"Bye guys. Thanks for gettin' us home safe. Chris, thank you so much." I said through the passenger car window. Brock was already walking inside not bothering to say bye.
"No problem, sweetie. Let me know anytime you guys need a ride. I quit drinkin so I'll always be sober."
"Okay. Thanks honey." I said. I patted Steves hand which was resting on the door. "I'll talk to ya tomorra." He nodded.
"Okay, tell me if you need help handlin him. He drank a lot." I shrugged.
"I'll be fine, I went a little over my limit too so we'll probably go in and pass out."
"Reba! I need the keys!" Brock shouted.
"Brock! We. Have. Neighbors!" I whisper-yelled. I heard Steve and Chris laughing and I rolled my eyes. "Okay, I have to get my husband inside before he wakes up the neighborhood. See ya guys later." I backed away from the car and waved as they backed out of the driveway.
"C'mon on. I gotta pee!" I rolled my eyes and dug around for my keys in my purse.
"I'm comin.." I found the keys and quickly opened the door. He ran in and went straight to the bathroom. I went for the freezer, grabbed the bag of peas and set them out on the counter, then went to our bedroom. I quickly got on my pajamas, then threw on my robe because it got cold tonight. I laid out pajamas for him too, then went back out to the kitchen. I grabbed a glass and filled it with water. Hopefully it'll help my dehydration tomorrow morning. I saw Brock come out of the bathroom, stumbling over my shoes. I laughed.
"Sorry honey." He shrugged and grabbed the cup.
"Ahh…" He said after finishing my entire glass.
"You okay?" I asked, seeing his swollen nose. He nodded. I picked up the peas and gently set them there. He winced.
"Ouch…"
"Sorry. It's swollen…"
"I'm fine, Reba."
"You're stupid, that's what you are." He grabbed the arm that was holding the peas and pulled it away from his face.
"I feel terrible…" I frowned. "You never get to have fun and I ruined the one night you actually wanted to." I shook my head.
"I still had fun, sweetheart. I still drank… way too much. I'm still with you. Everything is fine, I promise." I paused and thought about it. "Well, maybe not that guys face, but that's a different problem." I laughed and he smiled and shook his head.
"Only you could make all the bad emotions in my body just leave, and all you gotta do is smile to do it." I smirked. He put his hands on my hips and set me on the counter. "I love you. So much." I kissed his nose.
"I love you more." I replied.
"Impossible." We stayed silent for a few minutes, then I patted his arm and he moved so I could jump down.
"C'mon, lets get you dressed and in bed. I. am. ti-erd." I lead him into our room and heard him groan as he took off his shirt and pants. "What?"
"I don't wanna get dressed…" I laughed
"Then just come lay down. Your slurrin your words…" I said. He slowly made his way to the bed, then when he did he fell, face down onto it, not bothering to put his arms out to catch him or anything. I shook my head and pulled him up. "C'mon… you can make it… There ya go." He finally made it, but was lying on the blankets. "Brock, honey. You're laying on the comforter. You're gonna freeze."
"I'm fine" He said, half of his face squished into the bed. His eyes were shut and his mouth was opened.
"Well I'm not so move it or lose it." he slowly sat up and managed to climb under them. I shut off my lamp and Brocks wasn't on, thank God…That would've been a whole nother mission. He was facing me and it sounded like he was already sleeping. I scooted against him and I felt his big arm wrap around me. I smiled and kissed his bare, warm chest.
"Your slurrin too."
"I'm tired…"
"Mhmm…" He didn't sound convinced. "I'm really sorry about tonight…" He mumbled. I shook my head.
"Honey, just go to sleep."
"I don't want you to be mad."
"I'm not mad… right now." He sighed.
"I just feel bad… You never wanna go out and now I see why. I always ruin everything for you. I cant tell you how terrible that makes me feel. I'm a terrible husband…" I sat up and turned on his lamp, squinting at how bright the room got.
"Brock you are not a terrible husband, if you were I wouldn't have married you. And I want you to quit sayin that." I said, sternly. He sat up and leaned back against the headboard.
"I don't know Reba, You're always stuck at home, I'm always workin. When I do come home we eat and watch TV, then end up fallin asleep. We barely talk. When we do talk neither one of us seems interested. We weren't like this before we said 'I do', how do those two simple words and a couple rings make such a big difference in our lives?" I stared at the wall, he had a point…
"Maybe it's the pressure of knowing that we have to make this work, forever. That we know we cant do anything stupid to screw it up because when we said those words we knew how serious things were."
"But we shouldn't feel pressure. Marriage should just be easy, and fun. Not hard and boring." I frowned.
"Thanks Brock… I know, wife of the year award right here." I said, sarcastically.
"That's not what I meant. I mean… it's me-"
"Oh, its not you, its me? Are we really gonna go there?"
"Seriously! I work and I'm always tired…" I rolled my eyes.
"So you're not happy?"
