I ran to the living room and plopped onto the couch. The two chairs alongside the sofa were old and ugly—grey and made of some sort of itchy material. I had purchased them at a thrift shop. It was all I could afford at the time. I never sat in them, only on the oxblood sofa, which I had inherited from my grandmother.

I unlaced one of my shoes. “Jackass,” I called, tossing it at Jack as he entered the room.

“Hey.” He leapt on top of me and began tickling my ribs. I squealed and thrashed, trying to wiggle free as I yanked the other shoe loose. I kept hold of it, hitting Jack on the head repeatedly.

I managed to drag myself to the other side of the couch as Jack ducked, dodging my blows. His shirt was unbuttoned a little too far, exposing his triangle of chest hair. He was glistening; tiny beads of sweat clung to his nose as he tried to pry the shoe from my outstretched arm.

“Stop,” he demanded.

“Make me.”

“Stop.” He was smiling, and that smile made me forget that anything else existed. It was just me and him. I dropped my shoe.

Panting, I stood up and adjusted my dress, which had twisted itself tightly around my legs in the struggle. I moved to the mirror and reapplied a coat of lipstick, wiping the lines around my Cupid’s bow with my index finger. Jack pushed his curls back before reaching into his pocket for the baggie.

“So, you still mad at me?” he asked, selecting four pills from the bag.

I grabbed two from his open palm, popped them in my mouth, and swallowed. “I won’t be soon.”

We’d planned to attend a party at Jack’s friend’s place. It was a space-themed funeral, in honour of the Mars rover whose batteries had died.

I had bought sheets of sparkly hot-pink foam paper and was sitting on the floor, busily cutting celestial shapes with a pair of kitchen shears, while Jack sat above me, rubbing my shoulders and chain-smoking. I was in the process of hacking the letters for Long Live Rover when I was overcome with sadness. Or maybe it was happiness. It was hard to tell. My head fell forward.

“Baby?” Jack dropped his cigarette in his beer bottle and leaned forward, placing his hands on my face. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” I looked up at him with wet eyes.

His pupils were huge.

“It’s just so sad.” I let my head bob back, moving my jaw in circles, grinding my teeth together.

“What is, baby?”

“Everything.” I was crying so hard I could barely breathe.

Jack moved to the ground and wrapped his arms around me.

Between sobs, I managed to say the words, “I just loved that little guy so much.”

Jack burst out laughing. The noise was like stepping into a warm bath and being submerged in water. “You are so fucking cute.” He kissed my cheeks, my forehead, my nose and chin. “And way too high to go anywhere.” Guiding my head into his chest, he laughed again. I purposely rubbed my leaking nose against him.