The ponies and him

I put that thought aside and saw that Angela was entering to the restaurant.

I made the same thing and went inside the restaurant.

"Hey, Christopher, are you done?" I said and sit besides him.

"Not now, but I'm close to be done." He put the menu down and started to see something behind my back. I turned around and saw Angela opening the bathroom's door.

"Chris," – I turned around to address him – " I... we are... preoccupied of you." I got as soon as possible to the point.  "You don't seem to be... fine."

"Why? Is it something wrong with me?" He made a frown.

"Yes. You are not behaving as you normally are."

"It's... –" He led his gaze to the ground. "– nothing, you shouldn't feel preoccupied."

"I know that sometimes you feel... bad, but, right know, with your sister here, you shouldn't be like this." I patted his back and he returned his gaze to me. "Really, you should feel fine. We've been friends for many years. Because of that, you can tell me anything."

"I'll tell you later." He returned his gaze to the floor. "You don't really should care."

"But your sister does care, from what she told me."

He didn't answered, but when he heard the creak of the door opening, he sighed, smiled, gazed up and waved.

He was trying to hide his feelings.

It is not going to happen.

I saw Angela taking her position on her chair.

"So, what do you want to eat?" I said to Angela.

"I'll just have a black coffee, for now," she answered. "I'm not feeling very... hungry".

"And for you, Christopher?" I said.

"I think I'll ask for a blunt meal: noodles."

I chuckled to his order, since he always eat that when he's alone in his house, but I just nodded. "Ok." I raised my hand and turned around to get the waiter's attention. He came and I gave him the orders. I asked for a soup with a salad. He wrote down the orders and returned to his spot near the cashier, waiting for the dishes.

"Angela, are you fine with just a coffee?" I asked her, thinking that her order wasn't something filling. She just nodded.

"So how was the party?" Angela asked to Christopher.

"Oh well, it was... good, I guess. Why do you ask?" He looked with a uncertain face to his sister.

"I don't know, I just wanted to know."

"Hey, Christopher, " I said. " did you go to a party?" I imagined my friend going to the dance floor and trying to get lady. I think I put a face of disgust at that picture.

"Well, yeah, a few days ago I went to a party, a rave party."

To imagine my friend, a very quiet person, and a very uncoordinated one, who can't even follow a beat with his head, going to a rave party... it wasn't something to be in accordance to him. I mean, he even didn't go to the prom party!

"Were you asked to go?" I asked.

"Yeah, by someone." He closed his arms, and looked away.

"And who is that 'someone', if I can ask?"

He didn't answer. He didn't even tried to mutter something, so I tried another tactic to make him answer.

"Is that person a... –" I leaned forward to close the distance. "– crush?"

"No! She's not a crush!" he yelled as I saw him tight his neck.

I leaned backwards, and sitting on my chair, again, and said, "So what is she?"

"She is a... a... " he muttered, but didn't answered.

"Christopher, I know you, and I know what you feel, so... let it be," Angela spoke. It took me by surprise, but then I saw Christopher looking down.

"It's up to you, but, if you want help, I can give you. You're my brother, after all." She smiled to him, but I saw that she was really nervous. Christopher sighed, and dropped his arms.

"Thanks." He lifted his head, and smiled. "What... I really wanted to say, is that..." He lowered his head again. "she... -you got it all wrong, she's just a friend, but... I'm a little scared because of something she did to me."

"And what did she do, Christopher?" Angela asked.

“I don't want to say,” he said stubbornly.

“Come on, Christopher, tell us what she did. We can to help you,” she said.

He sighed. "Ok, I'll tell you, but I think it'll be better if I tell the whole story.

"Well, a day before the party, my friend invited me to go to a party. She made me promise that I had to go as she said that it was very important for her that party. Since I didn't want to break that promise, I just went to the party.

"She told me that we would meet outside Independence’s at eleven o'clock, the day after she told me that. I arrived there twenty minutes earlier, and waited for her outside the place that I recognized as a disco by the looks of it.

