running on half a tank

SB and I got in a doozy of a fight for no good reason. The night began on a low note because I had worked until midnight the night before and left the office tired and hungry at about 8:30. SB's phone was running low on battery so we quickly ended the conversation and agreed to meet in the atrium of Times Square. I arrived a few minutes later and proceeded to wait. And wait and wait. I tried to phone him but the calls went straight to voicemail. Twenty minutes into the wait, I started venturing out to the escalators to see if I could spot him coming from the subway. thirty minutes later I was really, really hungry and sweating profusely in the humidity and heat. Forty minutes later I stomped down to the plaza and found him wandering about.

He was also furious. He had been waiting there almost as long as I was in the atrium. He didn't know the difference between an atrium and a plaza. The river of sweat pouring down my back distracted me from attempting to be understanding. "It doesn't matter; I looked out here for you also." He replied, "were you looking with your eyes?"

That did it. I accused him of belittling me every time we have a disagreement and he went on about my vision impairment. It ended with me telling him to go find dinner alone because I was going to the food court by myself. And then I stomped off.

A few minutes later I really began to feel rotten. SB and I had not fought in many months and this argument made me feel physically ill. I ran back upstairs from the food court but he was already gone. Not knowing what to do but no longer hungry I boarded the tram to Happy Valley thinking that maybe he went home. As the tram went by Leighton Road I looked up and saw him walking in the direction of Wanchai. My heart sank as I realized that he was not looking for me but was probably going to find some dinner. But then I realized that it didn't matter because I wanted to make amends regardless. Unfortunately I took too long to chase after him and the tram had started moving so I was unable to disembark. I could only stare sadly at him as the tram crawled away.

I wanted to call out his name but didn't. Instead I went home and waited.

He arrived 20-30 minutes later. He was surprised to see me. When I told him that I had passed him on the tram he told me that he had started to walk home and realized that he didn't want to be without me so he turned around and went back to the food court. After not finding me there he went home in defeat.

"Let's never fight again," I squeaked.

"Done," he said. And then he shared his dinner with me. That is no small thing.

Comments

Jennifer W said…
I'm glad you've found someone you'd rather go home to, even when maybe you'd rather not. :)