Scratch One Off - Ch6

    You awaken in the most heavenly sheets you’ve ever felt, immediately wishing could’ve stayed asleep a little longer. You feel like you could sleep forever in the wonderful softness enveloping your body, but the light cutting through the window and hitting you in the face had other plans. Once you come to your senses, you realize where you are, and what you did last night. Surprisingly, Sunset is sitting up in bed next to you, flipping through her phone with a tiny smile on her face.

    Since she woke up before you. there is no doubt she knew what position you two slept in. Somehow there isn't a trace of anger on her face; quite the opposite actually. Quite the change from the last time this happened, though you are wearing pants this time around. She looks over to you now that your eyes have fluttered open. The tiny smile on her face grows into a bright, delighted grin.

    "Well look who finally woke up. I thought you might sleep all day," Sunset says, not a trace of irritation in her voice. She seems so happy the feeling actually radiates to you. You pick up a smile and roll over onto the pillow, stretching out your entire body in a new position.

    "Well in a bed like this I could sleep forever. Where did you even get these sheets? Straight from heaven itself?" you say, rubbing your cheek across the fabric affectionately.

    Sunset gives you a tiny giggle. Seeing her in the sunlight and so happy like this is refreshing; you had to find out the cause and do that more often. "I bought them from that girly fabric store beside the mall. You know, the one Rarity would always drag us to?"

    You give a playful roll of your eyes. "God, that place was so boring. They always played that smooth jazz music that looped over and over and over," you say with a groan at all the lost hours following Rarity through that place.

    Sunset laughs again. You smile even wider at the sound. "Haha, I don't think they've changed that song in three years. They have some amazing sheets and blankets though; I definitely see why it was Rarity's favorite store."

    "I've definitely got to stop by and grab some sheets sometime."

    Sunset perks up. "I can go with you if you'd like."

    "That sounds good to me."

    Sunset sets her phone down on the nightstand beside her. Her expression turns from joyous to cautious at some unknown thought. It almost hurts to see her smile leave. "Something wrong?" you ask.

    "Have you and Vinyl... been together again since the first time you met?" Sunset asks in a worried tone.

    "What do you mea-- oh," you say, pausing for a moment afterwards. For some reason you feel ashamed at the thought of admitting to what you and Vinyl did, but you can't for the life of you figure out why. You know Sunset isn't going to be mad at you for being with Vinyl; she said it herself that she needed friends like the two of you. So why do you feel like this? "The night before, we slept together... sort of."

    "Oh..." Sunset says, laying her hands in her lap and looking down. "Well as long as she makes you happy, I'm--"

    Vinyl opens Sunset's bedroom door loudly, letting it bang on the wall as she strides forward and leans on the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest and an impatient look on her face. "You losers done fucking yet? You could at least make princess here scream to add some excitement to the morning. I've been awake for like half an hour, bored as hell, waiting for you guys, and I'm all kinds of hungry," Vinyl says nonchalantly, motioning towards the two of you.

    Sunset goes stiff as a board, her face darkening in a shade of deep red. Sunset has to clear her throat before she can actually speak clearly. "You know can make your own breakfast, Vinyl," Sunset says, looking at her with the same disdain that she had a few days ago.

    "Well I didn't want you bitching at me because I messed up the perfect order of your pantry or some shit."

    Sunset narrows her eyes at Vinyl, opening her mouth to say something mean, probably. You nip that argument in the bud.

    "We'll be up in a little bit, Vinyl, just give us like five minutes."

    Vinyl shrugs, then turns around to go back into the living room. "Alright, whatever," she says as she walks out of sight.

    Sunset purses her lips and glares at the spot Vinyl was just in, a blush still bright on her face.

    You reluctantly roll out of the heavenly sheets and put your feet down on the carpet below. With a quick stretch you get up to put some more suitable clothes on. You notice Sunset still hasn't recovered from that last comment, her expression sitting somewhere between flustered and aggravated.

    "I wouldn't take her to heart this early in the morning. She's probably just cranky she didn't get her full twelve hours."

    Sunset turns to get out of bed, looking away from you. "You would know," she says in a tone just outside of friendly banter. You look to her with concern. Those two were getting along so well last night; you hate to see it fall apart so fast.

    Sunset pulls her maid outfit out of a drawer and lays it down on the bed. "I imagine we're going to be putting this to use today," Sunset says, slipping her shirt over her head.

