Learn From Cigarette Burns

I growled lowly as my husband reached over and smacked my butt on his way to the bathroom. “I’m still pissed off at you, O’Callaghan,” I snapped, “stay the fuck away from me.”

“Pipe down, mama O’Callaghan.” He replied, the sound of a smirk in his voice.

“And shut the fuck up while you’re at it.” I hissed. “You have no right whatsoever to speak to me right now.”

Across the room, my husband muttered a few incoherent words under his breath before he disappeared into the bathroom. The door snapped shut behind him, and in response, I mumbled a few obscenities of my own.

I huffed in annoyance and rolled over onto my stomach. I kicked at the blankets tangled around my legs, shoving them all over onto John’s side of the bed, knowing that he hated dealing with the messy blankets. When I had grown tired of messing with the bed coverings, I sighed loudly and then looked at the clock.

Getting a sudden burst of inspiration, I got up and reached over to John’s bedside table. I gripped his digital alarm clock tightly in my hands and then pulled. The figures on the screen flickered as the power cord reached its full length, and then went out altogether as I pulled the electronic device out of the wall.

John always hated it when the clocks in the house were out of sync. This was surely bound to get on his nerves. I placed the clock back in its rightful place and then moved back to my side of the bed. Just after I buried my face into my pillow, I heard the bathroom door open.

“You still busy being mad at me?” John asked.

“Shut the fuck up.” I snapped.

John sighed heavily, and the sound of his footsteps approaching the bed caused me to tense up. “Babe,” he said, his voice coming from right beside me, “I told you I was sorry.”

“You called me a bitch,” I growled, “a selfish bitch because I wanted you to stay home and spend more time with me and the kids, rather than going out and getting shit faced with your friends.”

“They’ll only be in town tonight!” John protested.

“You’ll tour with them in a couple of weeks during Warped Tour!” I wailed. “You’ll spend two and a half months with them! You spend more time with them than you do with us!”

“I’m gone the same amount of time now as I always been.” He sighed. “You never had a problem with it then.”

“Then I had the opportunity to get out and travel with you, John,” I pointed out, “I can’t do that now. While you’re out on the road, I have two kids to take care of. You know that by the time you get home from Warped, you’d have spent more time on the road than here with your kids?”

“Dee, it’s not really that big of a deal, I-”

“If it’s not that big of a deal then why don’t you just get the fuck out of here, John.” I huffed. “Go out and get drunk with your friends. I don’t give a fuck right now.”

“Babe,” John sighed, “come on, don’t be like this.”

The bed shifted on my side, indicating that he had taken a seat beside me.

“Sweetheart, please, just look at me.”

“I don’t want to.” I growled. “Go away, O’Callaghan before I fucking slap you.”

“Dee, stop it, okay?” John demanded. “Sit up and look at me.”

I opened my eyes, rolled over, and sat up so fast that I startled John. “Don’t you dare take that tone with me, John O’Callaghan,” I snapped.

“You’re the only one with a tone,” he protested.

“Get away from me, asshole.” I spat. “I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

A sad frown crossed John’s lips as he stared at me. His green eyes filled with sadness and a felt a little hint of guilt nag at the back of my mind, but I pushed it aside as I continued to glare at my husband.

“I’m sorry,” he finally whispered, “I didn’t mean to say all those things. I just …” He trailed off, shrugging his shoulders.

“You know … you made me cry.” I muttered.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated.

“That’s the first time you made me cry in a long time.” I whispered. “Since high school.”

“I wasn’t thinking.” He mumbled, as he reached over and slowly laced his fingers with mine.

“You usually don’t think before you talk,” I said, shaking my head, “but it’s been a long time since you’ve blurted out something like that. Why would you say something like that in the first place? Have I done something to make you mad at me in the first place?” I wondered aloud.

“No,” he muttered, “it’s just … I’ve been feeling stressed lately. I mean, since the kids have been born, it seems like we never get any time together, let alone just any alone time to myself. Being on the road … I have my own space, my own little world where I can just focus on myself.”

“How do you think I feel?” I whispered. “When you’re gone, I have twice the stress. It’s hard John. Before the kids, I didn’t mind you being gone on tour. But now … sometimes I get selfish and pick up the phone to tell you to come home because I can’t handle being by myself with the kids any longer. But when I hear your voice, and hear the guys laughing and joking around in the background, I feel guilty and lie and tell you that I was just calling to say hello. You love touring, John, it’s part of who you are. Before we got married, I could never ask you to come home early from tour, and I still can’t ask that of you.”

My husband stared at me in silence for a minute or so, his green eyes boring into my own. “I’m sorry,” he finally whispered with sadness etched in his words.

I hated seeing the gloom and guilt in his eyes, and I found it in myself to forgive him after a couple of simple words.

“You can go out tomorrow night, babe, with the guys if you want to. I need an extra set of hands to help with the kids this afternoon. David is leaving Patch here for a few hours. He has an interview at the bank for one of the teller openings.” I said simply.

John leaned over and pressed his lips to my cheek, keeping them there for a couple of seconds before he pulled away. “Does this mean we’re done fighting now?” He whispered.

“Yeah,” I mumbled, “It does.”

Some of the sadness in his eyes faded away and he forced a smile. “Does this mean we get to have makeup sex?”

