Street Dreams

by DJDJ

Chapter 8: Beach Day

Aria threw her phone on the soft carpeted floor and growled in frustration. “I can’t believe it! Hes actually ditching us tonight!”

“Theres nothing we can do about it now, I’ll just have to pay him a visit tomorrow.” Adagio lamented, spread across the couch which had been my bed most of that week.

“I told you we couldn’t keep him without magic!” Aria folded her arms and pouted.

“I thought you didn’t like having him around anyway.” Sonata chimed in quizzically.

“I don’t, but even without Adagio’s little plan we need him for his money, how else would we pay for all this?” Aria flipped Sonata’s bangs.

As Sonata straightened her hair Adagio groaned and spoke up “At least hes better company than you two.”

Aria laughed “Don’t tell me you actually got a crush on that twerp.”

“I do NOT!” Adagio snapped standing up and bearing her teeth at Aria.

This sent Sonata and Aria into giggle fits. “Oh my gosh! You actually DO!” Sonata chirped giggling uncontrollably.

Aria smiled smugly “I was kidding,” Aria had been laughing so hard she had to wipe a tear from her eye. “Before you get too attached to your little boy toy, just remember what we plan to do to him. Do you even know his name?”

Sonata interjected “Actually, he told me it was-“ She was abruptly cut off by Adagio.

“It’s MY plan remember. We do what I say.” Adagio huffed at Aria.

Aria’s smirk disappeared and she glared at Adagio grabbed her shirt collar “We WILL do what you say, as long as you don’t go soft on us and change the plan.”

Adagio clenched her teeth snatched Aria’s wrist and lifted her by her denim vest collar and growled to her “I’m not going soft. If I say theres a better way to do this, then you’ll do it.” She let Aria go and slowly retreated to her room saying over her shoulder to the others “Even with all the charm in the world, he can think for himself. I’ll just have to go convince him to come back.”

Late Saturday morning, my dad and I had a late breakfast but we were back to work on his car again. Most of the front body panels were still off from installing the turbos, and the front wheels were stood up on jack stands. I was just about to lay down on a creeper and slide underneath until my phone started buzzing. I pulled out my phone and glanced at the screen to see Applejack was calling me. I turned to my dad who gestured for me to answer, I turned away and strolled out of the garage to say “Whats good AJ.”

“Howdy Sugarcube,” She chimed, “I was just wonderin if you wanted to get together tomorrow. Y’know, do something together other than my chores.”

I smiled and answered “That’d be great. Anything in mind?”

“Rainbow Dash has a game tomorrow afternoon, I reckon we should drop in and show our support.”

“Sounds good, I’ll hit you up tomorrow.” I ended the call and put my phone back in my pocket.

My dad approached me from the garage and said “I’m going to call it for now. We can go in and watch a movie if you want.”

I strolled back into the garage and picked up my torque wrench and pointed at the engine “Alright, I want to finish up what I got going here. I’ll be in in a few.” My dad headed back into the house and I lay down on a creeper and rolled myself under the car. With the sound of my twisting wrench, I couldn’t very well hear the sound of spiked high heeled shoes approaching. So I was caught off guard when someone grabbed me by the ankle and yanked me out from underneath the car.

Standing over me, still gripping my ankle between her legs, there was Adagio with a smirk across her lips. I had trouble deciding whether I should be frightened because I ditched her last night and she was now standing over me, or surprised that she would bother to make the trip to my house and that she knew where I lived in the first place. I decided on both.

“We missed you last night.” She chimed. I only stared at her silently, slightly paralyzed by fear. She had to pull me to my feet by both my wrists to snap me out of it. “I sure hope you’re not thinking of abandoning us.” She said dusting off my shoulder.

“So what if I am.” I demanded, pushing her hands away.

Adagio’s smirk grew, she grabbed my wrists and looked into my eyes “We’d be powerless to stop you of course.” She let my arms go, turned and took a few steps away. “Of course, without you, we’d be powerless anyway.” She sighed, we stood in silence until she turned around and slowly walked down the passenger’s side of the car, running her hand along the exposed frame, up the A-pillar resting her hand on the roof above the door. “When were you planning on bringing this to Luna Drive?” She cooed still smirking at me.

I walked around the other side of the car until I was opposite of Adagio and leaned on the roof. “It’s my dad’s.” We stood across from each other, Adagio was quietly avoiding my gaze. When she looked back up at me I motioned for her to get in with me. I gripped the steering wheel and admired the interior which my dad and I had finished restoring over the summer.

Adagio was poking around the different compartments “This car looks brand new, what could there be to fix…” She answered her own question when she opened the sunglasses compartment and found a pair of my mom’s sunglasses. She carefully took them in both hands and stared at her reflection in the lenses. “Oh.”

I climbed out of the car and walked to the front, turning to get a good look. Adagio climbed out after me and stood next to me, still clutching the sunglasses in one hand. When she wrapped her delicate fingers in between mine, it didn’t feel like she was pretending anymore. I felt like for once she cared about me.

