Texts After 3
Two insomniacs grow closer one 3am text at a time, while the wrong relationship slowly makes the right one impossible to ignore.
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.
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.
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