A Search For Something More

Chapter 33: Birthday Surprises

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE -"

"Sonata, stop squealing already! We get it!" Soarin ridicules as he, Caramel, and I cover our ears.

It's the school day after the date. The four of us bumped into each other in the halls on our way to meet up with the Rainbooms for lunch.

"Sorry, Soarin, I just can't believe it," Sonata exclaims excitedly. "One date later and Rough Draft and Sunset are already kissing buddies! I'm so happy right now!"

"We're not kissing buddies yet, Sonata. We just...happened to have kissed at the end of our date," I say.

"Oh come on, Rough Draft, that is such a load of crap," Caramel says. "Soarin and I saw the way you and Sunset Shimmer were looking at each other before and after the kissing. Do you expect us to believe that you two are just gonna leave it at that?"

It turned out I forgot to tell Soarin that I ended up getting the date with Sunset after all, so he and Caramel decided to visit me at my house thinking I was just gaming or writing in my room. My mom told them I wasn't there, but then I just happened to be calling her to let her know that I was at Sunset's apartment, and I needed to be picked up. My mom told Soarin and Caramel that I was there, and then Soarin told Caramel about the plan, so they decided to go with her. As you can imagine, neither they nor my mom wanted to drop it until they got some answers the moment I entered my mom's car.

"I don't know, I hope not," I admit. "I wouldn't have asked her out if I wasn't hoping something like that would happen someday, and we did say that we should go out again sometime before...that happened, but we didn't exactly plan that. I did not ask her to a movie expecting that to happen right on the first date. I was kind of expecting just a hug or a kiss on the cheek at the most like Octavia did on our first date, but then we kinda...I don't know, got drawn to it. We didn't think about what we were gonna do, it just...happened."

"Yeah, just like your first kiss with Tavi that sealed the deal with you two getting together," Soarin teases. "Except you've known Sunset Shimmer way longer than you've known Octavia, so why didn't you guys just get together right then and there?"

"Because it's too soon," I claim. "I mean, it's taken so long just for us to be friends again. Don't you think it should take more than one date to see if it would be right for us to take it further than that? Besides, you and Caramel were the ones who told me to be careful about how I felt about Octavia when I said I was falling in love with her after dating only less than two weeks. Shouldn't I do the same with Sunset?"

"I don't know, Rough Draft," Sonata says teasingly. "Two kisses on the first date does seem like there should be something more going on already, especially since she took the initiative with the second one."

"Well, there isn't," I claim. "We kissed and had a good time, but for now, that's it, okay?"

Sonata, Caramel, and Soarin look at me with disapproving looks, but then reluctantly sigh.

"Fine, we'll drop it for now," Soarin says. "But for the record, I think you're being as silly as you were when you thought she was still evil."

"Duly noted," I say. "Now come on, everyone else is waiting for us."

The three of them reluctantly comply as we make it to the cafeteria. We get in line and eventually grab our food from Granny Smith, who not so subtly gives Sonata an extra apple, much to Sonata's cute delight. We walk over to our usual table with the Rainbooms when I notice Sunset isn't there, and Rainbow Dash is smirking at me. I look at her curiously as we continue walking towards the table when it suddenly hits me.