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Time Marches On; Het, James/OFC, 2004, Sequel to 'The Shortest Week'
Topic Started: August 18, 2012, 1:22 pm (12,218 Views)
myparanoid
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Frantic
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James is being such a dick!
What's wrong with him?
More please! :heart:
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Sol
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CarpeDiemBaby
January 28, 2013, 2:49 pm
:o

What the heck it's wrong with James?!

Need to know it! Moar! :heart:
I was about to say the same thing... ^^
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-DJ-
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Blackened
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Just a short part, sorry guys. College is a bitch right now :( As always, thanks for your comments, they make my day and i should have some more written at the weekend :heart:


Over the next few weeks nothing improved between James and I. I counted and he called me twice since our argument. One of those calls was to say that someone would be calling to the house to pick up a guitar he needed for tour. When I called to leave a message he never called me back. There were no “I love yous” or “I’m sorrys” either. But he was coming home tonight.

One thing that was going well though, was the gallery. I decided on calling it “The Dark Room”. I was surprised at how little time it took me to get everything organized but I had Lars’ contacts to thank for that. All that needed to be done was move my stuff from the house to the gallery, hang up the paintings and paint the walls of my office there. I had planned on leaving the walls white and letting James go crazy with some spray paint but considering how things were between us, I wasn’t so sure he’d want to do that anymore.

I was carrying boxes of paint down the stairs when the doorbell started ringing frantically. I dropped the box by the stairs and opened the door.

Anna.

All I really needed right now was to hear how great being single was…

“Do you only come here when James is on tour or something?” I let her in.

“Hello to you too, Zara”

“What are you doing here?”

“A few things; I came to see my best friend, my goddaughter and oh yeah, I live here now” she twirled around in the living room.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I live in Novato. How awesome is that?!”

“But how? The last time we talked you said you were broke”

“I was but then one day we were cleaning out the attic in my parents’ house and I found this cool pocket watch. Anyway, long story short; it was worth a lot of money and really fucking rare so I thought why not move to California and see my people”

“Your people being me?”

“Yeah so anyways, where’s my godchild?” she changed the subject quickly.

“Sleeping so be quiet”

“And where is your husband?”

“On tour, he’s coming home tonight though” I sighed knowing that we’d have to try and talk and figure things out when he came home and how difficult it would be because he’s so stubborn.

“Why do I get the feeling there’s something not right with you two?”

“Just leave it, Anna. Do you wanna stay here with her while I bring this stuff to the gallery?”

“Yeah sure. What gallery?”

“I opened my own gallery. I’ll tell you about it later. I gotta go”

I drove to the gallery and needed to hang up all the paintings in the various rooms. The drawings were in black frames and lit individually from above by a small but bright light. I was keeping the rest of the viewing area dim hence the name of the place. I put all my stuff on their shelves in the room where I’d now be working from. I thought about how James had bought me a lot of the stuff for Christmas and pretty much made all of this possible. It made me sad he wasn’t here to see it getting done. The last thing I did was put a framed photo of James, Maddison and I on my desk in the office and left.

On the drive home I thought about how I’d have to face James that night. I didn’t want to argue but I knew it’d inevitable because he’d be tired and just want to sleep. I hoped everything would be sorted out before the opening night.

I pulled up the house and locked my car. I saw Anna walking towards hers with a sour face. She left in a hurry so we couldn’t talk.

“Your husband is home” she slammed her car door. I had a feeling he might have said something to her.

His suitcase was in the hallway. I went into the living room and he had our daughter on his lap.

He was laughing too which I wasn’t expecting.

“You got a tooth now, huh?” he commented as she laughed along with him.

I decided against screaming at him and attempted to hold a civil conversation.

“Hey”

“Hi”

“Thought you weren’t coming home until later?”

“Got an earlier flight” he said coldly not even looking at me; his focus was solely on Maddy.

“How was the tour?”

“Fine” he said getting up and putting Maddy is my arms. She cried and held out her arms towards him as he climbed the stairs.

“Where are you going?”

“To have a shower. I’m going out”

“Where?”

He didn’t answer me and disappeared upstairs. I brought Maddy into the kitchen and fed her but she was distracted and wanted her dad. I was beyond angry with him. The least he could do was stay at home for one evening after being away for six weeks but he couldn’t even do that. I got the feeling he didn’t even miss us while he was gone.