"She arrived a few minutes after. She told me, very enthusiastically, that she was very happy to see me. And she didn't only tell me, but she she showed it, by starting to bounce. That... was a little odd.

"We went into the local. The first thing I saw, or heard, was the spectacle that was at the end of the disco. They were blasting music like crazy, with smoke and everything that is used for entertainment. That wasn't really my ambient. Surprising me, my friend grabbed my hand and led me to a side, where it was a bar. I forgot to say that the music was blasting like crazy, and, now, I'm amazed by how it didn't leak out the local when I was outside.” My friend put a finger on his left ear. “I think I lost some hearing after that night.

"So, she nudged me and I saw that she already bought me some drinks. I refused them, saying that I don't drink. She put a sad face, and told me that she really, really wanted to me to drink. I couldn't... resist that face, so I had to do it. Then, immediately after that, she put a smile, one of the biggest smiles that I have seen, and told me, almost singing, that she was happy to see me drink and that I was going to have a great time. I was getting afraid of being there. So... I told her that I had to go, that I really didn't want to be there. And not only because of her, but also because I think I had already loosed too much hearing.

"And in that moment was when I really didn't want to be there.“ He put a scared face. ”She started to say that I should stay with her because I made a promise, that I had to stay with her. I answered saying that I didn't want to be there because I was getting really tense. She didn't listen to me, and started to slowly raise her voice, telling me that I should be there, and that I made a promise. As she raised her voice, I was also getting more afraid of being there. I didn't even heard the music because of the loudness of her voice. I don't know how she could scream that loud... That was the moment that I went out there, running,  and... never came back there." He slowly finished, and then he shivered. "I still remember her screaming. I... never thought that someone would be so mad at me. I mean, she really is someone very cheerful and very playful, almost as a little child."

"I... don't really think that you said everything,” I said. ”I don't think that someone, no matter what, would get mad because of a broken promise. Well, you told her that you didn't want to be there, so she shouldn't had reacted like that, like you said she reacted.” I thought for a moment. “ I don't think that you told us everything.”

My friend laughed as he heard the last sentence. "I know you'd say that, but, really, that is what happened," My friend retorted.

"Your dishes are here, sir." I heard a voice behind me. I recognized him as the waiter and he started to put down our dishes on the table.

I turned my head, and confirmed what I thought. I waited for him to put all the dishes and said that I would pay everything. He nodded and went back to where he was.

"I think we should relax and eat, alright?" I said to Christopher and Angela. I grabbed my spoon, and started to eat. It was a good soup, a tomato soup.

But something brought my attention. A woman, a really young one, was in front of the window, seeing through it like she was hypnotized. That, as itself, was odd, but what really brought my attention was that she was staring attentively at Christopher.

Maybe, just maybe, she is...

"So... how is she, Christopher?" Angela asked to his brother before taking a sip of his coffee.

"What do you ask with that?"

"Well, how she is, physically?"

"Oh, I forgot about that. And I don't think that you're going to believe what I'm going to say, seriously." He stopped in the middle of his sentence to eat his noddles. "She had her hair dyed with the color p-"

"Pink?" I said as I looked through the window.

"How... how did you know?"

"And she has bright with teeth, always wear pink clothes, and has a curly hair?"

"… how?"

I grinned, still looking at the woman.

"Maybe, just maybe, she is behind you."

Christopher didn't move a muscle of his body. He stared at his noddles for a minute straight, not even breathing. Then, he opened his mouth.

"Can you talk to her, please?" he asked.

"Come on, Christopher, you're overreacting." I said as he was still looking to his noddles.

"I guess, but" – he raised his head – "can you still talk to her?"

"Ok, ok, I will," I said as I took the last sip of my soup. Damn I was hungry.

"I think I'll go with him," said Angela as I saw she was looking through the window at the woman.

