My 'Perfect' Life

Chapter 21: The GIF

Sarah

I lay in bed, awake, wondering when he's going to get back to the room. The kids are asleep, and the television is playing as just background noise to fill the silence. It's almost 1:30 a.m and the concert ended around 10:30. I roll over on my other side and just stare at the blank wall.

What could he be doing at this time? I've called him, yet he hasn't answered. The boys are probably back at their hotel rooms already, and where's Niall? Oh yeah, not here. Is he drinking? He better not be. We decided not to drink since we have kids. Is he just running late?

Just as I start crying, I hear the door knob jingle some. I feel a rush of relief travel through my body. I get up to greet my husband at the door. I'm going to be having a serious talk with him. Let me tell ya. I open the door and meet eyes with (speak of the devil) Niall.

"There you are," I whisper/yell at him.

He pulls me into a hug, "I'm sorry, baby."

The smell of alcohol fills my nose and I stumble back. "Niall... Are you drunk?"

"Yes. I'm sorry. I went to celebrate with Deo," he slurs.

I groan, anger boiling through my blood, "Come on."

I lead him to our bed and strip his clothes off and lay him on the bed before dressing him in plaid pajama pants as if he's a baby. I help him under the covers before scribbling a reminder on a note pad to pick up Advil for Niall before he wakes back up.

"I love you, Sarah," he mumbles before drifting off to sleep.

I lay back on the pillow, trying to control my anger. This is a skill I've grown to master. Having three rambunctious kids make me go crazy, but I somehow keep myself from jumping off a cliff. But now that Niall's drunk it feels like I'm getting thrown off a cliff. He promised me he would stop drinking no matter what-that he would stay sober. I thought I could actually believe that he would give up such a big part of his life for me.

I think of his last words before he dozed off, "I love you, Sarah." Well, if he really loves me then why is he still drinking? I probably sound like a controlling wife, but that's not it. I just told him that I didn't like how he would get drunk nearly every night to 'celebrate'. He wasn't an abusive person at all in his drunken state, but I just got annoyed when I had to put him to bed and help him feel better in the morning. It just got old after a while. He's the one that said, "I'll stop. I promise." I was shocked that those words came right out of his mouth, and I actually believed him.

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I make sure to wake up earlier than everyone else, only getting five hours (at most) of sleep. I run to the store just a few blocks down and come back with some Advil for my husband who is soon to wake up with a massive hangover.

"I'm so done," I whisper to myself as I slowly open the door to the hotel room.

Luckily, everyone is still asleep, so I decide to take a pill out for Niall and set it on his bedside table for when he wakes up. Before he wakes, though, I make sure to get our kids up. I manage to keep them quiet while I get them ready to get breakfast.

Parker points to Niall, "Is Dad coming?"

"Not right now, he'll come later," I say pulling her out into the hall.

Lukas and Abbie waddle ahead to the elevators and try to reach for the button. I'm quick to lift them both up so they could both push the button. Parker calls the one in the elevator and before we know it, we're down in the lobby, serving ourselves breakfast.