“It’s totally a blush,” Pinkie chirped after pausing the tape.
“It’s not,” Maud refuted, chewing at the side of her cheek. “It’s called a heated argument.” Pinkie shrugged it away.
“Doesn’t matter. Trixie probably thought it was a blush, so she went all smokey.”
“I’m just glad she finally did something.” Lime cut in, looking like she had a bad taste in her mouth. “I mean, damn. If I saw my date doing that with someone for over twenty minutes, I’d kick both their asses. Trixie’s good at running like hell, but she sucks at confronting shit like this.” she added with a grumble before looking over at Maud and mimicking her voice in a sarcastic manner. “-It was just a few minutes- my ass.”
Maud didn’t have a reply to that. She was still a bit stunned at just how long the debate had gone on herself. A part of her wished Trixie had stepped in sooner, like she often did before, but it was quickly squashed down.
“T-to be fair, I lose track of time too when I am arguing online.” Marble quietly added.
“Yeah, but have you ever done it on a date?” Pinkie countered, grinning.
“M-maybe I will, next time I go on one?”
Pinkie gave Marble a tight hug. “It’s good to dream, little sis.” Marble stiffened, but after a few seconds sighed and hugged Pinkie back.
“I hate it when I can’t tell if you are teasing me or not.”
“Then I’m doing it right,” Pinkie stated in reply.
Lime smirked at her sister's antics, then grabbed the remote and hit play. Maud watched as she fast-forwarded through the brief discussion afterward, and then let the tape resume normally when Trixie stomped off on her own to find a bathroom.
“Really glad they cut this right for us,” Lime murmured as the camera cut to two side-by-side images. The left image showing as Maud leaned against the wall in the hallway, and the right shifting camera’s to follow Trixie.
Maud watched herself in the camera, remembering how confused she was at the time. How she fiddled with her hands and tapped her foot before finally meandering the way Trixie went to hopefully meet up with her again.
Trixie’s camera was a lot more...hectic. As Maud observed, Trixie looked over a map briefly before heading down to the lower levels and light-sensitive exhibits, fists still balled to her sides.
“What is she-oh. Fuck.” Lime’s eyes widened in surprise as Trixie completely ignored several warning signs and ducked under some yellow tape warding a closed-off area of the museum. “Okay, she is definitely ballsier than I gave her credit for,” she admitted, watching Trixie walk down a small hall where only every other light was lit, casting long shadows across the walls.
After another moment or so she seemed to find a small tribal exhibit area that was particularly shaded over, casting several old stone statues in an almost creepy aesthetic. The camera was angled to peer into the exhibit only, meaning that Maud could only see Trixie from the side.
Trixie looked both ways cautiously, face twisted in a way Maud wasn’t very familiar with but twinged at the back of her memory. Trixie then seemed to listen to make sure she was alone before almost aggressively slamming her back into the wall and slowly sliding down it.
Oh. That’s where Maud remembered that look from. Memories of secretly watching Trixie breaking down in their quiet spot in the quarry came unbidden to her mind. Trixie’s face was mostly hidden, shoved against her scrunched up legs as her shoulders shook occasionally. Maud couldn’t hear, but she could see Trixie taking deep breaths like she did in the past, her way of trying to regain control and keep herself together.
It had never worked in the quarry, but maybe the higher risk of being seen helped here. Trixie’s breaths slowly came back to normal after a few minutes and she brought her face back up, body still pressed firmly against the wall.
Her face wasn’t a mess, but Maud might have been a little biased. Trixie’s eyes were clearly red despite the darkened area making such a detail harder to see, and the light make-up she had put on that day needed a little help, but Maud had seen her worse off than this.
That thought didn’t comfort her much though, knowing she was the cause of it this time.
Trixie took a few seconds to wipe at her face with a cloth and then sit there for another moment with her eyes closed.
“What’s she doing?” Pinkie asked as Trixie’s brow furrowed and her lips softly moved, like she was quietly speaking to herself.
“She does this sometimes,” Maud replied helpfully. “I haven’t seen her whisper like that, but I think that look means she is trying to find something else for us to talk about?” Lime’s face took on a bitter look.
