Within you, an internal conflict is still brewing as you stand in the front room of RD's house.

In only makes sense to take up an opportunity to gain a friend; this is what you had done with a lot of your old friends back when you were younger.

Only difference is that none of them had ever been a girl before, let alone a girl like Rainbow Dash.

Though, on the other hand, it actually feels less out of place for you since it's a girl like Rainbow Dash. None of the other girls you ever knew wanted to play video games with you, not even the other ones on the sports teams from school. You not only know RD from a long time ago, but she's actually more likely to enjoy the same things you enjoy.

"Oh, hang on, I forgot to lock the door." RD heads back over to it.

Scanning the dingy wallpaper of this place's front dining room, you once again think about that glimpse of RD's bellybutton you just got, also having registered the obvious contours of her hips and chest through her clothes. And oh, are you thinking about things...

You're not used to this. Never really did pay attention to RD's body while you had been focused on avoiding and disliking her for how she had behaved around you over the years. But you and her are older now, and she looks very noticeably different than before.

"Alrighty, let's go." RD re-approaches you, facing you.

The front door's lock beeps as it is now locked with the two of you inside the house. Younger you would have been uneasy about this, being trapped in here with... that girl.

The air in here is a lot cooler than outside, though it gets a little warmer as you venture back to the kitchen and living room area with RD guiding you. And all you can think to yourself is "So this is what the inside of her house looks like" to the off-white flower wallpaper of the kitchen, while feeling as though you've gone further than you should have.

This was a day that wasn't supposed to happen, and you had always been sure that it would have meant trouble for you had RD gotten you inside of her house at some point, like you wouldn't leave without a broken limb, or at least being annoyed and/or humiliated again.

But instead, she's just standing there with a half-filled gallon of orange juice she just pulled out of the fridge, offering it to you.

"You want some? I dunno if I'll be able to finish it before my parents get more, and there's like no room in there." RD glances over into the packed refrigerator.

"Sure." You figure you could go for a quick glass of orange juice.

RD lets you pick out which size glass you want from a cabinet and pour yourself a drink. You sit down atop a tall stool at the dark granite counter top and begin sipping the orange juice down; it may be a different brand, but it tastes about the same as the orange juice brand you g-

Still standing, RD raises the entire rest of the orange juice with one hand, tilting the plastic gallon container towards herself with the opening up against her lips, letting her noticeable bicep flex as she gulps down the orange juice.

You try not to stare too long, still flabbergasted as you wonder if this is the first time she drank directly out of the container itself, or like the fifth or sixth time. You're not exactly willing to ask her about this, as to not rock the boat regarding something as nit-picky as manners (although this might be a little more than that), and simply trust that this is ~~probably~~ the first time she drake from it like that.

After a loud gulp-sigh, RD puts down the now one-third-filled gallon container she just directly chugged from and turns to face you. "I got Mario Kart if you wanna play that. Or Need For Speed."

"...Sure. One of those works." Your respond, looking down at the small glass you already drank most of the orange juice from.

"Awesome! Racing against the other players without it being an actual person isn't the same. It's not as fun."

"Cause it's too easy?"

"Bingo." RD makes a quick finger-gun gesture towards you with a friendly grin leaking a tiny bit of orange juice to her chin she quickly wipes away.

As RD places the how empty container back into the fridge, her eyes widen in clear realization. "Oh..."

"Hm?"

"I uh, I'm sorry, I forgot to ask you if it's cool I drink right out of the uh, thing." She looks at the container. "I'm so sorry, I swear I just didn't think of that."

Her sudden apology gives off a sense that she might be worried that she could hinder her chance to finally gain you as a friend, which reminds you of that past interaction you had with her before. What if she really did care that much about it?

Luckily for RD, you surprisingly want to give this a shot as much as she does.

"It's fine, it's fine. Not like you have cooties or anything." You say partially to yourself before chugging the rest of your orange juice down and hearing a barely audible sigh of relief emit from RD.

A part of your imagination frames this as an abstract, indirect kiss you just shared with RD. Seeing it that way feels so silly, but you just can't help it.

With that, you both start up the narrow carpeted stairs to the instantly much warmer part of her house, towards her room.

