To Want Endlessly [18+]

Chapter Three

One week.

It's been one week since the cat escaped the bag. Seven days since I left the loft. I've been drowning my sorrows in alcohol and any nonperishable foods I can find. Officially, I'm now living in the house I bought. It's a constant reminder that Lacey and I are now separated, but there's nothing I can do about that. What with the bare walls and empty king-sized bed, I've never felt this way and I only wish this was a feeling no one has to feel.

I'm grateful my cousin is a lot stronger than I am. The guy is my best friend and I'm happy that Lacey never got a chance to dig her claws into him. By that, I mean in a one hundred percent platonic manner. If there was ever a chance my best friend in the whole world would take my cheating wife's side, I think I'd just fall further off the deep end. So, it's good Chandler has never had high thoughts of Lacey. She's one of his least favorite people and now I can truly see why.

In fact, Chandler is the reason I have any clothes with me at all. If he hadn't physically dragged me from the couch, I wouldn't have showered, eaten, or changed. It seems I've fallen into a depression of sorts and I'm continually spiraling. My mood following Lacey's infidelity is that of a never-ending winter: dark and cold.

All I want to do is lay in bed and never get up. Lately, I've even been calling out of work and using up my paid time off days. It's not something I can do without getting fired eventually. I need to straighten myself out or face bigger problems than a cheating wife.

I'm about to lift myself from my pillow when my phone starts ringing. The sound of I Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley is loud and makes me want to permanently remove my ears. I had downloaded the ringtone a couple of years after being with Lacey.

Iphones had started becoming extremely popular. Naturally, I'm one of those people who would get the latest of the latest; then and now. Once I acquired the phone, I discovered the wonderful world of the app store where I found a ringtone maker. The process of me getting a snippet of this song as a ringtone has continued over the years, the song never changing. Now I wish more than anything to change it so I can wipe away the memory of Lacey.

"Hello?" I speak sluggishly into the phone. My throat is dry and I know I should probably grab a bite to eat with a gallon of water.

It's quiet on the other end for a moment before a muffled sound is heard. Growing impatient at the silence, I call into the receiver again, my voice stern.

"Chance..." a feminine voice croaks, the sound scratchy and hard on the ears. I wonder if my thoughts of Lacey are now tainted to where nothing about her is attractive anymore.

Sitting up faster than I should've, it registers that the other person on the line is my wife. I'm hit with vertigo, my eyes rolling for a moment as the dizziness grips onto me. Despite me sitting, I can feel lightheadedness in my head as if I stood too quickly. It doesn't help that I'm now feeling nauseous, bile repeatedly rising and falling in the back of my throat.