Resentment

Dinner in Montecito (ACT III)

San Ysidro Ranch, Montecito, CA, 1st Sept 1997
8:45pm

"What exactly are you going to tell Kleff?" Michael sat back in his seat, and flashed a grin.
It was imperative that their smiles didn't slip tonight.

Best behaviour.
Both of them.

His voice was cool, and even, and as he narrowed his eyes at her, he watched through his angry fog, as Afia lifted her gin slide with one perfectly manicured hand.

Tapping on the glass with a fingernail, she smirked, "I'm going to tell Kleff that I drank alcohol, at a restaurant.." She grinned wide, closing her lips around the plastic straw wedged between all the ice and candy in the glass.

"You should tell him how you make me feel," Michael hissed, eyes darting between the glass and his wife's smug face, "Tell him that you enjoy making me feel nervous in public..That you enjoy drinking until you embarrass us both."

Afia frowned through a long sip, managing to let her lips curl into a smirk.

It was all way too funny to be sad.
Here she was, one of the richest women in America.

Supposedly one of the happiest too.

And yet, she and her husband were one glass of gin away from a very public split.

Michael swallowed, his Adam's apple jumping in his throat, as he sat back in his seat once more.

His skin was flushing, a cute pink.

"Now you trust Kleff? Now you believe in opening up during those sessions?" Afia swirled her huge glass in one hand, and patted away the corner of her mouth with the other.

How refreshing.
The taste of the drink, of course.
Not her husbands sudden interest in their therapy sessions.

Michael slowly shook his head, and remembered to smile.

"I don't need you, or this. If you fuck it up, we're done. There's your wake up call.." He hissed.

"Michael, just drink your water, and focus on your salad,"Afia breathed, taking another sip from her swirling rainbow glass, "I would never embarrass my baby.." She smiled sweetly at him.

For a moment at least, her smile looked genuine.
Her baby.
Michael had often blushed, or felt warm inside when she'd used those affectionate terms with him.

Though even now, as she was putting on a show, for the silent audience all around them, something about it still felt real.

Michaels heart was tightening up in his chest, frustration becoming a familiar feeling in his body.

Vacantly, he glanced around the room, to assess the crowd.

Everyone appeared to be eating, and drinking and chatting away, though as he looked harder, he caught almost everyone's eyes.

One couple, sat talking animatedly in a corner, leaning over the table, as the candles lit up their smiles at one another. The couple remained oblivious to Michael and Afia's presence.