Fight

I don't know what my problem was yesterday. I got home from work and settled in at the computer, all ready to rip some .avis, but first I had to clear off some hard drive space. So I was juggling DVDs, shifting anime onto them, and while I was doing that Sean was talking to me about Macross and Asian politics. And I don't know what my deal was, but I just couldn't get interested in anything he was saying. In fact, I found myself getting more and more irritated that he kept plunking out these seemingly random facts. It was obvious that he was surfing around and telling me about what he was seeing, but for some reason that annoyed the hell out of me. I don't know, we do this to each other a fair amount, so it shouldn't have been that big a deal. Maybe I was just stressed out because I have a stupid, busy work paper due on Thursday--not that I was working on it. But whatever the reason, I really don't have an excuse. I ended up just not responding to anything he said. Each comment made me more and more annoyed. Finally he said something like "Well, you're AFK or something, so I'm going to go get lunch." I responded, likely after he was already gone, "k. I'm going to take a nap." And then I logged off.

Guiltily, I must admit that not being signed on was a relief to me. I finished off my backups and did finally fall into bed. I slept soundly until around 7:45 pm, and then I woke up, startled that I'd slept so long, and logged back on.

"Sorry about earlier. I was irritated for no reason," I said to Sean.

"I'm pretty annoyed. I guess it's something about today," he responded.

That was my first clue that I'd hurt his feelings, but it really shouldn't have been.

I mean, come on. I basically ignored him, and then took my first opportunity to leave while he was AFK, leaving him a terse note. You don't treat your fiance like that. What was I on?

We had a few things to say to each other after that, nothing big and monumental, and then at around 10:30 I wanted to go back to bed to rest up for my shift this morning. I first asked, "When are you going to bed?" When he didn't respond, I asked "Are you there?" Upon his affirmation, I said "I'm about ready for bed."

His response? "Okay. Night."

See, we have this thing. He calls me every night. Unlimited minutes after 9 on weeknights, and all day on weekends. We go to bed with each other. We've done it for months now, maybe longer than that. I find that at night I have a hard time falling asleep without him. His presence is calming to me, and it makes me feel secure and safe to be all sleepy on the phone with him. The fact that he wasn't going to call, and didn't express any sadness over that, told me that something was greatly amiss.

"You're not going to call?" The question had barely left my fingers when I followed up with "Are you still mad?"

"I'm working on a post."

"Oh."

"And yes, I'm still pissed."

"Oh. :("

I still wanted to talk to him, so I tried to justify what I'd done, or at least let him into my head a little more. I basically said something stupid like "I read what you wrote, I just wasn't interested in any of it." Yeah, that was about the gist. Good job, Heather; 10.0 :P

Sean responded, "You're making it easy for me to stay angry."

":/ I don't want to make you stay angry," I said. "We'll talk later, okay? Because you're busy?"

"Yeah."

I hate it when he's so curt and short with me. When he's closed himself off completely. It shows that at that moment, he doesn't feel that he can trust me with his feelings. And he had every right to feel that way. I'd treated him so badly.

So finally I wrote "Good night, sweetie. I love you." Then I logged off without giving him time to respond, because I knew he wouldn't say "I love you" back. Or at least, I assumed that. I didn't want to see a simple "Night." That would have been too much.

I got ready for bed, but found myself restless. I snuck back online, to the AMRN IRC channel (#amrn on irc.freenode.net), and opened a private window to Kevin. "Today sucks," I said, or something to that nature. "HF's mad at me."

I went on to explain the problem and how it was all my fault. "He has a right," I said. "I just don't like it :P" Talking to Kevin about it helped a little...but not really. When things aren't right with someone you really can't solve it by talking to someone else. I wound up crawling into bed resolved to call Sean and at least tell him that I was sorry again, since I hadn't reiterated that during my moment of stupidity. I wanted to hear the sound of his voice, at least.

The phone rang three times, and then his voice mail picked up. I hit "1" to avoid hearing his recorded message. I wanted the real Sean. "Hi, sweetie," I said after the beep. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I shouldn't have treated you like that. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you. Night."

It still wasn't good enough...but I didn't want to bother him by calling back. I hung up, turned out the light, and lay there flat on my back under the covers, eyes closed, trying to fall asleep. My mind was full, and I couldn't get comfortable. As I curled into the fetal position, all I could hear in my head was maybe he'll call back maybe he'll call back maybe he'll call back...

If he did, I don't remember.

Being stuck in limbo like this is some of the worst pain I've ever experienced. I hate having him mad at me. I hate being the one who's hurt him. Limbo is a cycle of despair. I need resolution.

I told Kevin that I was confident that things would work out. And they will, I'm sure. There is only a tiny doubt in my mind, and that's enough to add to my misery, but on the whole I know that I love Sean and he loves me, and we'll work through this and become stronger together. But the interim! The interim is what kills me.

Hopefully I'll see him soon.