SCALAWAG (camren one shot - sort of)

IV - The Catastrophe That We Are

***I did not read over this not even once. Well, every chapter I wrote were never proofread. I just had to update. I already missed one weekend. :p Let me know what you think

That man Stew was either a slimy rat on the loose or one that's caught in another predator's jaw.

Eight days and we still couldn't find him. Well, they couldn't find him. My wife was keeping me on a tight leash.

Metaphorically.

Lauren didn't handle stress relating to me well. She did remind me to take meds until the very last one. She changed the bandage whenever she could. And kissed it after.

She made sure to join me on my doctor's appointment to have my stitches removed. I wasn't sure what I was expecting her to do. I might have hoped she would tell my dear brother how to do it better. She didn't.

She did have to keep herself from lunging at him when I winced.

Danny was rightfully terrified.

Eight days and the grump, I mean, my wife was slowly transforming back to my wife again. Silence never once lingered in our house until last week's debacle.

Being able to pretend everything is fine is contingent on keeping our marriage afloat. We were okay in a way. Okay as in not all good. Cars run even with the Check Engine light on.

Until it doesn't.

"What do we need?" Lauren asked, face scrunched up as she read whatever was on her phone. She trailed behind me as I maneuvered the cart along aisles at Morton Williams.

"Normalcy," I mumbled and stopped by the produce section with Lauren crashing into my back as I reached for. Her hand reached out to steady herself and ended up circling my waist.

That was normal, right? Grocery shopping with your touchy spouse, who also insist on eating first before to avoid "unnecessary" purchase. I clung to those moments with a tight grip and could never loosen it despite them spilling out between my fingers.

"Say that again," she asked distractedly. "Dana wants to meet at Pub and Grub. I told her we'd try to make it after we get groceries, so now she's asking us to grab some diapers for her kid. The one for thirty-five pounds."

"Of shit?" I stared at Lauren, aghast. The thought of cleaning that much doodoo was already twisting my stomach.

Lauren's shoulders slowly slumped and she closed her eyes as if disappointed. And then she started laughing. I must have worn a dumb smile as I watched her reduce to hysterics. I relished the sound, the cadence of her voice and my eyes savored the wrinkle on her nose, her mesmerizing green eyes barely visible through the slit.

As if on cue, her loose fist came up to cover her pretty mouth.

It was for a thirty-five-pound toddler. My bad.

-

We managed to get to Pub and Grub over an hour later with the diapers in tow. The very thing I never thought I'd purchase. Lauren didn't mention my ignorant question.

Thank God or else, she'd be sleeping on the couch.

Dana and her husband, Tony, Brett, or as Lauren like to call him, Jacobs and what looked to be his current girlfriend with Mario and Ally were huddled around a table. They had started with the drinking with all the bottles and glasses in front of them.

I stalled by the door, just before one of them spotted us. Dread made anchors out of my feet and every step was heavy as the rest of me struggled to breathe. I didn't realize how much it would jar me until then. It wasn't the Pinstripe's first brush in with the cops but it was the first with Lauren's unit.