I never understood love, I never said I did. Love had driven me to do some crazy things. Love drove me to racing, and then love snapped me out of it. Now, love has brought me here, right in front of Adagio’s house. So, I don’t understand how love works, but I understand what love does to people, the way it makes them crazy and irrational. Even I couldn’t rationalize what I did next with love.
I opened the glove box and carefully placed the picture of me and Applejack in between my registration and my owner’s manual. I replaced the film strip of Adagio and me in the sun visor and folded it away then cut the engine. I’d be a fool to think AJ would ever take me back after the way I treated her. I climbed out of the car and met Adagio at her front door. “Aria and Sonata don’t know where I’ve been, let’s try to keep quiet.” She whispered to me.
I unlaced my steel toed boots and slipped them off as Adagio cracked open the front door (I learned my lesson the first time I got my toes run over). Adagio likewise took off her boots, and with light footfall muffled by our socks, Adagio snuck me upstairs to her room, leading me hand in hand.
Adagio carefully closed her bedroom door behind us, we had made it without alerting her sisters, but something still bothered me. “So how do I get out without them noticing? Or will they just be happy to have a ride in the morning?” I asked, I turned away as Adagio started changing.
“Who knows, maybe I’ll just hurl you out the window.” She answered flatly. I whipped around to look at her in half shock. She smiled at me coyly and winked, she was dressed in her pajamas, a lilac tank top and matching shorts. As Adagio climbed into her queen size bed, I hesitated but decided to take off my shirt and drop it on the floor. I stood at the side of Adagio’s bed as she watched me expectantly, tracing small circles on her mattress. “Comfy?” She cooed to me softly.
I sighed and climbed under Adagio’s sheets next to her. She scooted over to make room for me, and I left plenty of space between us. I rolled onto my side facing away from her and whispered. “G’night.” I let my eyelids fall, ready to release myself from consciousness, but just as my eyes had closed, I felt Adagio press herself against my back and wrap her arm around my chest.
“Sweet dreams Handsome.” She breathed softly into my ear. I was still hesitant to reciprocate her contact but the warmth of her half naked body pressed against mine, along with her smooth gentle caress on my chest were just enchanting enough for me keep from protesting. I closed my eyes once more and lost myself in the sensation of Adagio’s closeness as I quickly let go of consciousness.
Adagio carefully opened her eyes although we had already been in bed a few hours. It was still dark, Adagio almost fell back asleep, until she felt her hand against my chest. She pressed herself against my back and moaned softly as she tenderly rubbed my bare chest. She was careful not to wake me up as she sat up and smirked down at me.
Adagio quietly made her way downstairs into the kitchen. With a spoon in her hand, she opened up the refrigerator and plucked out a yogurt cup. Before she could close the fridge, Aria’s voice filled the kitchen. “Good work bringing that dweeb home.” Adagio looked up, leaving the fridge open to cast some light into the kitchen. “I saw his car outside. So have you got him to start paying out again already or what?” Adagio narrowed her gaze and pointed to the cash I’d thrown at her earlier, which she left on the kitchen counter.
Aria’s face lit up and she grinned mischievously as she counted out the bills. “You work fast girl.” She remarked. Aria started striding out of the room and as Adagio turned her attention back to her snack, Aria stopped and turned back to Adagio. “Oh, one little thing,” Adagio looked back up at Aria. “I didn’t happen to see him on the couch. I’m not going to bother asking if he’s in your bed, you said so yourself. You’re not going soft on us. Right?” She accused.
Adagio set her yogurt down on the counter top and faced Aria fully. “I went to a lot of trouble to break him up with Applejack to have him for myself,” She began walking slowly up to Aria. “I’m not making the same mistake of treating him like dirt.” Adagio whispered aggressively, taking care not to wake up the rest of the house.
Aria scoffed and folded her arms. “For YOURself huh?” She accused smirking at Adagio. Adagio clenched her teeth and bared them at Aria. This only fueled Aria’s superior attitude. “Whatever, just as long as I’m getting the lion’s share, it’s up to you if you want to fall for him.” Aria turned her nose up at Adagio. “Sonata and I will follow through with the plan with or without you.” She turned her glare back to Adagio and pointed at her accusingly. “Just don’t come crying to either of us because we. Will. Ruin him.”
