extraordinarylove.

33: The Last Straw

Alyssa drove home, the tears falling down her face pretty quickly. She wasn't sure if Steph did this on purpose or if he really forgot. But one thing was for sure - she was going to find out and she was going to get to the bottom of it. 

Getting back to the house, she noticed his car parked in the driveway and the lights on in the house. She felt her blood boil, knowing he most likely forgot about their appointment. Although she wishes this wasn't the case, she knew it was and she hated accepting it. Steph was never like this, and the fact that he couldn't put time aside, let alone remember their wedding in general, hurt her. 

It seemed as if it was just a distant thought in his head. 

"Wardell!" She yelled as she slammed the door closed. He slowly walked out of the kitchen, a bit confused as to why she was acting the way she was. She quietly looked at him as she held the twins in their carriers in her hands. 

"W-what?" He grabbed one of the twins out her hands and immediately unstrapped her. 

"What? Are you serious?"

"Okay Alyssa, you can just say it."

"You do know we had a meeting with Cali today right?" His eyes widened before he ran his hand through his hair.

"Shit, I'm sorry babe. I forgot."

"You forgot?! How could you forget about our wedding?"

"Woah, come on now. No one even said that. It was just a hectic day, I completely forgot about it. I thought that wasn't until next week."

"No, we had one today and one next week, Wardell."

"I'm sorry, alright." He looked at her with tired eyes. Part of her couldn't help but feel bad, but the anger was taking over her completely and she wanted nothing to do with it.

"Whatever."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I swear to God, we have this conversation damn near every time. I'm tired of it." Alyssa walked into the twins' room to restock their diaper bag. 

"Okay, but I'm trying to apologize and make things up to you. You just keep pushing me away."

"I'm not pushing you away. I'm just tired of having to track you down for this goddamn wedding." She threw some diapers into the bag.

"You don't even have to do that--"

"Oh, so you're saying you won't forget next time? And you won't be late? You haven't been on time to one meeting, Wardell." He groaned as he placed Lay down into her bed.

"Have you ever thought about how hectic it's been for me?" Steph felt the anger in him rising. Although he hated pointed fingers, he hated how Alyssa was thinking very narrowly about everything. There was no words to describe how much this wedding meant to him, but he had things to do and get done and there was no way around it. She wasn't understanding about it, yet she was making him look like the bad guy for forgetting and being late.

"Quit making excuses for yourself!"

"Excuses? Alyssa, these are things I have to do and be a part of!"

"I understand that, but I'm busy too. It's all about time management and making time for things that matter."

"You sound ridiculous." Steph turned away to quickly let out a breath. He couldn't quite look at her at the moment, being that he'd get upset all over again. She had her ways with her attitude, and as much as he wanted to quit fighting and make things better, he needed her to understand that he was doing this on purpose. "You know I'm not doing this on purpose."

"I don't know."

"Come on, Alyssa! You're being foolish. You know this is what it's like for me. All of a sudden you're acting like it's all new!"

"Whatever, Steph. I'm over it."

"You say that all the time. You're so frustrating!"

"I just don't understand you."

"What? What don't you understand?" He said as he walked over to Lay to pick her up once again. The twins were doing their fair share of crying, driving the two a bit insane as they were both angry and not in the mood.

"You! I don't understand you! If you knew this is how it was going to be like, then why did you insist on continuing these wedding plans?"

"That's the thing, I didn't know it was going to be like this, Alyssa."

"Whatever." She scoffed. "I can't believe you really forgot about today. Does this even mean anything to you?"

"Here we go again." Steph sighed heavily.

"No, you know what. Do you."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't think we should think about this wedding right now."

"Are you serious?"

"You obviously have better things to do right now. So go ahead and do what you need to do, Stephen. This isn't the right time for us."

"My god." He groaned as he pounded his fist against the wall.

"I'm staying at my mom's tonight and I'm taking the twins, so don't worry about it." Alyssa went downstairs to strap Micah into her seat. "Put her down." 

"You're acting so irrational."

"Stephen, I said put her down." He cursed under his breath as he strapped the baby into her carseat. When he was done, they both made their way outside and strapped the girls into the backseat. Steph placed his hand against his hip as he watched Alyssa throw her stuff into the trunk.

"You really don't have to act like this, Alyssa."

"I just, can't be around you right now. I need time."

"Whatever that means." He rolled his eyes.

"I'll talk to you later." She said as she closed the door. He watched the car pull out of the driveway and leave, making him storm back into the house, slam the door and punch the wall. He sat on the steps with his head dug into his hands. He was beyond frustrated, cause yes, it was quite dumb of him to forget about the meeting today. But at the same time, his schedule has been way too crazy that things have been all over the place. He understood where his fiancé was coming from and how hurt she must've felt, but at the same time, she was failing to see his side. 

He wasn't doing it on purpose.

He wanted this more than anything. He wanted her more than anything. And the fact that this was how things were going made his body ache in pain. All they did was argue, and it was creating the biggest rift between them. 

So big that even the twins wasn't enough for them to realize what a good thing they had going on. 

"Hey baby, what's up?" Sonya said on the other line, making Steph feel a bit at ease. He was disappointed because this was the only weekend he had off and he was planning to take his family out for a surprise, mini get away. 

That was all going down the drain.

"Hey ma, I'm going to come home for the weekend."

"Oh okay! Are Alyssa and the twins coming?"

"Uhm, no." She heard the disappointment in his voice, instantly figuring out something wasn't right.

"Oh uh, okay. Okay sweetie. We can talk about it later. When will you be home?"

"Tomorrow."