A Funny Little Thing Called Love

by Eggtaro

Don't Hurt Me

Or so he thought he did.

Nay, our hero did not really speak out those insensitive and harsh words. For if he really did dish out such a tactless response many bones of his would be devastatingly crushed and grind to dust by dear old Dora; he was not sure why she would do so to him --- considering that they have a rather good relationship --- but there was a feeling in his gut that made sure he did not try to find out.

Yea, instead our hero held his tongue rather than opting to reply to the question. For an answer was something he still had not prepared --- well, at least not one that was already considered carefully with consideration and feelings in regard.

But Salami still needed to give out an answer; the two ladies of dissimilar ages were both waiting for a proper answer from him: one was giving him a funny grin with her eyebrows rapidly going up and down, like a kid bouncing in a bouncy castle under the influence of copious amount of sugar.

The other was nervously shifting around in her seat, staring a hole into the pancakes on her plate. Her knuckles a ghastly white from gripping to tightly on her silverware. Doubtless, the young lass was waiting for his answer. Was she desperate or eager to know? Salami could not tell --- he does not have the skills necessary for such a feat, unfortunately.

Salami glared over at Dora; his landlady was acting a little too peculiar for his own liking. Her relentless teasing on Sunset was getting out of hand. Salami was pretty much used to Dora's antics, however, that naive statement does not apply to everyone else. Especially poor Sunset. The girl was only here to do a room viewing, nothing more. He felt a rising sensation of guilt in his belly; he felt bad for his fellow peer.

But sympathising will not move the current situation forward. Salami needs to swiftly think up a good, acceptable answer. An answer that --- hopefully --- will be enough to satisfy the questioning looks on their faces. The atmosphere in the dining room was already feeling awkward. If Salami were to waste even more time to think of an answer...well, it would be best for all if he didn't.

"Is not nice to keep a young girl waiting, Salami." Dora was the first to break the silence, disrupting Salami's concentration. "I'm sure she's very eager to hear your answer."

Sunset brought her head up so fast Salami was almost sure she snapped her neck in two. Her face was ablaze with crimson, and her temperature rose to a million degrees Fahrenheit. "N-N-N-No!" she stammered as she lifted her hands up in front of her face, frantically shaking them. "I-I-I-I'm not e-e-e-eagerly waiting for anything!" Salami had to quickly cover his mouth with his hand to stop himself from guffawing --- he found Sunset's panicking to be a little too adorable for him. And hilarious.

Dora openly chuckled at her reaction. "Oh, don't go denying the truth now, dearie." she said, giving her a sly smile. "I can see it from your body language; you do want to know, do you not?"

"B-B-Body language?" Sunset gave herself a quick once-over as if she had spotted a horrible stain on her dress. "W-What body language?"

"It's clear as day, my dear." Dora said, glancing over at Salami. "It is pretty obvious, wouldn't you say so, Salami?"

Salami leaned forward towards Dora, signalling her with his finger to come closer. "I say you should stop whatever it is you are doing, Dora." he whispered when she was close enough to hear. His eyes shot over to Sunset --- who was still engrossed with finding the source of her body language --- and steered them back on to Dora. "You do remember that she's here to do a room viewing, right?"

Dora brushed away his sentence with a wave of her hand. "Oh, come now, Salami." she said. "I'm just having a little fun. Besides ---" a knowing smile crept its way on to her wrinkled lips. " --- you seemed rather happy when you saw her panicking." she raised her eyebrows at him, as if asking him: Well, were you?

"No I wasn't." he said quickly, feeling a little surprised to hear how fast the answer came out from his mouth. He shook the feeling away. He wanted to regain control over their whispered exchange. "Not when it might scare away revenue."

"Revenue? Since when did you become so business-minded?" Dora stared at him with narrowed eyes. "And do mind what you are saying; she is a person, not a revenue." her stare pierced all the way to his heart, warning him that she does not approve of such language. It made Salami quickly regret his atrocious words.

Salami apologized. "I know, Dora. I didn't mean it like that, all right?" he gave Sunset another quick glimpse; she seemed to be calming down a little --- if the definition for 'calming down' meant staring intensely at pancakes then sure. "Just...just stop with the teasing, please?" he hinted at Sunset with a jerk of his head. "She's really freaking out over there."

Dora turned her head to look at Sunset and considered him for a moment. Finally, a defeated sigh left her. "Fine, fine." she shrugged, reeling herself back to her seat after leaning over. "I'll stop teasing the poor dearie."

Salami silently thank the gods, blessing them with a thousand praises for helping him put some sense in dear old Dora. He saw Dora getting up from her chair, an empty plate in her hand. He watched as she placed a gentle hand on to Sunset shoulder, who jumped at the sudden contact, letting out a startled gasp.

Dora gave Sunset a kind smile as she looked up at the old woman. "I'm just messing with you, dearie." she told Sunset, her smile never leaving her face. "Please forgive an old lady such as myself." Her kind smile turned into a sad one in a blink. "It can get really lonely sometimes and...and I always wanted to talk with other fine people such as yourself."