Adagio closed the distance between herself and Aria and grabbed her by her shirt collar. “You’ll wait until I TELL you you’re good and ready before you ruin anybody. Got that Miss Priss?”
Aria huffed at Adagio and disappeared upstairs into the dark house. When Adagio had finished her snack, she went back up to her room and sat down next to me on the edge of her bed. She brushed some hair out of my face and proceeded to stroke my hair and listen to my steady breathing. She sighed longingly and whispered to my slumbering form, “I don’t know if I CAN stop what I started, no matter how much I want to.” She pined, frowning with worry. “I wish they could understand, but none of us have ever felt this way about anyone in our long lifetimes.”
Adagio leaned down and gently planted a kiss on my forehead. Carefully, she climbed back into bed next to me, pressing herself against me, caressing my bare chest, lulling herself back to sleep with the repetitive motion.
When I opened my eyes, daylight was streaming through the windows. I didn’t feel anyone lying beside me, I sat up on the edge of the bed and found Adagio across the room, finishing getting dressed. “Hey you,” she beamed at me as she picked up my shirt off the ground. “I was just about to wake you. Hope you don’t mind,” She threw my shirt at me, I caught it in my sleepy face. “but we’re gonna be late for school.”
I stood up and as I put my shirt over my head I grumbled, “Actually, I don’t mind.” As the fabric landed on my shoulders Adagio wrapped her arms around my hips in a delicate embrace. I hesitantly returned her embrace, wrapping my arms around her slender figure, putting my hands gently to rest on her fragile back. She led me hand in hand downstairs eagerly where her two friends were waiting with varying degrees of patience. Adagio led me straight out to my car and her roommates followed. I didn’t mind, I wasn’t particularly hungry and I just wanted to get my school day over with. With any luck, I still wouldn’t have to face Applejack today.
I parked up at the school and we all piled out making our way inside. When we had all reached the foyer Aria and Sonata split up to go to their classes and I had about done the same until Adagio tugged on my hand. “See you after school?” She asked with a hopeful look on her face.
I half smiled to her and answered bluntly, “Sure.”
She pulled on my hand bringing me closer to her and grabbed my check with her free hand, planting a demure kiss on my cheek. She released me and made her way to her own class, waving to me playfully as I left for my own class.
Lunch time, I decided to sit outside again, I thought I was going to have a peaceful time nursing my soda by myself. I had just about fallen asleep until Sunset Shimmer announced her presence. “Hey,” I opened my eyes and stared at her expectantly. “can I take a seat?” I shrugged and moved over for her.
She sat down next to me carefully and mentioned idly “So…heard it was a crazy time on Luna Drive last night.” She offered.
I turned to her and accused, “Heard or saw?”
Sunset sighed and smiled nervously. “Heh, guess Adagio found you huh?”
“Good for her, you ditched her at the first sign of heat.” I retorted passively, staring ahead of us.
Sunset frowned and rubbed the back of her neck. “It got…complicated.”
“Right, can’t let the authorities get too nosey with you.” I quipped.
“You were so much nicer when you were with Applejack.” She pouted, folding her arms at me.
I shrugged, “Sounds more like your problem than mine.”
Sunset turned in her seat to face me. “Have you even seen her lately?” I glanced at her irritably, and she continued, “She really misses you. She and I both know you two need to talk this out.”
“What’s there to talk about? She got the answers she been looking for. Can’t imagine what else she could have to say to me.” I lamented, leaning forward in my seat turning my stare to the ground.
Sunset groaned, “What if I told you she might still take you back?” She glared at me determinately.
I looked up at her, “I’d call you a manipulative liar.”
“It’s true. She told me herself.” I sighed and leaned back into my seat. “I have a feeling she won’t feel that way forever.” She offered.
I nodded slowly and turned my head to look at her. “Say I go talk to her. What am I supposed to say?”
