Chapter 6
Granny Smith returned home on Tuesday and the rest of that week was focused on taking care of her. Thankfully, her bedroom was on the first floor of the house, unlike everyone else’s whose room was on the second floor, so she didn’t have to go up and down any stairs. She was able to rest for the most of the week, but the doctor told us that she did need to get up and walk around occasionally. She was also given medicine that we needed to make sure she took every day, but that wasn’t much of a problem— Granny was never the type of person who absolutely refused to take medication.
I woke up earlier than usual that week to help out Big Mac by taking care of a couple chores around the farm. I didn’t mind waking up earlier, and I felt bad that he was once again loaded up with most of the farm duties since school started.
After a sudden idea popped into my head one morning, I suggested to Big Mac to hire Caramel to help out on the farm. Caramel was a good friend of the family’s, more Big Mac’s friend actually, and we had hired him for a pretty good amount of time last year. He was a hard worker and I knew he and Big Mac enjoyed each other’s company. From what I knew, they’d been friends since their freshman year of high school.
Big Mac took the idea into consideration and promised to call him later that week. I left for school, feeling pretty relaxed. It was Friday, after all. The week passed by quickly, probably because it had been a pretty busy one for the family.
I got to school a little too early and stood there waiting for everybody else. All of the sudden, somebody’s arm slung around my shoulders and a certain rainbow-haired girl disrupted my peaceful mood with a loud and excited voice.
“Applejack!” she exclaimed, her voice cracking. “I’m glad you’re here. I was getting bored here all by myself.”
“Why were you here so early?” I asked, side-glancing at her since I couldn’t really move my head due to her tight grip.
“I went to speak with my coach. I came here a bit too early,” she responded, voice filled with complete boredom.
She suddenly whirled around, letting her arm drop from my shoulders, and stared at me with wide, excited eyes. “I’m so excited! Apart from cross-country beginning next week, which is totally awesome by the way, I totally managed to set up a date between you and one of Clad’s friends and we’re going on a double date tonight!”
Wait, what.
I can’t say exactly what my face looked like at that moment, but I’m guessing it resembled something of dumbstruck confusion.
“Wait… date? Um…”
“Don’t worry, Applesnack, he’s cute, you’ll like him,” she said, waving her hand at me and glancing around the school with frenzied eyes. Someone had a little too much coffee this morning…
I sighed, knowing nothing I could say was really going to change anything. “Well thanks for telling me ahead of time…”
“No problem,” she said, still glancing around the school, completely failing to catch my sarcasm.
From behind, Pinkie Pie practically pounced on the two of us, greeting us with excitement. I turned and saw Rarity and Twilight walking up together behind Pinkie. I started to wonder where Fluttershy was but then I saw her in the distance in the parking lot.
“Pinkie! Just making sure, you’re going on Saturday, right?” Dash asked.
“Yep! No way I’d miss the first party of the year!” Pinkie said. “Vinyl’s sure to make it totally awesome!”
“Ha, that’s an understatement,” Dash smirked. She looked at the rest of us. “You guys should come. I know none of you really do the whole ‘party’ thing but it’s going to be really fun. A ton of people are going.”
I actually considered it. I wasn’t completely against the idea of going to one of these parties. I mean, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie sure seemed to love them so I might as well have given it a shot.
“Well, you can count on me going,” Rarity said.
“Really?” Rainbow Dash said in slight surprise, turning to her.
“Don’t act so surprised. You forget I like Vinyl’s parties too; I just don’t go to as many of them as you two do,” she said.
“Sure, I’ll go too,” I shrugged. Rainbow Dash looked exuberant at hearing this from me. She then turned to Twilight and Fluttershy, looking at them expectantly.
Twilight looked uneasy, groaning slightly. “I don’t know…”
“Oh, come on Twi. Just this once,” Rainbow pleaded. Pinkie Pie helped by contributing with puppy eyes.
“Is there going to be alcohol?” Twilight asked with an eyebrow raised.
“Um, probably,” Rainbow Dash said, shrugging slightly.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’ll go just for you Rainbow Dash… and Pinkie Pie.”
After Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash shared an excited smile, they looked at Fluttershy.
“I’ll go if everyone else is going, I mean…” she said quietly.
