Trixie walked down the sidewalk towards the second-rate coffee shop. Going there had started as a weekly ritual after Sunset had left for that tour with her band and had become a daily one as the air grew colder. She reached up to adjust her scarf, but frowned as her hands only touched air before quickly folding her arms across her chest. She sighed as she remembered that she didn’t account for the wind.
Entering the coffee shop, she nonchalantly put her hands back in her pockets as she walked to the counter and ordered coffee in rote. A better coffee shop would have memorized her order by now, but she was already at the limits of her daily budget here.
As she waited, her eyes drifted, first tracing the swirls in the wood of the counter, then gazing at the pastries she refused to eat for fear of getting fat, before tracing along the wall and settling on a bulletin board.
She had, of course, seen this bulletin board before. The tracing movements of her eyes were just another rote aspect of her daily visit, but today she saw something much more colorful than the usual fare of muted neutral tones. Walking closer, she saw that the poster which more resembled something a rainbow had barfed out than anything approaching actual art was for a Rainbooms concert in Canterlot City in two days.
She sighed; this was, of course, the first time she’d heard about it. Nevermind the fact that she was the girlfriend of one of the guitarists, no, she had to find out about it at a second rate coffee shop and she should just-
Before her internal ranting could reach a fever pitch, “Latte for Trixie?”
Not even bothering to respond to the barista, she grabbed her drink and stomped off to a corner booth with shoulders tensed and eyes narrowed. She sat down forcefully for good measure which unfortunately led to her banging her knee on the table. Hissing, she rubbed the newly forming bruise and attempted to subtly look around to make sure no one noticed. Luckily for her, no one seemed to care.
Sipping her latte and feeling that familiar jittery calm settle in, she pulled out her phone and hesitantly texted her girlfriend.
Sunset
I heard you would be back in Canterlot for the weekend
Trixie has a magic show tomorrow, and I would love if you came.
And before she could even take another sip of coffee:
im sorry trix i wont be able to make it. love you
Trixie sighed, deflating and sliding down the booth’s couch. She started putting her phone back in her pocket, but she hesitated. She was better than that. She tapped her phone’s screen carefully, putting all of her effort into composing three simple words.
Okay
Love you
Slipping her phone back into her jacket, she let her head lightly thunk onto the table, rolling it until she was looking at the bulletin board again. Glaring one last time at that nauseatingly colorful poster, she grabbed her coffee and slunk out the door, ignoring the tinkling of the bell and the forced customer service pleasantry from behind the counter.
She looked up at the setting sun between the branches of a tree with leaves in a mirror of reds and golds. A leaf began to fall, and while she logically knew it couldn’t have been the first of the season to fall, it felt like it to her. As it settled gently on the sidewalk, she slammed her boot down onto it.