“You could start by apologizing for lying to her.” She snapped arms still crossed.
I sighed and grumbled under my breath, “Fine.”
“So you’ll talk to her?” Sunset asked suspiciously.
I nodded “Yeah, you’re right. We need to say…something to each other.” I shrugged and shook my head.
Sunset’s face lit up and she sprang to her feet. “Great!” Having lost track of time, we were surprised by the bell ringing and Sunset was already making her way to her next class as she called back to me, “I’ll tell her you’ll meet her after school!”
My eyes grew wide, and I desperately called out to Sunset Shimmer but she couldn’t hear me. Adagio would not be happy if I ditched her this afternoon, and Applejack would be outright furious. In my frustration I threw my drink at the horse statue, streaking him in cola. I spent my last classes figuring out how I could handle my conundrum. I didn’t even notice how lost in the thought I was until the final bell rang and I had come up with nothing.
Slowly, I shuffled out of class into the courtyard, Adagio was already eagerly waiting for me by the horse statue outside. She took one of my hands in both of hers and reached up to kiss me on the cheek. “Hey Stud, got any plans for today?” She asked enticingly.
I sighed and took both her hands, “Actually, I was thinking…” I looked around us, Adagio seemed to try to follow my gaze. After seeing how my lies hurt Applejack, I decided honesty would be the best policy. “…I told AJ I would talk things out with her.” Adagio’s expression grew sour. “About us three.” I finished and shrugged.
Adagio threw my hands back at me and folded her arms. “So when were you going to tell me about this?”
I rolled my eyes and tried desperately to explain. “No one told me until Sunset Shimmer did at lunch.”
Adagio turned away from me and grumbled, “I’ll talk to her, if only to make sure she doesn’t steal you away from me.”
“Kinda like how you did to her right?” I nudged her shoulder.
She turned back to me hands on hips, “I haven’t even had you to myself for a whole day! I think she can wait for another turn.” She fumed. I rolled my eyes, her attitude was both off putting and endearing, I wasn’t in a hurry to admit it, but I liked it.
Just then, Sunset Shimmer showed up with my favorite cowgirl. “Oh…hey.” She greeted us both. “I…guess you all wanted to talk to each other huh.” The three of us gave her much different stares, I looked on with irritability, Adagio was staring daggers and Applejack, indifference. “I’ll just…let you get to it.” She smiled uncomfortably and left us alone.
Applejack sighed and tried to speak up. “Well, I-“
I held up a hand to silence her. My chest grew tight I paused and took a deep breath before saying to her. “I’m sorry Applejack. It was really crummy of me to lie to you like I did.” I looked at the ground in shame.
I heard her answer, “Mhm.” I then saw her reach out her hand, I looked up to see her stoic expression. I reached out to shake her hand, but Adagio wrapped bother her arms around mine.
“Glad you understand, now if that’s all you had to say to each other, he did promise his time to me this afternoon.” She interrupted, beaming proudly as if to gloat to Applejack.
“It’s not.” AJ blurted as Adagio was about to haul me off. “I may not totally forgive you, not for a while, but…” I met her beautiful emerald eyes and it would be a lie to say I didn’t long for them again. “you should know, you’re still part of the family.” I smiled hopefully at her, the same way when she gave me that picture and she smiled timidly back at me.
I was snapped back to reality by Adagio tugging impatiently on my arm. I looked to her then back to Applejack. “I did kinda promise my day to her.” I looked away nervously, I opened my mouth to say good bye to AJ but I could only manage to say “Good talk.” As I let Adagio led me away.
When we climbed into my car, Adagio’s mood changed from impatient and defensive to more affectionate. “Take me home, I was thinking we could stay in for the night.” I glanced at her curiously. “I mean it, just you and me, the whole night.” She smiled gently, I smiled back half suspicious, half relieved.
We arrived at Adagio’s house and she led me to the front door. As she unlocked the door and let us in, she explained “Aria and Sonata don’t have a ride home, we usually just walk so they’ll be a little longer.”
“You think they gonna give us a hard time?” I joked.
