Page 20 of Teach Me to Laugh

“You’re . . .”

“I’ve never known anyone to get so defensive over purple before.”

I bit my lip and stayed quiet, just glaring at him over the counter. Then I added another two lemon chicken balls to my plate. “Whatever.”

He laughed harder.

I glared harder.

“There are DRAGONS!” I twisted to look at Beckett with wide, excited eyes. “Dragons! We have to start season two.”

“Woman,” he groaned. “I’m going to pass out.”

“But—dragons.”

He chuckled. “You’ll have tons of time to see the dragons later.”

“But . . .” I huffed, seeing the dark coloring under his eyes and remembering the intense week he had studying late into each night. “We have to watch at least one episode a day. I need to know about those dragons.”

“Think I can manage that, peanut.” Beckett was standing, moving to the kitchen with our plates.

I turned off the system and joined him in the kitchen. I poured myself a raspberry juice, downed it and declared, “I’m going to have a bath. See you in the morning.”

“Night, beautiful.” I tried not to flinch at his words. “Sweet dreams.”

“You too, Beckett.”

Saturday morning was a morning I spent with Maddy, but this Saturday, after staying up so late into the night with Beckett, all I wanted to do was sleep in. Still, when my alarm went off at six-thirty, I pulled my booty out of bed. If I didn’t, Maddy would ask questions. I didn’t want to answer questions about Beckett.

It was when I was padding into the kitchen for a cup of mud that I noticed the light was on. And then I noticed the man with the books spread out at the counter. His hair was a mess and he looked like he’d already had about ten cups of coffee.

“Morning,” He startled at my voice, twisting to look at me.

“Hey, is it that time already?”

“Already? How long have you been awake?”

“A while,” he shrugged. “Made coffee.”

“I see that.” I was already on route to the pot. “Did you get any sleep?”

“A few hours.”

“I think med school is going to kill you,” leaning into the counter, I watched him exhale. “You’ve gotta have balance.”

“There’s no balance. Talk to either one of my parent’s and they’ll tell you as much.”

“Right,” I breathed. “But you can’t not sleep.”

“I slept.”

“A few hours isn’t sleep. Is that even enough time for someone to hit REM sleep?”

“Most people hit REM sleep within ninety to a hundred and twenty minutes of being asleep.”

“Sometimes you’re too smart.”

“It’s just a fact.”

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