August 6th, 2015 at 05:30am
Every morning when Kaity woke up alone in her king sized bed, she wondered what had led her to where she was. Twenty three, cosmetology school drop-out, and hopelessly in love with an alcoholic. One could say that it was hereditary. The same thing happened with Kaity’s mother, Joanne. Joanne had fallen in love with a club musician, whose first love was the bottle. About four months into the relationship, Joanne became pregnant. She was overjoyed—but Kaity’s father wasn’t. He was so enraged that he shoved Joanne down her basement stairs. Joanne brushed herself off and left, never seeing or talking to her ex again. That was where the similarities between mother and daughter ended, though. Kaity, try as she might, was never able to find the courage to leave Matt. She had a nagging feeling that if she did, Matt might actually drink himself to death. If she stuck around, then so would he.
The raven haired beauty heaved a sigh as she sat up in bed, taking in the surroundings of her bedroom. Matt had come home sometime after Kaity had fallen asleep—around three or four in the morning. The television could be heard from downstairs along with Matt’s thunderous snoring. She rubbed her eyes and swung her legs over the side of her bed, her dainty feet landing on the plush bedroom carpet. Kaity pushed herself up and padded across the room to look at herself in her vanity mirror.
I look like hell, Kaity thought to herself as she examined her reflection. I might as well look how I feel. Kaity gave her reflection a cynical smirk before turning on her heel and padding across the hall to her bathroom. She wanted to at least attempt to wash off the weird mixture of sadness and disgust that she felt. Kaity shed her nightclothes before stepping into the stinging hot spray of the shower. She closed her eyes and just stood under the head, letting the water wash over her.
Kaity hummed a little ditty to herself as she washed up, the sound of her voice bouncing off of the shower walls. That was the only music that filled her home these days. Ever since the guys had finished the record and Matt had started hitting the bottle harder than ever, there wasn’t any singing and hardly any laughter. It was just the two (or three, if you counted Matt’s ever present bottle of booze) of them sitting in the living room, Matt watching TV and Kaity reading a book. They hardly ever went anywhere. Matt refused to talk to his parents because they dared to suggest that he go to rehab, and Kaity’s mother wouldn’t say a word to her until she left Matt for good. Their friends tip toed around Matt—who had quite the temper when he was intoxicated enough. Those visits were always short because everyone grew so uncomfortable. Kaity missed socializing. But she didn’t dare let any of her friends see the sad shell of a person she had become.
Once the water became uncomfortably cold, Kaity reluctantly hopped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body. She shuffled across the hallway again and got dressed, throwing on a crop top and some yoga pants. No need for dressing up when we never fucking go anywhere. Kaity thought angrily as she threw her hair in a bun. She swallowed the lump growing in her throat and eyed the staircase from the doorway. Kaity knew she had to go downstairs and wake Matt up eventually. But she wasn’t looking forward to the screaming match that was about to take place.
It was always the same fight. Kaity would make a remark about Matt’s excessive drinking, he would tell her to fuck off and about twenty minutes later they would be screaming at each other, throwing vases and the like. It would end with Kaity sobbing in their bedroom and swearing that this was the last time. That she would leave.
But she never did.
--
Brian held his phone in his hands, debating on if he should call. It had been about a month since he’d talked to Athena, and it wasn’t really that pleasant of a conversation. He dumped the remainder of her stuff on the porch, called her a bitch and slammed the door in her face. It was hard to believe the couple that had once been so in love was no more. And it was all thanks to Brian’s vindictive bitch of an ex-wife.
Michelle had been trying to ruin Brian’s relationship with Athena since it began. Showing up when he and Athena were on a date, sending Brian threatening text messages—but the worst was when Michelle texted Athena, pretending to be another girl that Brian was sleeping with. At first, Brian didn’t know what was going on. When Athena confronted him with the messages, he flipped out. He insulted her, saying that she was insecure and it was beginning to drive him fucking nuts. Before Brian knew it, he was throwing Athena’s things out the door and she was gone. It was three days later when Michelle finally let Brian in on the truth. And he had never felt more stupid in his entire life.
Ever since then he had been trying to get Athena back in his life. Or at least to answer the phone. But no dice. All of his messages were read, but never returned. His calls went straight to voicemail now. According to Kaity, Athena still had the same phone number, so that couldn’t be it. She just didn’t want to talk to Brian. And that was understandable. It still hurt like fucking hell, though. All he wanted was his ‘Thena back.
Brian looked down at his phone, his finger hovering over the little call button next to Athena’s name. Part of him wanted to forget it, chalk Athena up as a loss and try to find somebody else to love. But a bigger, more persistent part of him told him to keep at it. Maybe this phone call would be different. He’d never know if he didn’t try. Before Brian lost all of his courage, he pressed the little call button and put his phone up to his ear.
Each time the phone rang was like someone adding weights onto his stomach. Brian had no idea what he would say if Athena answered the phone. Yeah, he had a whole rehearsed speech, but did those ever go as planned? In spite of himself, Brian’s heart sank when he heard Athena’s voicemail. Yeah, he knew it was gonna happen. But it still sucked. He took a deep breath and talked after the beep.
“Hey, Athena. It’s Brian. I’m sorry I keep calling, but I really want you to talk to me so I can explain things. Just…please text me or something and let me know you got this. Bye.”