RD leads the way, and your eyes can't help but wander down to her tight yet round butt in her denim pants as she goes up ahead of you.

You notice that RD's hips have widened a bit too compared to years ago, and there's just enough of a gap between the belt-line of her jeans and the bottom rim of her clingy T-shirt to reveal a peek of the bare skin of RD's midriff. Her colorful hair is still just too short to reach her shoulders, which means there's nothing to cover up the view of the indentation of the back of RD's bra showing through the back of her clingy T-shirt.

Subconsciously gazing in awe, you can't pull your eyes away from Rainbow Dash's bra straps showing through her T-shirt as she leads you into her bedroom.

You hadn't even registered hearing the sound of her desk fan on full blast until she turned around, making you have to avert your attention away from her body before she catches you leering.

There's a long-established part of your brain from your childhood that clings on to hold true to how you've always felt about RD, reminding you that this girl is loud and annoying and hot and rude and...

No, no, no... you didn't mean part of that. You couldn't have. Not about RD.

That smooth-skinned hourglass-shaped girl Rarity is hot. That busty girl in the low-cut tank top Fluttershy is hot. That curvaceous girl with the leather jacket and bright swirly locks of hair Sunset Shimmer is hot. You know this after having checked them out at school for so long.

But RD is just... she's just not supposed to be hot, okay? It's not allowed to happen, not her!

She's the loud annoying girl who always stayed hellbent on winning everything and showing off, who loved to pull petty pranks on boys who didn't even want to be friends with her and humiliating them when they told her to get lost, who broke your gaming console that one time, and beat up your friend right in front of you that other one time, which made you tell her you didn't want to be her friend or something along those lines (the memory of exactly what you said is getting fuzzy). She's that girl who got a bad reputation around the neighborhood, even as all your old friends moved away, leaving you and her the only original ones still left.

And this same girl has been getting hotter? She's Rainbow Dash, she's not supposed to be hot! You're too used to swearing you'd never like her in a million years...

Why did simply seeing Rainbow Dash's lewd smooth bellybutton have to make you feel funny inside? Even just now, it's the same occurrence as before. Why couldn't it have been something else long ago that gave you your first-

"Helloooo?" RD repeats and waves her hand in front of your face as you stare into outer space. "Which one you wanna play first? Mario Kart or Need For Speed?"

"Oh, uh, whichever one you wanna do. Doesn't matter."

The two of you settle for the latest Need For Speed game first, and after setting up the game, it isn't long before RD thoroughly reminds you of her annoying overly-competitive side.

She already has her own custom designed car she had pimped out after unlocking pretty much every upgrade in the game. There's so many vibrant rainbow lightning bolts plastered all over it that you'd think you were watching one of those really old LinkOnDrugs videos or something while watching that thing speed around with its mean engine revving the way it does.

RD's eyes light up and lock onto the screen, as racing around as her special hot rod of a ride is a sort of a high for her. Her back straightens, her hands grip the controller, her desk fan blows onto her face and makes her hair fly back like she's in the game sticking her head out the driver's seat window... everything falls into place for her...

You can usually say something similar for yourself when playing one of these super fun car-racing games, except something about RD sitting right next to you puts a damper over your candle about it. Not that the game isn't fun, but you're not able to give it your 100% all, as if you're too nervous to.

It was a smart move to remember how she got before, because that's exactly how she gets this time too. RD defeats you in every single on-on-one race against you in the game in every map she can, almost seeming as though she's been waiting to prove to you how much she's improved in playing this game and that she can easily smoke you in a race nowadays.

Unlike when you were but a wee lad back in the day, you actually don't even try to best RD at the game this time. Even after all this time of the heat of spite and rage cooling down, you're still almost conditioned to not want to mess with RD or get on her bad side, even if it's just on video games... on her console this time.

Several minutes pass, which turns into a half an hour, which turns into even longer.

Little by little, you become increasingly complacent with being second place to RD, letting her have her full moment of validation where she finally proves once and for all that she's the real winner. Yeah, it's really stroking her ego a lot, but whatever, just let her have her moment. She'd probably beat you up if you didn't; the internet showed you how bad that "I wasn't supposed to lose!" gamer rage can get.