I sighed, “You know I ain’t even showed this to AJ.” Adagio looked at me curiously, I met her gaze and shrugged. We both looked back at the car. “I know it won’t bring her back.” I mumbled. “I guess…I guess we convinced ourselves…” I looked at my feet and wiped a tear from my eyes with my free hand then looked back at the car. “…if we fix it, maybe things can go back to the way they were.” I looked at Adagio, already more tears were welling up in my eyes. When Adagio caught my gaze I looked away and shook my head. “It’s stupid for sure.” I shrugged and let a defeated smile spread across my lips.

Adagio let go of my hand and wrapped her hands around my waist. Her embrace was much different from Applejack’s. Her grip wasn’t reassuring, but it was tender and for the first time, Adagio felt compassionate. Reluctantly at first, I wrapped my arms around Adagio and rested my hands on her back gently. I felt like I might break her if I held her like I held Applejack. We let each other go and I led her by the wrist to my own car. “Come on, let’s get something to eat.”

With just as much care as I would with AJ on board, I drove us out of town, eventually Adagio asked “Where exactly are we going?”

“We’re making it a beach day.” I smiled at her meekly.

As we approached the coast, the sun was starting to set. I could see Adagio trying to keep the sun from her eyes, so I opened the sunglasses compartment in my car where Adagio had put my mom’s shades and I gave them to her. She smiled at me and put them on “Thanks.” We finished the two hour trip in silence, just the grumble of the engine to fill the cabin. I parked close to the beach and led Adagio by the hand up to the pier, where there was food, rides and games.

We sat on the edge of the pier looking out at the ocean, both of us with a cone of ice cream. Adagio said to me. “I haven’t seen the ocean since I got here.” I glanced at her curiously, I had just about forgotten that she was a siren beast from a magical world. She caught my glance and quickly looked down. “It’s just so far from Canterlot.” The sun was low, almost kissing the horizon, but through my mother’s shades, Adagio watched the ocean. “I forgot how beautiful it is.” She smiled softly, and I smiled in kind, looking out at the ocean with her.

The sun was nearly below the horizon before I stood up from our seat at the pier, and offered Adagio a hand to pull her up to her feet. As we stood up my phone began buzzing, I checked to see that my dad was calling. I decided to answer “Hey Dad.”

“Hey Son, where’d you get off to?”

“I went to the beach with a friend. I’ll be home a little late tonight.”

“Alright, call me if you end up staying out.”

“For sure, talk to you later Pop.” I hung up the phone and replaced it in my pocket. I turned back to Adagio and smiled “Whats up, anything catch your eye out here?” I asked her.

She smiled mischievously and pointed to the roller coaster on the pier. “How about THAT?” She teased.

I smiled nervously “You sure?”

“What’s the matter Mr. speed demon? You’re not scared are you?” She said teasingly, she flicked my nose at the end of her question.

I shrugged innocently “Yeah, actually. I’m…just a little afraid of rollercoasters.” I confessed.

Adagio burst into laughter, I just stood with her smiling patiently until she caught her breath. “Seriously? All that daredevil driving and you’re scared of a roller coaster? When did you get so funny.”

I shook my head and shrugged. “I’m not playin. I don’t want up on that death trap.”

Adagio grabbed my wrist “Come on, if I can sit next to you when you’re driving you’ll be fine.” She pouted.

I smiled at her and rolled my eyes. “Alright.” I let her whisk me away to stand in line for the ride. Adagio seemed a little too excited for just riding a roller coaster. We were seated at the front and before we took off Adagio was smiling at me. The ride wasn’t so bad, I was nervous until the first drop, after that, I let myself relax and enjoy the wind in my face and all the sudden movements. By the look on Adagio’s face, she could tell I was enjoying myself and she wasted no time reminding me when the ride was over.

After playing a few games we decided to ride the Ferris wheel. As the Ferris wheel rolled us upward, Adagio was enjoying the view of the darkened ocean. I meanwhile had my eyes stuck on her, I was more fascinated than anything. She was smiling, not one of her seductive enticing smiles, but a happy smile, the kind I’ve never seen across her lips. Eventually she caught my stare and nudged my shoulder, “What are you looking at?” She teased.

I shrugged “Never seen y’all so smiley before.”

Adagio’s cheeks turned a light red and she looked back at the ocean sheepishly. “So, out of everywhere you could have taken me, why here?”

My smile faded to a more bittersweet half grin as I turned to her. “My mom…” I looked at the ocean briefly then back to Adagio. “…she used to take me here a lot, especially when I was little.”

The air was frigid, and being up above the pier left us more exposed to the breeze, I hadn’t noticed until now that Adagio wrapped her arms around mine and scooted closer to me. For the first time since I’d known her, Adagio looked beautiful. Of course I always thought she was gorgeous, only now as she gazed off into the sea, her smile was sincere and her eyes full of excitement. For a moment, I felt more conflicted about bringing her out here; those thoughts were silenced when she wrapped herself around me in a warming embrace. As I wrapped an arm around her, I could feel her shivering. I realized how cold I was; since neither of us brought jackets I returned her warm embrace. We sat in silence until the Ferris wheel stopped to let us off.

