Robert - Part Five

“Happy Birthday, Hun!” Robert placed a large box on the floor in front of Bridget. She was surprised, as he didn’t normally get her anything for her birthday. She was honestly surprised that he even remembered.

“Wow, thank you! Can I open it?” She was excited, but also a little suspicious about this gift. Robert wasn’t exactly known for his thoughtful gift giving.

“Yeah, go ahead and open it. I think you’ll like it,” he smirked.

She opened the large cardboard box and glanced inside. “It’s... a computer?” she asked, a look of confusion on her face. She already had a laptop, but this was a large desktop tower. She noticed some stickers on the side of it as she tried to lift it out of the box.

“It’s a refurbished gaming tower. Now we can play Planet of Pantheons together whenever we want!” He beamed at her, seeming to be very proud of himself. Planet of Pantheons was his favourite online game. Bridget flinched a little at the thought of playing this game with him. Not only was she not into MMO games, but she had beef with this one specifically for taking up all of Robert’s free time. It seemed that he would rather play PoP than do anything else, including date nights with her. He chose that game over her time and time again. She had asked a few years ago if they could play together, in an attempt to spend more time with him, though she wasn’t thrilled about the idea. But she was immediately shot down when he said their group was full and they didn’t need any additional players.

“You shouldn’t have...” She trailed off, not knowing what else to say. She did not want to play PoP. Not with Robert, not with anyone. But as she glanced in his direction, she caught the look of agitation on his face. Not wanting to begin another argument, she softened her tone.

“Thank you so much babe, I love it. Can you set it up for me?" She struggled to sound sincere.

“You bet I can, and we can play later tonight. Sound good?” He asked, not waiting for a response, as he dug the tower out of it’s box and began hooking up all the wires.

“Great.” She mumbled. Yet another gift for himself disguised as a gift for her. This wasn’t the first time.

"Hey Hun, have you seen my laptop?” She had searched the whole apartment top to bottom this morning, unable to locate it in any of the usual spots.

“Oh yeah, I sold that.” He said flatly, without taking his eyes off the screen.

“You WHAT?” Her voice was raising to meet her temper.

“I figured you didn’t need it anymore since you have the tower now. I used the money to help pay for the tower. You’re welcome.” He turned to stare at her, as if he had done her a huge favour, and she should be so grateful for his impeccable decision making skills.

”Rob, I had stuff on that computer. I had files, documents, photos... Did you back up any of that before you sold it?” She already knew the answer, but she had to ask anyway.

“Nah, I figured you didn’t really need any of that stuff. I wiped it, full factory reset. So no one will see your stuff, I promise.” He shrugged and pulled his headphones back over his ears, back to the PoP raid he was running with his friends.

“Where did you sell it? Is there any chance of me getting it back?” She felt hot tears streaming down her face.

“I sold it on Marketplace, so no.” He didn’t notice how upset she was.

She turned walked out of the living room, stuffing her feet into her shoes, she yanked open the apartment door and ran down the stairs to the parking lot. She flung open the door of her car and slammed it shut behind her.

“FUUUUCK!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. A curtain moved in another unit as if someone had heard her scream and was checking to see if there was a murder happening in the parking lot. The hot tears were spilling out quickly as she started the car and drove herself out of the lot. She didn’t know where she was going, just that she needed to be away from him.