Argumentation

Christa turned her face away with a depressed, bored expression from the couple at the monitor.

"I'm not in the mood for this. Turn it off."

The two, man and woman, sent commisserating glances at each other before the man reached over and clicked the little blue button and the music that had been playing stopped abruptly. He and the girl next to him quirked their eyebrows at the irritated girl on the chair. She seemed not to notice them and continued staring off into space with a faintly pouting look. The man reached over to the girl on the chair and started to put a hand on her bare arm before she jerked away.

"What's wrong, love? Christa? Talk to me." Christa shifted her gaze slightly and it became even more irritable.

"I just can't handle that stupid music anymore, Wyatt. Sometimes I can but not today."

Wyatt pulled his extended hand back and his voice took on a note of concern.

"What is it? What's bothering you?"

"I'm FINE." snapped the irritated girl, standing up suddenly. The other girl looked between them both with mild confusion and a hint of frustration.

"If you say so," she remarked in a cheerful tone, "Hey Wyatt, let's watch something all of us together." Christa jerked her head towards the other wall at that.

"I don't WANT to watch anything, Ella." she snarled, "The things you want to watch are boring and stupid. Why would I want to see that?" She then turned away and shut the door to the bedroom as she passed into it. Ella and Wyatt just sat there for a moment.

"Think you should go after her?" Ella queried, still looking at the door. Wyatt hesitated then shook his head.

"She said she was fine. I have no idea what that was all about. She does get moody sometimes."

"Moody, my ass." snorted Ella. Wyatt snapped around to face her.

"Hey! That's my wife you're talking about." he snapped.

"Oh I know." Ella said placidly, "And you can't tell me she's not a total bitch a lot of the time, can you? Come on, I'm her friend too, I know what she's like. If she's not whining about something or getting mad she's sick."

Wyatt looked like he was about to jump to the vanished Christa's defense but hesitated.

"I... Yeah, kinda. She's just had a rough day."

"Sure. Like yesterday. And this past week, and this past month. I swear it's like she's PMSing for three weeks a month instead of one."

Wyatt snorted at this last comment. "Yeah, kinda I guess. Don't tell her I said that though. She'd MURDER me." Ella's mouth quirked into a wry smile.

"Wouldn't dream of it." she said with mock solemnity, "You probably should go after her though. You know how she gets."

Wyatt sighed. "True. She's probably falling apart as we speak." He pushed himself up from in front of the monitor with an audible groan. "Alright, I'll handle this. You stay here, have fun, okay?"

"At least one of us will be." Ella smiled. Her expression sobered as Wyatt turned and went into the bedroom Christa had vanished into and shut the door again. Ella sat looking at the doorway for a few long moments before shaking her head brusquely and holding her hand against her forehead as though in pain. She winced as if thinking of something uncomfortable and shook her head again. Seeming a little less frustrated, she turned back to the monitor and pulled up another video to amuse her. She had the feeling it might be awhile before anything happened.