she's sitting next to you.
are you paying attention?

she's talking.
she talks. she keeps talking. she keeps rambling, she
doesn't know what she's talking about. her
mouth is just moving by
itself.
are you paying attention?

she stops
talking. you're not listening.
are you listening? you're not listening. she doesn't 
think you're listening. she doesn't
feel like you're listening. she's not
listening to herself, even.
she's not paying
attention to what she's 
saying. you're not paying
attention to what she's 
saying. she stops
talking. nobody is listening. nobody is
talking. she stops talking. 

...

she taps your shoulder.
huh?

head to neck

sorry, i was
talking, she says. were you
listening? you shake
your head. you say you
spaced out. you ask what
she was talking about.
she shrugs.
she doesn't know.
it doesn't matter, she says.
it doesn't matter what she
was talking about. she wasn't
paying attention, anyway. you weren't 
paying attention, anyway.

she points to you
r neck. what 
are you listening
to               ? she asks.
you tell her. she puts her hand
to her chin. haven't heard of them.
you shrug.

you look around. she watches
you look around.
you look around your own room. pillows on 
pillows on blankets on
your bed. you and her on 
blankets on your bed and 
pillows on pillows next to 
you and her on blankets
on your bed.

you space out. it's easy for you
to space out. she sees this. she's 
paying attention. it's easy to space out when you're not
paying attention. she knows this.

...

she grabs your hand.
huh?

neck to hands

you're not even listening
to that, she says.
you laugh. sorry, i guess i
spaced out. i guess i
wasn't paying attention.
she laughs. sorry. she's
sorry she can't keep your
attention. she laughs
again. you laugh.

she's laughing.
she laughs. she keeps laughing. she keeps giggling, she
doesn't know what she's laughing about. she
looks up at you she
looks away.

fuck, she's sorry. she's just
out of it today, she guesses. she's
apologizing. why is she 
apologizing? she
doesn't know, she says. she
apologizes. she hasn't
done anything to 
apologize for. has she? or
were you not paying attention?

she shrugs. she 
doesn't know. you
don't know and you know that you
don't know and that she 
doesn't know. she knows that
you don't know and she knows that you know that she
doesn't know. you know that she knows that
shut
up shut up she
covers her face with
her hands.

...

you put
it
down

and take her hands.
what?

is she ok? yeah
no, she says, it's just it's
just uugh it's she's 
sorry. literally nothing happened like
you didn't do anything
like she's just tired or whatever it's not
a huge deal or anything

she looks at you
she's looking at you and you're looking at her are you? are you
looking at her? you're looking at her and she's looking at you. she's happy 
that you're looking at her you're
paying attention to her. she's happy
that you're paying attention to her. her hands are in yours and
your hands are in hers and there are pillows on
pillows on blankets on your bed. your hands in 
hers and her hands in
yours and you and her on
blankets on your bed and
pillows on pillows next to
you and her with your
hands intertwined on blankets
on your bed.

she looks down she starts
crying. is she crying? is she really crying? she's
crying. stop crying you think you might
cry too why is she crying? why is she
crying? what's wrshe doesn't know. she
sighs it's nothing you did. it's 
not you you didn't do anything. she's still
crying

...

what do you do?
what do you do?
she's crying she's crying and she's 
holding your hands and you're
holding her hands and she's
crying. what do you do? what do you

you hug her.
what?

she hugs
you back
she hugs you back
tightly.

she's
okay
right?

yeah
she's 
she's gonna be fine
she thinks

you're hugging her
and she's hugging you 
and there are pillows on pillows, on blankets,
on your bed.
you and she are hugging on blankets,
on your bed,
and there are pillows on pillows next to you and her
(you and her hugging)
on blankets
on your bed.

thanks