Not Better
"That'a girl." Punk clapped, "Yeah! Go on." Punk encouraged as he stood on the side lines of Raimy's soccer game the next night. James and Vivian were playing with their own bowl on a little space on the field.
There hadn't been much change in AJ's state. He was just trying to make sure she took her pills, and that she didn't feel alone.
"When is this finished?" Vivian huffed, trailing herself over to her father whilst James stayed kicking the ball around.
"Couple of minutes." Punk nodded.
"Remember you said we'd get pizza on the way home." She nudged her dad with a smile as Punk laughed a little and nodded.
"Yeah, I remember." Punk nodded, cupping the back of her head, "But we gotta wait until Raimy is finished her game." He said as Vivian huffed and looked on at the girls playing soccer, folding her arms.
"Has Raimy scored any goals?" Vivian asked.
"No, but her team is winning. She's doing." Punk nodded, "You like soccer?" He wondered.
"Eh." Vivian shrugged as Punk looked down at her, "I like watching the boys play, not the girls." She smiled to Punk as Punk raised a brow.
"The girls are just as good." Punk scoffed as Vivian looked on at the game.
Raimy had worked up a sweat and was working hard to make sure her team won the game. It wasn't anything big. Their school team just played the different schools that were around the area, but she got so into it that sometimes it hit a switch.
She had the ball and was driving forward when a girl in the opposite team tackled her, sending her up on the air and crashing down on her back. Instead of doing what most of the girls done, which was cry, she got up angrily and tackled the girl to the ground angrily.
"Shit." Punk raised his eyebrows as he watched Raimy tackle another girl to the ground, almost spearing her in two as she pulled at her hair and face. He felt like he was watching his wife out there on the field.
He watched as the coach ran onto the field and broke them apart, talking to them both on the side as Punk watched nervously.
"Why is she so aggressive?" Vivian rolled her eyes, "That poor girls hair." She said as Punk sighed, watching as Raimy was clearly sent off, seeing her walk around the field and over towards him.
"Hey, what was that?" Punk shook his head with disappointment as Raimy took her hair band out and threw it at him, pushing by him angrily and heading for the car as Punk watched her.
"Jeez." Vivian rolled her eyes, "Such a drama queen, huh?" She nudged her father to agree with her as he just kept his eyes on Raimy who had walked over to the car and was standing leaning against it. It wasn't like her to lose her temper. He knew she was a competitive player and very feisty, but she normally didn't take things like this.
"Hey… you're Raimy's father, right?" Raimy's coach approached Punk as Punk nodded.
"Yeah, sorry about that… she's… she's not normally like that." Punk nodded, looking over at Raimy who was now sitting on the ground.
"Raimy? Yeah she is. She's a fierce little thing." The coach chuckled, "But she's never that aggressive." He agreed, "She missed last weeks practise, it's not like her. Was she ill or something?"
"Uh… yeah she was." Punk nodded.
"No, she wasn't." Vivian inserted herself.
"Go get your brother." Punk nudged Vivian away as Vivian huffed and ran off to get James, "She wasn't feeling good." Punk assured her coach.
"Haven't saw April in a while." He admitted as Punk looked at him.
"Didn't know you knew her on a first name basis." Punk said as he nodded.
"Oh, yeah. We chat all the time. It'd be great to see her help out with the coaching. Between you and me… she's the fittest mom I've ever seen." He attempted to joke as Punk stared at him. It took him everything in his power to keep his hands by his side.
"Between you and me…" Punk mimicked, "She's my wife." He nodded, "So quit boring her with your mind numbing chat and respect the fact she has a damn ring on her finger." He spat.
"Woah, man. Chill." He chuckled, putting his hands up, "I'm just joking with you." He said as Punk shook his head. Due to the week he'd had, and everything going on, he just wasn't in the mood for jokes. Tasteless jokes.
"I'm not laughing." Punk said, watching Vivian and James approach him, "Come on, let's go." He told them, leaving the coach standing as he walked to the car with Vivian and James.