I stood up as I finished the soup and put down the spoon. I saw Angela doing the same with her coffee. She said, "Let's go."

I nodded, and led the way to the door, minding my steps to not break the trance that it was Christopher, but I stopped in front of the door. I looked through the window, and saw that the woman, the pinky woman, was still looking at my friend with a unalterable smile. It was something... scary. It gave me a chill to had looked her.

"Rick, are you alright?" Angela asked me as she put a hand on my shoulder. "You shivered."

"It's nothing." I looked away and turned around. "But... how do we talk to her, Angela? I mean, this never happened to me before, to see my friend like this." I gave a movement with my head to point my friend, to back up what I say. "Like I said, I didn't really believe what he said about making her angry just because of that, but, if that really went like he said, I... don't know what to do, or say, or ask, or" – I started to talk more frantic and frantic as I tried to found and answer – “ even think! I don't-”

But I couldn't finish my little rant. Angela had placed her hand in front of me.

She put it down after a moment. "And like you said when I was talking you out there, just talk." She smiled. She gave me a hand. She did the same thing I did to her.

I relaxed, and dropped my shoulders. "Thank... you."

Why did she comfort me like... that?

"It's nothing." She said as I led my gaze, again, to the window. The woman was still there, but, my friend, was looking us with a terrifying face. He knew that she was there but he still was reluctant to look behind his back where her "friend" was.

"Let's go." I opened the door and stepped out while Angela followed me.

“Let's talk to her.”

I got closer to the woman that was, literally, pressing her face to the window, with a wide grin.

"Emm, miss, can we talk to you?" I touched her arm. I blinked twice, and she was already in front of us with a wide smile.

"Oh sorry, sorry sorry sorry! I didn't know that you were there!" She shook my hand with a firm grip. "My name's Felicity!" she screamed while she brought up her arms to the air, and making a little jump. “Ouh ouh ouh.”

She didn't notice that she was still holding my hand, so when she leapt she got me really close to her. So close that I hit my nose with her head. I released myself from the grip, and brought both hands to my nose. I went back to where it was Angela.

"Are you okay?" Angela asked me as she looked my nose. Or at least she tried, since I was covering it with both hands.

"Yeah, I'm okay, it just hurts." As I answered my voice got a little whimpered.

"Are you crying?" she asked me. I felt that through my hands something watery was going through.

"It's nothing, don't wo-worry." I turned around, and saw that Felicity was whimpering.

She threw her arms around me, and hug me tightly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have done that!"

"Ok, ok, I'm ok." I tried to get out of her hug, but it was something impossible to do. "Angela, please help me..." I said as my voice went out as a yelped.

"Ehem." Angela cleared her throat. "Excuse me, miss, but can you, please... em... un-hug my friend?"

"Yes, please..." I also said, barely.

She released me from that tight hug. I breathed and tried to catch as much air as I could.

I was stunned by how that woman was behaving. I felt that Angela went to my side, and looked me with a quizzical face. It seems that the both of us didn't expect this.

She recovered in no time from the whimpering, and now she was with both hands on her back and a smile on her face. “So... what are your names?” she asked.

I said, "Well, my name is-"

"Rick Bach," She her tongue out, "isn't that right?"

"How did you..."

"You silly boy, I already knew it!"

Wait what, what wait?

"What?" I babbled. "But how?" She put one hand on her chin, and made a thinking face. Then, she beamed with a smile.

"Your friend told me, obviously!" she said as she pointed to the window. I led my gaze were the finger was pointing, and saw my friend looking me with a frightened face. A face of utterly terror. He said some words, but I couldn't catch it because I was outside.

I heard a voice behind me, and it wasn't brighten with a beautiful tone. "So... you are the one who made my brother go away, running from you?”

I turned around, and saw Angela with a frown, almost spitting venom to Felicity. But Felicity didn't seem notice this. She was with a smile on her face.

"What did you do to my brother?" Angela asked.

