Chapter Text
Huey stared at the board, eyebrows narrowing in concentration. Violet, her opponent, was sitting in her chair with perfect posture, gazing at Huey with her usual unparsable expression. Huey grit her teeth, bringing her hands up to her head in anguish as her eyes scanned the pieces.
“Huey, it’s been ten minutes,” Violet said.
“Don’t rush me!” Huey said. “There’s got to be a way, something I’m not seeing—”
“There isn’t,” Violet interrupted. “My offense is foolproof. This is your end.”
Huey groaned, slouching back in her chair. “Uuuuuuugh. Fine, you win. For the twelfth time or whatever.”
“Fifteenth.”
“Whatever.” Huey sat up, and began resetting the pieces. “You know, I really thought I had you that time. Everything was going so well! My strategy was so good!”
“You mean your strategy to pincer my queen?” Violet asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because I saw that coming ever since you moved knight to D-6.”
Huey’s eyes widened. “That long? But—how?”
Violet shrugged. “It just seemed like the kind of thing you would go for, given the state of the board and your increasing desperation in the face of your losing streak.” She smiled. “Another great game, Huelyn. Same time next week?”
“Yeah. Sure.”
“Don’t take it too hard,” Violet said, reaching over the board to put a hand on Huey’s shoulder, drawing her eyes up to meet Violet’s. “You’re a great player. I haven’t had this much fun with chess in a long time.”
There it is again, Huey thought; that thumping in her chest. Elevated heart rate, sweating, the rush of blood to her cheeks—all signs that pointed towards her being thirsty for revenge. “I’m glad you’re having fun beating me into the ground over and over,” she grumbled.
“You’ll get me one day,” Violet assured. “Maybe.”
“There’s no maybe about it!” Huey returned, standing up from her chair and pointing a finger at Vi. “Next time, I’ll get you for sure! Just you wait.”
“I look forward to it,” Violet said with a smile. It was a soft sort of grin, one that seeped up into her eyes, making them seem to almost sparkle in the light. She stood up as well, and her hair bounced with the motion, the little tuft that always stuck out in front framing her face.
“Yeah, well—” Huey spluttered a bit, struggling to find words as she stared Violet down, face hot. Why did she always get so worked up whenever she hung out with Violet? This truly was a bitter rivalry. “I’m glad! Because I’m gonna win! See you later!”
Huey turned and ran off, Violet’s polite “See you!” trailing after her like a whisper in the wind. She stomped all the way over to her room, threw open the door, and stalked up the ladder to her bed, passing by Louie and Dewey, who were both lying in their beds on their phones. With a huff, she threw herself onto her mattress.
“Woah,” Dewey said, sticking his head off the side of his bed and removing an earbud. “Huey, you good?”
“It’s Violet,” she said with a sigh. “She’s just—ugh! She’s so frustrating!”
“Did you guys get in a fight or something?” Dewey asked.
“No, it’s nothing like that,” Huey said. “It’s just, she’s just—I guess I’m jealous? Like, she’s so smart, and it seems like she’s just better than me at everything. But she’s also so nice about it! It’s so confusing!”
This time, it was Louie who spoke up. “She beat you in chess again, didn’t she?”
“Yes!” Huey exclaimed. “For the fifteenth week in a row! I’ve—I’ve beaten Scrooge at chess before. I don’t understand how she could be so much better than me.”
“You should talk to her about it if it’s bothering you so much,” Louie said.
“I can’t do that!” Huey protested. “She’s so nice about everything, and so supportive, and so kind, I can’t just—I mean, it’s my problem, you know? And I don’t want her to go easy on me, either. That’s something I really appreciate about her, actually; like, even though she’s so much smarter than me about everything she never talks down to me or pities me. She always treats me as her equal, which—which I’m not, I mean I’m super not, like, she’s so intelligent and she always knows what to do and how to keep her head in a crisis, and, and—and she’s so pretty too, you know? Like, her face and eyes and everything—it’s not fair! She’s like, perfect! GAH!”
She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation, then dropped them back down to her red-hot face. “God, listen to me. I’m getting so worked up again. She would never get so jealous like this, I just—why does this always happen? She’s my friend, I don’t want to hate her, but my heart’s going crazy and I just—I think this is anger? I think I’m angry at her? That’s what the symptoms indicate, anyway, and I don’t know what else it could be. Ugh, I’m so confused…”
“You have a crush on her,” Dewey said.
“You have a crush on her,” Louie said.
Huey froze. “I have a what on her?”
“A crush,” Louie said. “You know. Romance?”
