With so much time being spent with friends, the weeks seemed to be passing by at an almost frightening rate. Though when I look back at how much fun those weeks were, the passing of the time was simply an almost unnoticeable side effect. I had barely even remembered it was my birthday until the week of. Even Pinkie, either somehow remembering the date from a time I had mentioned it, or having saved it in her phone, seemed to know it was my birthday before I did. I honestly didn’t even remember ever telling her. I was completely shocked when she told me to show up to her house that Friday for the party she was throwing for me. She explained that she knew Friday would be a bit late, but that she didn’t want to have it during the week because of school. It seemed reasonable enough, and I had no plans for that day anyways, so I gladly agreed. I was rather excited to have someone host a party for me rather than my parents or myself for a change.
Friday seemed to come about just as quickly as every other day had. It was amazing to think that only a few weeks were left in the school year before summer. Before I had made my apologies to Sunset and the others, I felt like it’d still be an eternity before that break came. Now it almost felt as though it was coming too fast. I wanted to be able to see my friends every day like I had been. For the time being though, I didn’t want to worry about that. I had a night of fun ahead of me and that was all that mattered.
I dropped down my bag as I got home and immediately began getting ready for the party which would begin a couple of hours later. Although I definitely didn’t need that much time to prepare myself, I knew I’d be too excited to do anything else. I wanted to dress somewhat nice as well. Though knowing Pinkie, the dress code would be as casual as possible. Still, I had the clothes to wear. So I figured there was no reason not to. Along with that, Rarity would appreciate me wearing the clothes she had purchased for me, and I, for whatever reason, actually just felt like dressing up. Although it was just a button down shirt with a pair of fitted dress pants and a pair of my father’s dress shoes, it was definitely more dressing up than I normally did.
Fixing my hair with gel and making a few finishing touches, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I expected another text from Pinkie, reminding me of the time the party was going to start, considering the fact that she had been texting me about it the whole time. I was surprised to see that instead, it was Sunset. “Meet me at the gas station by Pinkie’s before the party. Have something for you.” A few seconds later another text appeared. “I’m here now btw. Come asap.”
Something for me? I asked myself, my heart pounding with excitement. I knew it had to be a present of some kind, but I wasn’t sure exactly why I wouldn’t just receive it at the party, and for that matter, why instead, I was receiving it at a gas station. With anxiety suddenly pumping through my veins, I hurried with my hair, grabbed my debit card just in case I needed it, and rushed out of the door. I was planning on walking to the party since Pinkie’s house wasn’t too far. With the mysterious present in mind, my walk ended up turning into more of a jog due to sheer curiosity.
I was rather surprised that I was only panting slightly when I reached the gas station. I felt as though I could actually still jog for quite a bit farther. I guess Rainbow Dash’s coaching was paying off. Sunset Shimmer stood with her back resting against the concrete surface of the gas station front. The bright yellow glow of the sun lit up her face and hair. Her eyes were closed and a contented look could be seen on her lips. She looked incredibly comfortable and relaxed as she soaked up the sun’s warmth. That is, besides her arms which seemed to be placed awkwardly behind her back. She must have heard my footsteps as I approached. Her eyes slowly blinked open and a smirk formed on her lips. “Hey,” she sang in a teasing tone.
“Hey, Sunset, what’s this all about?” I questioned. Pushing away from the wall, she held out one hand, the other still behind her back. In it were two cigars.
“I know this is sort of a rite of passage for guys who turn eighteen. Pinkie’s parties are always pretty PG, so I figured we could smoke these before we head over there. I bet she won’t have anything like these.” She handed one over and I examined it carefully. From its appearance, the cigar didn’t look like anything too special. Considering the fact that she purchased it at the gas station, I could assume it was fairly cheap anyways. I had never smoked before in my life, but for whatever reason, maybe movies or television, I knew that you weren’t supposed to inhale a cigar’s smoke like you would a cigarette. “Got you this too,” she said, shaking me from my thoughts. I looked up to see a brightly colored scratch ticket staring me in the face.
“Well, thanks so much,” I said with a smile, rather excited to try my first cigar and a bit less excited to see if I’d win anything on the scratch ticket.
“Wait, one more thing,” she said, her smirk returning, this time much wider.
“Huh, um, what?” I muttered curiously, noticing that one hand was still hidden behind her back.
“Take a guess. What’s one more thing that guys can get at a gas station when they turn eighteen?” she asked, chuckling softly. My eyes turned up to the blue sky above as I pondered the question. Suddenly it hit me. I didn’t even have to say a word for her to know that I had figured it out. My face lit up with red, and I stared at her with my mouth half open in astonishment. Her chuckle turning into a laugh, and she handed over a cheaply printed magazine with a scantily clad girl in a rather suggestive pose on its cover. “You do whatever you want with that in your spare time,” she cooed teasingly, giving me a wink. “But that’s it for your presents. I’m not providing anymore sexual favors than this… but I guess you’d be the one providing for yourself in this case.” My eyes were still wide and I could feel my face growing hotter and hotter. I was too embarrassed to even speak, and she was making it even worse, on purpose of course. “Anyways,” she said, giving me a hard pat on the back, “how about we light up these cigars. Looks like you’re going to need it now.”