“So, what? She’s like, suppressing shit?”
“Everyone has to...sometimes.” Marble mumbled out.
Maud hadn’t thought about Trixie’s sudden switches as her suppressing anything. It was just changing gears to another, safer topic when Maud clearly didn’t want to talk about something. It was Trixie being understanding. There was nothing wrong with that, right?
Maud’s eyes returned to the screen when Trixie pushed off of the wall. She shuddered for a second before opening her eyes and giving a slight grin. After one last deep breath, Trixie made her way out of the closed-off exhibit and to a bathroom, returning moments later with a cleaned face and fixed makeup before heading back upstairs.
The rest of their time at the museum at least seemed to go as Maud thought it had. Meeting up again, ambling through the displays as if nothing was wrong, a few comments, and then heading out to eat. It had been nice.
She wanted to believe that.
She never took my hand.
“Did you offer it?” Pinkie asked gently, making Maud realize she must have said that out loud.
She didn’t have to, Trixie just did it. That’s just how they worked. Maud showed up, and Trixie was the one who made the decisions and pulled Maud in. It had been great so far for her, so why wasn’t it working now?
“It’s her thing.” She explained, getting a befuddled look from Pinkie.
“Hand-holding? You don’t like it?”
“I mean hand taking.” Maud corrected. Pinkie looked down at the table, twiddling her thumbs.
“Maudie, I don’t want to be mean about this, but you need to do stuff like that. You’re dating now, it is awesome to do big gestures, like that statue of Trixie you had made, or when my friends helped me bury Rocky so he wouldn’t be able to fling himself at cars and blame me for it anymore. But it’s the itty bitty things. Talking about yourself, or trying to be around them. I mean, what are you going to do when it’s your turn to plan a date?”
Maud didn’t know.
“Okay,” Pinkie clapped her hands together. “So, let’s go over the basics of cooking up a good date. No flirting with someone else. Obviously, this goes out the window if you are in a rom-com, but I am pretty sure Trixie isn’t going for that with you.”
“It wasn’t flirting.” Maud reiterated, barely managing to say it before Pinkie talked over her.
“It doesn’t matter if Trixie thinks it was. I think another rule for you would be to not get into arguments on the date, except with Trixie. That is kinda your thing I think.”
“Why did she bring you to the museum anyways?” Marble quietly cut in. “It’s mostly stuff our family donated anyways, and Maud gives that tour half the time.”
Maud quietly stared at the table, ignoring her sister’s questioning looks.
Lime’s voice cut in. “Let me guess, she doesn’t know any of that?”
If only I could feel as grounded as this table is, Maud thought, tapping the side of it, a little agitated at the pressure she could feel from her sister’s continued stares that she was avidly avoiding.
A moment more of silent judging, and she cracked. “You...might be right about talking more.”
The Cantertina was a little much for Maud. She’d never been here herself but had heard some about it. Polished wooden floors, Chandelier’s, and a real fireplace off to one side gave it a stark contrast to where Maud would occasionally order a taco from. But, the chairs covered in cartoon style cactuses and sombrero’s looked exactly the same, minus the cushions on them being a bit more comfortable.
What wasn’t comfortable was the way Trixie sat on the other end of the table, biting her lip and giving Maud a strained looking smile. Maybe she felt a bit weirded out too by this place? Even after ordering and getting their appetizer, Trixie didn’t pull her chair over to Maud’s side like normal, didn’t talk fast about herself or what was on her mind. She didn’t take pictures of the two of them trying their food.
Maybe this is normal for a date, Maud reasoned. She was hap-preferred to see Trixie in her element, squeezing Maud’s arm while complaining or cooing about the taste of the food loudly for anyone to hear, but she was acting almost aloof now, eating quietly and giving Maud small glances every now and then.
“Any tests coming up?” Trixie asked casually, nearly drawing a sigh of relief from Maud. The silence was grating on her, feeling too unnatural in this environment.
“Nothing major.” She replied, regretting her answer when several seconds of silence rang out afterward with nothing forthcoming from Trixie. “Just Biology, it’s not my favorite subject, but the dissection lab was interesting,” Maud added, receiving a curious look from Trixie.
