Kristina
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*Three Days Later*
Alyssa had moved nearly everything into Kerri's apartment. It was a daunting task, but the two had managed. Luckily for Alyssa, Kerri was in the process of looking for a new roomate and the two decided the arrangement was fate. Alyssa promised to get a job to help out, although she hadn't worked since High School. It would be interesting to see how that would go over with a boss, but she was up for the task. For once she was going to do something meaningful, and something that she wanted, and didn't have to do.
The past three days had been like hell on Earth. She missed her son so much, that she spent the night crying. It took every fiber of her being not to run back home, tail between her legs, and begging Nick to let her stay, just for their son. She didn't want that though. If Nick didn't love her, she'd have to accept that no matter how hard it hurt. Sure, she still loved the man, how could she not, but she knew she had to move on, make a life for herself and hopefully for her son.
"Daddy!!!!!!" Tyler screamed at the top of his lungs. "Daddy!!!"
Nick came running into the bathroom, expecting to see something wrong with the kid, but instead found his worst nighmare. The bathroom was a mess. Toothpaste was thrown everywhere hardening into place, making it nearly an impossible task when it was to be clean. Shampoo was squirted all over the floor, nearly sending Nick into a split. Water was spilling over the sink and the shower was going, luckily for him the boy couldn't reach the nozzle to turn in away from the shower itself. And to make matters worse, Tyler was standing infront of him, covered from head to toe in Shaving Cream!
Nick frowned and looked stearnly at the boy. How could one small kid do all that in a span of three minutes was beyond Nick. It just wasn't possible. "What are you doing!?!" Nick hollared, shocking the boy and all ready making tears come to his eyes. "Quit crying." He tried to say more gentle, but the anger was still apparent in his voice and Tyler caught onto it, making him cry even more. Nick groaned, how the hell did Alyssa do this. How did she deal with a kid who one minute is sitting on the toilet acting like a big boy, then after three minutes, he's covered in shaving cream, drenced the walls with toothpaste, and has ruined the floor by running water over the sink.
By this time Tyler was bawling his eyes out. "I want my mommy. She never yell at me like you!" He cryed out, his hands scratching his eyes.
"Tyler, you know you mom's not here. I told you that. She went home." Or so he hoped. If she wasn't at the house when they got home he was going to go insane. Three days with a four year old kid was torture, worse, it was cruel and an unusual form of punishment.
"She home?" He questioned again, making sure his father was telling the truth.
"She should be home." He didn't want to promise the kid just in case Alyssa wasn't. "Now, let's get ready. We're leaving soon and now you have to take another bath."
"Otay. I take bath since we go see mommy." The kid smiled at his father and raised his arms, making life for both of them more easy. He figured he could coorporate since he was going home to see his favorite person in the world.
"Kerri?" Alyssa hollared, entering the condo. It wasn't too small, but yet it wasn't overwhelmingly big. It was the perfect size for two girls to share together. It was ocean front, so that was a plus on every level. It was large enough to entertain. Each girl had a bedroom and their own bathroom at opposite ends only to be connected by the living room. Then there was the kitchen, plenty big enough to cook, if either actually decided to get off their butts and learn how to. "In here Lyssa." She heard a reply, coming from the living room. Following the voice and setting her purse down on the dining room table, she walked into the living room to find Kerri sprawled out on the couch with a book in hand. "Hey girl, so how'd the job search go?" Kerri asked setting her book aside and sitting up.
Alyssa sat down in a comfortable white chair and smiled. "Well, I was offerend two positions. I'm not sure which one I'll take." She intentionally stopped there, knowing it aggravated the girl immensly.
"Well, don't just stop there. What are they, where are they, and how much do you get paid? Oh and when do you start?"
"What the hell are we playing, twenty questions? Alyssa laughed. "Anyway, they're both here in Ruskin. One is for an advertising agency and the other was for a book store. Honestly, the advertising agency didn't sound too appealing to me. It was only a secretary position and that's just not me you know? Sitting behind a desk for eight hours a day talking to people on the phone." She shook her head to further her point.
"And the bookstore, what exactly do you do there?"
"Well I'd be one of the salespersons. Its not much, but I think it would be an interesting job. What do you think?"
"Whatever floats your boat hon. How much does it pay?"
"Well since I'll be starting out, $6.80 an hour. I know its not much, but they said I would have the opportunity to get raises."
"When do you start?"
"I told them I could start monday." She smiled, knowing she finally had a job and could make her own money.
"Well great. You have two more days of doing absolutely nothing, then you can join the rest of us in the working world." Both girls laughed.
"Well I'll let you get back to your reading, I've got some of my own stuff to do." She smiled and got up to leave the room.
"Oh wait Lyssa, Nick called. He asked that you call him back as soon as possible." She recieved a look from Alyssa that wanted to know why he'd called. "I don't know, but he sounds really stressed out. Don't pass out, but I actually feel sorry for the asshole."
"I used to too, but not anymore. I guess I'll go call him. He probably wants me to take Tyler for awhile." She sighed and closed the door to her room.
Nick was trying his best to fix Tyler something to eat when the phone rang.
"I get it daddy." Tyler said, reaching for the phone before Nick could even object to his request. "Hello." Tyler said into the phone.
"Hey Ty, its mommy." The voice on the other line said, a smile apparent on her face.
"Mommy! I miss you, when you come home." Him mentioning Alyssa caused Nick to turn in his direction, momentarily forgetting about the cold sandwiches and chips.
"I don't know baby." She whispered, hating to disappoint him. "What have you been up to sweetheart?" She tried chaninging the subject.
"Not much. Daddy and I had fun at Disney World and den we come home."
"You did? Did you get anymore toys?" She knew he did. Nick probably spoiled the kid, trying to keep in under control. She could only imagine how much though.
"Yeah, daddy bought me a whole lot of toys!" He smiled, and she could tell he was just by the excitment in his voice.
"Well that's great sweety. Do you mind if I talk to daddy?"
"No."
"Okay then. Let me talk to him and you go play with your toys, all right?"
"Otay mommy, I wuv you."
"I love you too sweetheart."
Tyler handed Nick the phone and went running towards his bedroom where the mountain of toys awaited his attention.
"Hey Alyssa." Nick spoke into the phone.
"Hey Nick. How have things been. Is Tyler doing okay?"
"He's fine and things have been fine."
There was a long pause, neither party knowing what to say to the other. It was awkward, a feeling neither had around the other until that particular moment. "So why did you call Nick?"
"I don't know. I just wanted to let you know that Tyler and I were home."
"I figured that when you called." She stated matter-of-factly.
"Look, do you know how much Tyler misses you."
"I can only imagine. How do think he would feel if I were gone for six months at a time." She replied dropping a hidden agenda, which she knew Nick would catch.
"Alyssa, don't start again. How many damn times do we need to go through the same conversation?"
"Until it seaps into that hard head of yours."
"Alyssa, stop. This isn't helping any of us, and you know that."
"Well what do you want me to do Nick, come home? I thought you wanted me gone, that's why you wanted us to separate. Well guess what, you got your wish. You've made you bed, now lay in it. Its time for you to wake up and see what the hell I had to put up with for four years! And when you do, we'll talk about what was fair." She hung the phone up on him, trying her best to block out his voice of protest as the reciever hit the button, turning it off. She flung herself on her bed and stared at the ceiling, etching out small patterns on the tiny popcorn balls.
