𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 !

.01

hey jude !

JUDITH'S
                 thin fingers tugged nervously at a loose curl that had tumbled from her pinned up hair. Her bottom lip quivered as her fiancé, Zachary, cursed frantically under his breath.

Zach's jaw clenched as he flipped through bill after bill, paper being thrown across the table as he did so. Jude flinched at his sudden anger. "I just don't understand how you work at S.H.I.E.L.D. and bring home less money than I do!, " He exclaims, holding his red face in his hands. "They're screwing you over. They have to be. "

Judith dipped her silver spoon back into the warm soup she had made for dinner and shook her head softly. "They aren't screwing me over, Zach., " She responded, pausing to swallow a spoonful of her supper. "I'm only a nurse. M-maybe one day I'll get promoted and bring home a little more cash."

Her doe eyes pleaded for him to stop his tongue from spewing more rage, but he never paid enough attention to detail to notice. All Jude wanted was a romantic dinner with her soon to be husband, but what she got was another argument where she continued to be at fault. She knew it was selfish of her to expect more, but she couldn't help herself.

"Let's hope that day's before I marry you.," Zach replied, a dry laugh escaping his lips. He felt static in his organized brain as he let more anger leak in.

Zachary's words left Jude's heart in two, slowly drifting down to the bottom of her chest. Nothing she did seemed to please him. "I think I'm going to clean up and then maybe head upstairs. Take a shower?," She said with a wavering smile. Jude looked into Zach's eyes. "Maybe you can join?"

Zachary looked back down at the flimsy envelopes that had caused his distress. "Not now. I'm busy, Jude. "

Judith's smile instantly dropped and she pushed in her chair slowly, looking at the man in front of her who wouldn't even meet her eyes. When he finally did look up, she didn't see that same passionate spark that used to fill his irises when they first began to date. All she saw was hues of grey and blue that held no emotion towards her.

Zachary must have noticed her obvious disappointment, as he gazed into her complex stare. Her frown was a clue all by itself. " But thank you for dinner.," He manages, his anger slowly releasing as he exhaled. "I love you."

She nodded and looked back at him from across the room. "I love you as well."

Jude kept her head lifted as she exited the kitchen, keeping her tears at bay. She stood at the bottom of the steps where Zachary couldn't see her and rubbed her tired eyes.. "I'll be upstairs!, " She calls out.

She reached her bedroom and laid herself across the soft, quilted blanket that covered her much too hard mattress. Staring at the ceiling above her, she wondered how she got here. And why she loved the man downstairs so much that she stayed through it all.