The Cougar

Of course I had to choose this photo as a writing prompt. The lipstick, the man in the background. It is all saying "Our marriage sucks." At least that's what I believe. Just the man's face on his cellphone; he can't even take a moment to get ready for a party with his wife, who looks at least ten years older then him. Maybe that's why she is putting so much lipstick on, and why she curled her hair into those tight rings against her scalp.
But back to the man; his unbuttoned shirt and scraggly hair shouts that he doesn't want to go to a party with his cougar wife. Maybe he's on the phone with his lover, whispering angrily that he can't talk right now, he has to pretend that he thinks his wife looks ten-years younger with all that lipstick smeared across her originally thin lips. Then he'll go to the party, walking behind his wife in her red pants suit, drink everything he can reach, and when they get home, he'll sneak downstairs after she falls asleep to watch television. Those hours he spends thinking; why did I marry the cougar?