But you've already found your own way to have fun losing to Rainbow Dash in the racing game and making her happy along the way. While you kind of fuck around trying to find the funniest way to "accidentally" crash the car you're playing as, RD starts bragging, blurting out catchphrases, doing victory laps or parking-lot-donuts, and so on...

Yep, can't really say RD's changed a whole lot mentally, at least in this regard. She's definitely a lot less standoffish about it, that's for sure. Not only that, but she has a good reason to brag if her honestly really impressive lap times are anything to go by.

RD's messy room is surprisingly cozy to be in; clothes and other items are strewn about the floor, her bedsheets are ruffled in a few clumps of little mountains of fabric, her desk is cluttered up with a bunch of stuff threatening to make lots of noise if she opens her laptop that's underneath some of it. Gearhead posters of Corvettes, Jaguars and Mustangs line her bedroom walls, next to posters of a couple of hard rock bands you recognize and a couple of shelves of past trophies RD had won in the past.

Every time you glance over at her, you're reminded of how admittedly pretty she looks now compared to so long ago. Even if just about her face, there's something much more alluring about RD's very vibe than ever before. Her mostly short colorful hair whips back and forth as she shakes her head to make this happen.

Your mind gradually slips back into the gutter as you return to sneaking glances at RD's bra strap indentations and the smooth skin of her smooth lower back just barely peeking out from between her T-shirt and jeans as she sits on the floor. The more you talk to her about random stuff over the next hour or so to keep chatter going as you play together, the more warm and fuzzy you feel inside talking to RD. Her company excites you more than you're willing to admit.

You were supposed to hate her! What happened?!

It's so surreal seeing Rainbow Dash after she got boobs. You never really took note of them until now, only remembering her as her past self before the future came crashing in. Before you finally fully acknowledged to yourself that Rainbow Dash has boobs just like the other girls. They might not be as big and bouncy as Fluttershy's, but it's not like their presence can be ignored. And that's... apparently enough to get you going?

Definitely that plus having seen RD's lewd bellybutton slip after she's gotten older.

There's a growing amount of tension and tightness in the front of your pants now. Doesn't take much thought to figure out what's causing it. Not this time.

"I guess you can say I still got your back if he ever tries to pull some shit again." RD goes back to talking trash about the guy whom she pummeled the living daylight out of. "But I still really don't wanna get suspended again."

"I can't blame you. You shouldn't have to get suspended over me OR him."

"But you get a pass this time, because he was waaaaaay out of line." RD conveys with her raspy voice loudening. "How were you supposed to know he was already taking Rarity to prom if he never told you?"

"I know! She even said no, so I don't see what the hell he got so bent out of shape about. Guy's got anger issues."

"You know the funniest part?" Asks RD as her rainbow-saturated digital car rounds a corner. "Rarity's still gonna go to prom with him anyway. Even though he showed how much of a douchebag he is."

"Will she really?"

"Oh yeah, I know Rarity. She's prolly gonna like, like, nag him about it a few times, and tell him how ashamed of him she is, but still dance with him and stuff."

"Damn."

"I know, right?"

"To be fair though, I did ask Rarity twice, not just once." You bring up. "But that's still no reason to just go straight to wanting to fight me."

"Yeah! That's just out of bounds, man." Agrees RD.

"It's out of bounds. Ya just don't do it."

You're afraid to mention the moment when RD beat up your friend in the past, or just how rash she's been in general that might highlight a lack of self-awareness she might have in this moment. Though, in RD's case, your friend did in fact punch her first before she went berserk on him.

"Anyway, you'd be a lot better off if you could just defend yourself." Suggests RD as she crosses the finish line first yet again then lets the controller fall out of her hands. "I could probably help you out with that."

"Like how?"

"Like help you get into better shape. C'mon, dude. I see those noodle arms." RD starts to lightheartedly taunt.

"Well, I haven't exactly been lifting weights or anything." You admit, almost instinctively flexing the still present amount of muscle you actually do have. "I may not be jacked, but they're not noodle arms either!"

