Monday night, she clicked off her phone, pulled up her covers and snuggled into bed. The day's events transitioned through her mind, giving her the ups and the downs. Maybe someday it would be all ups - she'd work out all her "down" stuff to the point where it didn't exist anymore. 

She closed her eyes, and started to drift into sleep. She hadn't talked to Sam that day - they'd gone out Saturday, talked on Sunday, but that day had been a void. But Sam probably had a lot to do, and she was sure that things were still progressing between them....

Her ringtone sounded, and she opened her eyes. Her screen shone from the chair near the door. Scrambling out of bed, she ran across the room, grabbed her phone, and saw his name. 

"Hey, Sam," she said, and held the phone to her ear. 

"Hey," he said. "Did I wake you up?" 

"No," she said, "I was up," and realized it was the second lie she'd told him. 

"Listen," he said, "um.... I know we've only been out once, and I don't want to be too forward or anything, but.... I just need someone to talk to." 

"Oh?" she was suddenly wide awake, and sat down on the edge of her bed. 

"Yeah, um... something happened.... My parents told me that they're getting divorced." 

"Oh," she said. "How do you... how do you feel about it?" 

He sighed. "I feel.... I don't know. Sad. Angry." 

"Are you.... Do they still have any kids living at home?"

"No," he said. "I'm the youngest. I just have one sister who's older." 

"Maybe they were waiting until you left home." 

"Yeah, maybe," he said. "They always fought a lot.... It's just like... like I always had this question in my mind, like: Are we a good family or a bad family? And it's like this is proof that we were bad."

Alyssa pulled her sheets apart, snuggled into them and held her phone to her ear. She let Sam vent, listened as he poured out his emotions. And then they said goodnight and made plans to meet the next day, and her passions coursed through her as her thoughts became dreams.