Charthur: Part II

Arthur glanced at Chardonnay when she said she was tired – that wasn’t so unlikely, with the pregnancy and the baby. She tuckered easily, right? He was saddened when she said she was ready to go – he wanted to stay and dance to one more song with her. But he had a feeling even if he asked, she’d say no. He forced a smile on his face. ”Okay. Yeah, I’m tired too.” He lied. He didn’t want to force her to stay if she didn’t want to. He got up out of his chair and put on his jacket, adjusting his suit and tie so that he looked presentable again. He couldn’t do anything about his hair, unfortunately. ”I’m just going to go and say goodbye to everyone, and then we can head out.”

Arthur turned away from Chardonnay and walked towards Kyle first – Darren was dancing. Kyle asked why he was leaving so soon and he said it was because Chardonnay was tired. Kyle grinned and said something about babies making people tired, and Arthur shook his head. After he said goodbye to him he went to the main table, where Erin was. He didn’t give two shits about Peter, but when he said he was leaving Erin got up out of her seat and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. She thanked him for coming and Arthur smiled, pulling away from her after a minute. He thanked her for the invitation – and apologized for the drama. Erin shook her head as she pulled away and glared at Peter. She informed Arthur he was the one at fault, not Arthur or Chardonnay. Arthur still didn’t want to leave yet, but he walked away from Erin and back towards the table.

”Do you need anything else before we go?” He asked her.

Arthur nodded, and led the way out of the wedding area. Outside it was dark, the only light illuminating them were the street lights. To its credit the parking lot of the hotel was brightly lit, but the road they had taken down, which was surrounded in woods, was dark. He approached his car and unlocked the door, stepping up to the driver’s side and hopping to his seat. He put the key in the ignition, waited for Chardonnay to buckle, and then put the car in reverse to pull out of his spot. He couldn’t help but glance at her stomach once, aware that their baby was in there. It was so odd. But it was so surreal, that she was showing.

He drive into the woods, which immediately cast them in darkness save for his headlights. The music was playing, faint pop tunes, that Arthur didn’t recognize. After thye emerged from the woods the highway was a few turns away and Arthur ascended onto it, driving the two of them back to Salem. While crossing into Salem, the expanse of Metric Academy could be seen from the highway. Arthur spared it a glance before he focused on the road. There were few cars traveling, it was after rush hour.

Arthur took the exit down towards his apartment complex and pulled into his usual parking spot. He parked the car and got out of it, locking the vehicle when Chardonnay exited as well. He glanced at her. ”Do you want to get anything to eat?” he asked. Maybe he should have thought to ask this before. ”I mean, I could go pick something up or we can have something delivered. My fridge doesn’t have much, except a few vegetables from the last time you cooked here.”

Arthur frowned at her when she said he probably didn’t store the vegetables correctly. ”I know how to store vegetables.” He said. He got that he wasn’t a chef, but it was really annoying when she constantly put him down and painted him as some idiot who couldn’t cook. He could cook! Not as well as her, but he could still cook.

He unlocked his door and flicked on the light. The main hall was illuminated, and Arthur shrugged out of his jacket and began to undo his tie. He turned towards Chardonnay. ”If you want to go right to bed feel free, I’m going to stay up for a few hours on my computer. I have to do some shit for work.”

Arthur stayed awake for a few more hours, on his laptop going over numbers. He was slumped as he looked at, not things for his theater, but expected costs for a baby. It cost so much money to raise a child. To have one. Yet, it had been so remarkably cheap to make one. He scoffed to himself. He of course had made a separate bank account, shortly after buying the theater, because the next step in his life was a family. So he’d been saving up to have a child. He had a few grand put way by now, a good amount, but still a hefty amount to fork over. Hospital fees, a nursery... where would he put a nursery? He could remodel his second bedroom. But what would Chardonnay want? If Arthur had his way he’d be designing the nursery now, by hand, armed with paint and his family’s help. He would still prefer to paint the room gender neutral – perhaps green or purple – but knowing they were expecting a daughter would help, somewhat. Would she live with Chardonnay? Would she live with him? Arthur recalled the feeling of Chardonnay’s stomach under his hand.

Regardless of whether or not they were prepared, their daughter was coming.

