Just Water, Please

A Tall Glass of Water.

Shit shit shit shit shit. I forgot to take the chicken out. Steph is pulling into the driveway. Shit. I run down the hallway into the kitchen and get the chicken out of the freezer. I'm running water over the chicken trying to melt the ice and Steph walks in. I freeze and curse under my breath. I turn off the water, put the chicken down in the sink and slowly turn around. She's standing across the room from me with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. I force a huge smile on my face and exclaim, "Stephanie! How was work today?" 

Her scowls melts, but she turns void of expression. Shit that's not good, I think to myself. 

"You know what? We don't have to talk about it right now." I walk over to her, turn her around, and nudge her toward the front door. "Let's go get some Chinese food." I offer a small smile. 

I receive one back. We walk to my car, a 2011 Nissan Altima named Betty, and make our way to Chinatown Express, one of our favorite restaurants. The ride is silent except for the radio in the background. After five minutes, Steph blurts out, "You didn't take the chicken out did you?" 

A blush graces my cheeks. "You're fucking ridiculous," she laughs and shakes her head. 

"Hey! In my defense I was busy." 

"Oh really? What'd you do?" Honestly, I watched shitty TV on Netflix and wrote a five page essay during the breaks, but I can't tell her that. 

"I did homework." Not a lie, just not the whole truth. 

She shakes her head again with a smile on her face. "Yeah I'm sure McDreamy didn't have anything to do with why the chicken is in our sink, wet and frozen." 

I turn to her and wink, making her chuckle. I turn the radio up and we sing (scream, really) along until we reach the restaurant. Our faces are flushed as we walk into the restaurant and get in line to order. It's pretty busy, but there's only five people ahead of us. I glance at Steph only to see her frowning at her phone and typing aggressively. 

"Damn what'd your phone do to you?" She hums in response, clearly not listening at all. "Stephanie." This time she looks up. "You good?" 

She looks back at her phone, then at me and puts her phone away. "It's Jay," she sighs. "He's out drinking." 

I furrow my eyebrows, "Again? That's the third time this week." 

She rolls her eyes, annoyed. "I can't seem to get through to him, I don't know what to do." 

Jay is Steph's high school sweetheart. They have been together since sophomore year but they almost broke up when we all started college. Jay went off to Colorado for his studies while Steph and I stayed in California together. The long distance was really hard for them in the beginning, really hard, but they got through it and now that he can, Jay is drinking at pretty much every chance he can get. It's becoming a problem and it's really stressing Steph out. 

I offer a small smile, "I know hon, but don't forget, no matter how much you can be there for someone, if they don't want help, they won't take it." 

"I know," she sighs, "It just sucks. He doesn't listen He's reckless and I can't be there for him physically. I've tried talking to him and he doesn't want to hear it. I don't know why he's doing this and I'm getting really annoyed from him blowing me off for his four fucking loko." 

"Set him straight. You don't deserve that and if he can't realize it, he's going to lose you sooner or later." 

"I know, it's just frustrating," she huffs. She pulls her phone out again but I snatch it from her and put it in my pocket.