James came into the kitchen at around 6pm in a fresh white t shirt and jeans checking his phone.

“I’ll see you later” he picked his keys up off the table.

“So where are you going?”

“Car club party”

“You can’t stay here for one night? You’ve been away for over a month”

“Why? So you can fucking bitch at me?”

“Actually on second thoughts, go to your party, James”

“I wasn’t asking for permission” he snapped and kissed Maddy on her head then left.

Again.
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Sol
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Oh my god! I love this. James's so mean in this one! :biggrin

Can't wait for more! :heart:

And Maddy is so cute!

Ps: we all know college is kind of unfair when it's about writing. ^^
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CarpeDiemBaby
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slksjdskljdklsjdkjs @_@

That's quite enough of aggressiveness from James!
I mean, what's wrong with him? :ugh:
Ugh! I'm hating him like right now lol

Moar! :heart:
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-DJ-
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Some more before i fall asleep :)


It was opening night of my gallery and I was busy getting ready in the bedroom. I figured since it was my own gallery I could wear what I wanted so I wore my best black skinny jeans and tight fitting red flannel shirt. I fixed my hair in the mirror one last time and went to look for James. Since he came home from tour both of us just existed in the house. We only talked when absolutely necessary and he moved into the spare room. It was driving me crazy. This wasn’t how I saw things turning out between us and I had no idea what was causing it.

I found him in the basement with headphones on plugged into an amp. His fingers picked at strings and his attention was on the fret board even though he knew I was in the room with him. I boldly turned off the amp.

“You ready?” stupid question. He was sitting barefoot in shorts and a baggy t shirt.

“Ready for what?”

“The opening night”

“Oh…no. I’ll stay here and mind Maddy. I’m tired too so I’m just going to chill here” I knew he was just using that as an excuse not to go and be petty. He slept for twelve hours a day since he got back.

“Alright”

At least Lars and Anna would be there. It pissed me off so much that he wasn’t going to be there for me. This was a big deal.

I got to the gallery early and gave everything the once over, making sure paintings weren’t crooked. Anna was bringing the wine because apparently she knew a guy. The food was covered in foil in the main hall for guests to help themselves and I put the glasses on the table

“Zara?” Anna’s voice echoed in the hall.

“Over here. Got the wine?”

“Yup. Got the glasses?”

“Yeah. Get filling them”

Soon, people started to arrive and take a look around the place. It was awesome to see so many people turn up. It made me proud of what I had achieved since moving to California. People wanted to talk to me about buying stuff and just the art in general. It made me feel important; a vibe I wasn’t getting from James and even though we weren’t on speaking terms, I really wanted him here.

A tap on my shoulder broke my thoughts.

“Fucking awesome job, Zara” Lars hugged me with a glass of red wine in his hand.

“Thanks. You played a huge part though”

“Is James around?”

“No…he didn’t come tonight”

He pulled me by the arm into a quiet corner.

“Something going on between you two?” Lars asked me concerned.

“I dunno what his problem is…he’s just being really rude. He said he was too tired to come here”

“Fucker”

“What was he like on tour?”

“Normal…well, as normal as James could be. Nothing unusual happened. He called you every day”

“No he didn’t. He called me around four, maybe five times while you were on tour?”

“Are you serious?” he looked shocked. Apparently James had been faking phone calls to me.

“I don’t know what I did wrong”

“Don’t worry about it, he’ll realize what he’s doing is wrong soon enough and will snap out of being a selfish bastard. Trust me” he sounded so sure. “Where did you get this wine by the way? It’s gross”

“I dunno. Anna got it from some guy”

“Anna?” his eyes widened. “As in your friend from New York?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Fuck…I don’t want to go into it but something happened at your wedding. Can you keep her away from me?” I shook my head and laughed.

“I’ll try, Lars”

As the night wore on, some famous faces popped up. Mostly friends of Lars’ but they were there nonetheless. Trent dropped by to collect his stuff and then left shortly after. I had to give a little speech just to say thanks to everyone for coming. I tapped the side of a glass from upstairs looking down at the crowd that turned out.

