Carter looked at her with dull eyes.

“This is boring, Amy.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Something physical. Too much sitting at work. Gotta move…”

Carter was an energetic man.

He should be cutting down trees all day with an ax…

Not be face down in endless stacks of paper. Worried about his job getting axed.

Flash…

Carter’s dull face just switched on.

“Amy, let’s go to a club!”

“A club?” The only clubs she liked were book clubs.

“Yeah! Let’s go dancing!”

“You want to go dancing?”

“Hell yes! You want to go too, of course. Right?”

Amy would rather get hit with a club than go to the club.

Her wild college days consisted of jumping from one book to the next…

Always waking up with a new book next to her…

But she’d rather go to the club than see his caramel eyes bored.

Anything to make Carter happy…

“Of course, sweetie. Let’s go.”

THE NEXT EVENING

“I still can’t get over how fun last night was.”

That was Carter speaking. Naturally.

What Amy couldn’t get over was how much she drank…

Did she get drunk to please Carter?

Or cope with the too big crowd dancing to the too loud music?

What mattered was that Carter was pleased.

“You were wild, Amy! I loved it!”

She felt happy seeing him happy. Especially how happy he was with her.

She also felt the thickness of the extra makeup on her face. Necessary to compensate for the lack of beauty sleep.

“Yeah, it was so much fun, sweetie.”

“Amy, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

If Carter was thinking of going to sleep, the answer was yes.

But given that his eyes were popping out of what seemed to be energy sockets, that was wishful thinking.

“I don’t know…” Amy gulped.

Her mouth was dry all day…

Despite ample amounts of water.

“What’re you thinking, Carter?”

“You! Me! The club! Let’s do it!”

Amy was ready to collapse in bed.

But she stood up and smiled.

Anything to make Carter happy…

THE NEXT EVENING

“I swear, Amy, work is killing me. My face was buried in paper all day.”

What was killing Amy was 2 nights of clubbing. She wanted to bury her face in a pillow for 2 years.

It also killed her to see Carter so miserable…

“Sorry to hear, sweetie. What can I do to help?”

“Well, you’ve been awesome. Had tons of fun with you these past few nights. Didn’t know you also loved clubbing.”

Amy forced a smile…

Should’ve been an easy task after forcing dance moves all through the past 2 nights…

But she had a mountain of makeup on her face.

Let’s just say the last 2 nights were taking a toll on more than just her energy levels.

Carter stood up so quickly, she could swear his feet flew off the floor for 2 seconds. “Let’s go again! I’ve got energy!”

Amy had just enough energy to smile and say, “Me too.”

This smile was even harder to force.

THE NEXT EVENING

A beam of light.

Why was it dark?

Where was that light coming from?

“Amy…Amy…”

Cool song. Nice beat. And…the lyrics were her name on repeat? Awesome.

She must be in the club.

“Amy…Amy…”

No. Not awesome.

Too much music…

Too much clubbing…

The beam of light grew.

“Amy! Wake up!”

Amy forced her eyes half-open…

She was lying on the living room sofa…

Looking up at a beaming Carter.

When did she fall asleep?

“Get up, Amy! Time for the club! Plenty of time for sleep when you’re dead!”

As Amy got up — feeling the weight of her sore legs, the weight of makeup on her face — she was surprised she wasn’t dead already.

THE NEXT EVENING

Anything to make Carter happy…

That’s why for the 5th night in a row, Amy was in the club.

As usual, the place was too stuffy.

As usual, she was too sweaty.

But as usual, Carter was all smiley.

Her suffering was a necessary sacrifice.

She was waiting for drinks at the bar. Watching Carter dance.

His energy level was inhuman. He danced like a broken power line fizzing and buzzing all over.

He caught her eye. Motioned for her to hurry over.

She looked at the bartender. “Throw in another shot of vodka.”

With each night of clubbing, she was enjoying alcohol more and more.

It softened the torture of clubbing.

It numbed her exhaustion.

And — until the next morning, at least — it masked the hangovers that made her want to hang over a dance floor.

The bartender passed her the drinks. She downed 5 vodka shots, careful not to mess up her mask of makeup.

Any more makeup and Amy was sure she could disguise as cake. Hopefully Carter didn’t notice it…

He hated too much makeup…

And cake.

Carefully holding Carter’s drinks, she began walking over to him…

And—

Her legs began moving wildly from side to side.

Was she actually in the mood to dance?

Her legs kept moving…like they had a life of their own…

But they weren’t dancing.

They were wobbling.

What was happening?

As Amy tried to steady her legs, she yawned so loudly everyone stopped dancing and yawned with her.

Or was this all her imagination?

Her legs wobbled so aggressively she was sure she invented a new dance move called The Drunken Pretzel.

But she couldn’t be drunk already.

Amy noticed she was still yawning.

Or was it another yawn?

Her hands trembled with the drinks…

Like an earthquake…

Growing stronger…

Was there an earthquake?

She couldn’t tell if the crowd was dancing wildly…

Or being thrown around by the ground.

Amy was already in the air before she realized it…

She felt the drinks fly out of her hands…

The liquid spilling on her face…

And—

SMACK!

Her body slammed on the still ground.

The lights turned on. The music stopped. Everyone stared at her.

Or was this all her imagination?

One thing was certain…

Carter was looking at her. Horrified.

Amy felt dead. Not just dead tired.

Dead.

She recalled Carter’s words: “Plenty of time for sleep when you’re dead!”

Well, good then, time for plenty of sleep…

But if she was dead, how could she feel the spilled drinks trickling down her face?

“The hell is wrong with you, Amy? Watch your step!”

Carter — flushed with anger & embarrassment — pulled her to the bar.

He grabbed a bunch of napkins and wiped her face clean of all the dripping alcohol.

Cleaned off all the makeup, too.

“What the hell…you look like crap…”

He looked at her with more disgust than seeing 5 new stacks of paper at his job.

Amy was already crying inside from exhaustion…

But after such a comment — such a look — from Carter, she felt an urge to explode into tears.

She used the energy she didn’t have to keep it all in.

“Carter, I’m so sorry. I’m tired as hell. Need to go home…need to sleep, Carter…” She tried to force a smile.

This time she failed.

“You want to go home now?! The night’s just getting started!”

Amy opened her mouth to say: “Ok. Let’s stay.”

Anything to make Carter happy…

But something else came out: “Please. Let’s go…”

Carter looked at her with disappointed eyes.

“You’re boring, Amy.”