Dre's Issues

Painful Memories

*Marshalls POV*

It was a rare lazy day for him. They'd been working so hard on his latest project, his people deserved a break. He was honestly looking forward to having a day to rest but by the afternoon he was already bored of it. He figured he might as well shower early and lay in bed for the rest of the night. Sounded kinda nice to just hang out and watch TV, maybe fall asleep if he felt like it. He kicked back in his bed and watched whatever was on for a while. He hadn't found a new show to binge watch yet so he was open to finding something new. There wasn't much on on a Wednesday night though. A lot of talk shows. A few reruns of the walking dead. Out of boredom he started scrolling through apps on his phone. An ad for beats came across his screen as he scrolled past an article.

There's an idea.

He quickly exited out of the news and scrolled briefly through his contacts until he spotted the name 'Andre'. He clicked the name and hit 'facetime.'

The monotone sound rang for a few seconds. It was just about to hang up when the screen showed 'call connecting'. His glance turned towards the TV for a second then back towards his screen.

"Hey! What's going on? ... you alright?"

Marsh sat up in his bed and looked a bit closer at his phone

"Yeah I'm good. What's up?"

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

Bullshit. He could see it in his face. Dre's cheeks didn't just get flushed like that randomly. And he could see the tired in his eyes.

"Nothing?.. what were you doin?"

Dre took a breath "going through some old pictures. I was gonna try to make a photo collage or something for Truly's birthday."

His voice trailed off

Marshall watched on his screen as his friend flipped the page to a book. Dre's eyes slowly gazed the pages in front of him. Marsh shook his head with sympathy.

"Oh yeah? Bet she'd like that."

"Yeah I thought so too."

"... so how many albums did you get through before you got to the wedding album?"

Dre's eyes glanced up for a second then back down to the page with a look of shame

"...four..."

"Four? Damn. I normally only get through two."

Dre perked up now

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You still go through em?"

"Of course I do. From both weddings."

His friend kept his eyes on the book and turned another page. He felt bad for him. He knew that look all too well. It was a look he'd worn many times.

"I just don't get it..." Dre started "we were so happy. Nothing went wrong."

"And you'll never get it. At least I never did. You go from being completely in love to... damn near wanting to kill each other."

"Hurt each other."

"Right. Andre I don't know much, but I do know this: you guys are gonna fight like crazy. It may seem like it won't ever end. But eventually... you'll get to a point where after a year or years of fighting about whatever. Money. The kids. You'll both go to throw an insult one day... and neither of you will be able to think of one."

Dre peered up from his photo album now. Marsh made eye contact the best he could through the camera.

"Everything you've wanted to say to each other. Every little thing that you've let build up. Every little pet peeve. They'll all be out on the table and there won't be anything else to say. Nothing else but... thank you. Thank you for being the parent to my children and the love of my life for so long. Thank you for the good times. All the dust is gonna settle. And you're going to realize how much you love and appreciate each other all over again."

Dre smirked

"Listen though!" Marsh added "Don't confuse that shit though. Just because y'all are okay and love each other again does NOT mean y'all should try again. Trust me."

His friend let out a small chuckle

"You got me?"

"Yeah I gotchu."

"Good. Put that shit away and take a break I need your help finding something on." He joked while looking back at the TV

He looked back at the screen for a second and saw him still looking down at the closed book. A few tears fell down his cheeks.

"Hey.. It's gonna hurt for a while. But it'll be alright. I promise. Let's focus on something else for a while, okay?"

"Okay."