“Mmmm,” Trixie hummed out while taking a sip of her drink. “Gonna guess because it’s a little like cracking a geode for you? Though comparing cutting into a frog like that to a chunk of rock is...a bit nauseating for Trixie at the moment. Trixie supposes she has no future in Science if you have to do those types of things.” She ended the statement by picking up a skewer of chicken and biting into it while still giving Maud that interested look from before. It rattled her as Maud tried to think through what was happening.
Trixie seemed to want to talk about the future today a lot. Maud didn’t want a repeat of the duck pond from earlier. She had gotten what she wanted, but at a cost then. She didn’t think she could stand a quiet Trixie a second time. Maybe you were supposed to talk about future plans on a date? But, thinking on it, Maud’s future plans all involved Trixie.
“I...don’t think I’ll be looking into Biology either.” She blurted out, hoping to buy time as she quietly retrieved her phone from her pocket.
HELP.
“Pfft, I never had any doubts about that.” came Trixie’s flippant reply. “Tell me, does work in Geology involve a lot of travel?”
Huh? Kind of busy at the moment, getting my groove on.
“It can, the Canterlot area doesn’t have much to offer for that field, the quarry was the only significant thing here, and it was abandoned when it dried up.”
Is it too early to ask Trixie if she wants to excavate with me in a different country after High School ends?
Maud nodded along to Trixie’s voice.
What!? Like, eloping? Are you using weird rock innuendo on her? She’s not gonna pick up on it.
“Yes, something like that,” Maud responded to an inquiry with.
No, she is asking about what I want to do in the future.
Well, that’s not so bad, right?
Wait, would we have to marry to travel together like mom and dad do? I need you to look that up.
Why!? WTF?
If she says yes then it’s like I’m tricking her into marrying me or something!
Calm down dumbass, you’re acting like an idiot.
Lime was growling while flipping through the conversation on Marble’s phone.
“Seriously, what the fuck is all of this?”
A moment later, Lime started quoting the last few lines of text.
“Marble: No, Just keep your fucking last name. Maud Lulamoon is fine, but whoever heard of a Trixie Pie? It just doesn’t work.
Maud: But if she says yes to the travel, and the marriage, and the combined bachelorette party, and the honeymoon, and being a traveling magician, and the last name, then what if she gets sick or injured and I can’t get in because I’m not family because we don’t have the last name as proof?
Marble: I AM going to kill you when you get home and get on your computer tonight, Maud! It’s the first date! For the last time, just talk VAGUELY about what you THINK you are doing after High School, that’s it!
Marble: Maud?
Marble: Please tell me you weren’t just texting me and not saying shit this entire hour?
Marble: Whyyyy are you like this!?”
This wasn’t the first time Maud wished to disappear down a pit. She heard the phone lightly hit the table and Marble retrieve it before Lime’s voice bit into her.
“Let me guess how the end of the date went.”
They made it outside of Maud’s house before Trixie had had enough.
“Maud, you barely said shit this entire date to Trixie. Trixie thinks that Trixie and Maud should just stay friends. Trixie, Trixie, Trixie!”
Maud slowly shook her head, not understanding that anything was wrong. The entire date had been perfectly fine! “Trixie, what went wrong? You know how long it takes for anything to sink in for me. Please say your name a few more times and don’t ask me anything!”
“No! Trixie needs to go, we’ll talk later since no one else is dumb enough to listen to Trixie talk about Trixie for hours on end! Trixie, Tri-AH WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT!?”
Lime retreated from Pinkie after another hit from Trixie’s spray bottle.
“Lime,” Pinkie started sweetly, despite the frown on her face. “You’re really not helping right now.”
Marble made soothing noises into Maud’s ear while rubbing her back. Maud had enough energy to glare at Lime, but her heart wasn’t in it. Lime was basically right after all.
“I don’t know when she stopped talking, but I didn’t realize it until after we were done eating.”
Maud didn’t even remember ordering her food, maybe Trixie had while she was panickedly texting Marble? What did it say about her that she lost track of time twice on the same date?
“She didn’t say anything until we got back here and...yeah,” Maud confirmed for them. “She thinks we should just be friends.”
