The door crashed open.

"That door can be opened quietly, you know," I said.

CRASH!

"That door can be closed quietly, you know," I said.

STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!

"Those stairs can be climbed quietly, you know," I said.

What was the point? Beth is Beth just as I'm me. If she didn't crash about the place I might think my girlfriend had switched places with someone else.

The gargling noise that came from the bathroom was the loudest yet. When I heard her spit I wasn't sure she'd reached her target. Was it worth yelling something upstairs about her throat being capable of gargling quietly? No, because it probably wasn't capable of that.

I made dinner. I laid everything out beautifully on the table as I always did. She wouldn't notice, of course, but my mother brought me up well. I knew she wouldn't use the napkin but what would she say if one day I didn't put one out for her?

"Where's my freakin' napkin?" she'd probably say.

The phone rang. I sighed. Why do salespeople always call you when you're about to sit down to dinner, I wondered.

I picked it up and froze.

"Hi? You probably don't remember me," said the guy at the other end. I froze.

"It's Nick," he said.

I didn't know what to say.

RATE THIS BRANCH!