Bear My Babies

Nathaniel excited her with his bad boy ways. She knew it wasn’t good for her, and she knew it was lazy to not immediately start a residency as a young doctor. However, this was more fun at the moment. She had never done anything so reckless before. Always the good girl. Nathaniel made her feel special, and not as if she always had to do the right thing. He was freeing.

“Where is she?” Nathaniel was drunk again—she could tell by the slur in his voice. It wasn’t even two o’clock in the afternoon yet. She braced herself for what she knew was coming next. It was never pretty when he was day drunk. These were the times she didn’t feel so special.

“She’s just chilling with Vivian.” Marco was trying to calm him down. Marco was her savior, and she knew she would never be able to repay him for what he had done for her. This was not the first time he’d been in the middle. There was never a good reason for Nathaniel’s anger, it just came randomly and he suspected she was wronging him somehow. It was always her fault.

“Melissa,” he bellowed as he ran into the room. “What the hell are these?” He held up a pair of men’s swim trunks.

“It’s a pair of shorts,” Melissa said calmly, not getting up off the couch. He grabbed her by the back of the neck and pulled her up to standing.

“What are they doing in our house Melissa? Are you screwing around on me again?

“They are probably one of your crack head friends’ shorts and I haven’t ever screwed around on you.” She was still speaking calmly and quietly. Sometimes it would calm him down, sometimes it would set him off. It was always a gamble when he was in these moods.

“You’re so smart, Dr. Melissa. You think you’re so smart.” He sneered in her face.

Marco walked in and looked between the two of them. Vivian hadn’t taken her eyes away from the television. “Listen, Nate, man, let’s go smoke a joint and hang out for a little while.”

Nathaniel turned all his anger on Marco, pushing him hard and knocking him into the wall. Vivian was suddenly off the couch and in his face. “Why are you pushing him Nathaniel? Get out of here with your drunk ass.” The two men started to fight as per the norm, and Nathaniel was punched in the nose. This was the first time it actually came to blows. Melissa heard it crack and blood splattered onto her, pulling her out of her shock.

She ran out of the house.

The neighbor was screaming at her and she could hear the men fighting in the house. Vivian was yelling at her to get back and control her man. She just wanted it all to stop. He was such an ass when he was drinking. Why was she doing this to herself? She was a doctor of medicine. Nathaniel was fun, but really, he wasn’t what she needed and she knew it. She knew it the moment she laid eyes on him. The police showed up and walked up to her, looking at the blood on her shirt.

She convinced them it was from standing too close and sent them in the house. Marco was busted for coke and Vivian was busted for weed. Nathaniel was taken in because he swung at the officer when he walked up to him. The whole day was a huge mess. Melissa sat outside the house for a long time just thinking about what her life had become. And how disappointed she was in herself at that very moment.

Shaking herself from the memory, she realized that even then she knew he would never change. She’d loved him a lot in the beginning. When he wasn’t drunk he was attentive, and made her feel so loved. She had never had anyone treat her the way he did, but she also had never had anyone treat her the way he did when he was drunk. Over time that love had slipped away because of the way he treated her when he was in one of his moods. She was better than that. Getting up from the couch, she decided it was time to put herself to bed. Thomas accusing her of talking to Nathaniel, and her trip down memory lane, was all she could handle for the night.