Michelle collapsed onto the sofa, exhausted from a long day at Division. Tony was upstairs taking a shower. Since the argument, he had completely stopped calling her at work, and seemed to have accepted that she had to work a little more. But Tony was still bored, and spent his days moping round the house on his own with no job and no friends. Michelle had suggested that he call Jack, or his parents, but Tony didn't seem to want anything to do with people who he would feel embarrassed around.
He continued to follow her around after work like a shadow, and Michelle was trying her very hardest not to let this annoy her. She feared tonight would be no exception. Luckily, Tony's drinking had eased off a little, but Michelle wasn't convinced that this would last. While he wasn't drinking much around her in the evenings, she had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't staying completely sober during the day.
She jumped up as the phone began to ring, and practically ran to answer it. She longed for a good chat with her friends, but was still unwilling to make any arrangements to meet them while Tony was in this state.
"Hello?" she asked, praying that it wouldn't be her parents, or anything work related.
"Michelle! Hi, it's Claire! How've you been?" an enthusiastic voice chattered.
Michelle grinned; Claire wasn't resenting the fact that she hadn't called her for a while. "Hi!" she replied, hoping that Tony would take his time in the shower so she could have a good, long, girly chat. "I'm ok, work's hard going at the moment, and Tony's kind of annoyed that I'm not seeing much of him, but I'm ok. Sorry I haven't called…" she began to apologise, but Claire's bubbly voice kicked in.
"Don't worry about it, you deserve to spend all your free time with Tony at the moment."
Michelle began to feel guilty; Claire was such a great friend to her, and she had pushed her away for Tony. "Listen," she began, "We really should meet up soon, we need to catch up."
Claire paused. "Michelle. Take as much time as you need with Tony. I understand."
Michelle suddenly felt weak and useless. What gave Tony the right to stop her from seeing her friends? Her marriage shouldn't be like this; he had always supported her going out with friends before.
"Michelle?" Claire asked. "You're welcome to come over anytime you like you know."
Michelle was torn between wanting to please Tony, and not wanting to let down Claire, who had always stood by her and helped her out whenever Michelle wasn't feeling so great. Then she had an idea. Claire could come here. That way, Tony wouldn't feel lonely, and she could see Claire. She quickly related the idea down the phone, and they arranged to meet the following evening.
Michelle hung up the phone, just as Tony began to make his way downstairs. They sat together on the sofa, but they weren't… together. Michelle sighed inwardly. Why was it like this? Why, when after years of sitting together curled up on the sofa, did they now sit apart, simply staring at the TV as if the other person didn't exist?
Tony looked across at Michelle angrily. He spent all day alone in the house, longing for Michelle to come back and keep him company, but instead, she made phone calls the minute he wasn't in the room, and wouldn't even sit near him. Well, if she wasn't going to cuddle up to him, he certainly wasn't going to initiate a move.
The following evening, it was Tony who answered the door. "Hey Claire" he started, feeling awkward. "Uh, come on in".
He stepped aside to let her pass, noting how she seemed to know exactly where to leave her coat, check her hair in the mirror, and find the sofa quickly. She had obviously been her before. Many times.
He followed her into the lounge, and sat down, feeling extremely self-conscious. Claire and Michelle had clearly seen a lot of each other while he had been away, and she knew about him. This thought worried Tony; how much did she know? Had Michelle told her the whole story, or did Claire simply know that he had been in prison?
The silence was stretching out, and Tony found himself wishing desperately that Michelle would hurry up. Where was she? How long did it take to finish her make-up?
He cast around for a conversation topic, then had a brainwave. "Do you want a drink?" he asked casually, hoping fervently that she would say yes, so that he could escape the room for a few minutes.
"Sure. What have you got?" Claire replied politely, looking Tony up and down. She wasn't sure what Michelle saw in him. Sure, he was cute, but he seemed extremely edgy, and not much fun at all.