I felt like saying she really didn’t have to go if she didn’t want to. A loud party with a lot of people is the last thing I can see Fluttershy being comfortable with. But, I could tell she still wanted to spend time with all of us, so I smiled faintly in respect of her decision and kept quiet.
“Oh, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash said with a nonchalant turn towards the fashionista. “AJ needs your help getting ready for her date tonight.”
In a single movement, Rarity’s face lit up brighter than a kid in a candy shop, and she whirled on her toes to face me, clapping her hands together in excitement.
Oh dear. Tonight was going to be an eventful night.
~ ~ ~
“Honestly, Applejack, will you quit squirming around?” Rarity said with a tinge of annoyance as she worked with my hair.
I huffed and crossed my arms, glaring into the mirror in front of me. Yes, it was immature, but I really didn’t want to be there. I didn’t mind the fact that I was going on a date later that evening, or even the fact that I was getting all girlied up for it, but getting it done by Rarity was rather… time-consuming.
She had spent at least an hour on my makeup alone, and she was only just getting started on my hair. And then halfway through the makeup process she tells me that she has a new outfit for me too. I couldn’t object to this though; she told me that it was something she had made a little while ago and was specifically for me for an occasion like this one, so I couldn’t say no.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciated everything Rarity was doing for me— and, from looking in the mirror, she was doing a really good job— but I found the whole thing simply unnecessary. I had gotten all fixed up like this only two times before: Junior year prom and freshman year on a date with a guy I really liked. I didn’t even know the guy I was going on a date with tonight, nor was I even looking for a boyfriend.
I let out another sigh and resisted the urge to rest my head on my palm. Rarity played around with my hair for what seemed like another hour until she finally let me up and made her follow her to her dressing room.
“This isn’t some fancy dress, is it?” I asked cautiously as I followed her.
“Don’t worry, it’s just a simple outfit— but it’s a cute one,” Rarity responded. “A dress would just be a tad too formal for this occasion.”
I nodded, silently agreeing with her. Once inside the dressing room, she showed me the outfit and I had to admit: it was pretty cute. It was never something I’d wear on a regular day, but I guessed for this occasion it was alright.
After I put it on, Rarity led me over to the mirror once again so I could get a look at the final product. I looked good, I admit it. The makeup brought out my eyes and lips well, and was just subtle enough to where it still looked almost natural. My curled hair was in an up-do with several strands falling down beside my face. Rarity even took the time to put a couple small, fake turquoise flowers in my hair. The outfit was made up of a light, silk top, yellow in color, tucked into a skirt that was patterned with turquoise flowers to match the flowers in my hair, just above my knees. I had small yellow flats on and, to complete the outfit, dangling turquoise earrings.
“Wow,” I said, twisting my hips slightly to see other angles of the outfit.
“You like?” Rarity asked with a smug smile on her face.
“Yeah, I do,” I replied, unable to hold back a small smile.
Rarity smiled and put her hand on my shoulder. “I’m glad. I don’t do this kind of thing for everyone, you know. But I wanted you to have a great date so I was glad to do it.”
“Thanks,” I said sincerely and pulled her into a hug. “It really means a lot to me that you did this, Rare.”
She simply giggled and hugged me back. “Anytime, Applejack. What time does your date start?”
I looked at my phone to check the time. “They’re going to pick me up here. They should be here in about fifteen minutes.”
I spent the rest of the time just chatting with Rarity. As the minutes passed by, I couldn’t help but feel my stomach grow knotted with anxiety. I didn’t know exactly why I was nervous— maybe I was worried about making a good impression on the guy I was meeting. Crap, what was his name again? I tried thinking back to what Rainbow Dash had said to me earlier today.
“Clad and I are gonna pick you about at about six at Rarity’s. The guy you’re meeting is named Jack Rafter. He’s a really nice guy so I think you’ll really like him,” Rainbow had said.
Oh yeah, how could I forget? I practically death-glared at Rainbow when she told me his name. She insisted that the similarity was just a coincidence. Yeah, sure.
I didn’t know what Jack looked like, or really what to expect at all, but I trusted Dash so I didn’t worry about it. There was suddenly a series of knocks at the door and I gave a slight wave to Rarity as I opened it and walked out to Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow looked me over from head to toe and I couldn’t help but blush under her gaze. She smiled slyly as she met my gaze. “Damn AJ, you look hot,” she said.