"Looks like noodle arms to me!" Teases RD. "It's okay, bro. Almost everyone starts off with noodle arms. Even I did."

Did she just call you... bro?

Not sure why that somehow felt any different than her calling you dude about half a minute before that. Something about that felt pretty good.

"Well we can probably change that if you want. More than happy to let you come work out with me sometime." RD reaches over and lightly clamps your noticeably smaller bicep with her hand. "Lookit that, there's a lot of room for improvement there."

"No need to rub it in." You playfully pull away with a grin and a chuckle. "Can I at least feel yours?"

RD grins almost sinisterly, rolling back her short sleeves until her smooth shoulders are bare.

"Take a look at these!" RD flexes her own biceps for you, one at a time, showing off how firm and developed they are. "Try not to get jealous."

You stare as you've been directed to, feeling some type of way in the presence of toned girl muscles. There's just... something special about that you can't quite put your finger on. Especially when it's not a whole lot of muscle, but still enough to reasonably classify her as somewhat muscular.

These traits along with the developing womanly features of RD's body are just evened out enough to work perfectly hand-in-hand. Her round curves, soft chest and slight muscles each compliment eachother, turning RD into a surprisingly hot girl for you to have once hated being around as you let her wipe the floor with you in video games.

This was also a perfect excuse for you to check out RD's body without it being too obvious.

"Well are ya just gonna sit there and stare or are you gonna feel them like you asked to?" Says RD with an impatient tone as the menu screen of the Need For Speed game awaits on the TV.

With a nod, you reach over with your hand. You can somehow sense that both of you are imagining in your heads you groping her tit instead, except you're 99.99% sure that's a one-way ticket to having RD punching you and ruining this pleasant budding friendship you and her are finally restarting together.

"I knew you'd get jealous." RD flexes her firm bicep up against your gently squeezing hand. "But you can have absolute guns like these in basically no time too. All you gotta do is stay dedicated."

"Well dedicating to something new ain't exactly my strong point." You tell her.

"That's okay, that's how it is for lots of people who wanna try some thing new. Most people fail their New Year's resolutions for a reason, y'know."

"Fair point."

"But what you really need is the proper motivation." RD says to you. "Which is more or less a 'different strokes for different folks' sorta thing."

"Well being able to not get beat up at school is a pretty motivating goal." You imagine how many people it must have worked out for. "Maybe for me as much as some nerd."

"We just gotta figure out what's most motivating to you. If you're down for working out, that is."

"Oh I am." You reply. "I just don't know for how long."

This conversation continues on for some more time as you continue to let RD defeat you in racing match after racing match.

Not long after the two of you had switched to playing Mario Kart together, you realized it has now been over three hours playing with RD in her cozy messy room.

Time really flies sometimes, doesn't it?

You have to let RD know that you had still been playing sick for today and only said you were going for a walk for fresh air, and having been gone this long would make your parents start to worry that something might have happened.

She immediately understands, and the two of you stand up together to stretch after having sat there on the floor for so long.

RD Falls back onto her bed, raising her arms and letting the bed sheets hiss up against her skin as she crosses those just noticeably muscular arms of hers behind her head.

As she lets out a long sigh with her eyes closed, you look down at RD and get a clear, prolonged view at her now fully exposed tummy and bellybutton, more than you've ever gotten yet. You watch RD's smooth, soft yet toned tummy rise and fall with each of her breaths, getting strong urges to bury your face onto that soft skin right up against RD's sexy bellybutton. While wrapping your arms around her mostly bare midriff around to her exposed lower back that's up against her bedsheets. Then just stay like that for another hour with her... you wish you could.

And now you finally registered the full-on erection in your pants you didn't know you already had... now twitching and heavily pushing up against the inside of your underwear now that you've gotten such a great view.

If this is how much of an effect RD's exposed midriff does to you, you're afraid what would happen if you saw her all the way topless.

By the time RD gets back up, you're already facing away and opening the bedroom door, but something inside makes you suspect that she might have seen the tent you're pitching for her while lying down and isn't gonna tell you about it. But you have no proof of this, maybe it's just guilt-fueled paranoia.

