Into the Velvet

Thirty-Seven Days Until

(12:03am) Louise: Henry? Are you awake?

(12:05am) Henry: What an pleasant surprise

(12:05am) Henry: I am

(12:06am) Louise: Good

(12.06am) Louise: You couldn't sleep?

(12:08am) Henry: Not really, no

(12:09am) Louise: You know, you should really do something about that

(12:10am) Henry: What do we have here — a pot? Seems strange. What is it doing here? And why is it calling the kettle black?

(12:11am) Louise: Oh, har-har-har

(12:11am) Louise: My sleeping habits are poor, I'll admit. But they're not as bad as yours

(12:12am) Henry: Is that the only reason for your correspondence tonight? To condemn my insomnia?

(12:14am) Louise: No. I reached out because I had a hunch

(12:14am) Henry: What was your hunch?

(12:15am) Louise: That I wasn't the only one who was having a sleepless night. I might've even wanted some company

(12:19am) Henry: Well

(12:19am) Henry: You were right

(12:20am) Henry: And as we've established, you know me better than anyone else in this town

(12:20am) Louise: Better than Maurice at the diner?

(12:21am) Henry: ...Maybe not. Tonight she gave me extra helpings of fries. She's standing by the counter now, looking at me

(12:21am) Henry: Probably wondering who I'm texting

(12:22am) Louise: You're at the Velvet right now?

(12:23am) Henry: I'm always at the Velvet

(12:23am) Louise: Why?

(12:24am) Henry: To get away. To think. To breathe

(12:25am) Louise: Get away from what?

(12:31am) Henry: Hey — did you know Cloë and Joe from your class both submitted the same essays for their assignment? They did consult a thesaurus beforehand, though. They picked out every multisyllabic word they could find, and changed the wording in every sentence. Credit to them

(12:33am) Henry: If they'd been more sophisticated cheaters, I may have let them have a pass. But their effort was insulting at best. I'd like to believe that I'm not as stupid as they seem to think me

(12:33am) Louise: I wouldn't give them any credit. Not if they're too stupid to cheat properly

(12:34am) Henry: So how would you do it? How would you successfully cheat?

(12:34am) Louise: I... I guess I wouldn't

(12:35am) Louise: It wouldn't even occur to me. I'm just that uncool

(12:35am) Henry: You're not 'uncool'. Whatever that means. That's an insult to your integrity

(12:36am) Louise: Make no mistake, my friend. Take this from a girl who went on a disastrous date with a drug dealer. I'm EXTREMELY uncool

(12:39am) Henry: You shouldn't worry about your standing with dead-beat losers

(12:40am) Louise: Henry!