“Hi, everyone. Just want to say a few words. Mainly, thank you for coming out, especially to Lars down there for making this whole thing possible. Unfortunately the guy who deserves the most thanks couldn’t be here tonight but here’s a toast to him and to the future of The Dark Room and I hope to see you all around in the near future” I raised my glass and waited for the cheering to stop before I made my way back down again.

I did my share of mingling with guests before everyone started to trickle out around midnight. Anna stayed and helped me clean the place up. We had a black bin bag each and were picking up stuff off the ground. She was surprisingly sober.

“What’s up with James?” she asked breaking the silence between us.

“I really don’t know. It’s like he went on tour then woke up one day and stopped caring…did he say anything to you yesterday?”

“He just told me to leave and that he was back now, whatever that means” she sighed.

“I keep thinking about it but I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong…I swear he’d rather be anywhere but at home with us. I mean, he’s fine with Maddy and all but he hardly even acknowledges me at home”

“You’ve tried talking to him, right?”

“I lost count of how many times I’ve tried at this stage. Anytime I go to talk to him he’ll find an excuse to leave the room or something”

“Well then maybe you should just leave”

“And go where? I couldn’t leave anyway”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s my husband, the father of my kid and I love him” I really loved him. “Plus, Maddison needs him"

“Look, come to my place for a few days; make him see sense, make him realize he can’t be without you two”

I tied the bin bag in a knot and put it at the back of the room to go out with the garbage. I turned off all the lights and walked out with Anna to our cars.

“Think about what I said, Zara” she said seriously getting into hers.

When I got home the house was dark so he had obviously gone to bed. I checked on Maddison and she was sound asleep beside a stuffed panda that I’d never seen before. I presumed James had gotten it for her on tour. I changed into some shorts and went to bed. The bed James still wasn’t sleeping in. I noticed a black box and a post-it note with “Zara” written on it in James’ distinctive handwriting on it on the table beside the bed. I opened it and inside was a thin silver necklace with a small pendant on it in the shape of a paint brush. I closed the box and put it back where I found it. If he thought this was going to work as an apology he was wrong. I didn't want jewelry, I wanted an explanation.
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CarpeDiemBaby
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OMG! :ugh:

The Gallery opening was a big deal and James wasn't there?!
I think this went out of the limits of understanding.
His behavior is being so arrogant and distant. He's being an asshole! :angry
I agree with Anna, Zara should leave for some days.

MORE! :heart:
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myparanoid
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I also agree with Anna, Zara should leave for a few days.
James is being a dick!
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-DJ-
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I woke up the next morning before James. I got Maddison ready and fed her in the kitchen. I left the necklace in its box on the kitchen counter where he’d see it. I was determined to get him to talk to me.

Around an hour after I got up, I heard him moving around upstairs so I knew he’d be down soon. I prepared what I was going to say to him in my head, mainly just ask him questions and try to find out what I did wrong.

When he came into the kitchen fully dressed he went straight to the fridge and poured out a glass of juice with his back to me. It seemed like his routine nowadays was get up late, avoid me then go to bed early. But not today.

“Missed you last night” I tried to break the ice. “Can we talk?” his shoulders slumped and he sighed obnoxiously.

“About what?”

“About why you’re being such a dick”

“I’m being a dick?” he picked up the necklace. “I get you something nice and you throw it back in my face but I’m still the dick?!”

“It’s not about the fucking jewelry! You called me five times while you were away, you didn’t return my messages and you’ve been avoiding me since you’ve got back!”

“You’re being stupid. I have not been avoiding you”

“James you can’t stay in the room with me for more than five minutes” he muttered a “fuck” then nervously began searching for his keys

“Leaving again?” I laughed because he was proving my point.

“Shut up, Zara”

“My dad always said real men don’t walk out on their families”

“Fuck your dad” he said angrily through gritted teeth.

I didn’t say anything after that. He found his keys in the living room and slammed the front door after him when he left. I had gotten used to it being just Maddy and I here while he was away and even when he was here but I didn’t want it to be the two of us forever.

--

At 8pm the next day I started to worry. When I woke up I expected James to be on the couch or in the spare room but he wasn’t. I put Maddy to bed and tried calling his cell but he had it turned off. I called Lars and asked him had he heard from James but he hadn’t. Lars called me back later saying he’d checked all the bars and clubs James used to go to but he wasn’t in any of them. That was a small relief to me, to know he hadn’t been drinking.

