After assuring Pearl I still have a good amount of lube and don’t want any more toys for the time being, we choose to move on and browse a little bit. We stay in the back for a while and converse about all kinds of accessories we come across, both seriously and jokingly.

“How about this,” she prompts, then proceeds to admire something embarrassingly kinky like a saddle or mouth bit. I couldn’t imagine myself or anyone I knew wearing something like that in public, let alone in bed with somepony.

I chuckle and instruct her to replace the object. Whether or not she obliges will determine whether or not I play along. She occasionally finds something to be that much more entertaining and so goes on with it a while longer. One item in particular was like any ordinary rubber phallus, only attached to long leather belts. She showed me the toy, and upon seeing my confused face went ahead and demonstrated just how it was to be used: strapped around a mare’s pelvis to imitate a naturally erect penis.

Seeing it waggle about between her hind legs made me laugh with embarrassment, backing up and covering my blushing face while she rotated her hips to make it bounce wildly. “I don’t get how you stallions can handle this,” she griped. “Seems like it would get annoying real fast.”

I shake my head, still laughing quietly. “It’s not constantly erect, you numbskull. Will you please put it back?”

“Who knows? If you don’t get a boyfriend, you could probably convince me to use this thing on you.”

I cover my face again, pushing my glasses far up onto my forehead. Oh, and yes I went ahead and spent a good portion of my savings to replace my glasses after my incident. I’ve been saving up for a while, and a “good portion” still isn’t even half of my savings.

“I hope not,” a voice came from my right. It sounded familiar…

I uncover my eyes, but my vision is still blurry. “Why’s that?” Pearl asks while I straighten my glasses.

I still don’t recognize the stallion, but that voice is definitely familiar. I listen more closely, straightening my back while he comes closer. “His butt’s way too tight.”

I raise an eyebrow at the stranger, and Pearl speaks up for me. “And how would you know?” Seriously?

“Trust me,” he winks at me. “I’ve massaged a lot of butts in my days, but I couldn’t forget yours.”

My masseuse? How long has it been since I’ve actually been to that salon? How could he possibly remember me? And what were the odds of seeing him here? I grow even redder. He laughs, quietly and reserved. Dammit, it’s adorable.

“All right, mister,” Pearl breaks the tension, “what’s the big idea? You stalking him? Is his backside so memorable you couldn’t get enough?”

He laughs quietly again, “No, nothing like that.” He rubs the back of his neck, embarrassed. “To be honest, it’s been a bit of a dry spell.” I notice the bag hanging on his side and something cylindrical resting inside. It wasn’t quite the same as a dildo…

“Girlfriend not putting out?” Pearl suggests. Is that it? Is the toy he has something he can penetrate?

“Well, no, not exactly…”

“Boyfriend?” I find myself saying. The thought suddenly comes back that he had given his number to Stitches.

“Actually, still no. I’m single right now,” he admits. My eyebrows elevate slightly at that.

“Ah, lonely love,” Pearl nudges.

“I guess,” he sighs. “I noticed you and felt like talking, lonely hearts and all that.” He looks at me… longingly? “How are you doing? I don’t think I caught your name, by the way, I’m Peppermint Wisp, but you can call me Pepper.”

I shake his hoof, “Timber. Still single, too. Did it not work out with Stitches?”

He looks at me quizzically. Then, “Oh the other stallion, from the salon? Well, I don’t know. He never called me.”

Lightning strikes me: What could that possibly mean? I guess it makes sense; Stitches had made it pretty clear he wasn’t really gay, just a little confused. Hadn’t he?

“Come to think of it, I have seen him though,” Peppermint recalls. My eyes darting between his, waiting for something. An explanation I guess, but for what? “He showed up to the salon a week or so ago, just spent some time getting a haircut and a steam.”

Pearl grumbles something like “How dare he go without me,” but I’m still listening intently to Peppermint.

“He recognized me first, stopped me in the changing room… Wanted to know if you’d called, actually.”

I’m speechless. Peppermint seems lost in thought, possibly reminiscing the conversation with Stitches.

“He seemed really worried about you… Wouldn’t say why.”

My eyes drop. I think I start seeing spots, my eyes are darting back and forth as my thoughts travel at the speed of sound within my skull. Am I shaking? “I was in the hospital.”

“Is everything alright?” Peppermint asked.

Dammit…

“It’s a pretty sensitive topic,” I hear Pearl explain. “I think we’d better go. It was nice seeing you.”

Pearl leads me out. At some point I hear her apologize to someone, accusing her of stealing. She fumbles around, gives something to the cashier who was working. It was the toy she was wearing. But, wasn’t there something else we got while we were here?

“Wait,” I stop her just outside the door. “I didn’t pay for the plug.”

“That’s ok,” Pearl reassures me. “We’ll come back another time.”

I want to argue with her. Nothing about what just happened should be jading me like this. Sure it was a little confusing that Stitches didn’t take Peppermint’s offer, but the only reason he seemed worried about me was because of what I had done. I was unconscious for days, in the hospital for weeks. That’s right… they kept me there for a while. They were worried about my mental health. They didn’t want to let me go, in case I was still a danger to myself. I put on the biggest act of my life to get them to believe I was healthy enough to leave.

I gave Stitches permission he didn’t need to call Peppermint instead of me. Why hadn’t he? Stitches was the one who found the masseuse attractive. So what if I was the one he had his hooves all over?

“You okay?” Pearl asks. We were standing on the sidewalk outside the store. I don’t know if she had been trying to get me to walk, or just leaving me to think.

I nod, then lock eyes with her. “Do you know Stitches’ phone number?”

“Uhh, yes but…”

I don’t let her finish before turning quickly and going back inside. I look around for Peppermint for a second, finding him quickly. He’s at the counter, checking out. “Peppermint?”

“Oh, yes?” He looks at me while the cashier filly bags his items. I didn’t bother looking at what they were.

“I don’t know how you feel about Stitches, or about me, but Stitches is a good friend of mine and he’s lonely too so…” I glance at Pearl, stepping up beside me, then nudge her, “give him a call, please?”

Pearl makes a gasping sound, then asks the cashier for a pen and paper.

“A-are you sure?” Peppermint stumbles.

I look down, “Honestly, no. He and I… well we’re at a rough place, but he needs somepony. Somepony new to take care of him. He thinks what he wants is somepony to take care of, but… I don’t think that’s true, otherwise—” I wanted to say “otherwise he’d want me,” but stop myself. “He needs something balanced, a relationship where he can give and get at the same… the same ratio, I guess.” That’s why he can’t have me. I can’t give back as much as he can. Why was this all becoming so obvious suddenly?

Pearl puts the paper with Stitches’ number in Peppermint’s bag.

“Just, take it slow. He might still be… uneasy, but I’ll let him tell you everything in his own time. Give him the chance…” (The chance I couldn’t.) Exactly.

“Well,” he’s still thinking it over. I’m begging him with my eyes. “Ok, if you say so.”

It’s a crude way of agreeing, but that’s just his passive personality. At least he agreed.

We part ways, I buy the plug and Pearl and I make our way back to my apartment.

After a few blocks, Pearl finally speaks up, “That was… something.” I just nod. “Where’d it all come from? I mean, I didn’t think you had it all figured out.”

(I didn’t.) “I didn’t.” Wait, what?

“Then, is that really how fast your mind works?”

“What…?”

“Well, after you started spacing out, I took you outside… We barely left for like, ten seconds before you ran back in and started spouting all that off to Peppermint. Did you seriously figure all that out in those few seconds outside?”

(More like as he was saying it.)

Damn you, Aura.