The sound of jazz music was now background noise as Test Tube and I laughed while exchanging jokes. The waiter brought over another round of drinks for us and we thanked him for them before going back to telling jokes. We sat there for what was easily a couple hours until the restaurant staff came over to ask us to leave. With sighs of reluctance, we stood up and stumbled our way out of the restaurant and onto the dark streets of Ponyville where the only illumination there on the edge of town was the moon and stars above. As we leaned on one another for support, I began to sing a song I’d loved since I was a colt.
A voice begin to sing next to me and it took my drunk mind a moment to process that the voice as beautiful as an angel’s was in fact Test Tube’s.
“Dude, I didn’t know you could sing!” I said, my slightly slurred voice sounding excited about the new discovery. Really though, alcohol makes everything exciting if you drink enough. Even slug races. That one I learned from personal experience. Test looked over at me and stumbled a bit but we continued on as he replied.
"I've been singing since-hic-I was a colt. I just didn't-hic-do it in front of other ponies." His hiccups made me giggle at him. There was just something about him right then that made him hiccuping really cute. It was probably the booze but regardless, he was a very cute stallion. "Why're you looking-hic-at me like-hic-that?" He asked me and I suddenly realized that I had been staring directly at him. My face went as red as Big Macintosh and I quickly looked away from him.
"I can't tell you." I replied as I looked in the opposite direction as him and instead looked around at Ponyville as we neared my apartment.
"Ooooooo, do you have a crush on me?" He asked and my head whipped around for me to look at him as we finally reached the stairs to the apartment. We both had stopped in our tracks and I continued to stare at him until, whether it be a mixture of bravery and stupidity from the alcohol or just my feelings for him taking hold, I quickly leaned over and placed my lips on his. He tensed up but relaxed after a few seconds. A moment later, I felt something prodding at my lips and I parted them when I realized that it was Test's tongue. I began wrestling his tongue with mine but quickly relented control to him. But all good things must end and we soon broke apart for air. We looked at each other before hurrying up the stairs for the apartment. I unlocked the door and had barely got it shut behind me when I felt Test's tail run under my chin. For a stallion, he had a rather long tail that matched his long mane and from behind he could even be mistaken for a mare. The feeling of his tail running under my chin sent shivers down my spine and I looked over at him only to see him looking over his shoulder at me. He began to walk away towards the guest room where he was staying. It was at this point that the head on my shoulders ceased operation and I began thinking with my other one.
I followed Test Tube into the guest bedroom where we immediately began kissing again as we slowly made our way to his bed. We ungracefully flopped onto the bed together and I broke away from his mouth to begin planting kisses down his neck and then to his chest. I continued to kiss my way down his soft belly, something I just loved even more in that situation, but stopped just short of the grand prize. I looked up at him as a worried look flashed across my face. "I, um, I've never done this before." I told him and he gave me a small, drunken smile.
"Me either. But at least neither of us have something to go on to know how bad we are."
The sun shined through the window as my head pounded from the massive hangover I had. Though I hated the sun for its brightness, I did enjoy the extra warmth it provided me besides the blanket. I finally opened my eyes just a crack and saw that I was not in my room. I was in the guest room. Shifting a little in the bed, I felt a leg wrapped around me and the memories of last night all came flooding back. The drinks, the kissing, the sex; oh boy the sex. I looked over at the alarm clock on the nightstand and saw it said quarter to eight. Carefully, I peeled back the blanket away from myself and gently removed Test's grey foreleg from around my midsection. As I scooted out of bed, the warmth from his stomach on my back disappeared and I almost climbed back into bed with him. But I knew that was a bad idea. With that happening so early on in his stay, I was more focused on how the prior night could affect our friendship than the cold air that now hit my back. The first thing I decided I need to do was take a shower. There was no way I could get away with not taking one, and I certainly would need it to get myself cleaned up after some of the things we'd done in bed.
