Music To Our Ears
The pounding bass, the driving beat echoing from a pair of expensive headphones, was the entire world to Lemon Zest as she made her way down the sidewalk. Her legs twitched and tapped a bit harder on the cement than she intended to, but the sway of her arms back and forth, and the snapping of her fingers in time to the strong beat, was all her. She smoothly slid around some older folks standing beside the road, giving a quick heel spin around them before picking right back up where she left off.
Ahead of her she saw another figure approaching, with blue hair striped in different shades, and a pair of ruby red shades perched on her nose. Lemon Zest recognized her from her time at Canterlot High during the Friendship Games... Vinyl Scratch, she remembered. They were supposed to be mortal enemies, but something about the way her head was bobbing, and her arms flowed forward through the air gave her pause. The headphones latched onto her ears were practically vibrating with energy and, strangely, Vinyl's movements matched the beat of her song.
Lemon's eyes narrowed as she approached Vinyl Scratch, and both girls began to slow. Their eyes met, but their bodies didn't stop moving. Slowly they marched around each other, each step in time with the beat blaring from Lemon's headphones. They finished a full circuit around each other, then came to a stop, but their heads continued to bob in unison. Their standoff ended after several more beats when Vinyl's left heel began tapping on the cement.
Lemon watched her knee bend with the beat for a moment before, almost unconsciously, her own heel began to tap in rhythm. The bobbing of their heads grew more pronounced with every step, and soon they were bobbing and tapping together. The grin that spread across Vinyl's lips caught her by surprise, as did the sudden jerking of her hand forward to snap Lemon's hand away from her side, yanking her closer.
Lemon slipped around Vinyl's back with their hands clenched between them, spinning around behind her. An almost helpless grin lit up her own face as her foot came down in front of Vinyl, and they began to move their bodies in unison, marching down the sidewalk together. Lemon's hand pulled at Vinyl's, and they began tugging each other back and forth as they moved. With one swift tug Lemon brought Vinyl close to her side, dipping her just past the curb as they passed an elderly couple on the sidewalk, then tugging her back, bringing her close before spinning her to the inside of the sidewalk again.
Their hands unclasped and they broke into a more energetic jog, their feet pounding the cement still in time with the beating in their headphones as they wound their way through the city. Lemon Zest had no idea where they were going now, but she quickly found that she didn't really care. Her heart was racing, and she was in no hurry to get where she was going.
Vinyl Scratch jumped over one of the benches on the sidewalk surrounding the small community park in the center of the city, slapping her hands on her knees in the air and landing in a crouch on the grass behind it. Lemon Zest grinned and clapped her hands in a fast half-beat, to which Vinyl bowed. Lemon then ran at the bench, kicking off the seat to spring off of its back with one foot, backflipping forward to the grass, where she stood with her hands snapping in time to the beat once more.
Vinyl's arms shot up, giving her the rock horns in appreciation. Moments later the two of them were taking off into the park proper, jumping the cement pathways on their way across the grass toward the stone fountain in its center.
They leapt up onto the fountain's edge and turned toward each other, their heels clicking on the stone in unison as their bodies bobbed and swayed together. Vinyl pumped her arms in front of her, lifting them over her head and bending her back over the water before letting them down, giving Lemon another grin.
Lemon Zest kicked her leg in front of her and stepped toward Vinyl aggressively, her fingers picking at the air quickly as she stepped over to her. Vinyl stepped back along the narrow fountain edge, but Lemon's steps were wider, closing the distance between them despite their rhythm remaining in perfect sync.
Lemon's hand snapped forward once she was close enough, and Vinyl raised her own hands as if to block. Their fingers intertwined between them, palm-to-palm, with their arms holding them apart. they swayed back and forth in a faux contest of strength, before suddenly Vinyl jerked their arms apart, yanking them chest-to-chest and grinning right in her face. Their legs swept back and forth across the fountain in a quick and wild dance. their hands broke their grip on each other, Vinyl's hands moving to her waist while Lemon's moved to Vinyl's shoulders.
Using each other for balance, they glided around the entire length of the fountain edge. Even when she felt her body flinging toward the water Lemon barely paid it any mind, she knew she wasn't about to get wet, and neither was Vinyl when it was her turn to spin out over the water, her hair whipping out from her head around her firmly planted headphones.
They had made several laps around the fountain when suddenly Vinyl Scratch brought them to a stop and leaned to one side, wrapping her arm around Lemon to hold her horizontal to the ground with her head dangling over the water in a low dipping motion, as Lemon's arms sprang over her head. It was there that the music finally ended, leaving Lemon Zest lying in Vinyl's arm, her chest heaving with her gasps for air, but her heart pounding in exhilaration.
Lemon looked up at Vinyl's eyes through her ruby sunglasses, seeing her lips curled into an excitable, energetic grin, and her eyes filled with energy. Lemon's hand moved up towards Vinyl's headphones, pulling one side off of her ear long enough to say one word.
"Lunch?"
Vinyl's free hand flashed a thumbs up. Lemon placed the earpiece back where it belonged, and Vinyl slung her up to her feet again, letting them both jump down from the edge of the fountain and make their way toward the sidewalk again.
Lemon Zest had to admit, though she had never met a CHS student she liked... there was a first time for everything.
