Robert - Part One

Bridget was frantically gathering everything they would need for the wedding day. Robert sat nearby at his desk, fully engulfed in an online video game. He was half dressed in his wedding suit, his jacket slung over the back of his computer chair as he hit the A S W D keys with ferocity.

“Honey, can you please stop playing and help me get everything ready?” she begged, for the third time this morning. "We’re running late.”

“Yep, just finishing up here,” he mumbled in a monotone get-off-my-back voice.

She knew it was futile to ask, but, it being their wedding day, she thought maybe he would want to be involved. Even just a little bit. It shouldn’t have been surprising to her, after eleven years together, that he wasn’t going to help.

They were set to have a small outdoor wedding. They had chosen a 1950’s theme for the big day. Or, rather, she had chosen. She did all the planning. Bridget pleaded month after month for Robert to help her with the planning. She asked his opinion on the playlist. The cake. The decorations. The colour scheme. He gave her nothing. It was always “Gee, I dunno, you’re so good at this stuff, you can decide."

She had on a white sundress with black polka dots. She had it custom made to fit her curves perfectly. He wore an ill-fitting light grey suit he found at the thrift store. It desperately needed tailoring, but Robert didn’t believe it was worth the money to have it properly fitted. "I'm only going to wear it once, what does it matter?" was his response when she had asked about tailoring the suit.

Her cell phone trilled in Bridget’s dress pocket. It was her mother, again. She was already at the venue setting up.

“Hey honey, are you guys almost here? It’s getting close to that time!” Her mom exclaimed as Bridget answered the call.

“Yes, sorry, we’re in the car now! We will be there any minute” She shot Robert a look that said “We need to go now.” but he deflected her dagger stare and continued to raid.

“Gotta go, see you in a minute!” she hung up and grabbed Robert by the back of his shirt, guiding him up and out of the computer chair. “NOW ROBERT” she said sternly, looking him directly in the eye so she knew he was listening.

“Okay, okay, Jesus. Relax already.” he replied casually, rubbing the back of his neck. “You’re so uptight today, Hun, take it easy. This is supposed to be our day, right?” he took her hands and smiled sheepishly. She nodded, suddenly feeling guilty for being cross with him in the first place.

The pair made it to the wedding venue just fifteen minutes late. “Not bad,” Bridget thought to herself. She had to break some speed laws to get them here only fifteen minutes late.

The event was to take place in a local nature park. It was a beautiful spot with plenty of large trees, open field, and a two-story lodge where the wedding reception would take place. The guests were gathered around the trunk of a large tree near the back of the lodge. The officiant, a lawyer named Brad, was checking his watch as the pair arrived. Brad was a friend of the family that had agreed to do this wedding as a favour. He hated weddings.

“Ah, finally. Let’s begin, I have another engagement at 4:00,” exclaimed Brad. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today” Brad began. Bridget reached out to take Robert’s hand. He held it stiffly, like it was about to bite him. “And now the couple have prepared their own vows,” Brad continued, clearly reading off cue cards, not making eye contact. He was checking his watch again, when Robert cut him off.

“We actually decided to skip the vows. Move on to the next bit please.”

“What? No we didn’t,” She stammered in confusion.

She looked up and caught his eye just then. This was not the plan. They had written their own vows. At least, SHE had written her own vows. Clearly Rob had forgotten, and decided to just play it off. She frowned as she came to this realization. He caught her gaze and his face hardened.

The wedding guests looked around, clearly not expecting this twist in the regularly scheduled programming. Bridget’s mother and sister exchanged a knowing glance. They figured Robert would pull some kind of stupid stunt like this.

“Oh, well, no problem then. Do you, Robert, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

“Yeah I do.” He said flatly.

“And do you, Bridget, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do!” she proclaimed with much more enthusiasm than her counterpart.

“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride!”

She leaned towards him for a kiss. He pecked her on the lips and took her by the hand, leading her away from the crowd.

“Where are we going? There’s a whole reception for us back there!” she pulled against his grip on her wrist. She knew her parents and family would be waiting to congratulate her. Why was he taking her away from them?

As they rounded the corner behind the lodge, he pinned her up against the wall and brought his face within an inch of hers.

“Never embarrass me like that again,” he stared at her, unblinking. He had a look in his eyes that she had seen many times before. It was the dark side of him.

Robert was sweet and kind when she first met him. He was handsome, with curly blonde hair and a happy-go-lucky attitude. The first few years of their relationship were amazing. Then one day, a switch flipped in him. He shaved his head. He threw away all his conventional clothing and only wore old army fatigues. He seemed to have hardened overnight. That was when she noticed the change to his personality. He no longer wanted to play games with her, joke around, and have fun. He only wanted to play online video games and collect old army stuff. He had clothing, boots, guns, knives, you name it.

With this change in his demeanor, came a change in how he treated her. She was not allowed to argue with him. When they did argue, even if she was the one who was mad about something, every fight ended with her apologizing and begging for forgiveness, promising to do better. He was a master at gaslighting her into believing she was the problem every single time.

This became the norm in her life. He would ignore her existence unless he thought it fit to verbally attack her for something seemingly innocuous. But only in private. When they were among friends or family, he was the same old Robert she used to know. Boisterous, charismatic, a charmer.

“I’m sorry, I thought we were writing our own vows,” she whispered.

He said nothing, grabbing her by the wrist again, he hauled her up to the main floor of the lodge where the guests had gathered, waiting for the bride and groom.

“ Smile and look happy,” he whispered in her ear as he guided her through the door with a hand on her back.