Alcohol-arcade Pt. 01

Michael slides out of bed, carrying the phone with him into the bathroom. He's intrigued by the invite. He sets the phone down on the counter and turns on the water in the shower.

*****

She feels like she's walking around on broken glass and egg shells for the entire day. She wanders around the grocery store in a daze. Her mind doesn't register much of what's happening around her. She hears the ringtone for her fiance. Sighing before answering, "Hey, sweetie."

"I forgot to tell you that Austin is out of cereal."

Feeling confused, she replies, "He still has the box that I just opened yesterday."

"He won't eat that unless you're the one at home. I'll be home for most of this week. Buy the sugary crap. Or some Poptarts. I'm not dealing with him in a bad mood." She refuses. "Fine. I'll just order some to be delivered tonight. He's your son. Not mine. If you don't buy the stupid Poptarts, I'm not going to take him to school tomorrow. You are, Nicole" He ends the call abruptly.

Feeling ashamed, she stares at the phone. She follows one of the few things that her last therapist suggested. She mentally lists the advantages and disadvantages of the situation. Her son's diet has been deteriorated horribly in the last couple of years due to the quarantine and supply chain problems. He has been refusing to eat what she cooks. Her fiance has been consistently under-minding her by getting fast food and gas station junk food for her son. She will once again lose credibility with her son when he is given junk food. She will also have to fight him in the morning if she stuck to her guns. Austin listens to him because he acts so much like Austin's biological father. The main difference between the two is the lack of physical abuse from Jefferson.

Nicole feels lost. Both emotionally and physically in the store. She has no idea what aisle she's in.

*****

Michael finally decides to accept the invitation on Wednesday. After clicking on the e-invite, he sets his phone down to finish eating his food delivery. He's not particularly impressed with the recipe, but at least it's fresher ingredients than a microwavable frozen meal. Also, he feels a little accomplished when he actually cooks, like tonight, and not have any more leftovers than the dogs and cat can handle.

He then texts Liz and Jesus to tell them that he won't be at the gastropub that they were planning on this Friday. Michael has no intention of telling them what he's going to be doing. They have been consistently unhappy that he got a text from that number. And he knows that he is going directly towards what they are advising against.

After a couple of beers, he decides it's time for bed.

*****

Her phone dings. A generic and general alert tone. She picks it up hating the fact that she no longer knows who the messages are coming from. But so far, the lack of knowledge of who is contacting her is better than having her fiance launch into another hours long rant. The sound annoys her as she is currently elbows deep in flour as she is pressing out fresh pasta. Nicole feels her shoulders bunch up at the annoyance of the sound. She rotates her shoulders to loosen them up.

"Who's calling you now?" Jefferson asks.

"Text. Someone is texting me. Not calling. And, I have no clue, darling. I'm currently in the middle of a huge mess trying to make dinner," Nicole replies highlighting the pasta dough in front of her and in between her fingers. "I'm not going to deal with whatever my phone is bitching about for a while."

"Well then, just unlock your phone. I'll determine if everything is ok."

Snorting in derision, Nicole retorts to Jeffereson, "Yeah, because that worked out so well the last time. You thought that my mom was trying to get me in bed, my sister was eating my pussy, and that there was a government plot to assassinate you by triggering me through subliminal commands." Looking him in the eyes, "I get that I hear voices and shit, but at least I'm willing to go to the hospital when I need to."

"Are you making an accusation?"

As much as she wants to say 'yes,' Nicole calmly explains, "No, I'm just reminding you that I'm in control of my symptoms and taking my meds as instructed. And that I need some emotional support as I'm in a constant legal battle for my child."

"Well, maybe you should let him live with his father for a little bit and he'll realize what we do for him."

Nicole latches onto the word 'we.' Her mind is racing and furious. "What fucking 'we' is there?" she rages inside of her mind. "You've never been there for anything serious with Austin. You've only ever been supportive to me. As I'm freaking out about Austin.

Nicole breathes heavily through her nose. She is willfully trying to maintain her cool. Jefferson laughs, "If you're that mad about me giving you grief, than I don't need to worry about it."

After dinner, and hounding Austin to finish his homework while she deals with the dishes and cleans the kitchen. Jefferson is off in the other room doing, whatever, on the internet. She can hear Austin ask Jefferson several questions about how to do the math homework. She can also hear Jefferson tell Austin to leave him alone and to go "bother your mom" because "She deserves to be in charge of your education."

Once Austin's homework and her household chores are done, she shuffles the kid towards bed. "I promise I'll read you some Poe if you get ready for bed and leave me alone for half an hour." Austin agrees to her terms. Nicole walks out to the garage and immediately opens her stash. Five shots of tequila and one joint later, Nicole is ready to read horror stories to her kid as a bedtime story.

*****

Thursday:

Austin approaches his mother with his science homework that he's been struggling with. "Mom?" she asks furtively. "I need to ask you something about sedimentary rocks."

Looking up at her son as she is scrubbing a shit stain from the carpet in front of the litter box, "How about you ask your father? He studied geology in college." Austin agrees and wanders off.

Two minutes later, Austin is asking his mother, "Can you help me with it? Dad, seems busy." Nicole looks up from the stain confused. She knows for a fact that Jefferson could easily explain everything about rocks to a fifth grader. Before Nicole could ask any questions, Austin explained, "he told me that you're responsible for my education and that you're being lazy." Austin's eyebrows are knitting together in worry.

Nicole blows her breath out, and replies, "Fine. I'll be at the kitchen table in five minutes." As Austin walks off, Nicole angrily soaks the carpet with detergent. Trying her best to not stomp, she paces the short distance to the kitchen sink to wash her hands.

*****

Nicole is disposing of all of the paper towels and empty cans of carpet cleaners. She stands at the kitchen sink washing her hands. She can feel Jefferson hug her from behind. His hands roam around her body.

Not feeling like dealing with this right now, especially after spending an hour cleaning cat shit because Jefferson refused to clean the litter box while she was out of town for a couple of days, and feeding them heavy cream. "Honey, I'm tired. And I feel gross."

Jefferson's hands disappear. She can feel his breath growling in her ear, "That's because you were too busy getting drunk and high in the garage." Nicole looks down at her hands. "I helped your kid, not my kid, with his homework, I pay the bills around here, and I can't get a little affection? No wonder I'm always angry." She can hear his angry footsteps going of into the darkness.

Muttering to herself, "Was there any truth in what you just said?"

Once the coast is clear, Nicole goes to her son's room. Austin is still playing video games. "Hey, kiddo. You need to turn it off and go to bed."

"My real dad doesn't make me," he retorts.

Not feeling like arguing, she replies, "That's fine. We made a deal about the arcade. If you don't want to honor our agreement, then we'll stay home and you can play games here."

It's a rare event that Austin will not argue about video games. He quickly shuts down the console, tv, and shoves the controller into his drawer. He scrambles to his bed and starts clicking off lights. Nicole eyes her son suspiciously. In a whisper, Austin says, "You promised that Mike would be there. Will he?" Even Austin knows that that specific name is verbotten in this house.

Whispering back to him as she tucks him into bed, "His text said that he would be."