I let out another small growl and rolled my eyes. “Get the kids to bed early enough and I’ll let you to whatever you want to me.”

John’s eyes widened in excitement and then a giddy smile pulled across his lips after a couple of seconds. “Done,” he said, nodding his head. He gripped my hand and brought it up to his lips, kissing it tenderly. He gave me a cute smile as he rested my hand back down onto my lap. “Now, let’s get those kids to bed, huh?”

“Johno?!” I laughed, “it’s only two thirty in the afternoon!”

John let out a loud, dramatic sigh. “Fine then,” he said, “tonight! Now come on … let’s go … I don’t know … do stuff.”

Without waiting for an answer, he stood up and picked me up with ease.

“Babe, don’t throw me over your shoulder,” I protested, knowing what he was planning. “My belly is sore from doing crunches all morning.”

John scowled slightly, but resorted to carrying me from the room bridal style. I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I clung tightly to my childhood sweetheart, thinking about what kind of things the day had in store for us.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Babe?” I called out as I made my way down the stairs. “Babe, did the lights go out or something?”

“No,” she replied.

I followed the sound of her voice and found myself in the living room.

“Why would you ask that?” She wondered, not bothering to look up at me.

“The lights aren’t working in the bedroom and plus my alarm clock is all blank,” I frowned, “how are the lights down here?”

Dee motioned to the lights shining brightly and the television that was playing in the background.

“Well, shit,” I mumbled. “What the fuck is wrong with our bedroom then?”

A small smirk tugged at my wife’s lips. “I yanked your alarm clock out of the wall earlier when you pissed me off. I honestly don’t know what happened to the light though. The light bulb must have blown out.”

“Dee?!” I laughed, “what the hell?”

“You made me mad!” She protested. “And I know how much it pisses you off when your damn clock isn’t working.”

I wanted to keep arguing with my wife, but she had since turned her attention to the cute little boy propped up on her lap. I sighed quietly to myself as I watched she cooed to the dirty blonde haired infant, and he stared back at her with wide hazel eyes, the infamous Thompson eyes.

“What time is David supposed to come over and pick Patch up?” I asked.

Dee frowned softly before stealing a quick glance at the clock. “He was supposed to stop by an hour ago. I don’t know if his interview is just running late or what so I’m kind of scared to call him.”

“Maybe he stopped by to pick up some groceries.” I said. “Or maybe they decided to hire him on the spot and he’s just filling out the paperwork.”

My wife’s frown remained in place as she readjusted her nephew in her arms and stood up. “Maybe,” she whispered quietly.

Knowing that there was nothing else I could say that would cease her worrying, I simply stared after her as she made her way into the kitchen. I could tell that she was debating whether or not she should call her brother. I sighed quietly and then reached up, running a hand tiredly through my hair.

Wanting to take my attention off of my brother-in-law, I made my way across the living room to the loveseat where my children were sleeping. I sat down on the arm rest and watched them. I wasn’t aware of the smile on my face until I let out a small laugh when Darren tugged the blanket away from his sister, hogging it all for himself.

Penelope shifted slightly and then fell still for a couple of seconds before her eyes fluttered open. She stared up at me for a little while before a sad frown crossed her lips and she started to cry. Not wanting her to wake her brother up, I quickly took her in my arms and brought her into the kitchen.

Hearing my footsteps approaching from behind, Dee sighed softly. “What did you do to my girl, Johno?” She questioned.

“She just woke up and started crying,” I said defensively as I rocked my daughter gently in my arms, “I didn’t do anything. If you want to blame someone, blame your boy. He stole the blankets and woke her up.”

Dee looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow as she smirked at me. “I wonder where he gets that from.”

Penelope stopped crying and now clung to my t-shirt as if she were afraid I’d put her back down. I ran a hand across her hair, smoothing it out, before I turned my attention back to her mom. “Shush,” I told her, “you like to steal the blankets from time to time as well.”

“Yeah, but -” Dee stopped herself short when the house phone started to ring. Seeing as how she was closer, she held Patch closer to her body and then crossed the kitchen, quickly answering the phone.

After a few exchange of words, the troubled frown was back on her face. She spoke quietly with the person on the other end of the line, and many of her words were inaudible from my place on the opposite side of the kitchen. Dee hung up a couple of minutes later and then took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

“That was the hospital,” she muttered, “David was in an accident. He’s okay, just a few bumps and bruises, and some stitches here and there. I’m gonna go pick him up. You gonna be fine here with the kids?” She asked. Seeing the hesitation on my face she added, “I’m taking Patch with me. It’ll just be the twins.”

“Alright,” I said softly, “are you leaving right now?”

She nodded her head. “Yeah. They said he’ll be done pretty soon. Knowing David, he’s going to be pretty pissy with the fact that he was in a car wreck, I’d hate to make him wait any longer than he has to.”

“Well, drive safe, babe.” I said quietly.

“I will.” She replied as she made her way out of the kitchen. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” I called after her.

Within a couple of minutes, I was alone in the house with Darren and Penelope. I gently readjusted my daughter in my arms and saw that she had fallen back asleep. Careful not to wake her, I brought her back into the living room and lay her back down next to her brother. After I covered them back up with the light blanket, I sank down onto the other couch, waiting anxiously for my wife to come back.