Queen Bee

August 2002 (1)

Saying bye to the girls and Stevie, I watched as they trekked down the long driveway towards Kim's car that was idling along the street. Recently, Marshall had become much more comfortable with the idea of Kim taking the girls for sleepovers, so tonight was about to be the third time within two weeks that he had let her keep them, and by proxy, it was about to be the third night that I've actually had some freedom within god knows how long.

Waving one last time to Lainey, I quickly noticed Des attempting to crawl through the open door. "Oh hell no." Scooping him up as fast as I could, I shut the door. "Absolutely not, ya lil' escape artist." He giggled as I perched him on my hip and began walking towards the upstairs. "I think it's time for ya nap anyway, don't you?" He laughed again, this time grabbing a fist full of my hair as I turned into his room. "Ow, ow, ow, Des please let go." I winced in pain, putting him down in his crib as he yanked my head down with him. "Come on, baby, let go of mommy's hair." I begged my small infant as I attempted to loosen his strong grip. I have no idea how, but I swear kids just have some sort of super human strength that really can't be fucked with. Especially when it's something they're not supposed to touch. 

Finally getting him to let go, I tied my hair back before tucking him in with his blanket. I knew he was restless and full of energy right now, so he likely wont sleep, but I figured I may as well try anyway. Kissing his head, I turned the light out and closed his door, feeling incredibly at peace with almost zero responsibilities for the night. 

As I walked back downstairs, I found my phone on the kitchen island. Wondering if maybe Zoe would wanna come over and hang out for a bit, I picked it up with the intention of calling her until I realized I had one missed phone call and one missed text. 

From: Marshall 

"Call me when U can."  

"Oh my god, finally!" I exclaimed to myself, feeling extremely relieved. I had been tryna call him all goddamn week, but with the time differences and our schedules being way off, we hadn't been able to get through to each other. So, after about three of four days of not having spoken, hopefully this will be the time we can. 

Immediately hitting the talk button on his contact, I brought my phone up to my ear. "Yo!" He almost instantly answered, sounding incredibly happy to hear from me. 

"Baby! Oh my god it's so good to hear ya voice!" 

He chuckled. "Fuck, I'm so sorry 'bout this week. Shits been so crazy these last few days, I've barely even had anytime to think." 

"It's okay, it's been ridiculous here too. I have somethin' to tell ya though!" My tone quickly turned excited. 

"Yeah?" He asked happily. "Well I got somethin' to tell ya too, so can I go first just so we can get the bad outta the way?" 

My brows drew into a frown. "Uhm, yeah. Why? What's wrong?" 

He sighed. "I don't think I'ma be able to make it home for ya birthday, baby."

I paused, feeling an overwhelming cloud of sadness start to hit me. "Ya think or ya know?"

"Nah... Nah, I know." He said disappointed. 

"But, what?! Marshall, why?! You said ya had those dates off and you'd be able to make it!" 

"Baby I know, I know, I'm sorry. But Paul added in shows on those dates without talkin' to me first, so now I'm committed to it. I'm so fuckin' sorry, Angel. I promise I'll make it up to ya, aight?" 

Sighing deeply, I tried my best not to get angry. Marshall said it wasn't his fault, therefore there's not much point in getting mad at him. Plus, I haven't talked to him in days. I miss him so much. I just wanna talk to him and be happy that I get to hear his voice for once. "Okay... Thanks for tryin' anyway, I guess." I trailed off into silence, no longer wanting to talk about this.