Catastrophe

Chapter Two

I flipped the last blueberry pancake onto the stack with the others and sat the plate down in front of Tyson. He practically drowned the pancakes with syrup and butter. I made a face at him while he took his first bite.

"What?" He said, his speech slurred by the huge bite that was in his mouth.

"I don't see how you can eat like that. Too much syrup is disgusting." I said. My own plate had two pancakes and was lightly drizzled with syrup.

"I don't know how you don't like a lot of syrup. It completes the whole breakfast!" His plate jumped as a result of his fist hitting the table.

"Whatever," I said, sticking my tongue out at him. "How was work last night?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Pulled over a guy for speeding and found pot in his trunk. Crime rate is going up. It's twenty percent higher than it was this time last year. Not good, but there is also more and more pot heads coming up here for the woods around the town. I've been talking to some of the guys from stations a couple of towns over. They have had a rise in meth labs around there. More and more people relying on drugs. It's crazy." He took another bite from his stack and chewed slowly.

"Is there something else bothering you? You look worried, honey."

"Not a thing," he said smiling at me. "I got some extra money from working all those extra shifts though. I thought we could go downtown to all those small little shops you like and get you some new clothes for school."

I shook my head. "You don't have to. I have plenty of clothes."

"I have seen those things you call clothes. You haven't had new stuff since we went shopping several years ago. I like to buy you the things you like. Please at least get a few new outfits." He made the puppy dog eyes at me.

"Fine," I said. "I'm only doing this for you though."

"Go get ready," he said, picking our plates up off the table and leavin a sticky kiss on my forehead.

After throwing my hair into two small pigtail braids and some nice, non-holey clothes, I was ready to go. I walked into the kitchen expecting to see Tyson, but finding it empty. Confused, I looked in the spare bedroom and found him lying on his back, curtains drawn, staring up at the ceiling. I sat down next to him and looked up as well.

"What are we looking at exactly?"

"Have you ever noticed that the swirls on the ceiling kind of look like galaxies? That's what they look like to me, anyways."

I studied the swirls closer and nodded my head. "You're right. I see it too."

"Well are you ready to go then?" He asked, sitting up and leaning back on his elbows.

I nodded my head and stood up. He stuck his hands up, motioning for me to pull him up. I grabbed ahold of his hands and pulled as hard as I could. He wasn't that hard to pull up, but I made a lot of grunting noises anyway.

"I think you need to cut back on all those pancakes." I said, elbowing him in the ribs.

He put his arm around my waist and tipped me backwards. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him softly on the cheek. "Are we going to go or what? It's almost one." I said with a wink.

He stood me upright and stuck his tongue out at me. "I guess if you're going to force me to go. You're going to spend all my hard earned money." He said jokingly.

We ended up going to the next town over to shop. It was, as Tyson worded it, "a change of scenery." They did have some cute stuff there. Tyson saw the bar and gave me his debit card while he went to drink. "I'm just going to let you have a day to yourself. Don't hesitate to buy whatever you want." He said, kissing me on the cheek and walking into the dimly lit bar.

I rolled my eyes and walked into the closest shop. It was dark with a few scattered lamps here and there. It had a strong scent of rosemary and lavender that was comforting. Not too strong, yet strong enough. I walked over to the sun dress rack and looked through each of them before scanning the jeans. I browsed around the shop awhile before settling with a few pairs of jeans, a tie-dye halter top, and a necklace.

It was so pretty. The necklace, I mean. It had a clear smooth stone in a gold setting. The stone itself was about four inches long and about three inches wide. The chain it hung on was also gold and was around twenty or so inches long. It was beautiful. As soon as I walked out of the shop I immediately hung it around my neck.

I hit two other shops, finding only a few dresses and a couple of other tops. I met Tyson back at the bar at a quarter past five. He was sitting on the stool closest to the T.V.; an empty beer mug beside him and a half empty one in his hand.

I walked over to where he was and put my bags down by his feet. I wrapped my arms around his middle and put my head on his shoulder. "Have a good time?" I asked. I untangled myself from him and sat on the empty stool to his right.

"You know it. The game was great and this beer is fantastic! What all did you buy?"

I told him about the clothes and showed him my necklace that I was wearing. "It's pretty, just like the girl wearing it. I can't wait to see you model those outfits you bought when we get home either." He said, nuzzling my neck. I grinned and pushed him away.

"Are you hungry? I saw a little bakery at the end of the little shops. It smells incredible."

"Sure, let me just finish this and we can go."

When we got home I showed Tyson the clothes. He approved and promptly tried to see how easy it was to get the halter top off. Needless to say, he got it on the first try and with only one hand.