“Yeah,” I muttered shyly. She took a seat on the curb and patted the dusty cement with her hand. I felt a pang of guilt after I sat down, but knew it was already too late to save my dress pants. After baking in the warmth of the sun all day, the cement had grown warm to the touch. Sunset pulled out a small box of matches from her pocket and struck two against its side. With a hiss, they erupted into a large flame. With cigar in her mouth, Sunset put the flame to its exposed tip. As the matches continued to burn, she gently twirled the cigar until orange embers could be seen in the tobacco. She then pulled it away and let out a small puff of wispy, blue-grey smoke.
“Now let me light you up,” she said with a soft smile, motioning for me to place my own cigar in my mouth. I did as I was told, and she leaned with her own. I felt nervous again. The way she leaned her face in so close to my own reminded me of when we used to kiss. I couldn’t shake the feeling even though I knew the situation was nothing like that.
We’re friends and that’s it, I assured myself.
“Just do what I did,” Sunset stated, pulling the cigar from her mouth for a short second before returning it. I suddenly remembered what we were trying to accomplish. I sucked in but made sure not to inhale. At first, I could only faintly taste the tobacco which had grown damp from my lips. I began to twirl the cigar as she had, and soon both tips were glowing. I coughed slightly as an incredibly harsh and dry flavor sunk into my tongue and the insides of my cheeks. “Looks like I got it,” Sunset said, carefully examining the cigar.
With a content sigh, she stretched out her legs, resting the heels of her boots in the empty parking space before her. I hesitantly took small puff after small puff of the strong tobacco, letting it rest in my mouth a short moment before exhaling. I would then watch the delicate trails of smoke travel upwards into the still air before being wafted away by a light breeze farther up. I was slowly becoming more content with the flavor and growing more accustomed to its harshness. The tobacco itself had a slightly sweet after taste and whatever was put upon the wrapping seemed to have an even sweeter flavor. This sweetness which sunk into my slowly numbing lips took away from the strength of the smoke, making it feel at least a bit milder.
“So, what do you think so far?” Sunset asked, watching my inhalation and exhalation rather observantly.
“Honestly, I thought it was terrible at first… but now, I dunno. It sort of tastes good.”
“That’s exactly what I thought when I first tried one,” she said with a smile. “Now just wait for the nicotine to get to you. It’ll make you like it even more.”
“I, uh, I’m not gonna get addicted or anything, right?”
“No,” she said with a soft shake of her head. “One cigar isn’t going to hurt you. You’ll be okay… well, unless you start smoking one every day or something. Then you might have a problem.”
“Alright,” I said softly, the numbing of my lips seeming to slowly spread further through my body and mind. “I, uh, I think I’m starting to get the nicotine now.”
“Relaxing, huh?”
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh, the cement suddenly seeming quite a bit more comfortable.
“So, are you going to look through that magazine? You might as well get a little preview for later.”
I looked down at the magazine sitting beside. It lay flat on the surface of the filthy cement, a few black circles of ancient gum surrounding it. I could feel my cheeks burning again. “N-no… not now. It’d be pretty weird to look at something like this out the open, don’t you think?”
“Damn, I was hoping I’d get your entire face to turn red again. It was pretty hilarious when you first realized it was porn. The look on your face was priceless. Now that I’m thinking about it, I should’ve taken a picture. Do it again for me,” she teased, giving me another wink.
“Sunset!” I groaned playfully.
“Oh, fine, just enjoy yourself later. I didn’t want a show anyways.” My cheeks flushed at the statement. “Hmm, almost there, almost, nope. It’s just not the same as that first reaction.” We both laughed softly before growing silent. It was another comfortable silence, something I had grown used to by spending so much time with the girls. In a way, silence can gauge how close you really are to someone. If it gets to the point where you can both not say a word for minutes on end and you don’t feel awkward at all whatsoever, you know the person beside you can be considered a friend. Just as Sunset had been doing earlier, I let my eyes fall shut and tilted my head so that the sun beamed down upon my face. The natural and pleasingly intense warmth added even further to my already relaxed state. We continued to puff away in silence, tapping light grey ashes onto the asphalt when needed. Feeling inquisitive, I ended up breaking the silence. It had been a while since I really got to talk to Sunset.
“So, it seems like you’re enjoying this world a bit better now, huh? Do you still miss home or…?”
Sunset turned to me with a half-smile. “Yeah, I do on occasion, but I guess with the way things turned out here, this sort of is my home now.”
I smiled at the thought of her finally feeling comfortable. Even though we were no longer together, I still cared for her as much as I had when we were. I knew what a problem it had been for her. “Things did turn out pretty great.”
“For you… or for me?”
“Both.”
“Yeah, I’m really glad we have the little friend group we do. Everything seems pretty great when they’re around. Even just knowing I have them is nice.”
“It really is.”
“It’s good to know you still care too.”
“Mhm, it’s good to know you always cared, even after how mean I was to you.”
“That’s in the past now. We make even better friends anyways.”
“I guess you’re right, there.”
We grew silent again. I was happy, content with everything that had happened up until that point. I was even able to forget the many mistakes I had made for a time. Even when I remembered, I knew I was ready to face them and make up for those I hadn’t already. Until then though, I had cigar to finish, a warm, beautiful evening, and an amazing friend beside me.
“Thanks, Sunset,” I said softly.
“You already said that,” she responded smugly.
“No, not just the presents, for this, all of this,” I said with a grin.