"Yes, I'm happy. I just feel bad. You're bored…Our marriage is boring." I turned and stared at him sadly. "We don't talk. We literally don't have a relationship this past month and a half." I grabbed a pillow and shoved it to his chest.
"Start a relationship with the couch." I pushed him off the bed and he quickly jumped off of it.
"Oh, c'mon Reba… I didn't mean to upset you. I thought you felt the same way, I thought maybe if we talked we could fix it…" I didn't say anything, I just shut off the lamp and turned my back to him. "Honey, please? Listen to me…"
"Get out."
"Reba-"
"Out!" I heard him sigh.
"I'm sorry…" He barely whispered before I heard the door click shut. I let out a deep breath. I'm a bad wife… I was not meant to do this. I'm doing a terrible job and because of it my husband doesn't speak to me, or even acknowledge that I'm here. I felt my eyes get hot with tears. I closed my eyes and let them run out and unto my pillow. This is the first night I cried myself to sleep in 2 years.
I woke up to the sound of our floor creaking. My eyes shot open and I looked at the alarm. It was almost 4 a.m. I looked back at my almost naked, shivering husband who I didn't give a blanket to. He knows where they are but apparently he hadn't had the brains to grab one out of the closet.
"Brock, what the heck are you doin?" I asked in a whisper.
"Couldn't sleep. And I'm freezin" Bad excuse… I sighed and faced the other way as he climbed in bed. I scooted over as far away from him as possible. "Reba?" I ignored him. "I know you're not sleeping…" silence. "fine…" I let out the breath I was holding. I'm so glad he dropped it. It was 4 a.m. and my head was spinning. "I puked." I rolled my eyes and let out an exaggerated sigh. "I cleaned it tho…" Thank goodness. "I woke up at around 2, threw up just before I made it to the garbage, cleaned it up, and tried to fall back asleep, but couldn't." It was nice to hear my normal husbands voice again, not the slurry, drunk sounding one. "You know why I couldn't sleep?" I stayed quiet. "Because the same person I've slept next to the passed 4 and a half years wasn't right next to me, like every night." I closed my eyes and bit my lip. "I havent slept away from this person in 4 and a half years." He repeated in disbelief. "And tonight shes mad at me… and its killin me. To have my best friend… the love of my life… my wife… my…my everything be so upset that she cant even stand to sleep next to me. It's not even that shes mad, because I'm really good at making her mad, shes always mad at me for something, its that fact that I hurt her. Shes sad, not mad… I make my wife sad…"
"Shes crazy for marrying you." I said after a few, silent minutes, with no emotion. We both let out a sigh and I turned onto my back. "And no, you don't make her sad. You just made her sad. Besides, you were drinking and I think I might've overreacted." he shook his head.
"No, you didn't. I deserved that. I havent been much of a husband lately."
"You've just been workin a lot, honey. It ain't your fault. Could we maybe watch something other than golf though? It gets old…" he chuckled.
"Yes. We can watch anything you'd like." I smirked, though he couldn't see it.
"Thank you." He moved over to wraped his arm around me, then crushed me against him.
"It. Is. Freezin!"
"Get. Some. Clothes on!" I mocked. I felt his body shake as he laughed.
"I'd rather not… and I know you prefer me this way too…" I rolled my eyes. "By the way, another thing I haven't been good for lately…" He trailed off and started to kiss my neck. I pushed on his chest lightly.
"That ship has sailed, buddy. The whiskey is wearin off and the head spin is comin on. Sorry." He sighed and gave my shoulder one last kiss before moving to my lips.
"Well, good night then."
"Good night, darlin'."
I woke up the next morning to Brocks loud alarm. I laid there and tried to ignore it, hoping Brock would get it or it'd magically go away. It didn't. I sat up and leaned over Brock to try to shut it off but I couldn't figure out how to, it was too early for this…
"Brock shut this damn thing off! Why's it goin off on Saturday mornin anyway?!" I whispered in a loud voice. He didn't move. I started banging the thing on the night stand. It didn't budge and neither did Brock. Finally I yanked the thing out of the wall and threw it on the ground. Brock jumped, of course he'd wake up now.
"Reba! Why'd you do that?!"
"You didn't hear it? It was goin off in your ear for 10 minutes!" he looked at me like I was a crazy woman. "I'm serious!"
"I know but you didn't have to brake it!"
"Would you quit yellin?" I asked, rubbing my temple.
"I'm not yellin."
"Just go back to sleep, Brock…"
"Not sure that I can with an alarm murderer right beside me."
"Yeah? Tell that to yourself last night…. 'Ohh… Reba, I cant sleep without you… boo hoo.'" I said in a baby, mocking voice. I smirked at myself and he rolled his eyes and laid his head back on his pillow.
"Very funny."
