(Pocket) Dial Back The Drama

The next morning, Sinbad was waiting for Shark to come down for breakfast.

He had to at least try and apologize for his behavior last night. There was a very high chance that a plate of pancakes wouldn’t fix everything, however.

But he had to at least start somewhere.

Sinbad tried not to get too excited when he heard Shark’s footsteps. Once Shark entered the room, he had no reason to get his spirits up anyway.

Still, he tried to be as pleasant as he could given the circumstances.

“Mornin, sunshine-”

“Go fuck yourself.”

Hearing Shark use such coarse language made it clear how upset he still was. He then kept stonily quiet as he drained his coffee.

He didn’t dare look at Sinbad when he stood back up. 

Once again, Sinbad tried to initiate a conversation. “So any plans for today?”

Shark just growled. “Why do you want to know? Are you asking so you can get mad about that, too?

“It’s bad enough I can barely get through most days without being yelled at. You think I like getting screamed at by my own husband?”

As he spoke, Sinbad could’ve sworn he heard Shark’s voice beginning to crack.

“Dude, come on. You know I don’t like shouting at you-”

“Well, apparently that wasn’t enough to keep you from doing it.” He then began walking toward the front door.

“I’m gonna go hang up the laundry, and then see if I can get back to sleep.” Shark was now using a voice that practically exuded the sense of ‘don’t you dare keep talking to me’.

He also seemed to make certain to slam the door when he went out.

Now Sinbad was left with a plate of pancakes that would go uneaten. Not only that, but something else inside him broke.

Sagebear didn’t like her humans fighting, especially when it drove one of them to tears.

…

A few hours later, after Sinbad had gone to work, Shark was left alone once more with the dogs.

Watching little Faridah chase her tail at least made him feel a little better.

It still wasn’t really enough to put a smile on his face, unfortunately.

Shark was about to go upstairs and crawl back into bed when his phone rang. He almost didn’t want to answer it, when he saw it was Sinbad’s number.

“What do you want, Sinbad?” However, Sinbad didn’t say anything. All he did hear was background sound.

“Oh…I guess he pocket-dialed me…” He was about to hang up when he heard Sinbad talking to one of his co-workers.

Against his better judgment, he kept listening.

“Hey, Gala,” He started. “What do I do if I screwed up something really bad? Like, marriage-wise?”

Then Shark heard Gala speaking. “Well, that depends on what you screwed up.”

Sinbad groaned a bit before continuing. “It involves shit from a couple of years ago. I didn’t cheat on him or anything, but…You remember my neighbor Amy, right?”

Here Gala snorted in displeasure. “Unfortunately.”

“Yeah, it sort of involved something with her. Basically, I got pissed at him about something to do with her, and now he’s upset.”

Shark remained as quiet as he could, not even trying to breathe into the phone.

“I really don’t want to lose him, Gala,” Sinbad went on. “I mean, fuck! He’s one of the only people in my life who hasn’t treated me like shit.”

Gala just sighed in admiration, or something to that effect. “Have you tried telling him you’re sorry?”

“He wouldn’t listen to me. And I don’t think flowers and a teddy bear are gonna help me get out of this one.”

Then Shark had to awkwardly listen as Sinbad then told a nagging customer to fuck off. He then went on as if nothing happened.

“Anyway, I’m really on the verge of pissing myself here. For all I know, when I get home tonight, he’s going to slam me with divorce papers. And hell, I wouldn’t blame him if he did!”

Hearing the dreaded D-word made Shark cringe. As hurt as he was by Sinbad’s actions, he certainly wouldn’t divorce him over it.

The conversation went on, with Sinbad telling Gala in his own rough way how much Shark meant to him. In the process, he referred to himself as ‘the world’s most lousy husband’, a phrase Shark most certainly didn’t agree with.

Regardless of how he put it, Shark was still moved by his words. By that point, he hung up lest he risk crying into the phone.