EPISODE 3: SUNDAY MOVIE 🍿NIGHT
582 Words
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Month 2.
Week 6.
If 9pm calls are the heartbeat of our LDR,
Then Sunday Movie Night is the soul of it.
It started by accident.
Week 2. We were both bored. I said "let's watch something together" and we pressed play on two different TVs and tried to sync it.
It was a disaster. I was 4 seconds ahead and spoiled the jump scare.
So we got better.
We found an app. We made rules.
*Rule 1*: Phones down.
*Rule 2*: No pausing to go to the bathroom.
*Rule 3*: We rate it 1-10 after. No cheating.
By Week 6, it was sacred.
"Sunday Movie Night in 10," Tariq texted me at 7:50pm.
I was already in bed with popcorn, blanket, and a glass of juice. Full cinema setup.
`Same. You pick tonight.`
He called at 8pm sharp. Video on.
He was also in bed. Hoodie on. Same blanket I gave him. The blue one.
"Ready, babe?"
"Ready."
We hit play at the same time.
A rom-com. Bad. Cheesy. Perfect.
For the next 2 hours we didn’t really talk.
We just... existed together.
I’d hear him laugh and I’d laugh 1 second later.
He’d gasp and I’d look up from my phone to see if I missed something.
When it got to the sad part, I heard him sniff and I did too.
When it got to the kiss, he said "aww" under his breath and I smiled at my screen.
It’s stupid.
We’re watching a movie. Alone. In two different countries.
But it didn’t feel alone.
Halfway through he paused it.
"You still there?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Just checking. Sometimes the WiFi dies."
"It’s good."
"Good. Because I don’t wanna watch the end without you."
I melted a little.
Who says that about a bad rom-com?
We unpaused.
After it ended we did our rating.
"3 out of 10," I said.
"2," he said.
"Told you it was bad."
"Worth it though," he said. "For the company."
Silence. Comfortable.
The movie credits rolled on both our screens.
"Babe," he said.
"Hmm?"
"Can we keep the call on? I don’t wanna sleep yet."
"Me neither."
So we didn’t.
We just talked. About nothing.
About the movie. About his day. About the weird dream I had.
About what we’d cook if we were in the same kitchen.
At some point I realized my eyes were closing.
"Tariq I’m sleepy."
"Sleep," he said immediately. "I’ll stay on."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. I like falling asleep with you."
So I did.
Phone on the pillow. His voice low in the background.
He was telling me about his childhood dog. I don’t remember the end of the story.
I woke up at 3am to an empty call.
He’d hung up.
But there was a text:
`You snore a little when you’re really tired. It’s cute. Sleep well, love.`
I grinned so hard my face hurt.
Sunday Movie Night became our thing.
Not because the movies were good.
Most of them were terrible.
But because for 2 hours every week, the distance disappeared.
We weren’t 7000 miles apart.
We were on the same couch. Sharing popcorn. Arguing about the plot. Falling asleep to each other’s voices.
That’s the trick to long distance, I think.
You don’t fight the distance with big gestures.
You fight it with small routines that feel like home.
And home, for us, was Sunday at 8pm.
Blankets. Bad movies. And him.
Even if it was just through a screen.
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to be continued...*
- Writer
