Chaise-ing Forgiveness

(My boyfriend and I have been roommates for over a year, but we’ve only been an item for about six months. As we had moved in together before we were an item, we now have a separate bedroom. Nowadays, we use his old bedroom as our bedroom and mine as a living room. However, there is still a bed in my old bedroom, and there is couch downstairs from when we didn’t have a living room. We’ve been semi-fighting about something and I am generally upset and hurt, so I decide it’s best to end the fight and go be on my own for a while. He’s in the bedroom, and I come in to pick up my duvet and pillow.)

Boyfriend: “What are you doing? I can go downstairs if you want to go to bed.”

Me: “No, that’s okay. I’m going to sleep in my room tonight. Sorry, but I kinda need some space right now.”

Boyfriend: “But… no, please don’t do this; this is stupid! You hate sleeping alone, and this fight is not even such a big deal! This is dumb; let’s just go to bed together!”

(I end up sleeping alone in my old bedroom. I don’t sleep very well, and I wake up early in the morning. As I head for the bathroom, I realize that the door to my boyfriend’s bedroom is open. I am confused, so I peek in. He’s not there. I go downstairs, where I find him sleeping on the couch.)

Me: “Umm… What are you doing? Why are you sleeping down here?”

Boyfriend: “I’m sorry about yesterday. I was being an a**, and I’m sorry!”

Me: “Thanks, I’m sorry too. But that doesn’t explain why you’re sleeping here?”

Boyfriend: “After I went to bed, I started thinking about the fight. I realized I was being kind of an idiot, not realizing that some of the stuff I said would upset you. I was worried you’d still be upset today. So I did what any repentant boyfriend would do: I slept on the couch.”

(This melts my heart, and we both go back to our bed upstairs for the rest of the night. To this day, if we have a fight, he’ll pick up his pillow and head downstairs with a sad face, knowing fully well that I’m not going to let him spend another night alone on the couch!)