"That man always talks to mommy and then we laugh about it in the car." Vivian told her father as Punk smiled.
"Yeah, he's a loser." Punk added as Vivian nodded in agreement, "Hey, you." He tapped Raimy's foot as they got to the car, unlocking it for James and Vivian to get in, "You want this?" He extended the hair band to her as she looked up, "Your team won, it's a shame you lost your temper and couldn't finish the game." He said as she stood up and took the band from him.
"I didn't lose my temper." Raimy shook her head.
"Um… you did." Punk said bluntly, "Quite bad actually." He said.
"She tackled me with two feet." Raimy said, "What if I hurt myself?"
"Well did you?" Punk asked.
"Well… my back is a little sore." Raimy shrugged.
"Yeah and I think you speared that girls guts out of her body." Punk shook his head, "You're better than that sort of violence. That's not you." He said.
"Don't be mad with me." Raimy groaned.
"I'm not mad I'm… disappointed you didn't react properly. Whenever you get knocked down, you get up and keep on playing the game. That applies to life too. If you get knocked down, you don't go looking for reasons why, or who to blame. You pick yourself up and you keep driving forward." Punk nodded as Raimy sighed.
"Does this mean I don't get pizza?" Raimy asked him.
"Well as your parent, I gotta make sure your fed so…" He shrugged as Raimy smiled, "Get in. But no more… spearing anyone. Work on that anger." He told her as she nodded and got into the car, shoving her brother and sister out of the way as Punk just shook his head and got into the car.
On the way home Punk grabbed a pizza for the kids, walking into the house with it as all three of them were excited to dig in. When they got home, Punk was surprised to hear the radio on in the kitchen.
"Uh… why don't you guys take the pizza and stick on a movie?" Punk asked them, handing the pizza box to Raimy who was still in her soccer strip.
"You mean eat it in the living room?" Raimy raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah, go on. I'll get you drinks." He told them as they headed into the living room whilst Punk sat his keys down and walked through to the kitchen, pausing at the door where he saw AJ standing. The cupboard doors were all opened and she appeared to be washing all the dishes. Not just the dirty ones, but all of them.
"April." Punk said hesitantly, "W-What… what are you doing?" He asked her as she turned around.
"Oh, hey." AJ nodded, "I'm uh… I'm just doing some dishes." She said as Punk looked at the stacks of dishes sitting.
"Some?" Punk shook his head as AJ nodded seriously, "Baby you got… all our dishes out." He said as AJ turned around.
"I… They needed cleaned I think." AJ nodded, "Where were you? Work?" She asked.
"Raimy's soccer game." Punk said, looking on at the kitchen.
"Oh, how was she?" AJ smiled, "Did she do good?" She asked.
"Y-Yeah." Punk nodded briefly, "Baby, why are you doing this?" He asked, walking further towards her.
"Doing what?" She shrugged, scrubbing the plate in the sink as Punk took her hands and held them still.
"Please stop." Punk nodded, "Baby, you're not well." Punk nodded, taking her hands from the sink and drying them as AJ tutted.
"What?" AJ shook her head, "I'm fine." She shrugged, "Really."
"No, you're not." Punk said honestly, "Maybe it's because you've not been taking your pills, maybe it'll just take a few days but-"
"Hey, I'm fine." AJ said angrily, pushing him away a little, "What do you mean I'm not well." She scoffed.
"Why don't you go upstairs, maybe take a bath or a shower? Just calm down." He nodded. At this point, he wasn't sure what else he could really do. He knew she was taking her meds because he was giving her them since he found out she had stopped, but it appeared that she still wasn't doing very well, and he was wondering if it was worth while calling someone for help.
"I can't clean a few plates?" She laughed, "Huh?"
"That's not a few." Punk shook his head as AJ shrugged, "C'mon, let's… let's go upstairs." He nodded to, placing his arm around her as she looked up at him, "It's ok." He nodded as she looked at him.
He was starting to think she perhaps needed to speak to someone on the professional side. He wasn't sure what else he could really do. It was so very clear she wasn't herself at all.
