Chapter Five- The longest one yet...

CHAPTER FIVE
-Walking Out-

Just last week, we were coming home from celebrating Tim's birthday. His parents took us out to the only tiki bar in town. We had drinks and some appetizers and his mom brought him a box that housed a homemade double layer cake with rainbow dots in the icing. She makes the same cake for him every year. Anyway, we came through the door, let the dogs out as usual and put the cake box on the kitchen table. I walked up the stairs and flipped on the AC for the first time this summer. Tim came back inside with Byrd and Lincoln while I was upstairs using the restroom. I heard him click off the air. Bastard. I shouted down to him, "Will you please turn that back on?" I was roasting. "NO, I don't want it on." Hard-head. "Tim, WILL YOU PLEASE TURN IT BACK ON?" I'm sure he was shouting obscenities, but I couldn't hear them from where I was sitting. Reluctantly, he turned it back on and remained downstairs. I got ready for bed and crawled under the covers. I could hear him rustling around down there. I figured he was smoking a cigarette before coming up. I was just about to fall asleep, when I heard him enter the room. He went over to his side of the bed and grabbed something from the side table. He proceeded back down the stairs and I heard the front door open and close. I didn't hear the van start up so I irrationally rationalized that he had walked to the QT for some more smokes.
After a half hour, I woke up and sensed the emptiness in the bed. Asshole. Where is he? Doesn't he know I worry? Of course, we were both tanked when we got home, and he DID mention the he wasn't tired. Maybe he walked all the way to Garrett's house for some company. I wouldn't put it past him. I called Gar about 25 times and got the answering machine on each try. I was so ticked. I hate it when he leaves and doesn't tell me where he's going. It's happened more that once, but I usually have some idea of where he's gone and who he's with.
I got up and looked out the office window...the van was still there. I tried to call Garrett one more time and then I put on some pants, grabbed my purse and decided to drive over there. I was about to get into my car, but then, on intuition, I glanced inside the back of the van. His head was right near the window. Anger surged through me. I banged on the window and when he didn't respond I opened the door and grabbed the collar of his shirt and jerked him awake. "What the hell do you think you're doing you asshole? Why are you sleeping in the van? I was just about to drive over to Garrett's to see if you were there. I didn't know where you were." The whole time, I'm jerking him around and his head is bobbing against the plush interior. Finally, with his eyes still shut, he opens his mouth to say, "Get your fucking hands off me."
Before I released him, I snatched the glasses off his face, because that's the one thing he hates most. He's blind without them. No response. He was dead and he wasn't going to play along. I was steaming.
I bolted back into the house and then paused in the kitchen, not knowing what to do. I had to do something with all of that anger bottled up and no one to fight with. My eyes landed on the box that housed his untouched birthday cake. I opened it up and shoved his damn glasses right through the middle of it. A smile crossed my face when I saw that they were totally submerged in yellow fluff and rainbow dotted icing. I could finally go back to sleep.
The next morning was a Saturday. I had to go to work. I got up, got dressed and backed out of the driveway. The whole time I was cursing the van and what was inside. I wished I could have watched him grope his way back indoors.
A couple of hours into work, my cell phone rang. I glanced at it. The screen read "Dateproof". I answered and Tim asked, "Where are my glasses?" I answered dryly, "Inside the cake." "Okay." "Well, okay,"I said, "Bye." "Bye."

And that was that.

Do you want to know why he slept in the van that night? He was mad that I had turned on the air-conditioning. Martyr. Life with Tim G. is funny, but not funny "ha-ha".