"I don't really know what you are talking about -wait –“ she made a pause, “–  ooohh!" and gasped. "Is my friend your brother?"

"Well, yes, he is my brother, and I'm worried about him. I'm worried because you –“ Angela pointed to Felicity. “– screamed at him.”

"Really?"

Angela glared her and blunty said, “Yes.” I cringed at the tone of her voice.

“Reeeally?” Felicity innocently asked again, and, from my point of view, not noting Angela's mood.

I heard Angela take a deep breath. “Let me ask you this: what did you do a few nights ago with Christopher?”

"Oh oh oh! I remember! I invited him to a rave party a few days ago. We went to that party and I encouraged him to drink something, since he seemed to be a bit bored. He did it, but after a while he said that he didn't want to be there. I said that he had to be there, with me, since he promised me even if I asked him. Nevertheless, we passed a really good time!" she said with a cheerful voice.

"Wait... didn't you get angry with him because he broke a promise with you?" Angela asked, lowering her voice.

"Well... maybe a little, but just a little." Felicity said with a smile, while she looked directly to Angela.

"Did you yell at him?" Angela asked with the same tone.

"Em... no?"

"Really? Because that was what he told me."

"Well..." She looked around, not trying to look at Angela's eyes. "I may had screamed, but it was nothing.”

"Really?" Angela said with a deadpanned face. She pointed to Christopher and said, "Is that a face of someone who was screamed a little?”

Felicity looked to Christopher for a moment, who still had a scared face, one of utterly terror, and then she made a face that it made me feel sad. It was one of... repentance, guiltiness. Sadness, overall.

"I-I-I... didn't want to yell him. That's how I am when I am, I am..." She dropped her head. "I went here to find him since I found you talking with him, walking through town a days ago. I passed just and hour ago through this street, and I found you talking with Rick, so I thought that Christopher was with you. It was a hunch. And I was right. And... I came here because I want to apologize with Christopher. I didn't-didn't want to make him scared, I never wanted that. I'm sorry." Felicity sneezed a few times as she looked up. She had watery eyes.

I saw that Angela made a confused face as she tried to say something, but I talked first.

"Felicity," I said to catch her attention.

"Wh-what?" She muttered.

"If you really want to apologize him, and if you really mean it, you can do it. But, please, don't do it again, at least not to Christopher." And idea passed through my head. "And I want you to promise it, alright?"

"Ok." She took a deep breath. "I promise that I will never make him feel bad because of a broken promise."

I smiled. I knew that she wouldn't break that promise. A hunch that I felt. "I think you can go." I pointed with my hand to the window, and approached it as I still looked at Felicity.

"Thanks." She smiled me, passed through my side, through the restaurant, and went to Christopher, who still was looking her with a frightened expression. Felicity opened her arms, and threw them around Christopher, while she made a leapt. From where I was, I could see her face.

She was happy.

Christopher almost tripped with a chair, and that made him wander for a while, while he was still holding Felicity. He couldn't hold her enough, so he fell on his back. Felicity fell with him too, but she was on top of him.

"I think I have to apologize, too." I heard Angela say. She went by my side, and looked to her brother.

"Why? Because the way you treated her?"

She looked at me and nodded. "I think I was too... stern, with her, since she made my brother feel... like he felt." I think she zoomed out for a moment, and then she cracked a smile. "I think that's great that my brother has someone who is her friend. Someone who he can trust."

"You are his friend, too, Angela."

She put a thoughtful face. "I think you're right."

"You cared for him more than I do every day, even if I saw you interact with him a few hours."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"It's nothing." She chuckled.

We didn't say a word after that. We saw that Felicity was now sitting on a chair, while Christopher was cleaning himself . She was saying something, maybe apologizing from what she did.

"Can I ask you something, Angela?" I said. She gave me a odd look. "Why did you help me like... a friend, when I was nervous before talking to Felicity?"

