RPV
"Can I get you guys anything else?" The overly flirty bar tender asks us. "I think we are good, thank-"
"Another round! Keep them coming!" Marcus says, cutting me off. The waitress smiles and heads back to retrieve another shot of whiskey. "Dude, you have had 3 already, enough!" I tell him.
He just smirks, "You gotta learn how to play with the big boys, Robbie Rob."
"Trust me, I do. But anymore whiskey and you will forget your name."
"Whatever. Lets have some guy talk!" Marcus says a little too loud for my liking. "Guy talk? You have really lost it man." I tell him, trying my best to keep from peeing my pants laughing.
"No, I haven't." Marcus says, trying to concentrate. "I mean Trish, thinks I have. Thats why we broke up."
"What? You have been dating for 4 years!"
He seems conflicted about this, they are practically married. I remember Kristen mentioning about how Trish was pissed about his commitment issues. "She wants to get married, and I can't do that!" He tells me.
"Why not?"
"I'm scared shitless! I mean promising to be with someone for the rest of your life?"
I chuckle, "Marcus, you have been with Trish for 4 years, you two are practically married. Deal with it. When did you guys split up?" I ask, taking a sip of my beer.
He moves his head from side to side, "About 14 hours ago. I told her I was coming to see you and she was pissed she wasn't invited."
I roll my eyes and take my right hand and slap the back of his bone head. "You idiot! She is always invited. Get your fucken phone out and call her."
"Yeah, I know. But I want a few hours as a single man…"
"Whatever." I mumble. Marcus is a lot of things, but he isn't sleazy. I decide to blame the alcohol.
Marcus clears his throat, "My turn. Tell your best friend about what has been going on. Because the Kristen and Rob I saw today, are not the ones I remember."
I wave my hand in air, "Ahh, I don't know. We have grown up I guess."
Marcus takes his attention away from his shot glass and gives me the 'who do you think your kidding' look. "No, its more then that. Are you two ok?"
"What do you mean? Like me and her?" Marcus nods his head yes, "Oh yeah. Kristen and I are great. Why?"
"Cause Kristen looked like she was about to burst into tears when you said goodbye. And you, God you have had one beer!" He says taking my glass, "And you haven't even finished yet!"
I laugh and take my glass back, "Your not having it."
"Come on Rob, I'm not too shit faced yet. Talk to me."
"I don't know what to say. Loosing Felicity really changed us, we just don't find fun in anything anymore. Apart from being with each other, we just can't seem to get out of this funk. I mean, our grief counselor said we really didn't need her help anymore, so we stopped going. We were doing fine, or at least functioning, then Kristen found out she was pregnant again and it was like a breath of fresh air. I mean we both were smiling again."
"Then what changed? Cause you two look so sad."
"I blame myself, I begged Kris to come with me to Australia. I didn't want her alone being just newly pregnant but she insisted. And so I left for a month and come back home, Kristen developed severe separation anxiety from me. She wouldn't get out of bed while I was gone."
"Well they have medication for that, right?" Marcus asked
"Yeah, but its not safe to take while being pregnant. But once I got back she seemed fine to me. Its not as bad as we once thought, but the days when I have a meeting or am hanging out with someone besides her, she gets really sad. The doctor says its because of the traumatic experience we had together and so she is clinging to her safety net."
Marcus seems lost. He has never delt with anything real in his life. Emotions and relationships have never been up his alley.
"I don't know what to say Rob… How are you handling this?"
"I'm only doing what I know what works. And that is being there for her all the time. Apart from you, I don't have a desire to spend time with anyone else, I love being with her. She needs me and I need her. She makes seeing a father with his little girl not so painful. She gives me hope for our son. I know I need to be there for him, he has no idea what happened before him."
Marcus places his hand on my shoulder, "Rob, I have never met anyone as strong and determined as you. If you need advice, take it from yourself. You are doing everything right, and I wish I could help you, but you really don't need any."
"Thanks Marcus, its nice to hear that."
He smiles, "Alright, enough mussy stuff. Lets get fucked up!"
…
I look at my phone and it reads 1:34am. God, where is Marcus? He told me he just needed to piss and that was 20 minutes ago! I sigh loudly and run my hands thru my hair. Man, Kristen is right, I do that a lot.
I decide enough is enough after another group of drunk girls come and start massaging my back. "Oh come on Daddy, Bella won't mind!" they say, slurring their words in between giggling.
"No, thank you." I tell them. I lay down a 50$ bill and head towards the bathroom. I walk into the Mens room and find it empty. Fuck, Marcus!
I exit and see some guy over in the corner booth. Its him. "Marcus!" I shout. I walk over to him and find two semi-good looking women hanging all over him. "Oh, there is my buddy. Ladies, this is Robbb." They both giggle and the blonde one stands up and feels my arms, "Ohh, strong."
I quickly back away, "Alright, come on Marcus. We are leaving." I've had enough.
The blonde sits back down and tugs on his ear lope with her tongue. "OK girls, we are going home!" The three of them stand up "What the hell? Marcus you can't bring two women back to my house!"
If I wasn't so exhausted, I would think this is hilarious. He looks to the right and then to the left, "Sorry Kate, maybe next time." The brunette pouts and walks away. The blonde smiles and rests her head on his shoulder. "Let's go Claire!"
My humor gets the best of me and I start laughing. "Due… Du..Dude!' I finally get out. "No!"
Marcus's expression goes from an excited Labrador retriever to a small child who just dropped his cookie. "Dad said no, Claire." God, is he about to cry?!
The girl mimics his expression and goes back to her friends. "Come on, son." I say to Marcus, leading him out the door and into the car.
…..
We finally arrive back home at 2am. I help Marcus out of the car, God he is so gone, I might as well have fun with this. "Daddy? Can you tuck me in?"
I have to keep myself from laughing too loud, I don't want to wake Kristen. "Sure, son."
I lead him up to the guest bedroom and dump him into bed. "Can I sleep with you and Moooommy?"
My face curls and I nearly start crying I'm laughing so much. "Fuck no, go to sleep you shit faced idiot." I shut the door behind me and head towards my bedroom.
I quietly open the door and slip off my shoes. I neatly fold my pants and hang them up, then slip into bed. Kristen begins to stir, "what?" she mumbles.
"Hey, its just me. Go back to sleep, baby." I whisper. She rolls over to me and I move her so we are spooning. I softly kiss her temple and settle into a relaxed sleep with my wife and son in my arms.
….