Maud’s grip on her legs tightened under the table. “She might be right.”
Lime clicked her tongue sharply, one of her nicer ways of demanding the three’s attention.
“Yeah, no. She’s pissed, and definitely should be, but she’s way too fucking invested in you to believe that.”
After seeing the disbelief in Maud’s eyes, Lime held up a single finger and then left the kitchen, returning a moment later with a small folder. She plunked down into one of the chairs and opened it.
“Look, between the movies, the museum, and the dinner, she definitely spent over a hundred for this date. Trixie’s family is…” Lime shuffled a paper to the side. “Lower middle class by all accounts. Dad sends money but doesn’t live with her, mom’s a social worker with decent enough pay. None of them have anything on their record either, though I would never trust her dad with a loan.”
Pinkie quietly walked over to Lime as her other two sisters gaped at her. Pinkie gave Lime a pat on the head before gently taking the folder away. “So, this is getting burned.” she flatly stated.
After looking at her other two sisters again, Lime wisely didn’t argue.
“What I was trying to say,” Lime continued. “Is that Trixie expected a dinner date that she had some certificates to help with, got saddled with a lot more, and still didn’t call any of it off. She just rolled with it for you. The girl probably gets like, forty bucks a month, so she felt spending some of her savings or whatever was more important than telling you no.”
Maud’s eyes widened a bit in shock. “I told her I could cover it.”
“Yeah, Maud? Maybe that would have worked if she knew your allowance was a lot bigger than hers.” Lime explained with an annoyed look. “I’m not sure why she hasn't checked Pie industries on a computer yet, but I’m still saying it's your fault for not telling her this shit by now.”
Pinkie gave a small giggle snort. “Yeah, it’s kinda funny that no one in my classes seems to know that, maybe they think the school is paying for all my party supplies or something? I wish I could ever talk Vice Principal Luna into splurging on those chocolate fountains! Those things are bleeding me dry.”
Lime gave Pinkie a look and received an eye roll in return.
“Fine, stay on topic, no one cares about Pinkie’s party problems, yadda yadda. You’re worse than Professor Doodle sometimes.” Pinkie groused.
Lime ignored her. “I’m not saying all of this is your fault, Maud. Trixie should have been clearer with you instead of trying to pull something like this off at the last minute. And she sure as shit should have talked about the argument at the Museum instead of being vague as fuck and walking off like that.”
Maud grit her teeth and shook her head slightly. “I should have known.”
She received a bored shrug from Lime for her effort. “Yeah, but you don’t, and Trixie has been around you enough to know you wouldn’t. A lot of this is your fault, don’t get me wrong, but there is no fucking way she’s getting out of this without some blame.”
“R-right now, I think you two should talk.” Marble cut in. “Try to be honest and not o-overthink it.”
Maud was still unsure, she wanted to talk with Trixie, but giving her time to rant and vent was important. Usually, Trixie did that while Maud listened, but if it was about Maud she probably didn’t want her around for that. “Would she even want to talk after how dinner went?”
Pinkie hummed to herself for a second before speaking up. “Well, she didn’t walk off during the dinner, right? She even ordered you food despite you being a chatty cat with Marble. So she was probably really hoping to talk to you.” She gave Maud a thumbs up. “I mean, it’s a little late, but I’m sure she’d be happy you went after her, especially if you noticed all the silly stuff you did.”
Maud looked outside, it was turning dark and they had been in here discussing this for nearly two hours now. “She probably isn’t home, and I don’t think she would answer if I called her…”
“I got this,” Lime said, holding something up to her own ear. “Yeah, I'm here.” A few seconds went by. “Good, is BS still there? Okay, stand by.”
Lime took her finger back from her ear and pocketed something the others couldn’t see. “She’s over where Pinkie works right now.” She gave a grin at Maud’s questioning look. “Hey, those guys come in use sometimes, and it’s not like you needed them here right now. Get going.”
With a nod, Maud closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and stood up.
When she opened them again, Maud eyed the duck pond report near Pinkie, who seemed to be trying to look at the end of her own nose apparently, then looked back to Lime questioningly.
“I swear, talk to your bodyguards, then to me if you have any issues with them, and neither of us will have to see a report about you ever again,” Lime confirmed.
