A Reaction To Make You Fall Out Of Your Chair

(A high school classmate is hosting a party, and I’m one of the first people to arrive. When I go to the balcony, I notice a broken chair around a corner.)

Host: *noticing me look at the chair* “I broke that one earlier, by mistake. It’s pretty old. I put it there to keep it out of the way.”

(Later, I was upset about something unrelated and talking about it with a friend. We went around the corner so that others wouldn’t hear. With my teenage temperament, I felt like kicking something so I kicked the broken chair. It wasn’t damaged any more but it made a noise which made another guest come to see what caused it.)

Guest #1: “What’s going on here?” *seeing me upset, standing over a broken chair* “Wait, did you just break this chair?”

Me: “No, [Host] broke it before I was even here.”

Guest #2: *arriving a few moments later* “Hey, I heard a noise. What’s going on?”

Me: “[Host] broke the chair before I got here!”

(Guest #2 looked very confused. It only occurred to me later, after I’d calmed down, that it had sounded like I’d been upset because I hadn’t seen the chair get broken.)