Pedes

Chapter Two - Average

Peter

"God dammit, Peter!"

I sighed and lifted my hands from my keyboard to rub at my temples. "What, Vanessa?!" I shouted back to my wife.

"Get your ass down here!"

I groaned aloud and looked at the screen of my computer, knowing that I'd have to stay up late because of Vanessa. I quickly saved what I was working on before setting the monitor to sleep and pushing away from my desk. I then got out of my office chair and reluctantly left the room, plodding down the hallway and stairs with irritation clear on my face.

"What?" I said, making it clear to my wife as I crossed my arms across my chest that I was not in the mood for her to be interrupting my work.

"Don't you 'what' me," she said with a scowl as she flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. "I told you an hour ago that you needed to pick up Riley from Andy's and go to the store. I wrote you a grocery list so you don't forget anything like last time."

I fought off a scowl of my own and looked up and down at my wife. I noticed she had changed into a tight red dress with black heels. She had curled her hair into tight ringlets and lined her dull brown eyes with thick black eyeliner.

"Where are you going?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Tiffany's boyfriend dumped her last night, so me and the girls are going to a club to raise her spirits some."

I glanced at my watch with a frown. "At 7:30?"

"We're going to one that's out of town - so none of our bosses or coworkers see us. Obviously."

"Oh," I said, trying to fight off my irritation. "Have fun."

"Wow, don't get so excited," she said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes, "you might have an aneurysm."

I closed my eyes my eyes and breathed deeply as she click-clacked out the door and into the garage. Once I heard her car leave, I shoved my own shoes on, shrugged on my coat, and grabbed the shopping list before heading out into my own car. As I backed out of the garage before pulling out of our cul-de-sac, I cursed Vanessa under my breath. She definitely hadn't told me previously about picking up Riley, or about going to the store. If she had, she would've interrupted my work--which I most certainly would've remembered.

I shook my head and paid more attention to the roads, making sure that I was heading toward the right place. To avoid thinking about Vanessa and pissing myself off even more, I flipped on the radio and flipped off my brain for the next ten minutes it took me to get to Riley's friend's house.

After ten minutes of spaced-out driving - which, admittedly, probably wasn't my best decision in the world - I arrived at Andrew's and got out of the car before locking it with my electronic key and making my way up the brick walkway to the front door. I straightened my clothes out, rang the doorbell, and took a polite step back from the door.

Inside the house, a woman yelled out that she was coming, followed by some thumping footsteps before the door swung outward to reveal a woman in her late thirties.

"Oh, hello Peter!" she said as she eyed me up and down. "Here for Riley?"

"Hey, Maria," I said as I swallowed back my disgust at the married woman's obvious flirting and gave her a strained smile. "Yeah, I'm here to pick him up." Why else would I be here?

"Great!" she exclaimed as she opened the door wider and waved me in. "He's just downstairs, playing with Andrew. I'll go get him for you."

I thanked her and stepped inside the cozy little house, shutting the door quickly behind me to keep the autumn chill from seeping inside. I rocked slightly on my heels as Maria went to get my son. After a few moments, I heard little feet stomping up the wooden stairs in the back of the house, making a smile appear on my face.