Adagio scoffed. “Not if I ground them both to their rooms.” She smiled mischievously.
I smiled in kind and looked at her with disbelief. “For real? You can do that?”
Adagio beamed proudly, “Aria likes to talk back, just to convince herself shes not a pushover, but they still listen to me.”
“Whatever you say girl. So what’s up you got me here all night, what you want to get up to?”
She leaned in close to me and rested both her hands on my shoulder and looked up at me playfully. “Not much, just a few movies, we can order in, or even eat out if you want. Just so long as we spend the night getting a little more, acquainted.”
Her gaze was so inviting, it made me just about forget about AJ and I answered. “I like staying in, we’ll order something foreign.” I answered playfully.
Adagio slid her hands down my arm and wrapped her long slender fingers around my hand and took me to the living room. “Well, it’ll be a while before dinner, let’s start passing the time.” Adagio queued up the movie Quick and Quirky on her smart TV and settled onto the couch next to me. I had slouched down on the couch with my arm stretched out over the back, Adagio settled under my shoulder and wrapped my arm around herself. Twenty minutes into the movie, Adagio had to banish her friends to their rooms for the night, and just as she foretold Aria was resistant but still obliged Adagio’s demand.
By the end of the movie, Adagio and I were laying side by side on the couch and I had my arms wrapped around her enchanting hips. She looked up at me and asked, “You’ve lived the life, how accurate was that?” She giggled, already knowing the answer.
I smiled smugly, “Well, it’s a pretty good movie, but you know that’s not how the crash and burn life goes.” Adagio turned around in my arms, smiling at me. “For one thing, I can run the quarter mile in less than a minute.” She burst into another giggle fit.
She sighed and worked her way out of my grip. “We should get some dinner, then we’ll see if you can find a more…authentic movie.” She grinned invitingly. Less than an hour later, our meal made it to the door and we were sitting across from each other at the kitchen table. All the times I’ve stayed with her and this was the first time I was sharing a meal with Adagio. She caught me staring at her curiously and asked suspiciously, “What?”
I shook my head, “I just been thinking, you been around here a long time. You must’ve met a million guys.”
She shrugged. “So?”
“Makes me wonder, out of all that million, what makes me so special to you, Adagio Dazzle, immortal beast from another world?” I asked coyly.
Adagio smiled nervously, “Well, you were the first person we’d met after we lost our powers. At first it was because you didn’t know us, time went on and I was…impressed, by how sincere you were, even though we were manipulating you. What really made me…fall for you,” Adagio blushed a bright red and reached across the table for my hand. “was that night on the beach, among other reasons it was just so…” Adagio struggled to articulate her thought.
“Romantic?” I offered after a moment.
This made Adagio bite her lower lip and smile shyly. “I guess that’s a good way to put it. It reminded me of home and I felt like you understood.”
I sighed fondly, “I guess I do know how it feels to be displaced from your own world and feel alone.” I turned over my hand in hers and gently squeezed her fingers in mine. The night went on, and we only stayed up for one more movie. She took me up to her room where she changed into pajamas and I just dropped my shirt on the floor. We stood across from each other half naked, we had caught each other’s gaze. I had lost myself in her magenta eyes, they drew me in like a moth to a flame.
Subconsciously, we closed the gap between each other, she had draped her arms over my shoulders and I was holding her by her hips. Slowly, we leaned into each other and closed our eyes, then our lips met. Hers were so soft and gentle against mine, she moaned softly as she slid her hands down to my chest and curled her fingers. Being so close to her, being intimate like this, it was ecstasy. I tightened my grip around her and pressed her body against mine, we released the kiss when we stumbled onto the bed. Adagio ended up on top of me, she looked down on me seductively and gently bit my neck then whispered, “Sweet dreams my little stallion.” She turned off the lights and set herself down next to me, I took her in my grip and stroked her golden hair. I breathed in her scent and I felt as though I inhaled a breath of pure pheromones. I hadn’t quite forgotten the rest of the world, not in the way I would have with Applejack in my grip but I was overwhelmed with desire for Adagio.