If I wasn’t red before, I certainly was now. “Come on,” I grumbled, grabbing her hand and dragging her towards the car where the boys were waiting for us. I heard her giggle as she followed behind me.
Clad was driving and Rainbow Dash was in the passenger seat next to him. I was in the back with Jack, and to say things were awkward was beyond an understatement. We exchanged an awkward smile and greeting at first but now we weren’t even talking.
I glanced at him and saw that he had an uncomfortable look on his face. He didn’t know what to say. I understood then— he was just really shy. I turned to him, a smile on my face.
“So, um, what do you do Jack?” I asked. He looked relieved and he smiled back as he answered.
“I’m a carpenter— my dad has actually been mentoring me for quite a while now. I’ve helped build a lot of the furniture in our house,” he replied. Looking at him now, I could easily tell that’s what he did, if his muscles were any indicator.
I blushed suddenly and looked away quickly, realizing that I had been looking at his biceps. Truth was, he was actually really cute. He had short, blonde hair and faint purple eyes, and was pretty tall.
I glanced back at him, blushing even more to find that he was still looking at me, that smile still on his face. “What about you, Applejack? I hear you own a pretty big apple orchard?”
Clad turned his head, laughing slightly. “Oh, quit the act Rafter. You buy Apple Family apples all the time.”
Jack chuckled and shrugged innocently. “What can I say? You guys have the best apples in town.”
“Heh, thanks,” I said, smiling at him. “Hey, maybe if we ever need some woodworking done, I could call you. There always seems to be something that needs fixing at the barn.”
“Perfect,” he said, laughing light-heartedly.
His laugh was absolutely adorable, and I started laughing alongside of him. Rainbow Dash turned around, looking at me with a smirk on her face. I stopped laughing and blushed slightly.
“Aw, aren’t you two just adorable?” she teased us.
“Shut up,” I growled, pushing her away. She laughed and went back to sitting normally.
I glanced at Jack and he returned the look, smiling at me slightly. I couldn’t help but smile back, and turned my head slightly towards my window as I felt yet another blush creep onto my cheeks.
Clad pulled into a parking space in front of Ricota’s Pizzeria, the place where we planned on having our double date. I’d been there several times before with my friends; it was actually a really fun hang-out spot, and perfect for a casual double-date such as this one.
We found a booth to sit at and we all talked and laughed together for quite a while. It started raining shortly after we ordered our food but that didn’t stop us from still having a good time. I was surprised; I honestly didn’t expect to have this much fun. And, to be honest, it actually did get my mind off of Rainbow Dash, despite her being there with me.
We were there for several hours before deciding to end the night. The rain had ceased when we got back into Clad’s car and he decided to drop me off first. Once we got there, Jack walked up with me to my house, and I was glad to be able to talk with him alone.
“I had fun tonight,” I said.
“Me too. To be honest, I was a little hesitant when Clad told me he was setting me up on a date, but I really like you Applejack,” Jack said.
I smiled at the flattery and thanked him for the nice time. I gave him my number and he headed back to the car as I went into my house. Rainbow Dash rolled down her window and waved goodbye; likewise, I waved back before closing the door behind me.
I stood there for a couple seconds, my back pressed against the door. The house was dark, as it was late, but I suspected Big Mac was still up. A smile slowly crept onto my face as I reflected on the night’s events.
“Hey, you’re back?” I heard a low voice and looked to see Big Mac peering at the bottom of the stairs.
“Oh, hey,” I said quietly and walked towards him.
“How was your, erm, date?” he asked, looking slightly confused. It took me a couple seconds to realize why— he probably wasn’t expecting me too look all made-up and girly.
“It was nice,” I answered truthfully. “I’m actually pretty tired though so I’m going to bed. ‘Night Mac.”
“’Night,” he whispered and we both went into our rooms.
I changed into my pajamas and lay down on top of my bed, not bothering to get under the covers yet. I turned my head to look outside my window, staring out at the orchard. The sky was still cloudy and a small patch of clouds was lit up from the moon. I sighed, not from sadness or dejection; it was just a simple sigh. The night’s events left me feeling light-hearted and content. I really did enjoy the date with Jack; he was really sweet and we connected well.
But as the night grew, and I turned over on my side, I couldn’t stop my thoughts as they once again lingered back to those magenta eyes.