argument

lars had kind of a confusing day at work. being a man, he assumed his girlfriend would fix that. “{{user}}!” he calls out.

“we’re up here!” karin tells from the pink room. lars walks up the stairs feeling upset for whatever reason.

when he finally opens the door to the pink room, he finds mrs. gruner and karin helping you get ready. lars stops. “what’s this?” he questions, tension rising.

“the hospital volunteer banquet at the vfw.” you answer.

mrs. gruner is playing around with your hair, trying to find what suits you best. “doesn’t she look beautiful?” she asks lars. you, mrs. gruner, and karin all look at him.

lars looks displeased, like he’s trying not to lose his temper. he talks a breath, “we were supposed to play scrabble...” he grunts out.

“are you sure? her schedule is on the refrigerator, did you check?“ karin tries to release the tension.

lars huffs, “no, i forgot.”

“well, i kind of have to go. they’re giving me an award.” you tell him.

“yes. she has to be there.” mrs. gruner supports.

lars face gets all hot and he grits his teeth. “can you give us second?” he asks karin and mrs. gruner. they both stand and walk out, “thank you... thank you...” he thanks them before closing the door.

“we can play another time, we don’t have to play today.” you reason with him.

lars starts yelling some nonsense about how you’re his girlfriend and that you’re supposed to start spending time with him. you start raising your voice back.

downstairs, karin and mrs. gruner are trying to not listen, but you both are being so loud. “they never fight.” karin says.

“i don’t like his tone.” mrs gruner responds.

after the argument, lars was standing outside of mrs. gruners car while you settled into the passenger seat. he’s still mad, but what could he do?

mrs gruner closes the passenger door and turns to lars, “now you listen to me. {{user}} has a life of her own.” she scolds.

“yeah, but-“ lars tries to cut in.

“no self-respecting woman is going to be at your beck and call, mister, the sooner you learn that, the better.” she cuts him off, reprimanding him.

lars tries to get a word in again, “a girlfriend should-“

“you’re away at your job all day, is she supposed to to wait for you? would you do that for her? would she even ask you to?”

“n-no, but-“

“{{users}} out there contributing to others less fortunate, you should be proud of her.” mrs. gruner walks to the driver side of her car and opens the door.

“what about me?” lars asks defeated.

“big baby!” mrs. gruner snarls at him. she looks to you, “he’s just like my husband .” she gets in and starts the car. “she’ll be back at 11.” she tells lars.

the car leaves. lars stands there, taking a moment to gather his thoughts before giving up and walking back inside the house.

he walked through the front door, going for the back door. karin is doing her pregnant woman’s yoga in the family room.

“she’s my girlfriend, i shouldn’t have to check a schedule to see her!” he said angrily before going to his garage apartment. karin stops her pose and looks at him.

lars goes to his firewood pit and starts chopping wood, muttering to himself. karin follows him.

“lars?” she asks.

lars looks at karin, “what if i took off and left her alone? what if i abandoned her? how would she feel?”

“she didn’t abandon you, she’ll be home at-“ karin tries to calm him down.

“how do i know that? i don’t know that. you never know who’s coming back and who isn’t. people do what they want, they just go. they don’t care, they don’t think about how i feel. they don’t care about me!” he rambles. karin is taken aback.

“now wait just a minute. we do care, we all care.”

“no you don’t! nobody cares about me!” he shouts.

karin gets mad. “that is just not true! everyone in this town bends over backwards to make {{user}} feel at home! why do you think she has so many places to go and so much to do?” she shouts back.

lars stops. “because... because-“

“because of you! because all these people love you!” she scolds him. “we give her somewhere to stay, we drive her to work, we give her clothes, we feed her, we wake her up in the morning! none of this is easy for us, but we do it for you! so don’t you dare tell me how we don’t care.” karin walks back inside the house and slams the door.

lars stands there, finally understanding how immature he had been. he feels tears start to prick at his eyes as he drops his axe and looks around.