"We racing downstairs?" RD already pushes past you after seen the haste in your step.

You collide with the doorframe, feeling the near-future beginnings of a bruise get planted onto your right arm.

Well that sure kinda sucked.

RD is at the bottom of the stairs before you even make it down the first step. You do your best to make your erection point as downward as you can to minimize how much it sticks out as you rush down the stairs hoping RD doesn't notice.

It wouldn't be unrealistic to assume that even if she didn't see it back in her room, it'd still be more likely that she saw it now. And if she did see it, she's definitely not reacting to it.

"Sorry about that." She apologizes for that push back up at the entrance to her bedroom. "I got a little worked up. You okay?"

You give her a cheesy thumbs-up, receiving yet another quiet sigh of relief from her. "I wasn't really racing you, but we should do that outside next time if we're gonna do that again."

"Right, I gotcha. Sorry, though." RD looks at your arm to make sure you aren't bleeding or anything like that.

"It's alright, I'll live."

There's another pause.

"Hey, you don't have my number yet, right?" RD asks you.

Shake your head. "I don't have my phone with me."

She heartily pulls hers out. "Alright, bro. Give it to me."

You comply, still making sure to face away from her as if that dingy wallpaper of the front dining room between the stairs and the front door is suddenly so interesting to look at. Although, something else was interesting to look at instead, and there may or may not be a third thing that's interesting for RD to look at if you keep facing her while she adds you as a contact on her phone.

You think about this all the way back home as you walk.

~

Your entire world feels different now.

So much confusion and clashing thoughts battle it out in your mind over the next few days as you look out the window in the direction of RD's house in your neighborhood.

She had sent you a test text to which you had replied, but that didn't feel the same as being in person with her.

After being back in school the following day, you now take extra notice of how RD isn't there, but you have her number in case the two of you want to text while you're in class or something... if your teachers allowed it.

Can't do it at lunch with your current friends all sitting right there in full eyesight, can't do it in gym class where your phone is locked away in your locker, which leaves only study hall, a class period perfectly quiet and boring to silence your phone's sound and text someone.

Even then, there's nothing really that interesting that you and RD talk about.

Upon the weekend finally arriving, your other friends in the neighborhood are finally available to hang out for the day, fixing to go to the mall or something since the neighborhood is not only "old news from when we were kids", but the place has been changing anyway, including having a new playground be built and a couple of old houses and stores from before being torn down to make way for new stuff.

The fact that this has been happening over the last year or two has really gotten you feeling a little bummed out that places associated with your childhood memories are inevitably going away. Which in turn has made your appreciate your newfound "better late than never" friendship with RD even more, because she's the only other one your age left who was here during those times.

And because of this, you decide to skip out on going to the mall on Saturday.

Whether it's because you've finally started bonding with RD and feel like you've missed out on making memories with her, or because she's starting to get really hot and you're reluctantly becoming down bad for her, or both, you'd rather hang out with RD before your other friends in your contact list on your phone.

It only makes sense, you and RD have history together, as well as chemistry. Hell, maybe you can add in gym together too in the near future, just have a whole figurative school-day together while you're at it.

~~You wouldn't mind.~~

After that day you spent playing video games together, things are different now.

The two of you are texting back and forth regarding your plans for the weekend.

[Aw fuck I'm gonna be at a party at Sunset's house for a party!] RD's text all the plans have to revolve around reads, after you ask her what she's doing tomorrow Saturday night. [I already promised I'd go]

After a little bit more texting, you find out that Rarity and her prom date are also going to be there, and Rarity alone is going to stay overnight in a sleepover along with the other friends who are girls, but the direction of the party is in the same direction as the mall your other friends are going to on Saturday afternoon.

Only a few minutes later, it becomes known that you've never been to that old-school ice cream shop where one of those stories about RD takes place. RD begins to beg you to join her there before she goes to the party at Sunset's house, swearing that you'll love it there and it'd be awesome if you went to one of the last old store places that are still up and running that were around during your childhood.

And it happens to be in the direction of the mall and the party as well. And this gives you a sort of... bold idea.

A bold idea that RD seems a little hesitant about it first as well, but you both decide it would be an overall helpful experience.