He exhaled, finally, and closed his laptop. He was shrouded in darkness. He approached his room and saw Chardonnay, assumedly, sleeping. He changed into his pajamas and slipped into bed beside her. He closed his eyes and slept fairly easily. He didn’t feel the bed shift when Chardonnay got up, and just turned over in his sleep. She left and he didn’t know. He didn’t know until he woke up the next morning at around 9 AM and noticed he was alone. Which was rather odd – Chardonnay was usually still here when he woke, even if she had to go to work.

He rolled over and sat up, grabbing his phone. He saw a text from her, saying she had gone home. He checked the out time. It had to have been 2 AM or so. He grit his teeth. So she wanted to be alone. Yeah, of course she did. That was what she liked – to be alone. She sure didn’t like him.

As he lied there thinking, though, he knew he couldn’t blame her. He enjoyed his alone time, too. And that wedding had been surrounded by strangers for her. He had a few messages from his friends, saying they’d missed the two of them and that Chardonnay seemed interesting. He almost laughed, knowing they didn’t say nice because she wasn’t, but she certainly was interesting.

”Okay. Thanks for coming with me. I was glad you were there.” he sent. ”They all liked you. Peter’s a fucking tool and we all know that. For some reason, Erin married him anyway,” He included a shifty eyed emoji at the end of the sentence before he hit sent. He then got himself ready for work – he showered, got dressed, and combed his hair out. He wondered when he’d see her again, but didn’t want to push her to see him. He wondered, too, how much she might be showing the next time he saw her.

A week went by with little incident. Arthur spent most of his time mulling over finances and baby costs. He spent a day at the bank talking to one of the tellers about financial costs. The teller wondered if he was considering adoption, and when he informed her his girlfriend was expecting a baby she was shocked he hd not come in with her. Arthur knew it was shocking but tried to ignore the feeling of depression he felt when considering Chardonnay may not want to stick around. She may want to dump the baby on his doorstep.

If she did, he was going to be prepared. Even if it killed him inside. He just didn’t know if she liked him, or didn’t. If she wanted this, or if she didn’t. He kept getting so many mixed signals from her. He opted not to tell her about his time at the bank, or his bank account set up for funds for the baby. When she was old enough he’d give it to her, use it for college if she wanted it, but for now it would be used for baby related purchases.

He spent time at the theater, talking to his employees and selling concessions to the customers. He didn’t feel like sitting in his office all day and spent most of the week on the floor. He wound up smoking more than he should have, too – his pack was gone by Thursday. He had to take a drive to purchase a new pack.

Susan had asked him about his plans for Thanksgiving and he told her it was the same as usual. Every year, he and his sister’s family convened for the holiday. Susan usually tried to make a Turkey and Arthur had to help her (make it himself). She asked about Chardonnay’s plans and he said he’d no idea, and Susan scoffed, telling him to invite her ASAP. He told her he would, and hung up the phone. Would she say yes? He doubted it – likely, she’d be up with her parents. Well, even if she invited him, he’d refuse. While he wanted to be with her, he wasn’t going to give up thanksgiving with his family for anything.

Sunday Arthur got a text, he was confused. Chardonnay asked if he was busy. Was this a shout out to their former fuckbuddy relationship? He doubted it. He snorted and responded no. Shortly after she said he should come over tonight and at first he was sort of glad at the authority in her tone but then he was confused. The day he had to listen...?

He got up off of his couch, dressed in a tee and jeans. ”What’s that supposed to mean, Princess?” He sent, skeptical to agree without knowing the context.

Chardonnay responded quickly and Arthur realized, then, what she was referring to. That dumb get-to-know-me game he’d suggested on their first date... ugh. He groaned and slammed his head against the back of his couch. No, he didn’t want to do that! He couldn’t use the excuse of work – he never worked Mondays – and it was mere coincidence he had today to himself. He glared at the phone for a long few minutes, debating what to say.

”What the fuck. You’re too desperate for this,” He decided to quip back, ”Are you going to force me into your deepest, darkest kinks?” he didn’t even know if she had any deep dark kinks. Frankly, he didn’t know if he wanted to know. He doubted that was what she’d do with this – not when she was pregnant. ”The fuck do you even plan to make me do?”