    "You'd imagine correctly. There's still one more room to address before you have any free time," you say with a smile. Sunset playfully rolls her eyes at you. After putting on some more suitable clothing, you leave Sunset to get dressed before she gets completely naked. It isn't anything you haven't seen before, but now it didn't feel right for some reason.

    You find Vinyl in the kitchen, impatiently waiting with a scowl over Sunset's toaster.

    You lean over on the counter heading into the kitchen, giving Vinyl an amused smile. "Having some trouble?"

    "No. Three minutes is just a long time to wait. You done fucking around with her highness?" Vinyl says, jealousy clear in her voice.

    "We didn't do anything like that, Vinyl. She just let me share her bed."

    "Yeah, whatever. We going back to the apartment today?"

    "As soon as Sunset gets ready."

    Vinyl's toast pops out of the toaster, giving her a sudden smile. Finally able to satisfy her morning hunger, she dips the toast into an open tub of butter to her side, not even bothering to use a butterknife.

    Vinyl turns around to face you, her scowl replaced with a cautious smile. "So, uh, check this out. I've got a gig tomorrow night, and I thought maybe..."

    "Yeah, I'll help you bring your stuff over there."

    "Oh, they've got amps and everything at this place, I just need to bring my table." Vinyl stops for a moment and puts her hand behind her neck. "I was actually wondering if you wanted to come, you know, to check out my music and everything. I could get you in free and I might be able to convince the bartender there into some drinks for us afterwards."

    "Yeah, that sounds like fun. What about Sunset?"

    Vinyl's smile wanes slightly at the sound of her name. "What about her?"

    "Can you get her in too? I'm sure she'd love to see you on stage too."

    Vinyl crosses her arms and looks away from you. "I don't know. Another person might be pushing it."

    You shrug. "Alright, I'll pay for her then."

    "I doubt she'll really want to come. I mean, this definitely doesn't seem like her kind of thing. I'd imagine she'd rather sit in some boring concert hall and listen to lame classical music."

    You laugh to yourself at the memory of Sunset dragging you into that exact situation. "As much as I agree with you, I'm sure she's open to the idea. Besides, I'm not sure she'd be too happy about me going without her."

    "Why? She keep your balls in her purse? She wasn't with you the night you met me."

    You laugh again, but Vinyl doesn't seem nearly as amused. Her brow is furrowed and she looks more agitated than anything. Your laughter dies down, and you give Vinyl a reassuring smile instead. "No, it's nothing like that. She's my best friend; we do almost everything together. She'd be kinda hurt if I didn't at least offer for her to join us. And she usually doesn't want to come with me on my drinking ventures anyway, but this is different."

    "I'm sure some time without your leash would do you some good too," Vinyl says, not even trying to hide her jealousy.

    You give Vinyl a stern look, dropping your smile altogether. "Look, Vinyl, there's no need to be jealous of Sunset. We're just friends."

    Vinyl looks over to you and gives a condescending laugh. "Are you kidding, dude? She totally--"

    Vinyl stops mid-sentence when Sunset walks out of her room, ready for the day as a maid. She raises an eyebrow at the sudden silence between the two of you as she closes the door behind her.

    "Did I interrupt something?"

    You smile at Sunset. "No, we were just talking about Vinyl's next show. Did you want to go with us to see her?"

    Sunset smiles back at you. Vinyl however, doesn't seem quite as pleased. "Sure! I'd love to hear some of your music, Vinyl. You were awesome as the DJ at the fa--" Sunset's breath catches in her throat. You can tell she didn't want to bring up that memory for anyone. "Anyway, I'd love to come. When is it?"

    "Tomorrow night," Vinyl says quickly, with some intended venom.

    "Alright. Well I guess we'd better get back to your place and get started, huh?"

    "That'd be the plan."

    After a few minutes of getting all your stuff together and loaded up in your car, you and Vinyl drive back to your apartment, Sunset following close behind. The ride over is mostly uneventful. Vinyl seems to still be put off by the fact you want to include Sunset in your outing, but she'll have to get over it.

    Thankfully, just like Vinyl said, the smell in your apartment mostly subsided. Sunset still looks slightly sick as you walk in, but you chalk that up to bad memories. You get the girls to go about their daily cooking, then go back to the disaster of a storeroom you have. They make steady progress, but you can tell it's definitely going to take them another full day or two before they can really call it done.