~

The friendly confrontation is short, but goes considerably well.

"Oh hey! It's... Rainbow Dash?" One of your other current friends watches the girl approach the group standing outside of the ice cream shop.

He turns to you as another friend gives you a look.

"Guys, it's alright. She's cool now." You tell them, getting confused looks back at you.

"What's up?" RD leans against the stucco-covered side of the building.

Everyone immediately thinks of the story of the incident that happened here a long time ago, now knowing why you had suddenly brought it up with them and made them promise not to talk about it a couple of minutes ago.

"Dude you didn't say she was gonna actually be here." A friend tells you.

"It was a surprise."

"I know at least couple of you, I think." RD starts off, before going on to correctly name two of your friends while blanking on the third one.

"Well this was a little sudden." The first friend silently thanks you for the warning with his facial expression.

"Well anyway, I actually haven't gone here before, and RD here wanted to show me what it's like."

"How long have you two been friends?" He asks.

"A bit. You know." You respond.

"A while." RD joins in.

Neither of you seem to have a straight or exact answer to give to that question.

Your other friends shrug it off and don't pry about it, soon entering the ice cream shop with you and placing orders with you, paying for their respective orders immediately afterward.

There certainly is one thing your one friend was right about: this absolutely was sudden. You made this decision to meet with them here on the way to the mall at the last minute.

RD's lackluster reputation with the rest of the guys is in part your fault, for telling the stories when you had, since these guys had been the new kids at the time learning about which other kids to hang out with and which kids not to hang out with. And in light of that, you decided to have them meet RD really quickly on her way over to the party tonight.

And perhaps see that she's not so bad after all, despite the previous things you had said. It was clear to you that RD was on board with this idea as soon as you had texted it to her.

Everyone sits around one of the booth tables with their little ice cream sundaes or milkshakes or whatever on the surface before them, illuminated by the bright light above while slightly shivering in the red cushioned bench seats from the cool air in here.

You laugh and joke together, taking it easy and keeping things loose, eventually seeing RD herself bring up the past incident from here on her own volition. You have a feeling she herself had consciously planned to bring it up, maybe to clear her name about how everything went down in this fabled, unspeakable ice cream shop incident. The way she tells it sure is different from what one of your now absent old friends had said it.

Details aside, there's two sides to the story here, and RD's side of the story is a point of view you that had been kept from you all these years on account of you simply never talking to RD about the story focused on her. You still respect the old friend you no longer talk to anymore, but you see how he might have been biased about what he said about Rainbow Dash back in the day, even considering how you had seen her act in person.

After all is said and done, your three other friends get up and get ready to head over to the mall. They ask you one last time if you want to come with them, but you and Rainbow Dash both tell them that you've been invited to a party tonight and can't stay long anyway.

With that, they're off. And you and RD stay in the ice cream shop a little bit longer.

What you said was partially true and partially a lie; RD was invited and you weren't. But you're still going to the party with her. As for Rarity's prom date, you'll just have to figure out how to steer clear of running into him, both you and RD, even though the only reason RD is going is because Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer made the two make amends then begged RD to come to the party because she's their friend and they want her to be there too.

Maybe that's why you weren't invited too, if that's the case.

Maybe the other girls just don't know or trust you well enough, or maybe they know about how often you've been caught leering at other girls at school (themselves included). Which would probably why that guy went from 0 to 60 after you asked out his prom date twice.

Now that you think about it, more of this might be your fault than you previously acknowledged. ...Maybe. Going straight to beating someone up instead of at least verbally persecuting them is still extreme either way.

As if simply seeing RD's bellybutton making you act unwise wasn't enough evidence alone, you kind of are a bit of a pervert, as lots of guys your age are. Adopting RD's lack of self-moderation probably didn't help with that.

All things considered, you're just glad you were able to quickly help RD clear her name a little bit, you're sure she really wanted to do that after wanting to hang out with the boys for so long but never really got the point of being just friendly with them. It was nice for them to sit down with her and have some delicious ice cream together.

But they still weren't hesitant to go back to what they had planned to do, while you yourself stay with Rd in the old ice cream shop a little longer because there's something she wanted to show you.