"I thought so too." I said, letting out a hint of laughter in my voice. We laid in silence for a long time, both of our eyes shut. I smirked when I heard him start to softly snore again, then jumped when I heard the phone in the kitchen start to ring. I groaned, then took my time getting out of bed. I slowly slid on both of my slippers and my robe, then walked out to the kitchen. "Hel-"
"Mornin sunshine!" Nancy's voice interrupted. I smiled and rolled my eyes.
"It's too early for you to sound so awake…" I mumbled.
"I really wasn't expecting you to answer, I figured I'd just check in."
"Well everybody here is fine… How's Steve?"
"Don't know, he's been half way on the couch, half way on the floor all night. Mouth wide open with a puddle of drool on the floor." I winced at the thought.
"Ouch… That's gonna help his headache later on."
"Yeah. And to top it off, his cousin has a wedding at 2 we need to go to."
"Yikes… What cousin?"
"Kelly, I think is her name… I don't know, only met her twice."
"Ahh… yeah. I think I've met that one before. Well, y'all have fun with that." I said, sarcastically.
"He'll probably just drink more to get rid of the headache."
"Good Lord, woman! What kind of a wife are you?! I'll answer that- a kind that doesn't boss her husband around enough!" I heard her laugh.
"Reba, we've been married since we were 17! I only like him when he's drunk, gives me somethin to laugh at." I chuckled. "Well, since you're awake do you just want me to come now?" I thought about it before I started to slowly nod.
"Yeah… That's fine. I might not be ready by the time you get here though."
"Okay, well I'll be there in a few."
"Okay, bye honey." I hung up the phone and put some pep in my step. I quickly went to our bathroom, grabbing a towel and jumping into the shower. I thought I was being fast, but apparently I wasn't because a few minutes later I heard Nancy's loud voice through the bathroom door, though she still sounded like she was at the front door.
"Reba. I told you to hurry and you're still in the shower?!" I smirked.
"Sorry. You should've been slower."
"I was bored!"
"Well, be bored here now." I shouted back. A few minutes later I heard her voice again, but she wasn't talking to me.
"Brock. What the hell are you doin still sleepin?! Wake up you lazy bum…" I laughed at the thought of tiny, little Nancy trying to get Brock up. "And put some dang clothes on…" I could barely hear him mumble something back. "I don't care if its your house, that isn't a pleasant sight for anyone to see." I laughed again.
"Nancy!" He called after her. She must've walked out…
"What?" Yep. Her voice was right outside the bathroom again now.
"Get me some coffee…" She cleared her through loudly. "please?" he added.
"Only cuz you asked nicely…" I got out and wrapped a towel around my head and my body. I peeked out into the kitchen to see Nancy making coffee, then quickly went into the room shutting the door quietly behind me.
"Mmm… you smell so good…" I looked over to see he hadn't moved a muscle, except there was a smile on his face.
"You should shower, it'll probably make you feel better." I watched him shrug, but keep his eyes shut.
"Its still too early… wait, what time is it?"
"8:30." I answered, now digging in our closet. I grabbed an old t-shirt and faded pair of jeans and quickly got dressed, then walked into the small bathroom in our bedroom and dried my hair. I put on some mascara and that was it… I was done for the day. I walked out and shook Brocks leg.
"Would you get up?" he put his arm out for me to help him up. I grabbed his hand and started to pull only to be pulled down onto him. "What're you doin?"
"Just stay here…" he mumbled and wrapped both of his arms around me so I couldn't move.
"I cant. I gotta go get the truck."
"Cant you do that later…?" He whined.
"Nancy's here, waiting. And they have a wedding to go to later. Now, let me go." He shook his head. "Brock…" I felt his arms tighten. "I gotta breathe, Brock, now turn me loose!" I nearly shouted. He laughed and loosened up.
"My coffee done yet?"
"I don't know, why don't you get up and go check." he sighed and opened his eyes, then squinted.
"What?"
"its bright…"
"I only have one lamp on and the curtains are closed…"
"Can you shut the lamp off?"
"Can you let me go?" He let his arms slide off my body and I jumped up. "I'm leavin, I'll be back in a little bit."
"Don't for get the lamp!" He reminded me as I was at the door. I rolled my eyes and flipped the light switch, turning on the ceiling light just to make him mad, then I left. I heard him groan into the pillow and mumble something, but I just laughed. When I walked out I saw Nancy grabbing a water out of the fridge. She turned around quickly and I smirked.
"You really are pregnant, aren't you?!" I asked, then winked.
"Ha. Ha. And if you're tryin to say I'm fat I already know that." I chuckled.
"You're not fat, darlin'. You're glowing." She smiled and walked over to me.
"Ready?" I took a deep, dramatic sigh as I looked outside into the bright lighting and loud people that we'll have to be around.
"As I'll ever be…" She breathed and laugh, then walked out the door. I grabbed the truck keys out of my purse and stepped out beside her. I got in her nice, newly purchased car and closed my eyes. Maybe she wont talk and I can go back to sleep… Ha! Yeah right…