"Well, when you helped me when we were here, a few hours ago, when I started to... talk about my problem, you lend me a hand. So, naturally, I did the same with you. That's the reason." She smiled. "I think that makes you my friend."

I smiled. I never thought she would give me an answer like that. I just met her today. And now, she just said that she was a friend. My friend.

"Rick, can you help me?" she asked me.

"Of course," I said.

"Can you give me a hand when I try to apologize with Felicity?"

"Yes, I can, but I can't see why you would need my help."

"Just in case I'm lost of words. It can happen."

"Ok," I said.

I waited for a moment to think about something to say when I heard the door of the restaurant open. I turned around, and saw that Christopher and Felicity were outside.

I heard Angela gulp, and gave her a pat on her shoulder and whispered, "It's okay."

She nodded, and we heard Christopher laughing as he approached us.

The first thing he did was give a hug to Angela, and then shook my hand, while he said thanks to both of us. I chuckled.

"It's... nothing, Christopher," I answered

"But you improved my mood with what you did."

Felicity appeared behind Christopher. "You did the same with me!"

"It was something that I had to do, help you, I guess," I said as I rubbed the back of my head.

"I can say the same." Angela smiled.

"And you know what? I'm going to pay for the food, Rick." Christopher put a hand on my left shoulder. "Don't worry."

I grinned. "Thanks."

"So, Felicity, did you have lunch?" He turned around and asked.

She rubbed her stomach, and it started to made a sound. She made an apologetic smile. "Em... no?"

"Don't worry. I invite you something. And –" He turned around, went a few steps back, and smiled. " – I want you to give you a dessert, ok?" He pointed to Angela and me, and smiled. The biggest smiled that I saw him make.

It seems that I really improved his mood. I mean, we.

"Come on, get in!" He said as he trotted to the restaurant, and sit on the table that we were in just a few seconds, looking to us. He motioned us to sit him.

"Well, shall we go?" I said to both girls.

Angela nodded, and Felicity was already heading to the table. I didn't see her leaving, actually.

"I didn't see her move," I said.

"Me neither," Angela retorted.

I stood there for a few seconds, trying to understand how Felicity moved. Then, something crossed my mind. "You didn't apologize to her, Angela."

"I don't think that there has been a moment for that."

"Well..." I said and went to the door of the restaurant. "I think that you want a dessert, don't you?" I smiled as I led my gaze to her.

"You want a dessert, too, haha," She said as she went in.

I smiled and went in. I saw that Christopher was talking with the waiter while Felicity was seeing the menu.

I zoomed out for a moment as I saw Angela and Felicity.

They look... alike to something. I don't know what...

"Hey, Rick, come here!" Felicity said as I tried to remember to what they were alike.

Meh, maybe later.

...

"Thanks for the meeting, Rick. I'll see you soon!" said Felicity as she waved me. She was with Christopher and Angela at the front of my department's building.

"Okay, see you soon!" I said as I opened the door of the building.

I went up the stairs of the building, since I couldn't use the elevator because it was in "reparations" since a month a go. I reached the third floor, and pulled off my keys to open the door of my apartment. I opened the door and went in as I closed the door in one motion. I raised my wrist to see my watch.

"7:30," I said as I went to the kitchen to prepare myself a snack for the evening.

I opened the fridge, brought out a cereal box and a box of milk.

Wait, why did I put the cereal in the fridge?

...

Never mind.

I prepared the snack, and brought it to the table of the living room. I ate it in just a few minutes. I was really hungry since I talked with my friends like... for hours. I recalled what just happened, by remembering what we talked.

I know that we talked about university: Angela is doing a major on something related to the field of science, and that Felicity is studying cooking in a University near my apartment.

"I can already see Felicity here, inside my apartment, inviting me to a party." I said to myself and laughed as I recreated the scene in my head.

Also, I knew, from what Christopher said as a comment, that Angela is going to spent all her whole holiday here, with Christopher. I think she said she is going to stay here like 2 months and something more.