"Bro, see that jukebox over there?" RD says to you, looking at the large device just out of arms reach of her.

"Yeah." You reach over to it.

"No, no, wait." She yanks you back next to her.

You watch RD pull out a quarter, then get into some type of stance while facing the jukebox. You say nothing, waiting for her to show you what she's about to do, and momentarily watch her toss the coin like a skipping stone over at the coin slot, aiming to have the quarter slip directly into it.

"Fuck!" RD curses that same old F-word after missing then walks over to pick up the coin spinning around on the shiny tile floor. "Hold on, hang on..."

From the same distance, she tries again, misses, then tries again, and then finally gets the quarter to perfectly into the slot on the third try.

"Holy shit." You gasp.

"I know! I wanted to do it on the first try but... it's kinda been a while." Responds RD. "Took a long time to get good at it, though."

"That's amazing."

"Every time I wanted to play a song I liked and someone was here with me, I'd challenge them to do this, and whoever got the quarter into the slot first got to choose the song." RD tells you.

"That's... wow. So you got good at it."

"Yup. I used to do this all the time. Super fun."

"I wish I was here to see that." You comment.

"Same, bro." RD responds, softening her tone. "But uh, hey. You're here now, aren't you?"

"You want me to try it out? I don't think I can get it in."

"You don't have to do it too. I just wanna see you try it. See if you get close."

This must have been something she's been curious about for a while. Throughout all those years of you largely ignoring her and not coming over to here with her. The only thing about here you had heard about involving RD was that story one of your old friends said, and he never mentioned the quarter thing to you despite obviously having been here to see it if he really was an in-person witness to the incident he told you about.

As you hold the quarter in your hand, it finally dawns upon you: this is also a major part of the reason why RD wanted to come here! She probably figured you didn't know about this either, while still knowing about that story about her she swore was told with bias against her.

And you... you're the only one left who was around at the time...

It breaks your heart a little bit thinking about it this way, as it's probably identical to how RD sees it. You can sense it, in a way. The look of enthusiasm in her eyes before you even throw the quarter for the first time. She really wanted you here for once.

And you KNOW she loved having impressed you.

"It's alright, bro. You can stop now if you want." RD talks as though she was holding you hostage until you perfectly threw the coin into the slot.

"That's so freaking cool how you're able to do that." You say. "How come I never heard of this?"

"Good question." She replies. "Not dissing our old friends, but it looks like they kinda left that out. Pretty lame, huh?"

"I gotta admit, that actually is pretty lame of them to not at least talk about that. After all the other stuff they said." You agree. "Even after..." You trail off, now remembering that you yourself lashed out at her once, and then went on to badmouth her even after the game console incident was resolved.

"Hey..." RD places a hand on your shoulder. "It's okay. Everyone else may be gone, but at least we still got eachother, right?"

"...Y-yeah." You give her a warm nod.

"We should hang out here more often. Not on workout days though, if you're still down for that, that is."

"Oh I am if you really want." You tell her. "I'd love to work out with you too. And also hang out here... if you're gonna teach me how to do that cool shit."

Funny how "I'd love to work out with you" is one word different from "I'd love to go out with you", spoken while the two of you are in an ice cream shop together throwing quarters at an old-school jukebox.

You and RD continue to share this newfound memory together, years-delayed from when it was supposed to happen ages ago while you simply weren't there to experience it with her. You laugh together, you groan together when you almost get the coin into the slot but just miss by a hair, you hi-five after you finally give up and watch RD eventually successfully do it again.

After all these years, you two can finally catch up on what you've missed out on, now with none of the other guys around and it's just the two of you.

As classic oldies songs play on the jukebox, the sky outside start to turn vibrant colors as the sun goes down.

"Hey, aren't we gonna be late to the party at Sunset's place?" You ask.

"Oh! You're right! C'mon, let's go. I totally forgot about that!"

"Are we late?"

"Yeah, a little, but not too late." Responds RD. "Better late than never, right?"

~

Author's Note

That's all for now but I'm aiming to get Chapter 3 out by next Tuesday as previously promised.