Stay the Night: A Short Story

Part 1

It had been a long month without him. Marshall had been on tour for the whole month of February and video chats and texts only helped so much. Earlier today he had finally came home and we had been spending the day together. Of course, having a famous boyfriend doesn't lend itself to dinner and movie type dates. Most of our time together was spent at his place or mine, curled up on a couch watching some kind of football game. The things I did for love....

We had been at his place today. It was getting kind of late, around midnight. I could tell he was exhausted, but he wouldn't admit it. Even though the day had lent itself to a few cat naps where I would steal the remote and finally get some peace from watching grown men chase a ball down a field. He had his arm wrapped around me, so getting up wasn't exactly an option. As I went to turn to ask him if we could finally go to bed I saw he was asleep, again. Coincidentally, at this same moment his phone began to ring. Thenumber wasn't saved, which was odd because Marshall kept such a small group of people around him. I also thought it was odd that someone would be calling him at this hour. Before I could grab for it he beatme to the punch. But the person had already hung up. "I'm exhausted." he said catching my expression. "Sorry for all the naps today. I'll make it up to you tomorrow." "No need." I said with a smile. "I get it. Let's actually go to bed before you go to sleep again."

We always seemed to have the lightest conversations in bed together.Sometimes when I think of them I have to laugh to myself because the way he is perceived is entirely different from who he actually is. Tonight though, he was going into detail about some of his shows. One in particular he was stuck on because of the energy from the crowd. Most of it was the same things he usually always said. I hate to admit I wasn't listening, but I couldn't shake the random ringing of his phone from a little while ago. Every now and again he would say a word that would catch my attention, so I would listen in for a few minutes long enough to say "uhuh" or "oh really?" and continue to go on obsessing. He had never given me a reason to consider him anything but trustworthy. But for some reason this just didn't feel right. I suddenly realized the room had gotten quiet and when I looked up from my spot, laying my head on his chest I realized he was finally asleep. I needed to get up for a second and collect mythoughts. I didn't want to disturb him, so I got up and went into the bathroom.

I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself. "He's not doing anything wrong." I said, trying to convince myself. "He wouldn't do that to you. Anyone could have been calling his phone. Shit, it could have even been a wrong number. Let it go." I stuck my head out of the door to make sure Marshall was still asleep. Thankfully he was. As I went to get back in my spot in bed his phone lit up again. I couldn't stop myself and I walked over to grab it. As I did, the person hung up. What I did next I am not proud of. Taking care to make sure he was definitely still asleep I took his phone and went back into the bathroom with it.

I knew the only way to get over this was to go through it and prove to myself that there is nothing to be concerned about. I sat on the edge of the bathtub and began going through his phone. I started in the call log. Just as I had suspected, nothing much to see besides the number that had called tonight, twice now. I typed the number into my phone and started to call it, but decided maybe that wasn't the best idea. I did save it in my drafts just in case I decided to call it later. Then, I decided to go into his texts. Marshall didn't text a whole lot, he was old fashioned that way. He was trying though. Our messages together were at the top of the list as the most recent. Then some of his friends names who I recognized: Paul, Royce, Denaun.There was yet another number towards the bottom that I didn't recognize though. As I read the number to myself I realized I had read it before. I pulled out my own phone again and checked the number I had stored and they indeed matched. My heart immediately started to race and I had to take a deep breath to keep myself from over reacting. I opened the messages and nothing I saw was worthy of a full on melt down. They made small talk, like maybe he didn'treally want to talk to her but was going though the motions. If it was even a girl, which I realized I didn't know. So I decided I needed to call the number to find out. I dialed it nervously and waited for someone to pick up. After about two rings a girls voice said "Hello?" and I just hung up. 

FUCK. What do I do now? This girl is calling him at midnight, so that can only mean one thing. I don't need to wait around for an excuse. But I cant exactly leave. How do I tell him I know? I mean, hes going to flip when he finds out I was going through his phone. I can hear him comparing me to his ex already. By now I'm pacing across the bathroom floor. There is no way I am going to sleep. Do I go back to bed and pretend I'm fine? Or maybe I should go home. Before I can react I hear Marshall knock on the door.

"Hey, are you okay?" "Umm, yeah, I'm fine. You can go back to bed, don't worry about me." There was a brief pause. "How are you gonna tell me not to worry? I woke up and you were gone. Speaking of gone, so is my phone. Did I leave it where we were watching TV?" I knew this couldn't end well. There was no point in trying to deceive him. So I opened the bathroom door and handed him his phone. I wouldn't look up to meet his gaze, which I knew was one of pure anger. "You had my phone? What the fuck are you doing with my phone in here?" I took a deep breath. I knew I had to be honest, but I also knew a fight was going to ensue.

"Look, I'm sorry okay? But I had to know who was calling you. It wasn't a number you had saved and I know how you are. So I called it, and a girl answered." I looked up now, and he was definitely mad. "You called her?! Really?! Don't you think you should have fucking asked ME who it was instead of investigating on your own?" This is when I went into defense mode. "Why Marshall?! HUH!? So you can lie to me?!Tell me what you think I want to hear?!" "When have I EVER fucking done that to you?! WHEN?!! Because I think I have been extremely fucking honest with you up to now!" He had. I knew that. But I had been cheated on before and I knew the signs. I loved this man with every fiber of my being, I wasn't going to let that happen to us. I was about to say something to fill in the silence I had left by my thoughts when he said "You're supposed to be different. You're supposed to be the kind of girl who can hold things down for me, always be there for me, fucking LISTEN to me. Not the kind who sneaks around and goes through my shit." That hurt more than I thought it would. "Yeah? You were supposed to be different too. You know the shit I've been through and you're not supposed to repeat it." I was still standing in the bathroom with him standing in the door frame, so I slid past him and went to head out. "I'm going home. Maybe we need some time apart." I turned to face Marshall and waited for some kind of response from him but he didn't say anything.So I turned and headed for my car.