//------------------------------// // Coming to the U.S.A. [pt 3] // Story: Across the Divide // by Sparkle Fire //------------------------------// 21 August To celebrate the end of the summer, it was nothing less than a tradition for the Van Driessens to fire up the grill and have a barbecue. Usually, all sorts of American delicacies, such as hamburgers, chicken wings, hot dogs, potato salad, crisps, and the like, graced the outside tables that would be set up on the back porch, alongside the sort of cuisine from the countries that their foreign exchange students would come from. Maria was almost guaranteed to be there, as well as their neighbours, family, friends, other foreign exchange students and friends from James’s school. This year, the atmosphere was slightly different; it was less of an end-of-summer barbecue and more of a welcoming party of sorts for the Equestrian Friendship Exchange. All of Rainbow Dash’s and James’s friends came by, as well as their new classmates. James was off to one side, chatting with Richard and Jeremy over ginger beer. “I can’t believe school starts Monday,” Jeremy said, slightly depressed. “Same,” James and Richard seconded, almost at once. “But look on the bright side,” said James. “I get to start shouting at homeroom reps pretty soon, I’m gonna have a new office…” “But I… have the keys,” Jeremy interrupted. “It’s usually the vice president that has the keys to the student council offices.” Richard chuckled softly. “That means you can practically lock him out whenever you feel like!” “Now that I won’t do,” Jeremy said. “And even then, why would I do that? He’s been a friend of mine for years…” Rainbow Dash flew up next to James and nuzzled into his side, eliciting an “Awwww!” from Richard and drawing him and Jeremy out of their little disagreement. “Hi James.” “You’re being awfully cute this evening,” James remarked as he turned around ever so slightly on the ball of his foot. “I see you brought some of your friends along.” “That I have.” James could recognise Firefly’s pink coat and cobalt blue mane in an instant; he recalled Derpy and Gilda from when they met at the orientation. He turned his head in Firefly’s direction. “Hey, I know you.” “Rainbow told me all about you,” Firefly said, excitedly. “We met at orientation, didn’t we?” “Had lunch together an’ all that,” he remembered lucidly. “Dash picked me up and flew me around the National Mall.” “And you were screaming and shouting the whole time --” “That I did,” James admitted, embarrassed. “After I’d gotten used to it, I let her fly to friends of mine, into town, to the mall. It’s the greatest feeling in the world, to be honest.” Rainbow Dash grinned from ear-to-ear, squealing in delight. “See? I knew you’d like it!” James smiled and took another sip of his ginger beer. “And these two are Richard and Jeremy. I’ve known them since I was little.” “Pleasure,” Jeremy said, extending a hand. “Pleasure,” Richard said, with almost the same enthusiasm. “I take it you’ve met Rainbow?” James put forward, the others assenting. Rainbow motioned for Surprise, Derpy, Lyra, and Bonbon to join them and make themselves known to her host brother. Surprise (a pegasus mare; white coat, a puffy yellow, arguably blond, mane and tail; incredibly spunky and hard to keep up with) was delighted to meet him. Lyra (unicorn mare; minty green mane and tail; had a knack for the harpsichord), recognising him from one of the lunches she and Bonbon treated him to when they were in DC, gave him a gentle nuzzle on the cheek; Bonbon (earth pony mare; creamy coat with the body to match; deep blue and pink, almost candy-like, mane and tail; exactly what her name implies) rubbed her head along his chest. James was suspicious as to what their intentions were -- he wasn't used to this kind of affection, even from his parents. “Do you guys do this all the time?” he asked Rainbow, a sense of urgency in his voice. Her mind was muddled for a short second as she came up with a response. “Don't worry your pretty little head about it. We often greet friends like this.” “Really?” He was beginning to get uncomfortable. “We're biologically wired this way, silly britches,” Firefly explained, manoeuvring up and leaning in close to James’s body. “Naturally, we’re a physical species,” Rainbow continued. “Parents in Equestria get physical with their children, and special someponies have their own ways of being physical simply because it's in our nature. I don't know if that's how it works here --” “If you think that's…” Richard interrupted, pointing towards James and the two mares rubbing themselves on him, “simply ‘being physical’, wait until you see prom!” James cracked a goofy smile and chuckled under his breath, recalling the scandalous dancing from last year’s prom and watching Jeremy and his date