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Incident I: The Coffee Maker1,098 words
Incident II: The Appointment1,175 words

Incident II: The Appointment

By: Aynine

Incident II: The Appointment

Things were normal again over the next month, and I was glad she had no more outbursts. I dreaded the thought of us fighting and one of us ending up out in the cold winter night, brooding. By now, my worries of another occurrence had long since passed, but that just made the next time all the more jarring.

She had an important dinner appointment set with her manager in the evening and insisted I had to be there. While she was out prior to it, I was at home practicing and said I would meet her there, but I guess I lost track of time. I glanced at a clock before realizing I would be a bit late. Five minutes or so is no big deal, I thought, but I raced out the door anyway, hoping to mitigate my tardiness.

I arrived at one of the nice restaurants we usually conducted our business at to see her standing outside, a scarf wrapped around her neck and her forelegs crossed over her chest. "Hey... sorry... I'm... late," I said between pants. She shot me a fierce glare before speaking.

"Where have you been? I've been standing around waiting for you!" she scolded with tufts of mist escaping her lips.

"Whoa. I'm not even that late," I said in my defense.

"Are you kidding me with this!?" She stamped her hooves and got in my face. She had never done anything like this before, and I nervously took a step back. "You have the nerve to make me wait for an important meeting, but it's okay because you're not even that late?"

Ponies had started to stop and stare and I tried to ease the conversation back down. "Look, I'm sorry. Can we not do this right now?"

For a moment, I didn't think that would work, but she gave me a disgusted look before huffing and heading inside. I glanced around at the onlookers and rubbed the back of my head, completely embarrassed about the scene we had made. Collecting myself, I quickly trotted into the restaurant after her. To my relief, she was seated and already speaking with her manager. Though she was smiling and chatting with him calmly, as if what had just occurred never happened, it bothered me. She glanced at me while maintaining her casual, upbeat demeanor, but I felt I could see glaze of disappoint in her eyes. You're going to get it later, it told me.

I took a seat, offering my apologies and making up a believable excuse. Her manager seemed to be oblivious as to what had just transpired outside, and the entire dinner went smoothly. When we finally parted ways with her manager, we walked home in silence. She didn't even look at me once until the door to our apartment closed behind me.

"Is everything alright with... us?" I asked nervously. I approached her and put a comforting hoof on her shoulder, but she lurched away. My body became unnerved, trembling as the situation unfolded.

"Of course it's not alright!" She whirled around and got in my face again. This time, I was afraid of her. I had never seen her so confrontational, let alone so angry. "You almost blew an important meeting for me!"

"Couldn't you have just started without me?" I had hoped to use logic for reasoning here, but she immediately found a justification for why that was unacceptable.

"It's about appearances! If my marefriend isn't there to support me when they're supposed to, how does that look?"

I started to lose my cool and shouted back. "Calm down! Where is this coming from? You've never been this upset before for anything like this!" I reached for her as I lowered my voice, instantly guilty for raising it at all. "I know this was a big deal and I'm sorry, but you're overreacting..."

"Over—Overreacting!?" She smacked my hoof away and spun around, heading for our bedroom. "Unbelievable. Just go away. I don't even want to see you right now!"

I opened my mouth to call after her, but she slammed the door so hard that that I jumped. Following after her, I neared the door only to find damage to the frame. I could hear her muttering just on the other side, but I decided it was best to leave her alone and let her calm down. This had happened before, so I was sure she would come around later.

I followed her wishes and went for a walk to clear my head. This was the second time she had become unglued in as many months, and it frightened me. Wind started to chill me, and I had become so absorbed in my own thoughts that I hadn't noticed night was settling in. I shivered not from the cold, but from how I felt when she blew up at me. When I got back to our apartment door, I hesitated to open it. A part of me didn't want to go in. I didn't want to face her. For an instant, I felt unwelcome in the home we shared. I pushed aside that feeling and opened the door to silence.

I closed it behind me as delicately as I could before maneuvering quietly through the dark, hoping I wouldn't encounter my marefriend in her angered state. I found her sleeping peacefully, and I took solace in that. I wanted to talk to her about what happened, but I dared not wake her now. Sighing, I slipped into bed beside her as carefully and quietly as I could. As I laid facing away from her, my thoughts ran wild. Did I really risk messing this up for her? Was it my fault? I fell asleep trying not to think about it.

When I awoke the next morning, there was a blissful moment I had forgotten about our fight. I entered the kitchen to get some coffee and saw that she had beat me to it. I stopped as she used it and wondered for a moment if she might throw the pitcher at me again. I was relieved when she turned around with only a cup of coffee. As I stepped past her, she put a hoof on me and I flinched.

"I'm sorry about last night. You were right. I was overreacting."

"Y-Yeah," was my weak reply. I couldn't bring myself to tell her it was alright. It wasn't alright. Her behavior was scaring me and I didn't know how to tell her. I was afraid it might be too soon after this last incident to broach the subject, so I dropped it for now.

Author's Note:

11/3/2014 - Fun Fact: I got hiccups trying to read this aloud for the final edit and proofing. I'm still stuck with them as I upload this. :(

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