PHILLIP rolled his eyes as he slipped out of bed, reaching for his pants. Claire had been yelling at him for the past thirty minutes to get up. No matter how much he tried to ignore her, he couldn’t anymore. He was tired and, after getting in early that morning, he was looking forward to a day in bed. Claire had other things in mind. She was persistent on the fact that she needed to get to dance and didn’t care that he needed those extra thirty minutes of sleep.
“I’m coming, relax,” he called back as he threw on a long-sleeved Henley before putting on socks and shoes. Reaching for the door, he found her with her arms across her chest, with a very furious look on her face. Looking down at her, he waited for her to say something, but she just glared. Letting out a breath, he asked, “I thought we had to go.”
“We do!” she snapped.
“Then go,” he snapped back.
His shortness must have surprised her. Her eyes went wide, before she turned and stomped down the hall. Following behind her, he grabbed his keys as he thought that waiting to get her a car was a bad idea. He could be sleeping right now. Instead, he was out in the cold, driving Claire to dance. He hated when he let his temper flair. He didn’t mean to snap at her and felt bad but, at the same time, she always snapped at him. Jumping into the car with her, they drove in silence to the studio. Pulling into the parking lot, he parked before Claire reached for the handle to get out.
Stopping her, he said, “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”
She looked over at him and shrugged her shoulders. “Whatever.”
“No,” he said before she could get out. “If you want to only dance and not go to therapy then you need to learn how to talk to me. Everyone else gets this nice Claire, while I get the angry one. I’m not the bad guy, Claire. Stop treating me like one.”
Her eyes narrowed as she pinned him with a look.
“I told you I had to be here at four. Its six minutes past. I’m pretty sure I’m not gonna be able to dance now! I try to be nice and crap, but you continually piss me off. I gotta go,” she said, slamming the door before running into the studio.
As he watched her disappear inside, Phillip shook his head. He couldn’t understand how he pissed her off. He did everything she asked of him, and all she did was crap on him. Just when he thought things were good between them, she’d turn into the angst teen he was blessed with. Shaking his head, he decided to sleep in the car until she got out. Leaning his head back, he was just about to shut his eyes when the passenger door opened, and Claire fell into the seat.
Looking over, he watched as she crossed her arms and looked out the window before she said, “We can go.”
“Why?” he asked, sitting up.
“Because I’m late. I can’t dance if I’m late. If I’m late again next week, I’m kicked out of the group class,” she said softly. When a tear ran down her cheek, Phillip’s heart seized.
“You’re only a few minutes late. It’s not a big deal,” he protested.
“It is to Reese,” she said, palming her tears away. “I told you I couldn’t be late, and you still wouldn’t get up. I don’t ask for money, for clothes, or for anything really. The one thing I wanted was to be here on time, and you couldn’t even do that.”
Feeling like shit, he said, “I’m going to fix this.”
Opening the door, he slammed it shut before walking towards the studio. He had no clue what he was going to do, but he knew he had to do something. Surely, Reese would be reasonable. It was his fault, not Claire’s. No reason to punish her because of his lateness. She would understand that he was tired. He hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before because he was up thinking about sex with her, for god’s sake. She would have to be sympathetic about that.
He passed by a few parents and reached for the door to the studio that Claire was always in. Pushing it opened, six girls, including Reese, looked over at him. She looked delectable. Her hair was in a long braid down her back, her breast snug in her yellow sports bra. Her nipples were hard and just the sight made his mouth water. Add in the fact that her shorts were basically panties and were showcasing her ass, and it had him hard within seconds.
Fucking A.