As we made our way back to my car, Adagio grabbed my wrist and led me to a photo booth. Tired as I was, I played a long and we took a few photos together reminiscent of the one Granny Smith had taken of me and Applejack weeks ago.

I held my passenger door, waiting for Adagio to climb in, once she was seated, I carefully closed her door. I made my way back to my door and sat down. As I was getting in, I saw Adagio fold her sun visor back up and smile at me innocently. I smiled back and got us on our way home.

“Thanks for taking me here. I haven’t enjoyed a single moment of my time here.” Adagio rubbed her neck where I was told she used to wear a magical pendant.

“You got your friends right?” I asked, I had assumed the three of them were tight as a drum.

Adagio sighed “They’re nice company…sometimes. Ever since we got here, it’s always been about restoring our power and going home. After all that happened though,” she shrugged “there’s not much holding us together.”

“Just a lot of mutual history huh?” I remarked passively, Adagio nodded, staring at the floor. I smiled at her meekly, “But you do still got each other, and you got me.” I tried to reassure her.

Adagio smiled faintly. “Thanks.”

The rest of the drive home was quiet, Adagio kept her soft smile until I stopped in front of her house. I turned to her patiently, expecting her to say her good bye and retreat to her home. Instead, she looked at her house, and then back to me “Actually, we’re sort of having a fight. Probably best I don’t stay with them, at least for tonight.”

I glanced at her curiously “You got anywhere else to stay?” She shook her head silently. I sighed I shifted to first gear and pulled away. “Alright.” I mumbled.

Adagio had fallen asleep until I pulled up to my house, when the car came to a stop, she slowly started to wake. I undid my seat belt and watched her patiently wake up until she realized where she was. She looked back to me “Are you really sure about this?” I nodded gently, we both climbed out of the car together and Adagio followed me inside.

When I closed the door behind us, I was abruptly wrapped into a tight embrace. I turned and tentatively returned Adagio’s embrace. “Thank you so much. I’m so sorry for being so awful to you.” Her voice cracked, as she held back sobs. I ran my hand through her golden hair as she let herself cry into my jacket.

When she had calmed down, I took Adagio to my couch, she looked at me pitifully. “It’s a lot softer than you’re couch.” I whispered, patting the cushions. “You’ll be okay.” I handed her a warm blanket and a pillow. She hugged me and planted a soft good night kiss on my cheek. I made my way back to my own room in the dark.

I took off my urban camo t shirt and left it on the floor sloppily. As I lay down in my bed’s welcoming embrace, I thought about the whole day. Adagio was acting so typical, until I brought her to the beach. I decided, as my head hit pillow, I had to tell Applejack. She deserved to know everything, if I didn’t tell her, things would just get away from me and I would lose her trust forever.

I closed my eyes and a smile formed across my lips as I thought about AJ. She was the only person who could help me make sense of this, and I knew she could help Adagio too. Her and her friends were compassionate that way. Memories of our brief time together started swirling around my mind, and I could feel her phantom embrace as I lost consciousness.

The sleeping world wasn’t so pleasant, I awoke at the sound of my own scream, and I was short on breath. As I sat up and tried to catch my breath, I heard my door creak open. Instinctively, I stood up and had my fists balled up tight. Hands still at my sides, I saw it was Adagio peering into my room. I let go of my breath and sat back down on my bedside. “Whats up?” I whispered to Adagio, she opened the door wider and stepped into my room.

“Are you alright?” She asked tentatively.

I looked at her curiously “Fine, why?”

“You were screaming bloody murder, I could hear you from the other room.” She took a careful step closer to me.

“For real?” I thought for sure my screaming was exclusive to my dreams. I looked away, rather embarrassed to find it had been out loud. Adagio sat next to me and wrapped her fingers between mine, the way she usually did. I turned to see our hands together, then followed Adagio’s arm back up to her eyes. The look on her face told me she was having trouble sleeping too. Her eyes were turning red, her cheeks had been stained by tear drops and she was frowning helplessly. I was too tired to worry about specifics, but I knew she needed me then and there.

As I lay her down next to me and held her tightly to my bare chest, I reminded myself I must tell Applejack everything. As I stroked every Karat of her golden hair, and inhaled her sweet aroma, I thought to myself: Not tomorrow.

Comments

[Summer Dancer]

So now we have ourselves a love triangle. Turns out that Adagio is more than she reveals! I just hope Applejack doesn't find this out the hard way

[OuijaSilverstar]

What can I say? I'm a sucker for F&F styled stories. Since chapter 1, this story had drawn me in. Keep up the good work and that speedometer too if you feel like it.

[DJDJ]

6011277 Thanks for the favorite! I'm glad my writing has been so effective Your words mean a lot to me and I'll keep doing my best to make this a great story!