We mostly just talked about ourselves and what we do, and what we think about trivial things, like the weather, the news, odds things that had happened to us, etc.

I exhaled, and leaved the dirty dish in the sink of the kitchen. I went to my bathroom, and started to wear off my clothes. I went in the shower. It was cold, but it didn't matter, I just wanted to clean myself. I tried to relax my muscles as I felt the water pass on my skin, but it was too cold. I tried to level the cold water with the hot one, but I couldn't. I was only getting cold water. I stood there, washing myself with a freezing temperature until an image came to my head.

"The plushies," I muttered as I went out the shower and dried myself.

"Are they really... real? I mean, are the REALLY real?" I said as I put on my clothes. I went to my bedroom, and opened the wardrobe.

The plushies were there, scattered  around. As I saw every plushie, two got my attention. The pinkie one with a very curly mane, and one with diverse shades of purple. I grabbed them, and put them on my bed. I sit down on my bed, and started to think about something. They gave me a strange sense of nostalgia... if I had seen those plushies before, but on another place.

Then, it hit me. It really hit me, in that moment.

"No, no no no, it can't be." I said to myself as I stood up and leaned against the nearby wall, wondering if I had gone mad. "I mean, no, they... how can a dream be real, and how a princess relayed on me a task like that? A princess pony?!"

I recalled where I had seen those plushies. I knew that I saw them. I talked to them, I made physical contact with them, and one of them called me a friend. Those plushies, are those girls. Those girls, Angela and Felicity, are ponies. Ponies!

"Am I crazy?" I said to no one, still trying to figure out if those ponies are real, if these plushies, in another place that it's not here, really existed, and then disappeared, as Luna said...

I have to relax.

I went out my bedroom. I tried to relax. I tried to think about something else. My studies, psychology, about the test I had to do in three days more. But even then, even if I tried to leave out the topic of the plushies out of my mind, it was still there. I was still tying to comprehend everything.

Then, something grabbed my attention as I walked through my apartment. The cello. The only thing  that can relax me, no matter what occasion occurs. Right now, playing the cello was the solution to my problem. It didn't really solve it, but at least I would forget about it for an hour.

"I have to relax."

I grabbed the cello, put on the music stand the score of Bach's Suite in G minor, I put a little of resin to the bow, and started to play. I didn't even tune it. I just wanted to play the cello. I just wanted to let me take for the music. I just wanted to feel the pressure of the strings as I passed through the positions, to feel the bow on the strings, to feel my fingers touch the neck of the cello.

I closed my eyes. I just wanted to feel the music. And that's what I did.

...

After I don't know how many hours of playing the cello, I dropped the bow. I couldn't feel my right arm, and, after a second, the pain flourished, surrounding my whole right arm.

I hadn't have played the cello like that for 3 months, and in that moment I felt what it can do to my arm to play that long without practicing for that time.

I led my gaze to the window of my living room. It was obscure outside. It was already night.

"What time is it?" I raised my wrist, and saw the watch.

"11:30. What?" I said as I couldn't believe that I played for almost 4 hours without stopping. And also because it was getting too late.

I put down the cello, grabbed the score and put it away. I got up, and started to do everything that I do before going to my bedroom to sleep: make myself dinner, clean the dirty dishes, brush my teeth and then going to bed. It's a routine that I always do.

I prepared myself a beef with smashed potatoes. It wasn't the greatest dish, but at least I had food. I eat it. Then I cleaned the dirty dishes, that it wasn't little in amount and brushed my teeth.

But when I was going to bed, I saw that the two plushies that I had brought out earlier from the wardrobe were standing still on my bed. It was like they were laughing at me.

But I knew what to do with them. I grabbed them, and put them inside my wardrobe, in just a few seconds. I wore off my clothes, and got in my bed, not trying to think about the plushies, just trying to fool myself, at least for a night, that the didn't exist.

I felt my body too tired as I touched the soft bed sheet, and fell sleep in no time.