2020-02-14 - Letting It Go

It all starts with a text from a phone number he hasn't received a text from in a long time that arrives in the middle of what would otherwise be the first evening in a while that has felt mundane. Beth and Ciprian are on his couch watching tv. It's Chopped because it's easy enough to watch while talking. Right now they are currently talking shit about someone that was in high school when Ciprian was a Senior and Beth was a Freshman. As people who live in small towns tend to do, "...know it's wrong to say it gives me a tremendous amount of pleasure to see him crash and burn so hard on his business but fuck him. Seriously. He made high school hell for me. Used to pull on my bra and shit. Hopefully his wife realizes he's a creep and leaves with the kids next."

It's then that he gets the text. When he checks he'll see the message from his former wife who left without the kid. It's frank and to the point. I understand if you don't want to talk to me but I am in a very sticky situation and would appreciate it if you could call.

"Was he that bad?" Ciprian asks with a bit of surprise, but certainly not skepticism. "I guess he seemed harmless at the time, but I suppose I wasn't his target demographic for treating badly." He reaches over to his phone to check it as he speaks, "I'll support your schadenfreude...-"

He cuts off as he reads the message. He stares at the screen of the phone for several seconds without speaking, much longer than it would take him to read that short text. Eventually, though, he puts the phone down without replying. "Sorry. What was I saying?"

"He was the worst. Like I said fuck him." Beth says, the glow of the tv reflecting off of her glasses. She watches the screen, her head only turning when she notices that Ciprian has stopped speaking. Her brow creeps up ever so slightly. She's not the jealous sort and doesn't try to insert herself in his business. She doesn't try checking his phone or keeping tabs on him. In fact she hesitates a moment when she sees his reaction. She doesn't want to pry or crowd him.

"You were saying you support my schadenfreude." She informs him, and that silence stretches a little longer before she can't hold her curiosity any longer. "Is everything okay?"

"Right. Schadenfreude. I do like that." Ciprian is quiet for another few seconds, and it sounds like he's probably not going to say anything else -- but when she asks, he does look over at her, and he shrugs. "It's my ex-wife," he admits. "She wants something. I don't know what." He doesn't seem to be about to try and figure it out, though, either. Not at the moment, anyway. "I'm sure it's fine. Nothing that can't wait until another day." Or never, judging by his tone.

Beth's brows raise ever so slightly when he says that it's his ex wife. She lets out a puff of air and shakes her head in amazement. "She's got some balls coming to you for something." She reaches for the bottle of wine to refill his glass before she freshens up her own. A sip from her glass is taken before she puts it back on the coaster and then she slips an arm around him. "I've never been married before." She says before she smiles ironically, "Obviously. But I have had exes that wanted something. It sucks. She sucks. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, no kidding." It's difficult to tell, but Ciprian looks a little bit irritated, whereas before he was perfectly calm. Well, it stands to reason, of course, but still. He shifts a little closer to her, and consequently away from the phone. "Thanks," he continues. "It's okay. I shouldn't expect her to be anyone other than who she is. I'll deal with it tomorrow. It's probably something to do with the divorce, or she needs money. She was never great with money. I did all that."

"Doesn't she have a law degree?" Beth says, and she sounds skeptical. Not of him. Rather she sounds skeptical that a grown ass woman with an advanced degree doesn't have her shit together. "...You pretty much did everything in the marriage, didn't you?" She guesses before going on. "All of the childcare from when Ashira was born? You managed the money. You...probably made sure the house was clean, too? Made sure things got repaired? Changed the oil and mowed the lawn?"

"Well, yes," Ciprian says, "but..." He trails off, and it turns out he doesn't have to explain further, because she does it very well herself. He lets out another laugh, this one a bit self-deprecating. "It was an ill-advised marriage," he agrees after another moment. "I think I liked the idea of being married and having a family so much, I ignored a lot of things I shouldn't have. So now, here we are. But yes. I did most of the things around the house. She did cook more."

Beth laughs as well, but it's not at him. It's at her. "So all she had to do was cook and she's the dumbass who left? Wow." She shakes her head a little softly when he puts the blame on himself. "You were in love with her. Being in love makes flaws harder to see. I just think she's stupid because all she had to do was go to work and cook a few nights a week." She nudges him a little before she grins, "I bet you look super hot changing the oil. The sleeves of your button-up all rolled up."

