Why?

14

After he leaves I go downstairs, and walk into the kitchen. I make some tomato soup and grilled cheese, then go sit on the couch.

"How'd everything go?" Mark asks as I sit down.

"It was ok." I answer before taking a bite of my soup.

"It sounded pretty brutal."

"It wasn't too bad."

"Why do you let him treat you like that?"

"He says he's trying to protect me from you guys." I laugh.

"From us? He needs to protect you from himself."

All I do is a half smile, and take another bite of soup.

"Do you want alcohol tonight?"

"I don't know, maybe."

"Ok, just let me know."

We sit on the couch while the others flip through channels on the tv, going out to the balcony every hour or two. I had a few drinks throughout the night.

"This is boring." He says as the guys fight over what to watch.

"We could go upstairs and watch tv." I suggest.

"Ok." He agrees, and we walk upstairs.

I grab the remote control and turn on the tv. Then we sit on the bed and start scrolling through what to watch.

"What do you want to watch?" I ask.

"Let's watch Rick and Morty." He suggests as I scroll through the options.

"Ok." I agree as I start playing it on the tv.

I lay on my stomach across the bed to watch the tv and he does the same next to me. After a few hours he falls asleep, and I start to doze off. I fight off sleep for a few minutes and then my eyes seemed so heavy that I couldn't keep them open.

I jerk up after a few minutes and decide it's time to go to bed. I shake Mark to wake him up, but it doesn't work. I shake him again, and again.

"Mark! You gotta go downstairs." I say as I'm shaking him.

"What? What happened?" He asks as he finally wakes up.

"You fell asleep, and I can't fall asleep until you're downstairs. We can't be in here in the morning."

"Ok honey." He says with a sad look on his face and then he walks to the door, pausing to look at me before walking out and closing it behind him.

I turn off the tv, lay my head down and drift off to sleep. When I wake up, he's walking into the room.

"How was work?" I ask.

"It was ok." He answers as he lays down next to me. "Why do you smell like Mark?" He asks after a minute.

"What?"

"It smells like Mark."

"What does he smell like?" I ask.

"I don't know, cigarettes I guess."

"I don't know, just lay down, I'm tired." I say as I turn over.

He lays down and eventually we both fall asleep. By the time I wake up again it's almost ten o'clock. I get out of bed and walk downstairs to get something to eat. 

"Hey honey." I hear from behind me.

"Hey Mark." I respond as I turn around.

"How'd you sleep?"

"Good, you?"

"Not bad, what're you doing out of the room?"

"I came down to eat some food. What're you doing right now?"

"About to go down to Charlie's to get some liquor."

"Can I come?" I ask. "I could use some fresh air."

"Sure." He says and we walk to the door.

The fresh air feels nice as we walk down the street. There's a subtle breeze as we walk, keeping us cool. We share some conversation while we walk. He gets a bottle of black velvet, and then we start walking home. We talk about the houses, people, dogs that we pass, work. He's a cook at the local restaurant, and I groom dogs.

We get back to the apartment and when I walk through the door I almost run into a person standing on the other side. My heart sinks when I see who it is.

"Where were you?" He asks.

"Umm... we just walked-"

"Can we talk upstairs?" He interrupts.

"Um... I guess." I answer nervously, then walk upstairs as he follows me.

"I thought I told you I didn't want you to hangout with him!" He yells as he shuts the door behind him.

"He doesn't seem like a bad influence. You're just jealous."

"He buys you alcohol and he's just not good for you!"

"How would you know what's good for me?!"

"You walking down to Charlie's with him, what if a cop sees you guys walking with liquor? You could get arrested for underage possession."

"He was the one holding the bottle, it's not like it was in my possession!"

"What about when you drive him to get everyone alcohol? It's in your car."

"I doubt I'm gonna get pulled over, it's a couple minutes down the road. You're just jealous."

"Should I be jealous?"

"Of what?"

"You walk down the street with him, and I know you've been going downstairs at night while I'm at work. You think my friends wouldn't tell me?"

"Why can't I fucking go downstairs? What's the big deal?"

"I told you I don't like you going downstairs and hanging out with those guys when I'm not home, especially if you're drinking which I know you are."

"I don't understand."

"People will take advantage of you, you need to be careful. I can't always protect you."

"This is ridiculous." I say as I walk to the bedroom door.

"What? So now you want to go downstairs and hangout with him instead of me? I'm your boyfriend. Technically I'm your fiancé, remember when I proposed to you at the park a couple months ago? You said yes." He says as he steps in front of the door.

"Then come downstairs with me."

"I don't want to go downstairs, I want to be alone with you."

"Then we can go on a walk or sit on the balcony or something."

"I want to be alone with you up here, I don't want to go on a walk or anywhere." He says as he locks the door, and guides me to the bed.