It had been a bleak and horrible winter in Weatherfield, lots of grey skies, dark nights, snow flurries and today was no exception. So much for it being spring and the start of British summer time thought Michelle. It was Sunday morning, she'd lost an hour sleep with the change of the clocks and now outside it was dull and depressing. She stood at the window and peered out through the curtains at the empty street. Rain batted against the windowpane as it hammered down and created puddles upon and amongst the cobbles. Everyone was sure to stay home today and she was planning to do the same. Sighing heavily and feeling depressed herself she turned and headed into the kitchenette. It was seven and she was the first one up, as usual, the sound of Ryan and Steve still snoring away the only sound that broke the silence in her flat.
She boiled the kettle and stared idly into space as she thought about her life. Hearing the click of the kettle she picked it up and began pouring into the cup somewhat distracted by her thoughts. She didn't realise she had missed the cup completely until she felt a tiny splash of hot water drop onto her bare feet and burn her skin momentarily. Instantly she placed the kettle down on the side and cursed loudly, how could she be so stupid? Grabbing a cloth she quickly mopped up the puddle on the counter trying not to burn her fingertips as the cloth soaked up the boiling liquid. Michelle could just tell that today was going to be one of those days, starting again she picked up the kettle and tried again this time paying attention and taking care.
Michelle's cursing hadn't been loud or alarming but had managed to disturb Steve. He pulled his face out of his pillow and glanced at the alarm clock through narrowed, almost still closed eyes. Moaning loudly at the sight of the time he thumped his face back down into the pillow clumsily and tried to go back to sleep. Steve had failed to notice the lack of Michelle's presence in the bed and spread across it in a selfish starfish pose. Comfortable in his state of mild unconsciousness Steve had blissfully forgotten about his and Michelle's row the night before but in the living room Michelle was still dazed and distracted about the whole thing.
She had taken her successfully made cup of tea and sat down on the sofa, wrapped up in a fleece blanket and her towelling robe, hugging her mug and completely distracted by her thoughts. As she continued to think about their fight last night she began regretting some of the things she had said and the abuse she had hurled in Steve's direction, after all he'd only been trying to help. Michelle had come home from a long day of over time at the factory, Carla had really been cracking the whip on all the machinists to get the order out on time and some of that had managed to come Michelle's way too. She was physically exhausted and fed up and had just wanted to come home, have a nice long soak in a bath and sleep it off after a glass of wine or two. Instead she had walked in on Ryan and he hadn't been home alone. He had popped his head up from the sofa upon hearing the door opening and Michelle had found, pinned conveniently underneath him Katy.
Trust Ryan to be causing yet again more trouble on the street. Steve and Michelle had already told him once about splitting up Katy and Chesney, the damage it would cause and she was outraged to find he had not listened to them. She'd screamed and screamed at him until a shy and intimidated Katy had left and like a hurt puppy Ryan had disappeared to sulk in his room. It was genuinely hard work being Ryan's mother and disgusted by what she had seen Michelle had turned straight back around and stormed out of the flat heading straight for the bistro to grab a drink. She'd run into Carla and she had talked shop at her for hours until Peter had finally come in search of his partner in crime and relieved her of having to listen to another second of how Carla couldn't take anymore of Rob interfering in business that didn't concern him.
When Michelle finally got back to her flat she walked in on Steve chuckling away with Ryan, to her horror about Katy and lost it. Not only was it disrespectful to speak about a girl or a woman that way but trust Steve to encourage it and Ryan to continue chasing after that girl. She was a young mother with a small baby who already had a loving father and she did hope as did most of the street that Katy and Chesney would work it out and become a happy little family again. There was no way she was going to let Ryan get in the way of that or tarnish his reputation any further by ending up living with Katy. Shaking her head she glared at Steve, sometimes he was so stupid and behaved so oafishly. She slapped him round the back of the head as she walked in and Ryan once again quickly disappeared, this time leaving the flat and no doubt following up some of Steve's idiotic advice. She had yelled and screamed until she lost her voice at Steve last night, growing agitated at his silly facial expressions and pathetic excuses. What on earth had he been thinking encouraging Ryan like that?
As she sipped her brew she continued to mull over that last question, it was highly insensitive but so Steve. At times he just didn't think clearly or before he opened his mouth. Michelle was sure now she'd probably just overreacted and felt guilty that after her outburst they hadn't spoken to each other the rest of the night. She blamed the stress for her mood it was the only explanation. Having relived last nights events a couple of times in her head Michelle's thoughts began to drift into other things. Things like how after their argument they hadn't kissed and made up as usual and that for a few weeks there had been a tense atmosphere between them both. They always had rows and it was normal in their relationship but something had changed since their first argument about Ryan and Katy the other week. It was almost as if Steve was trying to undermine her parenting of Ryan by playing good cop whilst she played bad. When she thought about it, it was usually Ryan's behaviour that destroyed her relationships but more so recently.
Michelle sighed heavily and continued to daydream, last night she had been saddened by the fact Steve hadn't been on her side or that he had failed to comfort her after she had paced worrying at gone midnight when Ryan hadn't returned home. He'd just gone to bed and left her alone in the living room, stressing and panicking as to where Ryan had got to or what he was up to. It was bad enough that for nearly a month they had been sleeping miles apart in her tiny double bed but last night she had curled up and eventually fallen asleep upon the sofa. She'd been disturbed in the really early hours of morning by Ryan sneaking in but had squinted her eyes and pretended to still be sleeping so as to avoid any messy confrontation. She was just glad to have her son home safe.
Thinking about how much she missed hers and Steve's intimacy and how lonely it had been sleeping in nothing but a robe and a fleece Michelle took another sip of tea. As she tried to remember how long it had actually been since they'd last had sex she found herself distracted and so accidentally missed her mouth spilling the hot drink all over her. The shock this time made her yelp and she leapt up dropping the mug on the floor and making enough of a racket to finally stir Ryan and Steve from their beds. She couldn't believe what she'd accidentally done and before either of them appeared she ran to the bathroom and locked herself in so as to get cleaned up. For a minute she stopped, looking at herself in the mirror and just wanting to cry because she looked so tired. She felt it too as she slowly dabbed with a towel at her soaked robe and skin. Discarding her robe to the floor and standing in the middle of the bathroom she hurried to start running a bath. She desperately needed to relax and this was the best chance she'd have at peace and quiet.
The bathroom began to fill with steam as the hot water filled the tub, a light fragrant scent from the bath soak Michelle had emptied in filling the air. She took one last look at her tired self in the mirror and then sank her body slowly into the almost boiling hot, soapy water letting it immerse her body. Tipping her head back against the porcelain she closed her eyes and enjoyed the seconds of silence before she was disturbed.