While my shower had taken longer than expected, I was able to get dried off and into the kitchen by eight-thirty. I had fed the cats and already had a pot of coffee going when I heard hoofsteps in the hallway from the bedrooms to the kitchen. I turned just in time to see Test standing in the doorway with a tired, pained look on his face. "How much did I have to drink last night?" He asked me as he sat down at the table and held his head in his forehooves.
"A lot. A few more than me if I remember correctly." I replied as the light on the coffee maker lit up to say that the coffee was ready. I poured a couple cups and carried them to the table where I slid one to Test.
"I don't remember anything after us telling jokes." He said and I felt a small pit in my stomach.
"You don't?" I asked, trying to hide my sadness at his statement from showing in my voice.
"Not a bloody thing. Also, I'm sorry but I need to wash the sheets for my bed. I think I had one of those kinds of dreams last night." He told me and that was the moment my heart seemed to shatter in my chest. While he'd been too drunk to remember it, I thought back to the night before and felt myself want to cry as I took my coffee downstairs. He still thought of us as only friends when only eight hours before we'd been making love. Sweet Celestia, I really wanted to cry thinking about it. I set my coffee on the shop counter and began my routine to get the shop ready to open for the day. With in fifteen minutes the shop was open and I was behind the counter with my cup of coffee and my thoughts. I figured that I had at least fifteen minutes to a half hour until Test Tube was downstairs to help me which gave me that time to compose myself. As I took a sip of my coffee, the bell above the door jingled and I looked up to see one of my neighbors from across the street. Most of the shop owners on the street lived above their stores and many of them were older ponies who were around the age of my grandparents. The mare who'd entered was a short mare with a fading pink coat and a grey mane. She smiled to me and came over to the counter.
"Good morning, Rhythm. Or at least I'm assuming it's good for you." She said with a slight Istallion accent, a cheeky smile crossing her wrinkled face.
"Good morning to you Mrs. Ink Well. And why do you say that?" I asked her with an eyebrow raised. I'd known Mrs. Ink Well since I was a colt and she'd always been the mischievous type.
"Why you and your coltfriend of course! You two had to have woken half the street last night with all the racket you two were making." She told me and my face quickly went red from embarrassment. Then as I thought back to the bedroom, I made the horrifying realization that the window had been open all night.
"Oh dear." I said as I realized that there was now almost no way of avoiding the topic with Test Tube. I was certainly going to be approached about the noise by many other neighbors.
"What's wrong dear?" Mrs. Ink Well asked me as I laid my chin on the counter.
"Well for starters, we're not coltfriends. Second is that we were both drunk so he doesn't remember anything. And lastly, is that he think's were still just friends since he doesn't remember last night." I told her with a sigh.
"How can he not remember that? From how loud you were moanin' I'd swear he should remember." She said, somehow making my face and ears turn a darker shade of red than they already were. "Oh, sorry to embarrass you dear. But don't you worry. They say that a pony's true feelings come out when they're drunk. He clearly wouldn't have done anything if he didn't want to." Mrs. Ink Well told me as she patted my head with her hoof in an attempt to comfort me. "Let me tell you a story. Picture it, Canterlot fifty years ago. There I was at the Grand Galloping Gala in my best dress and my hair in the done in the best way I could afford. I was dateless of course because back then, others weren't always so welcoming of ponies like you and me." She explained before continuing her story. "So there I was all dolled up but by myself when this handsome stallion in a tux approached me. We're talking cuff links, wingtip collar, white tie, and a tail coat so he certainly came from money. He asked me to dance with him and I said yes to be polite. After we were done, we went back to his table where he introduced me to his younger sister who was my age. By the end of the night, me and her were going at it like a couple of rabbits in a broom closet at the Royal Palace." She said and the last part made me raise an eyebrow at her. "We got married the next year and we've been happily married ever since."