“Okay.” Maud agreed, right before snatching the report from Pinkie.
“Oooh,” Pinkie exclaimed happily. “That’s what that twitch meant!” Her eyes widened a bit in panicked realization before she quickly turned to Maud who was skimming the report with clenched hands. “Wait, you really don’t want to do that!”
A few seconds of silence passed before Maud monotonically repeated the report out loud. “Blue Slut attempts to open a dialogue with Frock and is denied. Blue Slut attempts dialogue several times after; all are denied. Frock and Blue Slut establish radio silence for the next thirty minutes.”
Marble slinked under the table while Lime’s eyes grew wide like Pinkie’s currently were.
“Oh...fuuuuuuck.” She let out a low whistle. “I totally forgot to change that. That was before me and Trixie had that talk. Yeah, okay. I, I’m gonna go fix that right now.”
The old kitchen table had served many uses to the Pie family throughout its long years there. No one had ever expected its last service to be that of a projectile.
How? Trixie thought, blatantly ignoring the girl now standing by her table.
“Hey.”
Trixie stared at Maud over her milkshake warily, narrowing her eyes.
Am I that predictable?
She had steered clear of the restaurant closer to her house so she would avoid the chance of this happening. She sullenly looked away from Maud, letting the straw out of her mouth for a few seconds to reply.
“Hey.”
She took another sip, listening as Maud sat down opposite of her in the booth. The waitress came by with a glass of ice water, talking to Maud briefly, though Trixie had tuned her out already.
She really didn’t want to speak to Maud right now. And maybe not even tomorrow. She definitely would in a few days, but after the worst dinner of Trixie’s short -but fantastic- life, her heart needed a break.
Seriously, She thought. Why did Maud pick today of all days to not pay her any attention?
Maud had to know by now that it would bother Trixie on a normal day, but it had been downright hurtful for her to do it on their first, and likely only, date.
A quick glance over revealed Maud was fidgeting, nervous.
Good.
Trixie wasn’t breaking the silence first. She had already tried at dinner and had gotten the cold shoulder. Maud could stew there all night for all Trixie cared, could talk the entire time, and Trixie wouldn’t give her the time of day, let alone respond.
“So, about today...” Maud finally started, catching Trixie’s eyes and setting one of her hands flat in the middle of the table.
“What about it?” Trixie found herself blurting out, irritated when a second later she realized her hand was already on top of Maud’s.
I’m angry and upset! She reminded herself.
“You’re angry and upset-”
“Trixie already reminded herself!”
“Oh…” Maud paused, clearly confused but struggling on. “Well...good. I was a bad date.” She ended simply.
“I’m aware.” She replied, curious whether Maud was going somewhere with this, or if she expected Trixie to unpack a paragraph of meaning out of that single sentence like usual.
“It’s just, I like you, but everything past that is complicated,” Maud admitted, her brow creasing. Trixie could practically see the gears in Maud’s head glacially turning as she tried to piece more of her thoughts into words.
“It’s fine, Maud.” She said, the words already bitter in Trixie’s mouth. “It’s why I said we can forget what happened today and go back to normal.”
Maud’s other hand reached out, sandwiching Trixie’s between her own. “But I don’t want that.”
Trixie huffed, finding it hard to believe after what happened today. It would be childish to retract her hand now, so she didn’t.
“I focused on the wrong person at the museum. But everything else,” Maud rambled, eyes showing the glint of panic in them. “What happens in ten years, or fifteen, it just-”
“I wasn’t asking what you were doing in ten years, Maud.” Trixie interrupted, exasperated about this topic. “You could have told me next year's plans, or next month's plans, anything about what you want to do! Instead, you just looked at your phone the entire time…”
Her hand felt too warm for this now, so she tried drawing it back only to have Maud’s grip tighten
“Maud, let go!”
Maud’s eyes widened in growing panic. “I don’t want to lose you.”
She could already feel the flush creeping up her own neck. Idiot. “I meant my hand, Maud! Not me.”
“Oh.”
Maud still didn’t let go. Trixie brought her other hand up and started pushing against Maud’s. It wouldn’t budge but what did she expect? She had literally seen Maud crack a rock just by gripping it hard enough once.