I was more than tired of taking care of an eight month old on my own and worrying about my missing husband. I managed to fall asleep eventually but the sound of running water woke me up. I looked at the clock and it was 2.30am.

I went into the bathroom and saw James sitting in the shower fully dressed with his head against the wall, his eyes glazed over and his arms by his side. I put my hand under the spray and the water was freezing.

“Are you fucking insane?!” I tried my best not to shout in case I woke Maddison.

I reached and turned off the water. I hadn’t a clue how long he’d been sitting under the icy water. His eyes were bloodshot, his white t shirt was dirty and his black jeans were stuck to him.
He looked awful and it shattered my heart.

“Y’know where I’ve been?” he spoke dryly without looking at me.

“No”

“Remember in New York, we’d go see the ducks? I drove around for miles and went to every single park I saw…I walked around them all trying to see if they had any lakes…then I looked to see if there were any ducks in the lakes and do you know how many ducks I saw?”

“No” I fidgeted with my hands.

“Three…two big ducks and a baby duck in one lake…but one of the big ducks was on its own…it was all dirty and scruffy…the other two were clean, happy playing with each other, splashing water and stuff…but then the dirty went over to them and they swam away and I thought…that messy looking duck is me and the others were you and Maddison and I’m spoiling two perfect people’s lives and they’re running away from…so that’s why I’m sitting here now, trying to get clean and wash off this dirt” he threw his hands up in the air for emphasis “so you don’t swim away from me because…I can’t afford to lose anyone else in my life…and your father was right; real men don’t walk out on their families and what did I do? I fucking walked out on you guys feeling sorry for myself…and I hate myself for it…I’m no man, I’m not even half a man, Zara”

Tears were streaming down his cheeks. It was like he had broken.

“Get up” I got up off the floor and went to try and lift him up. I grabbed his t shirt but he took my hand away.

“Leave me alone”

“What is your problem?! You say you don’t want me to leave and that you want me to stay but then you tell me to leave you alone?” his blue eyes were staring into mine with sorrow. “James, trying to understand you sometimes is like trying to learn a new fucking language…get up…NOW!”

He didn’t argue this time. I grabbed his shirt again and he stood up and stepped out of the shower. I took a towel off the rail and walked him by the arm to the spare bedroom. His dripping clothes were leaving a wet trail behind us. I made him stand and I stripped off all of his soaked clothes and threw them on the floor. I sat him down on the bed and dried his hair as best I could and wiped the rest of his body down too. I laid him down. He was like a floppy rag doll. He had no energy whatsoever.

“Why are you doing all this?” he said hiccupping trying to catch his breath from crying so much.

“Because I fucking love you. That’s why. Now sleep and we’ll talk tomorrow”

As soon as I shut the door I heard Maddison crying. It was going to be a long night.
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Sol
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OH MY GODNESS!!

C'est trop cool! ( It's so great! in french. :biggrin )

I love James' words in the one, I think he is so cute in it! But both cute and pissing.... ( Oh god, I hope you'll understand what I mean )

Can't wait to see what's coming next! :heart:
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-DJ-
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Sol
February 1, 2013, 12:56 pm
OH MY GODNESS!!

C'est trop cool! ( It's so great! in french. :biggrin )

I love James' words in the one, I think he is so cute in it! But both cute and pissing.... ( Oh god, I hope you'll understand what I mean )

Can't wait to see what's coming next! :heart:
Oui, je te comprends et merci beaucoup! :heart:

(I studied french in school for five years lol :biggrin )
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Sol
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-DJ-
February 1, 2013, 1:01 pm
Sol
February 1, 2013, 12:56 pm
OH MY GODNESS!!

