Todd and I have been friends for over a decade. We got married the same year and then subsequently divorced the same year. While I have remained single, enjoying the benefits of being financially stable, fit and "a total catch", Todd got remarried last year.
Julie is Todd's new wife. I really liked her when they first met and started dating. Being guys, Todd and I didn't talk about the way she makes him feel, or really, if he even loved her.
As their relationship progressed, Todd changed. Our trips to the bar for a beer during the game, or to the casino late night to try to take down the house, got fewer and far between. I guess that is the natural order. And I could understand it.
What I didn't understand was the effect Julie had on Todd both emotionally and physically. As their wedding approached and then passed, Todd put on weight...a lot of weight. It was almost like he was eating for two. He always started dinner out with a fried appetizer, "for the table." Then a salad with extra dressing. He finished every tater tot on his plate. He never passed up dessert. He was getting huge. Additionally, he was a beat-down shell of the man he used to be. The constant berating Julie subjecting him to was wearing away at his soul.
The marriage was having a similar effect on Julie. She was getting bigger, too. She didn't start off as petite, by any means. But the desserts and apps and security of being married had added maybe 40 pounds to her. And not good pounds like tits and ass. It was all thighs and gut. As she got bigger, her attitude did too. Nothing that Todd did was right. He was always a "fat dumbass." She took every opportunity she could to find a fault in him. I don't know why they stayed together.
Anyway. Todd decided to throw Julie a surprise 37th birthday party. He bought her a spa package as her gift. While she was out getting pampered, Todd set-up for the party. He ordered some deli trays and a cake and the obligatory chips and dips. He sampled them all. He bought a few cases of beer and wine. He even concocted a Juli-tini. It was seemed like a Cosmo to me, but I guess it is the thought that counts.
Todd expected Julie home at 8, so we all arrived about 730 and parked around the corner. At 8pm, right on the dot, we heard the garage door opening as Julie pulled in. We all hid around the corner, behind furniture, wherever we could. The lights were out as Julie opened the door. As the lights came on we all screamed, "Surprise!"
And it worked, Julie was surprised. But her initial shock quickly turned to embarrassment. Here we all were dressed for a party; showered, made-up. And then there was Julie. She walked in with her hair up in a tangled mess of a pony. She was in these gross, dirty leggings with a sweatshirt that looked like it was from college and may not have been washed since graduation.
Any benefit that Julie may have gotten from the massage and facial were gone. She went from calm to pissed in zero seconds flat. Instead of the "thank you for comings" and "you shouldn't haves" that you expect at a birthday party, Julie made a beeline for Todd, grabbed him by the hand and pulled him upstairs and into the bedroom. The door slammed and we all could hear the reprimands being screamed at Todd. "How could he do this to me? I look like a mess! What are you thinking? Of course you couldn't get this right!" Et Cetera. I could tell this was going to go on for a while. I wanted to distract everyone and try to change the heavy mood that had encompassed all of us.
The room was dead silent except for Julie's tirade upstairs. I walked over to the stero. I lifted up my bottle of beer, saluted the bedroom upstairs, yelled, "Happy Birthday Julie!" and cranked up the music. Everyone laughed. It was perfect to break the mood. We all went back to chatting and drinking.
The bedroom door opened and Todd came out a little bit later. He walked up to the railing like he was the preparing to address the nation. And I am sure that there was the same preparation in his remarks. "Julie is so glad that you all could make it tonight. She will be down in a few moments. Please enjoy yourselves."
Todd came down the steps, but went right into the kitchen. I should have gone to check on him, but I was pretty sure I was going to get laid. I wasn't going to leave this MILF. As I chatted with Lori for the next half hour or so, I saw Todd a few times at the bar. But otherwise he was just hiding in the kitchen. Lori needed to powder her nose and I needed another beer. I headed to the bar via the kitchen. Todd was sitting at the table. He had an empty tumbler of Bourbon next to him. The bottle of Makers was missing about 6 shots. The wax seal was on the table next to Todd's glass.
"That could have gone better, Huh?!" I tired to lighten the mood. He wasn't having it. The booze, the pressure, the humiliation was all more than he could take and he broke down. He was miserable. He hated his life. Julie was a bitch. Look at what he had become. All of it.
I wanted to get back to Lori, but I couldn't leave my buddy. He unloaded everything. It was a lot. She hated him and resented him for making her into the fat bitch she was. He went on forever. He was sobbing. He kept pouring shot after shot. As he got drunker, he got more emotional. Sobs turned into full crying.
Lori popped her head thru the kitchen door. She was wondering where I was. I made that little shoulder movement and head twitch to say that I couldn't leave him. She frowned but nodded that she understood.
Todd continued to vent. I was learning more about his life in this 45 minutes than I had learned in the last year. I didn't realize how much he was drinking. I didn't know that he was missing days at work and felt like he was going to get fired.
He was pouring another drink when Julie blasted in through the door. "So this is where you have been cowering! You threw this party and now you are leaving me to entertain these morons on my own. You really can't do anything right! Can you?"
She slammed back out the swinging door. I watched her leave. I could see the stunned look on her friends faces at being called "morons" as the door swung back and forth.
That was pretty much the end of the party. People started to make excuses to leave. Some stopped by the kitchen to say thank you to Todd. Most just escaped. Todd had a few more shots and totaled almost the whole bottle. He was starting to collapse onto the table. I didn't want him to pass out there, so I helped him up. My thought was to get him upstairs into his bedroom. But his new mass and his drunken legs were going to make that impossible. Instead, I decided to drag him over to the couch in his study and drop him there. He fell in a thud on the leather sofa. I brought him a bottle of water and brought the trash can over. I had a feeling he was going to need it. I grabbed a throw from the closet and covered him. I made him as comfortable as possible.
I turned around to find Julie standing in the doorway. She had cleaned up well. She had on a black dress. It was a little tight in the top and around her ass. She looked good, for her. She had a glass of wine in her hand. She took a long slow drink. The wine glass lowered from her lips. As she opened her mouth to speak, I mentally prepared for a profanity laced outburst. She was going to let loose. And I was the only one there to take it.
But, that isn't what happened. She broke down and burst into tears.
She dropped to her ass and plopped down right there on the threshold. She let loose the waterworks. She was miserable. Her life wasn't turning out like she thought. Yada Yada Yada.
I had never seen this side of Julie. She almost seemed human. Like she was not a robot from the planet of Bitch.
I felt bad for her. Sitting there on the tile floor, crying into her Chardonnay, mascara running down her face. I grabbed her by the hand, helped her to her feet and led her to the family room. I grabbed a beer on my way. I had a feeling I was going to need it.
We sat, her on the couch and me in the armchair next to it. She opened up to me. She didn't want to be this way. Todd had changed. He had changed her. He was always drunk. He didn't do anything around the house. He wouldn't even shower if she didn't make him. Her tears subsided and so did the anger. It was more about just getting it all out now. She went on. And on. And on. I learned even more about him, from her. I took it all with a grain of sand, but it all sounded very plausible to me.