Checking Plans

"What are you doing this weekend?" It was Thursday night - actually Friday morning at 3am - Billy and I were on our way back to the staffroom for lunch. "Sara and I were thinking about going to the bar tonight, she might be singing again. You should come along."

"I can't," I told him as we rounded the corner by infants, Sara was walking out of the department, I smiled when she stopped to wait for us. "I have plans."

"Come on Tanner, this is the second week in a row you've passed up the chance to see Sara on stage."

"You think I don't know that?" I glanced at him. "Trust me, I'd rather spend the night with her than with the boys but I can't get out of it. They are looking forward to it, they've already planned a bunch of things for us to do."

"Boys?"

I nodded, my attention on Sara as we got closer. "Yeah Cody and Kyle."

"What about your nephews?" Sara asked as she fell into step beside me.

"I was just telling Billy that I made plans tonight with them."

"Oh," she smiled but I heard the disappointment in her voice.

"I'm sorry," I told her. "I wish I could get out of this but I can't, my brother's marriage could be on the line." Sara shot me a questioning look. I told her how Travis was taking Shelly out for dinner and they were spending the night in a hotel.

"Wow," Sara sighed wishfully. "That sound really romantic, Shelley is going to love it."

"That's the idea," I told her.

"I guess I can't be too disappointed that you won't be at the bar tonight then," she said as we sat down at our usual table.

"Nope," I smiled. "It's out of my control."

"So you would be there if you didn't have to watch your nephews?"

"Of course I would. You wouldn't be able to keep me away."

Little did I know that things wouldn't go as I thought they would when I got to Travis' Friday night.

"What are you doing here?" Was how Travis greeted me.

"What do you mean?" I pushed passed him. "You conned me into watching the boys tonight."

"Like hell I did," Travis followed me into his living room.

"You did," I snapped at him. "You are supposed to be taking Shelly out tonight, why aren't you ready to go?" I realized the house was very quiet. "Where are the boys? Where is Shelly? Did something happen?"

"No, nothing happened. Shelly is still working and the boys are down the street playing with the neighbours." Travis dropped onto the couch. "And you Tanman are completely fucked up, I'm not taking Shelly out until tomorrow night."

"Screw you," I stared down at him. "It's tonight, I should know, I made the damn reservations for you!"

"It's not tonight," he insisted.

"It is!"

"It's not!"

"It is!"

"It's not!" He got up, suddenly looking worried. "Fucker you better not have messed this up! Shelly always works late on Fridays! Why the hell would I say Friday?"

"You said Friday."

"Fuck you, I didn't!"

"You did! You said the 20th and today is -"

"The 19th!"

"What?" I stared at him. Was it the 19th? I had no idea what day it was, working nights was messing me up.

Travis cursed. "Don't fucking scare me like that! Shelly is really looking forward to this! Tell me you made the reservations for the right fucking day!"

I hesitated, I wasn't sure if I said the date or the day when I called the hotel.

"Fuck!" Travis stomped out of the room. "I should've known better than to trust you to help me!"

"Fuck you!" I went after him. "I shouldn't have to help you plan a night with your wife! Why the hell does Shelly even stick around? You are inconsiderate, needy and a lazy son of a bitch! How did you even get her to agree to marry you?"

"Shut up!" Travis snapped as he pulled the phone book from the cabinet, flipping to the back of the book to the yellow pages.

"Why should I shut up? Your wife wanted you to make plans for a special night with her and you couldn't even do that! You suckered me into helping you! God you are pathetic!"

"Me?" He shook his head as he dialed a number. "I'm not the one still living with mom and dad! Hey! Hi," he glared up at me as he asked the person on the phone about his reservation. When he hung up, he punched me in the arm.

"What the hell was that for?"

"For scaring that crap out of me! You made the reservation for tomorrow night like you were supposed too!"

"Oh," I shrugged. "Sorry?"

He punched me again. "Fucker," he walked out of the kitchen. "So what are you going to do tonight?" He asked me when I joined him in the living room again. "Hook up with Sara?"

I laughed at his change in attitude. It was always like that, we would fight and then it was like nothing happened. It drove our parents crazy when we were younger, they thought we lost our minds.

"She has dinner plans with some friends but she's supposed to be singing at the bar later tonight."

"Karaoke?" I nodded, Travis cringed. "I don't envy you man. Shelly is always bugging me to take her out for that crap."

"Why don't you?" He shot he a dirty look. "No Travis think about it. Shelly is expecting tomorrow, so it's not much of a surprise but if she comes home and you have plans to take her out to karaoke tonight, she'll be shocked."

"No fucking way!" Travis exclaimed. "I'm not about to give up a perfectly good Friday night to go listen to people butcher some over played song. You are on your own fucker. I'm not that crazy."

"Ok," I shrugged. "But if you did, I know that mom and dad aren't doing anything tonight. They did seem a little upset when I told them that I was watching the boys..."

"No way Tanner! I'm not taking Shelly out for that."

"Ok," I left it at that. "Well I guess if I'm not babysitting, I'm out of here."

I headed back home, surprising my parents when I walked in the door as they were sitting down for dinner. Mom grabbed another plate and handed it to me while I filled them in on why I wasn't at Travis'. I told them about my plans for the night and hinted that Shelly would love to go too but Travis wouldn't go with her. My parents loved Shelly, probably more than they loved Travis, although they would never admit that one.

"Travis should take her," mom said. "Lord knows she's done many things she didn't want to do for him."

"I know but what can you do?" Inside I was laughing, I had a feeling I would see Travis at the bar that night.