In My Neighbor's Bed

Ch. 12: A Lovely Day for a Walk

Sleep did not come easily. Like a kid on Christmas Eve, my brain kept me awake, buzzing excitedly with all the thoughts of what might be waiting for me tomorrow. Thankfully, the mental exhaustion from playing nice with Phil that evening won out over my excitable mind.

Next thing I knew, I was being woken up by a bunch of loud thumping sounds. I grunted vaguely, turning towards the noise with my eyes still half-closed.

Not surprisingly, I saw Phil getting ready for work. Even less surprisingly, he seemed to be in a bad mood. I suppose I could have waited things out and pretended to be asleep until after he left, but I knew the only reason he was knocking around so loudly was to wake me up. Chances were good he'd probably try to shake me awake to argue before he left anyway. Might as well deal with it now.

I stretched and sat up, forcing a smile to my face as I looked at him. "Good morning, Dear."

He let out a dry laugh. "For you maybe."

I sighed heavily. "Great. What's wrong this time?"

I already knew the answer, of course. He was pissed about being blueballed yet again. However, acknowledging that would only lead to a new tirade of how I never had sex with him, and I was a terrible wife, and yada yada yada.

It was easier to just play dumb. His opinion of me mattered very little by this point and having him think I was an idiot meant he'd give up on me easier. After all, he'd already "explained it to me before." No point in repeatedly asking somebody to "change their ways" when they're obviously not getting it.

That's why I gave up on Phil, at least.

"What's wrong this time," he started mockingly, "is that I'm getting really sick of this teasing bullshit."

"Teasing?"

"Don't pull that shit with me. I'm sick of it," he snapped. "You flirt with me all evening, lead me on, let me think that I might actually get to have sex with my own goddamn wife for once, then leave me in the fucking bed until I pass out.

"My fault though. I should have known. Typical Maggie. As long as you get your way in the end, you can do whatever the fuck you want, right?"

I was used to these little rants of his by now. Usually, the hard part was faking some kind of emotion so I could argue back with him. However, for once, he actually made me angry with the words he said.

Get your way. Get your way. Those words made my blood boil in a way I hadn't felt in years.

It was almost funny really. All those times I had to fake my anger with him and now I actually had to hold my anger back to avoid causing any real issues with him. I took a deep breath to calm myself before diving into the rebuttal I'd rehearsed last night.

"Actually, Phil, I wasn't 'teasing' anyone." Despite my best efforts to repress it, he still flinched at the hint of genuine venom in my tone. "You're right. It's been a while since we had sex, so I had to take some extra time to 'get ready.' If you know what I mean."

I lifted up the blankets to show him that I was, in fact, all trimmed and tidied. I had the small satisfaction of seeing a hint of remorse on his face as his eyes wandered between my legs. Of course, I didn't actually do it for him, but he had no way of knowing that.

I quickly covered myself up again, glaring at him. "However, you were already asleep by the time I came back out. Guess whatever porn you were watching must have been pretty boring, huh?"

That shut him up.

Personally, I couldn't have given two shits about him watching porn. That was his business. Even when we were dating, I never really had a problem with him watching it. If anything, I assumed he did. Most people did.