Tony gave her a list of drinks, mainly alcoholic, and scampered off to the kitchen to fetch them. He removed a bottle of beer from the fridge for himself first, taking several large mouthfuls before searching for a can of coke for Claire. He eventually located a six-pack of cokes, and grabbed two. Michelle still hadn't appeared, and Tony took another few swigs of beer to try and calm himself down. He didn't want to talk to this strange woman.
He reluctantly picked up the cokes and his beer, then stopped as he realised what it would look like. He couldn't walk in there with a half-full bottle of beer after only being in the kitchen for under a couple of minutes; she would think he was a complete alcoholic. He finished the bottle quickly, shoved it into the bin, and grabbed another form the fridge.
By the time he had handed Claire a drink and settled on the sofa, Michelle began to make her way downstairs. "Sorry, Claire" she apologised. "I had to stay late at work, and didn't arrive here much before you did."
Michelle and Claire quickly fell into an enthusiastic conversation, mainly involving Claire's work and love life. They chatted about their friends, most of whom Michelle hadn't seen for months due to being tied up with Tony. Michelle noticed that Tony wasn't joining in much, and tried several times to include him, but Tony simply replied in monosyllables, and went back to staring at the wall.
As the evening wore on, and the conversation continued to revolve around areas that Tony knew nothing about, having spent that time locked behind bars, Tony became more and more bored. The only time he entered the conversation was to ask if anyone wanted another drink.
He sat sprawled across the sofa, having returned form the kitchen with yet another bottle of beer, listening to yet another account of how Claire had been on a bad date, when Tony cracked. Michelle knew how lonely and bored he was in the day while she was at work, and how much of an effort he had made not to disturb her at work! And yet she had still invited a friend round, rather than spend the evening alone with him, and she hadn't even included him! Who was she to expect him to just sit here listening to this drivel, when he had spent so long apart from her? She had been able to spend as much time as she wanted with her friends while he had been away, yet now he was back, she still wanted to spend all her time with her friends!
He stood up angrily, knocking over the large pile of empty beer bottles with his foot 'accidentally' as he did so. "I'm gonna go upstairs and talk to a wall!" he slurred loudly, Michelle wincing at the drunk, accusing tone of his voice, and wondering what was coming next. "Maybe that way, I'll actually be included in the conversation! And the wall will probably show more of an interest in me than either of you!"
He stormed out of the room, leaving Michelle staring after him, mouth open, glowing red with embarrassment, and Claire examining her shoes.
"Maybe I should go." Claire muttered, standing up to leave. Michelle halfheartedly began to protest, but in reality was relieved when she shut the door behind Claire, completely embarrassed of Tony's behavior. How could he have acted so childishly in front of her friend? She had been trying to include him in the conversation all night, but he had refused to talk! And she hadn't even made him stay; he could have left them alone for the evening if he was that bored!
She was just about to yell Tony, and confront him about his actions when a nagging thought in the back of mind stopped her. He was drunk, and their arguments when Tony was in this state never finished happily. She groaned, wishing that Tony wasn't being so dammed difficult.
"She's gone then, has she?" sneered Tony, stumbling down the stairs.
Michelle turned, enraged by his attitude, all thoughts of approaching this calmly forgotten. "Tony! Look, I know you felt out of it this evening, but that's no excuse for acting like that around my friend! You've been drinking all evening, you're in a complete state, and I'm fed up with you acting like this!" she glared accusingly at him, hating the way he couldn't even stand without swaying.
"I spend all day on my own!" Tony shouted, pointing his finger at Michelle. "All I'm asking for is a bit of alone time with my wife. But I guess that's too much to ask isn't it? You don't want me, do you?"
"For God's sake, Tony!" Michelle cried, her voice much higher than normal. "I'm trying to spend time with you, but I can't just ignore all my friends! If you bothered to get a job, then maybe you wouldn't need to spend every hour with me!"
At this, she pushed past Tony, feeling her eyes well up with tears. She slammed the bedroom door and flung herself onto the bed, curling up in the covers sobbing. "Bastard!" she cursed quietly, pushing her face further under the covers to muffle the endless sobs.