Trixie couldn’t even put her full strength into freeing her hand without drawing unwanted attention. She took a few seconds to glance around the restaurant. Thankfully it was mostly empty, and the waitress was occupied, talking to a man in a grey suit.
Trixie’s eyes narrowed at the unique scar on his cheek. She was sure she had seen him at the duck pond earlier.
“I’m going to travel,” Maud babbled, drawing Trixie’s attention away from the man. “and you’re a magician, right?”
“Well, Trixie hasn’t-”
Maud didn't let go of Trixie’s hand as she stood up and quickly moved to sit down next to Trixie, putting her shoulder at an awkward angle while continuing to talk.
“Magician’s travel too, so it would be...cheaper if we-”
Too close. Maud’s face was inches away from Trixie’s own. Even bringing her other hand up and pushing against Maud’s head did nothing to further the space between them.
“A-and some places aren’t safe alone, m-medically only f-family can-”
Maud was flushing for the first time.
What the hell is going on? Trixie mentally screamed.
“Maud, calm down!”
Trixie gave up on holding her back and reached for the cup of ice water, dumping it over Maud’s head. She blinked a little in surprise, but thankfully, finally stopped rambling. Her grip slackened, letting Trixie finally get her hand back. A brief glance around confirmed that the shop was empty, save for the waitress putting up a closed sign, and the grey-suited man sitting on a stool up at the counter.
She breathed a sigh of relief. I guess we weren’t as loud as I thought.
A glance over confirmed Maud was no longer blushing, or quite as panicked. She still hadn’t moved away from Trixie however.
She took a long pull from her milkshake before looking Maud over. “Are you okay now?”
Maud nodded.
“Good. Seriously Maud? Travel plans? That’s like, I don’t even know.” Trixie explained, shaking her head. “Fourth, maybe fifth date stuff? And Trixie means good dates, not like today.”
Maud’s eye twitched. “I...don’t know how to do this right, and-”
“You don’t have to do it completely right.” Trixie groaned, still slightly annoyed, but feeling better. She never wanted to hurt Maud, but tossing ice water on her had been a bit cathartic. “You just, need to try, and NOT shut down on me the minute I ask one little thing about you.”
That tiny, almost unseeable blush was making its way back up Maud’s cheeks.
“You're just...so much more interesting,” Maud confessed, causing Trixie to scoff.
“Of course Trixie is. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear about you too you know. Seriously.” She groused. “It doesn’t have to be everything at once. Trixie just wants to be part of things with you, else why would she have even tried dating in the first place?”
Maud’s gears seemed to be turning again. Trixie gave her the time she needed, curious, though hoping she didn’t need another glass of ice water.
“So, you’re okay with just one thing at a time?”Maud confirmed, continuing on after receiving a nod. “Well, does it...have to only be the one?” She ventured.
“Not if you don’t want it to be. Just, try to hold back before asking Trixie to go on a world tour with you or something.” She added.
“I like rocks…”
Trixie rolled her eyes. “You don’t say.”
“But,” Maud continued. “I also like you.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And, I really like when those two go together.” Maud finally concluded.
Trixie sighed. She hadn’t expected much but this was disappointing. Apparently, Maud caught her look.
“Sorry, I was trying to lighten the mood. I do like stand up comedy though.”
“Well, that is something Trixie didn’t know.” She admitted, giving Maud a small smile.
“I also don’t like being cold and wet,” Maud added, brightening and pointing to her soaked hair.
Trixie nodded at that and looked around, surprised to find a few hand towels on the table already. Had the waitress come by with them? She didn’t even see the waitress anymore, actually. Just that guy nursing his drink at the counter.
Whatever. She’d worry about it later. Maud was more important. Even if she was still terrible at sharing.
Trixie started drying Maud’s hair off, all the while listening to Maud’s continued sputtering starts and stops.
“That’s where my dad is working right now,” Maud explained at one point, bringing up a picture on her phone of a dusty brown work site with a huge looking hole in the middle.
It wasn’t quite what she had hoped for in a first date, but it was enough for Trixie to consider a second.