C'est trop cool! ( It's so great! in french. :biggrin )

I love James' words in the one, I think he is so cute in it! But both cute and pissing.... ( Oh god, I hope you'll understand what I mean )

Can't wait to see what's coming next! :heart:
Oui, je te comprends et merci beaucoup! :heart:

(I studied french in school for five years lol :biggrin )
Oh mon dieu! J'adore! :biggrin

( Can I speak a little bit in French or not? )

Anyways. :rolleyes:

Ton histoire est incroyable. J'aime beaucoup les personnages, Zara et Maddy mais surtout James. Je trouve que tu retranscris bien ses emotions. :)

Hope you understood!
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CarpeDiemBaby
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I think Zara should have teaching him a lesson, to make him miss her lol
Keep writing! :heart:
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myparanoid
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I think James' words were cute but I still don't understand why he was acting that way.
More please! :heart:
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-DJ-
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A headache woke me up early the next morning. I went to the bathroom cabinet to get some aspirin. When I looked out the window it was a dull and rainy day which did nothing to make me feel better about what had happened last night. On the way back to my room I peeked into the spare room and saw James still sleeping.

I took a suitcase out of the closet and put it on the bed. I threw most of mine and Maddy’s clothes and in there then got another smaller bag for her other things, toys and bottles and a photo of the three of us.

“What are you doing?” his voice cracked as he stood half naked in the threshold of our room. He looked awful; he had dark circles under his eyes and his eyelids were heavy.

“I have to go away for a while”

“Zara…no, you can’t. This is crazy”

“It was okay when you did it”

“Let me explain, please”

I didn’t answer and attempted to close my suitcase but his large hand stopped me from zipping it. I didn’t need him being difficult right now. I just needed to leave.

“Please?”

“Alright…” I whispered and he sat on the bed.

He took a deep breath and cleared his throat before he spoke.

“I got scared, okay? When I went on tour I didn’t have the responsibilities I have here and I liked that. Then I came back and I wanted that freedom again so it got easier to just leave. I didn’t mean to shout and I didn’t mean those things I said to you and I’m sorry for not calling…I love you”

“But you didn’t even come to the opening night. That was big for me, James. You made the whole thing happen and you weren’t there to see it”

I wasn’t looking at him but he was staring at me the whole time he spoke.

“And you have no idea how bad I feel about that. I wanted to be there but I was being an ass. I’m sorry…”

“Okay”

“Are you still leaving?” he pleaded with me.

“Yeah…can you dress Maddison for me please?” he nodded and wiped his eyes before his tears fell.

I took a quick shower, got dressed and brought our cases down to the door. James was still upstairs getting Maddy and himself ready. I thought he was trying to spend as much time with her as possible before we left.

“James” I called for him up the stairs.

He carried her down the stairs and had dressed her like I asked him to. He put her in a top with ‘My Daddy Rocks’ on it. I didn’t know if that was some sort of message.

“Can I feed her before you leave?” I nodded and he took her into the kitchen. I texted Anna to let her know I was coming over for a while. She texted me back saying I made the right decision.

The only laughter I heard coming from the kitchen was Maddy’s. He wasn’t laughing like he normally would. I did feel bad for leaving but I needed space and time to think. I put our cases in the car while I was waiting for him to finish feeding his daughter.

“Hey you ready?” I went to the kitchen and picked Maddy up out of her high chair.

“Where are you going?” he said putting her plastic bowl in the sink.

“I’m staying with Anna”

“In New York?!”

“No, she lives in Novato now”

“Oh…are you leaving me for good?”

I honestly didn’t know so I chose not to answer him again.

“Can you tell me something before you leave?” he looked me in the eye. “Am I a bad father?”

“No, you’re a great dad”

“Am I a bad husband?”

“I guess you could be better sometimes” I hated myself for saying it but I didn’t want to lie to him. He looked at his feet and ran a hand through his hair.

I walked out to the car again in the rain and he followed me, his heavy boots crunching on the stones.

“Don’t start talking or walking until you’re back here okay, baby girl?” he spoke to his daughter with his voice trembling.

“Call me when you want to see her… But just give it a few days” he kissed her head and smoothed her hair before we walked to the car. I strapped her in her car seat and he stood beside me at the car.

“If you stay we can work things out. We can fix this, Zara…I still love you” he said weakly.

“I love you too…”

“Don’t go then”

“It’s only for a while, James”

“So nothing I can say or do will make you stay here with me?”

I shook my head and opened the driver’s door. He walked back into the house with his hands shoved in pockets and stared at the ground. I waited until he was inside until I started the engine. I drove slowly down the drive way and could see him sitting on the couch through the window with his head in his hands. I felt bad for leaving. But it was only temporary. I hoped.
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