    The rest of the day passes without incident. Both the girls are exhausted, but still manage to whip up some semblance of a nice dinner for you, with Sunset doing the cooking and Vinyl taking care of the dishes. Once the clock strikes six, Vinyl strips off her shoes and stockings and crashes you on the couch without too much hassle. Sunset, however, makes her way into your bathroom with some clothes she brought from home.

    Clad in a pair of jeans and a leather jacket, she walks over to your position at the counter with a hopeful smile.

    You smile back at her. "Going somewhere tonight? You know you don't have to ask my permission."

    Sunset playfully rolls her eyes at you. "Oh, shut up. I was just hoping we could go out for a walk or something. It's been a while since we've been to the park and I could use some fresh air."

    You spin out of the stool you’re sitting on, making your way towards the front door, beckoning Sunset to follow. "Sounds like fun to me. I'm tired of smelling the remnants of yesterday."

    Sunset turns a tiny bit green at the mention of that. "You and me both."

    You snag your jacket off the rack as you walk out, giving a quick goodbye to Vinyl as you leave. Surprisingly, she only gives you a half-hearted grunt and a lethargic wave from her position on the couch, instead of the jealous glare you were expecting for some reason.

    Once you and Sunset walk a few blocks away from your complex, you can feel the nip of the evening air setting in. The fall weather is just starting to subside to make way for the winter chill, and it forces your hands into your pockets for warmth.

    After ten minutes of walking, the urban skyline gives way to a much more open view of the horizon. Alongside Canterlot's suburbs and local shops sits a large park: a few acres of land untouched by the harsh asphalt of the city streets, mapped only with sidewalks and dirt walkways. Trees sparsely littered the landscape along the open expanse of grass. A sort of serene peacefulness lays over the lawn, with the only sounds echoing over it being the occasional hum of car tires on the adjacent streets. You and Sunset follow the sidewalk to your usual relaxing spot: a small pond in the center of the park.

    Sunset takes a deep breath as her eyes move across the landscape, a content smile on her face. You look over at her, unable to keep the grin off of your own face at the sight of her happiness. For some reason you really would rather watch her than the surroundings.

    "Good times, huh?" she says, still scanning the grass.

    You give her a laugh. "Depends. I remember getting into a few unnecessarily competitive games of football around here with Rainbow."

    Sunset giggles at the memory. You can't help but smile wider. "You and her just couldn't help but butt heads, could you?"

    You put on a smug smile. "Yeah, well she was just too much of a sore loser."

    Sunset raises a playful eyebrow at you. "Yeah? I don't remember you taking her winning very well either."

    "Well it's not my fault she could be such a boastful bitch sometimes."

    Sunset lets out a reminiscent chuckle and shakes her head. "She was pretty bad sometimes, wasn't she?"

    "Yeah." You sigh, thinking of all the picnics and pickup games you had with those girls in the park. "I still miss her though."

    Sunset's mood visibly drops at that statement. You wince at the idea that you caused that.

    "Me too," she says. "Though last time I talked to her, she said she was doing pretty well on the track team at her college, and she actually wasn't failing any classes either."

    "Huh," you say, surprised. "Guess she stepped it up from high school. Have you talked to any of the other girls?"

    Sunset sighs, then turns her eyes up to the sun setting across the horizon. "No... not in a few months anyway," she says, melancholy clear in her voice.

    You look over to her with some concern. "We all had to go our separate ways after high school. It's just a fact of life. It's not like you've lost any friends... they're just further away."

   The two of you stop once you reach the pond. You spend a moment looking across the smooth water, watching the orange light off of it as the sun gave out the last warmth of the day. You think about sitting down at a bench across from the sidewalk, but Sunset looks like she wants to stay right where she’s at. She also looks like she wants to say something; she had a thoughtful look in her eye as she gazed across the water with you.

    "I... I'm glad we didn't," Sunset says quietly.

    "Hmm?" you say, since the sight before you and the long stretch of silence had ended your last conversation.

    "Drift away, I mean. I'm glad we're still together," Sunset says almost nervously, keeping her eyes on the pond and her hands deep in the pockets of her leather jacket.

    You turn your head and smile at her. "Me too. I don't know what I'd do without you. I'd probably be very good at walking and be out of a lot of wallets," you say playfully, nudging her hip with your own.

    Sunset rolls her eyes at you with a smile. "I'm more than just a set of wheels and a safety net, you know."

