Cure for Pain

“Hey, Walker.” I heard John say at the music store. I was tuning the drum heads, and I wasn’t necessarily happy with the unwelcome interruption. “What is it, John?”

“Your friends are out front with some human girl. Says she knows you or something.” I started racking my mind at who that could be. There was Hannah, but John would have recognized her if it was her. What other girl did I know? “What did she look like?” I asked.

“Short-ish black hair, T-shirt for something called the ‘13th Floor Elevators’.” I kept thinking. I only knew one person who liked the 13th Floor Elevators other than myself, and that was….

Oh shit.

I ran out of the music store to see Coleton with my old girlfriend, Melissa. I forgot about her! I’m dating Octavia now, and to her knowledge, I’m still dating…. her….

“Hey!” She yelled, running up and hugging me. It was weird for a human to hug a two foot tall horse, but apparently she didn’t care. “I’ve missed you!”

I was being suffocated in her vicegrip. “I’ve missed you too.” A couple of minutes passed. “Let go, please.”

She immediately stopped hugging me. “Sorry about that, just haven’t seen you in a while, so I wanted to make it last.”

I instinctively shugged, “It’s alright, Melissa. So, how did you get here?”

Apparently from what she told me, Bryan and Hannah told her about me being here, and requested (I get the feeling it was more begging than requesting) to come to me. After… three hours of it, Hannah finally broke and got her here.

“That’s interesting.” I said, my mind still on the entire “Octavia” situation. How would this work out?

“And I hear that you play drums in a band here, too.” Melissa said excitedly. “I can’t wait to see you perform tonight!”

There lies my first obstacle. I’m going to be in a bar playing in a band with the bassist who so happens to be my girlfriend in the same bar with another girl who happens to be my girlfriend as well. I’m so fucked.

The night came, and the same tedious setup process ended. The time to play finally begun. “Welcome to the stage, the Alicorns!” The bartender said, putting the mic back on the mic stand. “Thanks for coming to see us” Mojo said. “We’ll start off with our song ‘Luna Moon.’ Tap me off, Walker.”

“Walker?” Octavia asked me after the song ended. “You played one drum track for that entire song. What’s wrong?” I shook my head. “Nothing, just been thinking.”

“About what, necessarily?” She asked, concerned. “Just… things. I don’t want to explain.” Octavia gave an annoyed look, but turned back to continue the set.

“Thanks, everyone!” Mojo said. “We’ll take a break for thirty minutes.”

I sat down next to the Mane 6 in a booth and ordered a cider. If this night was going to play out badly, I might as well be drunk.

“Sooo…” Octavia said, noticing Melissa sitting opposite me. “May I ask who you are?” Melissa simply smiled. “I’m Melissa, Walker’s gi-“

“FRIEND!” I yelled, putting a hoof to her mouth to shush her. “She’s my good friend from Earth.” I noticed Coleton getting up to go the bathroom, and thought that I could use some help. “Hey, guys, I need to go take a piss.” I said. “One second.”

“Dude…” Coleton said to me as I splashed cold water on my face. “What are you doing?” I looked at him. “Just planning on staying in here for the rest of my life, what about you?” He shrugged. “Dude, you’re gonna have to face this sooner or later.”

“You’re not my father.” I said, walking over to the still-awkward-to-use urinal. He stood behind me. “Dude, face it. If they find out from each other, it’s gonna be hell for you. But if you tell them yourself…”

I cut him off. “It’s still gonna be hell.” He sighed. “Whatever, man. I can’t help you. Just go out there and do whatever you need to do.” He dried his hooves and walked out the door. I guess Coleton was right; I would have to confront my problem head-on. I walked out of the bathroom, ready to talk at a mile a minute.

“Alright.” I said, sitting back down at the booth. “Here’s the situation.

“Well…” Octavia said after I finished. It took a lot of explaining, and it was, for the most part, a pretty good story to tell at a bar. Except it wasn’t really a story. “That’s interesting. I guess I don’t blame you, though. When you thought you weren’t going back to Earth, I guess you thought you would never see your girlfriend again, so its understandable.”

Melissa reacted in much of the same way. She understood as well. I was in the clear! This was ama-

“However…” Melissa interrupted my train of thought. “I do have a question. Which one of us do you like better?” All eyes fell upon me as everyone awaited my answer.

I usually consider myself a man (or unicorn) of decent judgment. That’s why I didn’t question myself when I hauled flank out of that bar, running to wherever-the-hell I was running to, with everyone pursuing me.