A Search For Something More

Chapter 4: Octavia's Concert

Finally, it's Saturday.

True to my word, I have been staying in bed and letting my leg rest apart from showering and grabbing breakfast. For the past couple of hours, I have been playing Civilization 5 on my laptop online with Soarin and Caramel and talking to them via headset.

"So we exchanged numbers, and then she kissed me on the cheek before she walked home," I say, finishing telling the events of yesterday to my friends.

"Dude, that's awesome!" Soarin exclaims from the headset. "You've moved up from just asking her name. Well done, man."

"I don't know," says Caramel. "Are you sure you are okay with how she laughed at you? We know how seriously you feel about your stories."

"True, I certainly took it pretty hard when she did, I won't deny that," I say as I kept clicking the mouse to move my units in the game. "But she was sorry about it, and it sounded like we could work something out based on why she is interested in me."

"Still, that kind of sounds like a long shot. But hey, if you're happy about this thing with her so far, then I'm good with it for now."

I make a small smile at his response as I click my mouse to move my units around the map on the game. And then it hit me to ask, "Hey Caramel, I know that this is probably too soon to ask, but how are you holding up about Applejack?"

For a moment, Caramel says nothing. I stop playing for a moment, growing worried about whether or not he will say anything. After a moment, Caramel gently answers, "It still hurts. What happened the other night haunts me, to be honest. I wanted to at least talk to her for so many years, and it looked like I was finally going to do it. But the only things I said to her that night were apologies, directions to my house when she took me home, and yelling out a name that wasn't even mine, and I was otherwise stuttering, watching her friends giggle at me. Heck, I practically was shyer than Fluttershy of all people. Fluttershy! I want to go back in time and try again and say a full sentence to her without being nervous about being so close to her."

I contemplate on his words as the three of us continue playing. I began to feel guilty for making him try to talk to Applejack. I also remember how I was thinking of helping him out before Pinkie Pie yanked me to dance to 'try and impress the girls.' Maybe if she didn't, I would have been able to be his wingman and help him come out of his shell. Or perhaps Soarin could have aided him first before he made a move on Rainbow Dash. I don't know.

I hear Soarin's voice in the speakers on the headset, which snaps me out of my thoughts.

"You know, I could ask Rainbow Dash to ask her how she feels about the other night. After all, you said it yourself that she was nice about it and maybe even flattered. So maybe Dash could confirm how she felt, and we could figure out a way where you could try again."
"Really?" Caramel responds questionably. "Do you think that could work?"

"I say it's worth a try," I answer for Soarin. "If Rainbow Dash were in on this conversation, she probably would say something similar to what she told me about just going for it. Nothing wrong with trying again."

"Heh. I guess I have nothing left to lose at this point, se could give it a try," Caramel responds.

"Okay, now you pretty much sound like me," I say with a smirk.

"Meh, whatever. I can live with that for now," Caramel says jokingly.

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After a couple of hours, we finish playing Civ 5 to our heart's content. We said our "talk to you later's and logged off to do whatever else we each had planned, which in my case is just staying in bed and playing a different video game. One thing you can never get enough of is the many ways to relax after putting up with five days of high school. The only downside is there's so much to do in very little time. Hmmm. Now that I think about it, I wonder what Octavia does on her weekends.