Pills & Peels

I stare at the blank screen for the better part of an hour. She coughs and breaks the silence.

'Do you like red?' she asks
'I guess I do... sometimes'
'I think I know what you mean.' and she really says this.

Our clothes are scattered on the floor next to the bed. Pills and orange peels are spread across the night table. In the moments that follow I think about the house I grew up in and the time Lauren thought she was pregnant. In all my waking days I don't think I have ever cared about anything so much - but not now, and not like this.