being literally dragged away from the dance after a principal became disgusted with their suggestive manner of dance. Richard laughed at the memory. “Good times…” “What’s a prom?” Derpy could be heard saying. The ditzy grey mare was behind him, so he simply waved it off, replying “I’ll explain later,” assuming it was a confused Dash asking that question. He felt a tapping on his shoulder. Turning round on his heels, he saw Firefly in his line of sight. “Hey James,” she told him, motioning for Derpy to come over, “I want you to meet Derpy. She’s a very close friend of mine.” “Nice to meet you,” he said, extending a hand. She then nuzzled her head into it; he instinctively responded by stroking his hand up and down her neck, playing with her ears, and running his fingers through her mane. He was properly introduced to everypony else -- by that, we mean everypony else -- as the evening went on. He met all the stallions (Argie, Brolly Brella, Billy, Hoops, and Quarterback), and ran into Gilda. “This is a really close friend of mine, Gilda,” Rainbow Dash said, introducing her to the griffon for the first time. “Oh hi there,” James said, slightly reluctant, pointing at a barbecue sauce stain on her face. “You've got a little something on your… uhh…” Gilda noticed just in the nick of time, wiping away the stain with her talon. “Whoa… thanks for pointing that out.” “Don't sweat it.” He noticed that his glass was empty, and asked Dash politely to refill it for him. “To the brim, if you please.” The conversation shifted back towards him and the no-excuses griffon. “When I first found out I was accepted, the first thing -- literally the first thing -- I did was go on YouTube and look up videos about American public schools…” James innately knew what was coming, so he acted to avert the latest exchange student problem. “Let me tell you something right now, brudda,” he said, leaning in to her, as if to tell her a shocking secret. “If you think it's gonna be like High School Musical or any of the stuff you see on the Internet or on the TV, you're dead wrong.” Judging by the low, gravelly tone of voice he used, she could tell he was serious. “It's the same with every exchange student almost every damn time,” James explained. “Every student we hosted had all these expectations about this country, only to be extremely disappointed in the long run. “It's thanks to this kind of crap that I have to dispel all the stereotypes… Jesus H. Christ on a Harley,” he said sternly, concluding his mini rant. James went back to talk with Rainbow Dash for the rest of the evening, newly-replenished drink in hand, introducing her to the rest of his family. Since they were already acquainted with his parents, James decided to chat with his grandparents, Paul and Lisa, while the rainbow-maned mare buzzed off to acquaint herself with some more of her host brother’s friends. “Do you guys like Rainbow Dash?” he asked. “I think she’s great,” said Lisa. “She warmed right up to you,” remarked Paul. “Usually, it takes a while for you and the exchange student to get to know each other.” “I noticed that too,” James added. “I’ve no idea if it’s the species gap or whatever, but the warming-up was pretty quick. “Speaking of which… I remember Jean-Pierre when he first came here.” He took a swig of his ginger beer and treaded carefully with his next words. “He was just coming off smoking at the time, and he acted like a hermit n’at.” “Oh yeah,” Lisa could recall. “And Max was always flirting with the ladies. What a wild one.” “I v to vremya kak my nakhodimsya na temu «wild», tam byla Marina,” Paul said, his memories of hosting Soviet students and personally bridging the gap between East and West bubbling back up as the conversation between the three of them progressed. “Prekrasnyy doch’ Rossii, ne ona?” recalled Lisa. “Ya tochno znayu? Ona byla nechetnoy, i ona ne govorit’ ochen’ mnogo angliyskom snachala,” James said, trying his best to remember. “No kak tol’ko ya vspomnil vse, chto vy i papa nauchil menya, Marina, i ya boltali, kak staryye druz’ya.” The three chuckled a bit. The youngest of them smiled in appreciation of the relationship they shared; he knew for a fact that the rest of the family tree wasn’t as cultured as him, Maria, his parents, and, it could be argued, his grandparents. Throughout the course of the evening, most of the food was wolfed down, leaving small scatterings of leftovers. James and Maria did the most of the tidying up, no different than from years past; the drinks were put away, the grill was switched off, the leftovers were placed in the fridge, and all the trash was gathered up and tossed to the curb for the garbage men who collected every Monday. Once the tidying up and all other related tasks were completed, Maria bid James, Chris, and Kath adieu and retired