is between a latte and a cappuccino and when I explained it he said “so it’s just vibes” and honestly? Yes **Adam:** yes. it is just vibes. all of coffee is just vibes **Nina:** Thank you for not making this harder than it already feels **Adam:** always **Nina:** Goodnight adam **Adam:** go to sleep nina **Nina:** You first **Adam:** can’t ### *December 19 — 3:07 a.m.* **Adam:** hey. how are you doing **Nina:** Some days okay Some days I come home and the apartment has all this space that used to be his stuff and I just stand in it **Adam:** that’s wonderfully specific **Nina:** It is It’s not even the missing him exactly It’s missing the way the room made sense when it was full **Adam:** i understand that completely **Nina:** I know you do That’s why I’m telling you and not anyone else **Adam:** for the record i talked to mason last week **Nina:** Oh **Adam:** he’s hurt. he’s confused. he’s not angry at you. he asked me if i thought he did something wrong and i said i didn’t think it was about anyone being wrong **Nina:** What did he say **Adam:** he said “then what’s it about” and i didn’t know how to answer that honestly **Nina:** Yeah That sounds right **Adam:** he’s going to be okay. eventually **Nina:** I really want that to be true **Adam:** it will be **Nina:** Kid update? **Adam:** school’s out but one of them emailed me (emailed, from her mom’s account) to tell me she finished romeo and juliet on her own over break and she thinks juliet “carried the whole thing out like a boss” **Nina:** She’s right Juliet carried the whole thing like a boss bitch **Adam:** yeah she did --- ## Part 7: January, again ### *January 3 — 8:22 p.m.* **Adam:** hey **Nina:** Hey **Adam:** what are you doing tonight **Nina:** Nothing Existing Why **Adam:** come over **Nina:** !!! **Adam:** i know come here **Nina:** Okay Yeah I’m coming ### *January 4 — 3:07 a.m.* **Nina:** I’m in your bed **Adam:** i can see that **Nina:** Then why are you texting me **Adam:** seemed on brand **Nina:** We are unwell Both of us **Adam:** extremely **Nina:** Your sheets are terrible by the way **Adam:** you’re in my bed for the first time in the history of knowing each other and your note is about thread count **Nina:** I contain multitudes **Adam:** noted. Off to target I go **Nina:** Hey **Adam:** hello **Nina:** I keep waiting for this to feel different than the text version Like now that we’re in the same room it should be bigger or scarier or something But it just feels like the next thing **Adam:** is that okay **Nina:** Yeah It’s like Oh. There you are You know? **Adam:** yeah i know **Nina:** I’m so tired **Adam:** i know **Nina:** No like Good tired The kind where you actually might sleep Which if you know me at all is……… **Adam:** i know what that is **Nina:** Stay awake for like two more minutes? **Adam:** won't be easy but...i’m not going anywhere **Nina:** not if I can help it **Adam:** wow so possessive already **Nina:** Goodnight adam **Adam:** go to sleep nina ### *3:24 a.m.* **Adam:** you finally slept. showoff. --- ## Author's Note: I wrote this story on my phone while walking the streets of Seoul at sunrise (wow, what a pretentious sentence!) Our apartment had a fire alarm go off in the middle of the night and while everyone else went back to bed after it was over, I had a texting conversation with myself that turned into a short story. To be fair, I had just finished Abby Jimenez's newest romance novel *The Night We Met*, and I felt compelled to write my own version. For this story, the medium really is the message, isn't it? These are conversations that happen every day because they can happen. Quietly and in the dark without anyone else knowing. I went back and forth a lot on how to format the texting itself (using my phone to get the inconsistencies of capitalization right, for example) and the timestamps, which tell their own story. I hope people pick up on the little things that happen in real life in between the messages, including the moment of "confession" between Nina and Adam. Curious if anyone has theories for where I intended to place it. My goal was to give the story a circular, almost seasonal shape. It begins at the new year, but the ending is warmer by exactly one person in Adam's bed. But the established intimacy has been largely linguistic between these two all along. They have totally different communication styles (Nina's funny and self-deprecating while Adam is more observational and less self-protective) but together they develop a shared language that you can track over the months. A tougher mode of the story for me to get right in edits was the "kids as Greek chorus" angle. My intention there was to point out how kids say the real thing because they don't know the "rules" yet. Adam and Nina have learned the rules and fashion them into a teacher/manager voice. They spend the whole story working back toward the same unguarded directness. But ultimately, that's because these two are in constant avoidance. Not just of the friendship boundaries they keep crossing but how it relates to their performed selves in everyday life. Mason, crucially, has no such gap. It's not that he's more honest, it's more like he doesn't notice the distance. He hears that Nina needs something and hands back what he thinks is a solution. I made a huge effort to paint Mason as kind of just a normal, nice person who makes mistakes. He's absolutely no villain. He's attentive, but as Nina points out, he's tuned to the right station in the wrong language. His failure is one of imagination, not love. At its core, this is a story about the difference between being known about and being known. Between someone who has your facts and someone who has your frequency. It's also about the cost of the performed self. Because 3 a.m. is the hour when performances tend to fail. Run out of steam. You can't maintain the composed version of yourself when you're at your weakest. You end up on the floor, texting the one other person you know is awake. Until they become the person you want to turn to at any hour. --- [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f7/b3/f7b3d002-68ca-4de9-9010-1d89bc125161/content/images/2025/09/JonNegroni-1.jpg)](https://jonnegroni.com/?ref=ceteramagazine.com) Jon Negroni is a Puerto Rican author based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He’s published two books, as well as short stories for IHRAM Press, The Fairy Tale Magazine, and more. [Read more of Jon's work ](https://jonnegroni.com/?ref=ceteramagazine.com) ## Support Cetera Paid members get exclusive perks like bonus stories, the ability to comment, and more. Plus you'd be helping us keep the bills paid. You can check out the subscription tiers below, or you can leave a one-time tip if that works better for you. [View subscription tiers](https://www.ceteramagazine.com/its-our-first-week-on-ghost) [Leave a one-time tip for this story](https://www.ceteramagazine.com/doors-that-open-on-leap-days/#/portal/support)