    Sunset still stares out across the water, and you still look across her with a smile. "I know. That's just what best friends are for. If you ever actually did anything fun I'd be there to help you too."

    Sunset finally turns to face you and cocks her head. "I think your drama is quite enough for the both of us. If anything we need to get you to cut down on so much fun."

    You nudge Sunset lightly with your shoulder. "Maybe I just need some sweet suburban girl to set me on the path of righteousness, huh?"

    Sunset's cheeks flush a light red. "I-I am not some suburban girl."

    "Former pony princess student. Close enough."

    Sunset opens her mouth a few times, but nothing comes out. Her cheeks flush a darker shade of red after a few moments, and she closes her eyes tightly to try to distance herself from the feeling, you suppose.

    Your smile turns to concern at the strange display from her. "Would you rather I didn't bring that up?"

    She looks to you, a blush still plain on her face. "No! I mean, no, that's not why I... uh... how are," Sunset brings a hand up to her mouth and lets out an awkward cough, "how are you and Vinyl?"

    "If you say so. We're fine, I suppose. She's super jealous of you."

    Sunset tries to clear her throat a few more times, the blush slowly fading. "Why's that?"

    "I have no idea honestly. It's not like me and Vinyl are in a relationship or anything. She hasn't really expressed any interest in me other than the other night, and I would hardly qualify that as--"

    "The other night? When you two slept together?" Sunset cut you off, a mixture of nervousness and relief on her face.

    You raise an eyebrow at her too. What is with the girls in your life acting so weird lately? "Yeah... I mean, she just blew me," you say without thinking. You've detailed your sexual exploits to Sunset before, but now it just feels wrong for some reason. You put a hand behind your neck at Sunset's gaze. She seems extremely interested all of the sudden. "I mean, it wasn't anything romantic. I just chalked it up to Vinyl being Vinyl, you know?"

    "I, uh... I guess so," Sunset says, her tone going quiet again. She shoots her eyes back towards the pond once you look over at her. With one hand wrapped over her chest and the other towards her mouth, Sunset chews on her sleeve instinctively. She always does that when she's really nervous about something.

    "Are you alright, Sunset? You want to talk about something other than Vinyl?"

    "Yeah! Yeah I'm alright," Sunset blurts out before clearing her throat again awkwardly. "I... I just wanted to know if you were serious about Vinyl so I could..."

    You shake your head. "No, I'm not going out with Vinyl. Now chill out, Sunset. I haven't seen you this worked up since Rainbow stuck a hand down your pants and offered to sleep with you."

    Sunset took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves. "I'm alright. And did you seriously have to bring that up? I still get weirded out thinking of her fingers touching me like that."

    You let out a more hearty laugh. "She was just joking, you know?"

    "Her fingers weren't," Sunset says, shuddering at the memory.

    The two of you share a laugh for a few moments as the sun's last rays peek over the horizon. As your laughter dies down the two of you end up much closer together, brushing arms as your eyes scan across the still pool ahead of you. Even after her odd behavior, you're thankful for little moments like this with her, since you know you probably won't have her next to you forever.

    "Actually," Sunset says, breaking the silence, "there is something I wanted to talk to you about."

    Her timid tone didn't really catch your attention. You kept staring out at the water, content just to be next to her. "What's on your mind?"

    Sunset looks over at you, but you don't meet her gaze. "I..." she pauses for a few moments, alternating between looking down at the ground and back up to you. "I think I..." Sunset brings up her sleeve to chew on again.

    You turn to look at her, giving her a reassuring smile. "You think you what?"

    Sunset looks into your eyes and opens her mouth to speak, but nothing ever comes out. Instead she closes her mouth and sighs. In an instant her nervous expression is replaced with a content smile. "Nevermind," she says, sliding on of her hands underneath your arm and around your back. "It's getting cold. Stop hogging all that body heat."

    You smile down at her as she wraps her other arm around you, letting her head settle into your chest. "Sure thing, Princess," you say as you wrap your arms around her as well. You let your cheek rest on the silky strands of her hair.

    The two of you sit there in each other's embrace as the sun makes its final pass over the horizon, and even for some time after. It feels good to spend some alone time with Sunset again after recent events. You sigh, close your eyes, and let the smile extend across your cheeks. You could stay like this forever if you were able. The only thing that isn't perfect is the fast, erratic beat of Sunset's heart against you. You almost say something about it, but with a beautiful Sunset at the horizon, and another in your arms, you don't want to ruin the moment.