Salami let out a soft groan and rolled his eyes. He was pretty, no, damn sure Dora didn't really mean what she's saying; he can tell when Dora's being serious and when she's not. Most of the time goes to the latter, like the one unfolding in front of him, unfortunately enough.

"One day, when you are as old as me, you'll understand why I'm doing this. And when you do, I hope that you'll pass that knowledge on to the next youngsters you meet." Sunset's eyes glistened with moisture at Dora's words, an understanding was forming between the two of them, one that they both can understand and empathise with each other: regardless of time and place, knowledge is, and always will be, invaluable. So, without a doubt, it is our responsibility to teach it to others, so that they too, will pass it on to future generations.

At least, that was what Sunset believed it to be. She did not realize then that Dora was actually saying it so she wouldn't appear as the villain in her eyes. Sunset would not know until much, much later that Dora, despite her age and appearance, can actually be extremely cunning. Terrifyingly cunning.

Salami felt like throwing up at Dora's clichéd words. No doubt her golden days of exploring had imbued her with the many skills needed to master the art of deception, evasion and trickery. He shook his head slowly; the tales his parents had told him about a young Dora when he was a little preschooler was no exaggeration.

"I---" Sunset opened her mouth to speak, but was quickly shush down by Dora, who placed a finger gently on to her lips.

"Ah, ah, say nothing, dearie."she told Sunset, picking up her unfinished plate of pancakes. "You still have a room to view, don't you?" Dora turned to face Salami, and gave him a wink. "I'm sure Salami is more than ready to show you."

* * * * * *

"I'm really sorry about what happened back over there." Salami said, as he and Sunset made their way up the stairs. Dora had shooed them both out the dining room, mumbling about something that had to do with cleaning. Seeing that there was no reason to stall the purpose of Sunset's visit any longer than necessary, they both agreed that it was high time they got this over with. Not for the sake of time, but for the sake of getting rid of the building awkwardness between the two of them.

"She's...an interesting person." Sunset replied, looking slightly above her, where Salami was standing. "I mean, I know that I should have expected something erm...out of the ordinary, especially after what you told me. But I wasn't expecting her to ask...to ask..." her voice slowly trailed away. She suddenly remembered why there was a delicate bubble of awkward awkwardness hovering above them. Threatening to burst at any moment.

"Sunset?" Salami turned back to look at her, a look of concern painted all over his face.

The question!

She tried her best to stop her face from burning up again. How does one stop themselves from blushing anyway? Maybe there is a spell for that, one that she most certainly won't be able to find here. Equestria might have one, but she's not there right now. Which was making things several times much worse for her.

Calm down, Sunny! She told herself, wishing that it was possible. Dora was just messing with you!

Was she really though?

Of...Of course she was. She said so herself!

Are you sure about that?

Y-Yes!

...

N-No! I mean...I...I don't know!

Sunset wanted to scream. Why was this bothering her? Dora was just teasing with her, nothing more. There was no hidden meaning behind it, none at all! It would be a waste of her energy if she were to brood to deeply into this, especially this one; she barely knows Salami, other than that one time she showed him around the school about a month ago and that he might be her new room-mate, but still! That alone should not justify the feeling she was feeling! It made no sense! It wasn't logical!

It...

It wasn't...

"Sunset?" She heard Salami calling out to her. He was just there, standing directly in front of her. Yet his voice sounded so far, far away. Way beyond her reach.

She shook her head, letting her long, vivid crimson-coloured hair flip about around her. Yes...there's no need to feel so flustered. She silently told herself. I...I'm just over-thinking this. She know she was, of course. Just like many other things in her life, she's always taking things a little too seriously when compared to her friends. Often times she would mistook what one thing meant when in fact it meant something else entirely.

Maybe now is one of those times... she reasoned, feeling a tiny bit better --- not a lot, but just enough to hang on. Yeah... she gave Salami a quick smile, indicating to him that she was doing just fine.

Yeah!

"Are you okay, Sunset?" Salami asked her, taking a step down on the staircase. "You kinda zoned out for a moment there." his eyes narrowed a little as he looked at her; still making up his mind on whether or not to believe her statement. "Is something bothering you?" he queried further. "Was it because of what Dora said?"

Sunset's heart skipped a beat at the mention of Dora's name, but she stood her ground and nodded her head. "It's nothing." she replied. "Just...over-thinking things." As usual. she added with a sigh. Sunset gave him a reassuring smile, for the look on his face showed her that he still had doubt inside his head. "Don't worry about it." she said, stepping up the stairs, making her way past Salami. "Shall we continue?" she asked, trying her best to act and think as if she wasn't bothered by anything else.

Then why do I want to know his answer?

But she was.

Author's Note:

I must go!

Seriously, I have no idea on what I should put here.

Comments

[darkstone57]

This chapter, I like it. Another!