Read All Night for Free Online

wants to be kissed.
    “But what did we decide?” I ask.
    We are both so tired we feel almost drunk. Silently, she gets back into bed. I snuggle in beside her. This is what I wanted. All along. Just to feel her. To hold her. “But what did we decide?” I ask once more.
    The warmth, being warm again, feels so good. She presses her face against my chest. She says, “We will be interesting people. Together. All right?”
    God, what a night! We must have said everything there is to say. And nothing else matters.
    “All right,” I say. The rest is just cricket scores.
    She kisses me. Oh. Again and again. “Go to sleep,” she says. “We are never doing this again.”
    “You couldn’t pay me enough beers to ever do this again,” I say.
    “Shut up,” Jess says.
    We are warm, warm together.
    “Even if you filled the fridge ...”
    Her body tenses into a yawn. “No more. Please. Just. Shut up.”
    She turns over and we snuggle even closer. Why couldn’t we do this hours ago? Our bodies feel wrapped in the same heavy skin. In a minute she is snoring. Snuffle-whiff, snuffle-whiff. Gentle, gentle. I pull her even tighter.
    She hugs the arm I lay over her. I bury my drowsy face into her hair.
    Dreamless sleep. Drained of everything. Warm together.

    Slowly, the light changes. I sense the change and I don’t. Slowly, morning comes on.
    Slowly, Jess wakes up. I see her in a dream, waking up. I am sleeping, but I see her somehow. Are my eyes open?
    She sits up. “God! Gregor! Get it!”
    I bolt awake. “What?”
    “Get it! Get it! There!”
    I twist out of bed and grab my shoe again. I hammer away, chasing the cockroach around and under the bed.
    Jess screams, “It’s over there now! Go!”
    “I’m trying! I’m trying!” I shout.
    “There! There! Oh, God, get it!”
    I whack the roach. Whack! Whack! There— got it! Jess runs into my arms, knocking me to the floor. “My hero!”
    Oh, we kiss as if we are gasping for air. Like we should have kissed all last night! Instead of fighting. I manage to pick her up, then dump her back on the bed. I dive on top of her.
    “Wait,” she says.
    “What?”
    “What time is it?”
    “Really?” I groan. I scramble to find my watch. “It’s 9:07”
    “What?”
    Oh God, oh ... I spring out of bed. “It’s 9:07! 9:07! It’s seven minutes after bloody nine.”
    Jess madly starts pulling on clothes. “Oh God! Oh God!” she cries.
    I shove our one bowl of cereal towards her. “Here! Here!”
    She almost knocks it with her elbow. “But you have to stack all those chairs,” she says. “You have it!”
    We take turns eating cereal while trying to pull on clothes. She hurries into the black leggings she always wears when she tries out for a part. The long red top with the narrow sleeves.
    “You have to go!” I say. “If you catch the subway—”
    “I’ll never make it!”
    “You can! You can!” We’ve made it this far. We made it through last night.
    “Oh God, I’m just going to make a fool of myself.”
    I help her into her winter coat. “You are stunning. You’ll be great. I love you. Now go!”
    “You have to go to work, too!”
    “I’m coming!” I say. “I’m coming! Just go!”
    I push her out the door. I finish the last of the cereal, spilling milk on my work pants. It doesn’t matter. I’ll just be stacking chairs. I finish dressing and leave. As I close the door behind me, I slide the magazine under it. Maybe, maybe the lock will hold. How late am I? I don’t look at my watch. I run down the alley. The day is bright, the slush frozen. The city does not care if I am late for stacking chairs.
    As I come around the corner, I see the bus pulling away. I run for it, knowing I won’t make it. It doesn’t matter.
    The sun has come up and Peter is still dead. It occurs to me that now I have to love Jess for both of us.
    I am running, running, even though the bus has already gone. When I get to the stop, I keep going. Yes, I think: Jess will make it