to her home. James, ready to wind down after the day’s excitement, went into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of moscato before making his way into the living room. However, the sight of Rainbow Dash lying face-down on the couch, accompanied by the sound of her faint crying, held him in a still trance. “Hey Dashie,” he said, setting his glass down on the coffee table and kneeling at her side. “What’s wrong?” She rolled her head in his direction and opened her eyes. “Can we talk, James?” “Sure thing, hun.” He retrieved his wine and sat in the middle, the mare putting her head in his lap so that she had him in her direct line of sight. “I miss my friends back in Equestria,” she told him with tears beginning to form in her eyes. “And Soarin’ especially…” “There, there, I’ve dealt with this before. They’re all homesick at first, you’re not the only one who does,” James reassured her, kissing her sweetly on the cheek. She wiped away some tears with a hoof, continuing while he sipped and swirled his wine. “Thanks for understanding…” “Aww, it’s no big.” “It’s just that… I’ve been thinking about all my friends back home… and how I miss them so much…” Cue the waterworks again. “Go on…” “And Spitfire… and Soarin’ too…” “Whoa, calm down. You’re getting tense.” He set his glass down for a brief moment. “Sorry about that,” she digressed slightly before restarting the conversation. “When I found out I was going to be a Wonderbolt, I was in nothing less than pure ecstasy. My best friends were, putting it mildly, elated, even Fluttershy.” “You’re talking about the little yellow one who’s in Worthington?” She nodded in the affirmative. “Mmm-hmm. She and Brolly video-chat all the time.” He moistened his lips and took a rather noisy sip of his white wine before swishing it round his mouth, trying his best to subdue the burn of the alcohol, his breathing somewhat heavy. “Now what of these… Soarin’ and Spitfire characters? Tell me about ‘em.” “Captains of the Wonderbolts,” she told him matter-of-factly. “Spitfire’s in charge, and Soarin’ is her wingpony. Those two have become like close friends and family to me… I even asked Soarin’ to be my special somepony a few months ago, and we’ve talked about starting a herd together with him and Spitfire…” A brief pause. “I see now…” James rose from the couch, leaving his wine at the table and seemingly leaving Rainbow Dash to her conflicted and clouded thoughts. He ran upstairs to their shared bathroom to grab his mare’s favourite brush, the one that he used the first night they were together in America. He went back for the couch and resumed from where he had left off. “Soarin’, from the looks of it, is your boyfriend…?” “Special somepony,” Rainbow corrected him. James went to work brushing her mane. “Yes… and with him and Spitfire being away, plus the fact that you’re away from your friends and family,” he postulated, “you need someone different in your life to fill that void.” She turned her head to him and said, “Is that all there is?” “And I’ve been thinking…” He scrunched his eyebrows, deep in thought. “What if… I was like a significant other for you?” “So, my special somepony?” “If you put it that way, I guess so,” he told her. “Wow… you mean it?” “I mean it. But if -- and only if -- you’re willing to go through with it.” The young mare hadn’t the slightest clue what to think at that point in time, as if the world were frozen in time. She shook her head in disbelief, breaking James’s concentration. He finished his wine in one big gulp and set the empty glass back on the coffee table. He was eagerly waiting her decision… “You want to be my… special somepony?” she asked. James clutched her in his arms, holding her head to his chest and gently stroking her neck with his hand. “Yes. But the question is, do you want to be my special somepony?” She could hear James’s dull heartbeat through his shirt. Her eyes began to droop and grow heavy. She softly whispered… “I think that'd be so awesome…” A tear fell down her host brother’s cheek as he smiled. As if by instinct, he brought her head up to his and planted a tender, sweet kiss on her lips. In the stillness of the moment, one could hear the faint sound of sports scores being read off in the other room, as a result of Chris watching TV in the master bedroom. The two broke the kiss, their breathing slow and steady, emotions seeping through their thoughts and their bodies as well. Rainbow Dash’s voice ended the silence permeating the room. “Can we go to the mall this weekend?” “Sure, I'll ask my mum first thing in the morning. For now, let's just wash up and go to bed.” “As long as you can put your phone down for five seconds!” James chuckled. I take it you enjoyed your welcome, he thought, grinning. This year was looking to be an awesome one indeed.