"Okay mama. I love you too. Bye bye."
Miranda lay her phone on her stomach as she grabbed her remote from beside her and pressed play on the show she was watching. Her mother had called for their weekly check in call while she was watching reruns of Sex In The City. She loved those weekly calls but today had been a rough day.
She had locked her car keys in her car when she got to work, a surgery that she had performed many many times had somehow gone haywire, her period came on that morning, she missed breakfast, and on top of that her and Ben had gotten into an argument. The argument was petty she had to admit, and she knew it was her fault which upset her even more.
Ben had walked up behind Miranda and wrapped his arms around her while she stood in the hospital hallway entering in a patients information on the computer. It had been a sweet and innocent gesture, but Miranda was so wound up she shrugged her shoulders and slipped out of his grasp. Ben stepped back and tried to mask the hurt that flashed across his face.
"Hey. Everything okay?"
"Yeah."
"Then why did you do that?"
"Because we're at work Benjamin."
"Benjamin."
"Yes," the sharpness in her voice causing Ben to stare at her for a brief second and then turn and walk away.
She sighed as she hung her head. Why did she do that? She should've just talked to him and told him about her shitty day, but instead she blew up at him. Now he was in a shitty mood.
Ben avoided Miranda for the rest of the day. Usually they would eat lunch together, or if he wasn't busy he would stop by and check on her. She knew she had hurt his feelings pretty bad. So here she was, moping around on her couch, stuffing her face with ice cream and watching tv. She had debated with herself on whether she should call him or not. Knowing he wasn't going to call her, and knowing she shouldn't expect him to, she sucked up her pride and grabbed her phone again.
By the third ring she was about to hang up until she heard a firm "Hello?"
Miranda sat up a bit and fiddled with the frayed ends of her favorite couch blanket.
"Hey Ben," she rolled her eyes at how pathetic she sounded.
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Everything's fine. I just... I um...*sigh*... I'm sorry Ben. For how I acted, for shutting you out, and blowing up at you. Today just hasn't been my day, and I know it wasn't right of me to take it out on you. I should've just talked to you about it like I wanted to, but I guess I just built up a wall. I'm sorry."
After a short pause where Miranda's anxiety slowly began to climax and Ben was appreciating the apology, he finally cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry your day wasn't good. Tell me about it, if you want to of course."
Miranda smiled and relaxed back into her couch as she started to tell him about her day. She sometimes still couldn't believe how patient this man was with her. She thanked God for him everyday and she knew that if she wanted to keep him she had to do better with her communication skills, because everybody had their breaking point.
So while Miranda talked about her day and Ben listened attentively, occasionally throwing in a hum of agreement or giving feedback every now and then, Ben was waiting for the right time to ask her to meet his parents. Even though they had been together a few months, their schedules would never correspond to where Miranda could be formally introduced.