"Yeah." Ciprian smiles, but it's not really a happy smile. Probably not surprising, but still. "It's easy to look back and see all the things I should have seen. That's the problem with me. I make my decisions and I don't back down, but when I've made a bad one, I dwell on it forever." And that was clearly a bad one, except for Ashira. Her next words do make him laugh, though. "You'll probably see me do it eventually. I'll save an oil change just for you."

"I'll make you do it on my hearse. Wear a black suit that day and you'll fit right in." Beth teases. Her arms tighten around his waist slightly as if she could reassure him that he is absolutely fine. "You are going to dwell on it. Anyone would." She reasons before tilting her chin ever so slightly to look up into his face. "If nothing else maybe this call will give you some closure. If you want it that is. You can tell her what a bitch she was." She admits, "I mean I would but I think you'r nicer than I am."

"Oh, perfect. I'm not sure whether your dad would be happy about that or not." Ciprian does sound like he's joking, though, and he leans a little bit against her as he pulls her closer to him. A laugh even escapes him at her last words, but he shakes his head. "I don't know. I'm never good at saying what I want to say in the heat of the moment. I always think of things after the fact, but it's never as satisfying as I imagine it will be. Maybe, though. I should write what I want to say down beforehand."

"After you went to the hospital with me for my grandpa and stayed all night I think you could be a literal serial arsonist and my parents would think you're great." Beth says with a snort of amusement. "My dad would be like so he sets houses on fire on occasion, Bethie. He's still got a good job. And then my mom would make a comment about how you come from such a nice family and she's sure the arson was just a lapse in judgement on your part." She looks at him like he's absolutely adorable. "Awwww. I know. It's cause you're nice. Thank god I'm not so I'll help you." She leans against him as he pulls her closer, "Just...you know when you're so angry you can feel it in the pit of your stomach? And even when the person who pissed you off is gone you get that feeling of rage there? Just pull from it and take whatever comes out."

Another laugh escapes Ciprian at Beth's statements about her family and their opinions of him. "So, what you're saying is that I should go out and start setting fire to things?" he asks with a wider smile. "I'm not sure I'd be able to keep my job if I started doing that, though, so maybe not." He leans over and kisses her temple, before what she says has him chuckling again. "I think I've felt that before, yes. Thanks for the tip. I'm just worried about what might come out if I did that."

"Not quite but I'm glad you have an extrinsic reason for not setting houses on fire?" Beth says with a slight narrowing of her eyes under her glasses as she gives him a mock suspicious look that quickly fades when he kisses her temple. She lets out a content little sigh and rests her cheek on his shoulder. "What do you think would come out?" She tips her head to look up at him again before she laughs a little, "Bitch I wish you were currently inside a house I just sat on fire?"

Ciprian is quiet for a moment or two when she asks this, even though there's a little huff of amusement at her last words. Finally, he just shrugs. "I honestly don't know," he says. "I'm angry for a lot of things, some of them I'm able to articulate and some that I haven't. So I don't know, and I don't like not knowing. So, it's better to just let it be. I don't think it would help anything to let it all out, and it would definitely make certain things a lot worse."

Beth looks at him as he speaks and when he finishes she nods her head once in understanding. "Okay. Maybe it wouldn't do any good to dwell in the past, anyways." And then she lets it drop. He's said he wants to let it be. Instead she stops looking up at him and lays her head against his shoulder again. "My cousin is getting married in May. It's a few months away but the RSVPs are coming out now. Will you be my plus one?"

It is clear that Ciprian is appreciative when she stops asking him about it -- he wasn't necessarily uncomfortable, but there's a slight relaxation of his shoulders, and a little exhalation when she changes the subject. "Of course," he replies. "Does she need a flower girl, too? Because Ashira's always looking for a reason to wear a fancy dress." That sounds like a joke, though, judging by his tone, even though he's probably not joking about his daughter enjoying wearing dresses.

"You could just let her wear fancy dresses whenever she wants without an excuse." Beth points out in amusement. Then she stifles a yawn before she begins standing up from the couch. She holds out a hand for him to take and if he does take it she'll make a production out of pulling him up. "Come on. Let's go to bed. I stopped watching this over about ten smirks from Ted ago. Besides I have a morning service and you have to get Ashira and her friend for school."

"Very true. But that's a slippery slope. Pretty soon, she's wearing an actual wedding dress to school because some boy asked her to marry him. Mind you, she doesn't actually want to marry him, just wear the dress." Ciprian does take it, and he also lets her make that production, which brings a wider smile to his face. "All right," he says. "I was getting pretty tired, anyway." Though from the way he looks at her, he's not actually very tired at all.