Strawberries On Top

🍓THREE🍓

"Did you bring the cookies?" 

"Cookies?" Strawberry stared blankly at Custard and then remembered their conversation from earlier. "Oh, right.. your cookies. I forgot."

"Looks like you forgot everything, even the wagon." She watched as Strawberry ran inside of the house and threw her back against the front door whilst she tried to regain all of the oxygen she had lost. "Are you alright?" 

"I don't know.." She answered Custard as truthfully as she could.

Custard tilted her head at the girl. "Did something happen while at Cookie Corner? It's not like you to run back here, especially without the wagon." 

"Huck.. he.." Strawberry did her very best to calm her breathing before she told her cat exactly what was running through her head. "Ginger Snap told Huck her feelings for him. He rejected her in the worst way.." 

"What do you mean?" 

Strawberry took another deep breath. "He told her he didn't like her back, because he loves me." 

"Strawberry.." Custard let out a little chuckle. "Everyone here loves you; I don't see why it's giving you a panic attack." 

"He.. loves me loves me.. as in more than his best friend."

"Oh." Custard wasn't the least bit shocked at the revelation. She saw how Huck would look at the girl while she talked, how he would blush every so often after seeing her, and how he would drop everything just to spend the day with her. It was those little indications that made Custard understand that he was becoming smitten with her. And she noticed those feelings grow when they participated in the play they did together. Still, Strawberry should be happy about him.. and the pink feline was confused as to why the girl reacted the way she did. "So, he admits in having a romantic interest in you. What exactly is the problem?" 

"I don't know, Custard.." Strawberry sighed in frustration before she pushed herself off of her front door. She sat down on the sofa in the living room, running frantic hands through her hair. "It's just... it's weird for him to see me as more than his best friend." 

"What's so weird about it? Things like this happen all the time, even you know that. It was only a matter of time before something changed, whether it was within him or within you." 

"It doesn't even matter. He can't see me as more, and I can't see him as more." 

"Can't, or won't?" 

"I don't know!" Strawberry hid her face in her hands in defeat. Custard took it upon herself and jumped on the teenage girl's lap, whilst purring. 

"This isn't something you can run away from. There is no denying that you and Huck have a great bond, but you can't sit on this couch and pretend you didn't see this coming." Strawberry let out a defeated sigh. "I know it's confusing, and a lot to take in, but I promise you.. you have no reason to be afraid."

Strawberry ran her hands through her hair once more and rubbed the cat gently on her back. "I don't know what to do.. or how to feel."

"Well.. if you feel the same way he does, then tell him. And if you don't, tell him." Custard stated in a rather confident tone. "Tell him everything when you're ready."