"That's you though." I told her as I heard Test moving around upstairs. "You and Mrs. Parchment got your happily ever after. If you hadn't noticed, I don't have the best luck of ponies I love being around long." I said as I stood up to straighten a guitar that was hanging lopsided on the wall.
"Now, now; don't say you'll never get your happy ending, sweetie." She replied as I adjusted the guitar. "You're a very handsome stallion. You get that from your father you know."
"I got nothing from that deadbeat bastard except a foalhood of wondering where in Tartarus my father was." My voice dripped venom and the bitterness in it would've put a lemon tree to shame. "As for my mother, she was more focused on getting rutted in a dark alley like a common whore instead of taking care of her child." Returning to my seat behind the counter, I looked at Mrs. Ink Well as I thought about my foalhood. Now that I was thinking about it, I truly realized how fucked up it was. A child who was unwanted and unloved by either parent; who's mother was basically a prostitute and a father who was too busy snorting stuff up his nose to care about feeding his family. My grandparents were there more for me than my parents even when they lived in Ponyville. It wasn't the most ideal foalhood but I'm sure others had it worse. I couldn't really complain when I thought about it in that light. Just as Mrs. Ink Well was about to say something, the sound off hoofsteps coming from the stairs made us look over at the door to the back room.
"I think I'm going to head back to my shop now. You try and have a good day." Mrs. Ink Well said with a small smile before leaving the shop. Test Tube opened the door and stepped in wearing his typical grey striped hoodie. He smiled at me but I could tell that his hangover was still making his head pound like a drum. I smiled back at him and he took a seat next to me behind the counter. As I thought about how to avoid the subject of last night to keep from letting something slip, I realized that it was going to be a long day ahead of me.
Test and I sat in our corner booth as night descended on Ponyville. I'd decided to keep the number of drinks I had to a minimum to avoid any more incidents like the night we'd had a week before and I slowly sipped my martini as I watched Test Tube across the table. He was busy watching the dancers so he didn't notice me staring at him. "A bit for your thoughts." I said and he looked over at me with a sigh.
"Just wishing I could dance." He stated as he took a sip of his martini.
"You know, just a basic four step isn't that hard. Just think of it like slow dancing but sped up." I told him and he raised an eyebrow at my comment.
"I'm sure I could do that. Would you dance with me though? Just so I don't look like a fool." His request made me feel all warm inside and butterflies fluttered in my stomach.
"Of course." I replied without thinking. We scooted out of the booth and we had just made it over to the dance floor when the band began playing the next song which was far slower than expected. "Oh. Well, we can sit down until the next one if you'd like." I said to which Test shook his head.
"We're here." He replied as he leaned in to place the side of his neck against mine. "We may as well dance." We began to slow dance across the dance floor, getting a couple looks from other dancers. But that was probably more for being more dressed up than half the other patrons rather than two stallions dancing together. As we danced, I began to quietly sing along to the song that I realized had been the song that I'd sang on the way home that night.
“It had to be moonglooww, way up in the bluuee
It had to be moonglooww that lead me straight to yoouu
I still hear you saying, dear one hold me fast”
“And I kept on praying, ‘please let this moment last’” Test's voice sang softly into my ear. My heart seemed to stop as he continued to whisper into my ear. "Rhythm, I remember the other night." If there was a time that I was ever going to drop dead from a heart attack, right then was it.
"Y-you said you didn't remember." I told him, my voice shaky as I thought about what this meant.
"I lied." He said as he leaned his head back to make eye contact with me.
"A-and?" I asked him as I felt on the verge of tears. His voice was so unemotional and that was the part that seemed to scare me the most. He didn't respond with words but rather leaned forward and placed his lips on mine. My eyes widened in surprise and I tensed up as we kissed. When it finally clicked in my mind that Test Tube was kissing me, I relaxed. Just as I was about to get into it, I felt him pull away and I looked at him as he finally said the magic words I'd been praying for.
"Rhythm, I love you."