Gutted by Life

Late Night Party Time

"I don't understand the point of this," Beth said as Tucker attempted to shove even more marshmallows into his mouth. "You're going to choke and die. I'll be a widow, is that what you want?"

Tucker shook his head as he shoved another into his mouth and tried to say chubby bunny, but it was completely unintelligible.

Celeste laughed at them and realized how drunk she actual was. There were three bottles on the table and she'd probably finished one red on her own. The man she was seeing Luke stood behind the couch with another bottle swaying back and forth to music that wasn't audible. Celeste had met him at a bar while on a date with a complete asshat. The date had skipped out on the bill and Luke with his long curly hair and tattooed up arms had sat in front of her instead. She liked him okay, but didn't really know him.

Tucker started to gag and Beth beat him on the back her words slurring together. "He's dying, he's dying."

Celeste laughed harder and moved over to help him pull some of the marshmallows out of his mouth so he didn't choke. Beth became extra concerned when she was drunk about her husband's well-being. The marshmallows lay in a disgusting pile on her coffee table and Luke still swayed. He was in a strange head space so there was no reason to try and pull him out of it.

"Luke," Tucker yelled louder than he needed to. "Get some of these fluffy white things in your mouth."

"I don't want to mess with your balls right now Tucker," Luke didn't miss a beat.

"Burn!" Celeste laughed and went into the kitchen to grab a paper towel to grab the nasty marshmallow mess. "I didn't even know we had marshmallows in the house Tuck, it's weird that this was your go to game tonight." Someone knocked on the door and startled her.  She went to answer it wondering who the hell would show up at 12:30 on a Wednesday night.

She was completely taken by surprise when she saw Jesse, her ex-husband standing outside. He looked completely disheveled and she could tell he'd been drinking. A cigarette burned almost to the end in his hand and he was wearing a dress shirt that was untucked and a tie completely twisted.

"Hey C, what are you doing?" He smiled and pulled her to him for a hug which she returned, but her mind raced with the reasons he could be at the house.

"Late night party with my date, Tucker and Beth." She said pulling back from him and looking up into his eyes. She'd never been able to handle Jesse when he was sad. "You want to come in?"

"No I can't right now," Jesse started backing up. "Will you come out here please C, I need to talk to you."

Celeste looked back towards the party which had divulged into an argument over what board game they should play and back at Jesse. His pleading eyes lured her outside. They hadn't spoken in awhile. "Okay I'll come out."

Celeste left the unsuspecting party to take a walk down the street with her ex-husband. Everything inside of her told her she should turn around and not allow herself to get sucked back into him again. Stepping out into the street she heard Tucker and Luke start singing some good awful rock song together and was happy he'd moved away from his strange, silent swaying.

"Sounds like your date is a professional singer," Jesse joked and Celeste playfully punched him in the arm.

"He's alright at it." 

"So what do you need Jess, what's going on?" Celeste braced herself for another baby on the way, or for his daughter or wife to be sick.

"Veronica and I are having problems." 

"I'm sure you're just going through a rough patch. It will work itself out." Celeste couldn't tell if she was supposed to be optimistically supportive or quietly nodding.

"No, it's not a patch Celeste, it's more than that. It's been going on for months now. I just don't think we're happy anymore."

"What about Gracie?" Celeste could make him cheerful when he thought about his little girl. Jesse's face would light up when anyone mentioned her. 

"I worry about what will happen if we separate, but we can't just stay in our marriage for her, can we?"

They had made their way down the road and one of the neighbors had lifted a hand. The confused look on his face made it obvious he was wondering what the two exes were doing walking down the street together. She was wondering the same thing. Why did he come to her?

"I'm not in the best position to answer that question for you Jesse." 

"Why not, your advice is just as good as anyone's?"

She thought for a minute. Mostly because she'd not sustained any meaningful relationships since their divorce. She'd told herself many times it wasn't because of Jesse, but standing in front of him with his relationship falling apart she couldn't help but imagine what it would be like. No, it would be a disaster. 

"Because I've not been in a good healthy relationship like you since the divorce. I just don't think I'm the best bet for relationship advice right now."