“What? No, I don’t have a crush on her, that’s crazy. Unless—” Huey stopped dead as everything suddenly clicked into place—the nervousness, the eagerness, the admiration, the blood pressure, the heart rate, the constant thoughts. “Oh my god I have a crush on her.”
“Sounds pretty bad too,” Dewey said with a nod.
“Oh it’s very bad,” Huey said, clutching at her hair, nearly pulling it out of its ponytail. “It is so bad. How did I not notice? Oh my god, I’m crushing on her so hard right now. I have been for weeks, I’m—all the restless nights, all the daydreaming about beating her at chess—oh god, this makes so much sense, oh I am so screwed—”
“Here we go,” Dewey mumbled.
“What do I do?” Huey asked, sitting up and gesticulating wildly. “What do I even do? I can’t just—I can’t just meet up with her and hang out now! What would I say? ‘Hi, Violet?’ I mean, come on, am I a fucking idiot?!”
“I’m starting to wonder,” Louie droned.
“She’s gonna figure me out so fast! She’ll see right through me! She’ll be all like, ‘Say, Huey, you’re acting a bit strange,’ and then I’ll panic and be like, ‘IT ISN’T BECAUSE I HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU!’ and then I’ll die I’ll literally die and—and—and this is going to distract me so much, how am I ever going to beat her at chess now if I’m constantly thinking about how obviously I’m totally having a really bad crush on her the whole time? This is the worst! Why did you tell me?!”
“The burden of knowledge truly does sit heavily,” Louie said.
“If it helps, I don’t think you were going to beat her at chess either way,” Dewey pointed out.
“No! It doesn’t help!” Huey shouted. “Because now all I can think about is how good at chess she is and how smart she is and how much I want her to beat me at chess again! I HATE LOSING AT CHESS! I SHOULD NOT BE LOOKING FORWARD TO IT! EVERYTHING IS WRONG!”
“Okay, maybe, like, chill,” Louie suggested. “You’re panicking.”
“Yeah,” Dewey said, climbing up onto Huey’s bunk and putting his hand on her shoulder. “Deep breaths, remember?”
“Right,” Huey said, trying her best to control her breathing. “Right. It just—it’s a lot. I really don’t know what to do.”
“Just take it slow,” Louie suggested. He was on the ladder now, too, and soon all three of them were up on the bunk with her. “Just try to have fun with her like you always have.”
“But aren’t I supposed to like… do different things?” Huey asked, gulping. “Like, flirt and stuff?”
“You shouldn’t do anything you’re not comfortable with,” Louie said.
Dewey nodded. “And there’s no rush! I mean, think about how long it took for Webby to finally ask out Lena.”
Huey let out a chuckle. “That’s a good point. It’s just… I don’t know, I’ve never felt this way before about someone. What if she doesn’t feel the same way?”
“Then it’ll be awkward for a few weeks or so, and after that, you’ll be friends again,” Louie said.
“I know it feels like a big deal, but it’s totally normal and stuff,” Dewey reassured. “Whatever happens, you’ll be okay.”
Huey sighed. “Easy for you to say. You guys haven’t had any crushes before.”
“Well…” Dewey exchanged a look with Louie. “Maybe you should talk to somebody who has?”
The front door swung closed with a thump as Violet stepped into her house, taking off her jacket. “I’m home!”
“Hey, sweetie!” Ty greeted from the kitchen. “Dinner in half an hour! Did you have fun?”
“Indeed,” Violet called back.
“Visiting Huey again?” Lena asked from the living room, peering at Violet through the doorway.
Violet nodded, walking into the room and taking a seat on the couch next to Lena. There was some reality TV show playing on the television, but it was clearly just background noise for whatever Lena was doing on her phone. “We had our book club, and then our weekly chess match, which I of course won.”
“You’ve been spending a lot of time with her lately,” Lena pointed out.
“I find her company rather enjoyable.” Violet glanced over at Lena, who was looking at her with a curious expression. “What?”
“Hmm, I think I know what’s going on here,” Lena said.
Violet raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“You have a crush on her, don’t you?” Lena teased, poking Violet in the arm.
“Lena, I do not—”
“No no no, you totally do!” Lena said, continuing to poke her. “You’ve got a cruuuuush on her! You ‘find her company rather enjoyable?’ I mean, come on Vi, that’s more affection than you’ve expressed towards Dad in the past month.”
“He knows what he did,” Violet said evenly. “And sorry to burst your bubble, but it isn’t a crush. My affection for Huelyn is purely platonic. I’m aromantic.”
“Oh. You are?”
“Yes.”
“Neat. I didn’t know.” Lena paused for a moment in thought, and then started poking Violet again. “You’ve got a frieeeeeeend cruuuuuuuuuush on her!”
Violet blushed, batting Lena’s hand away. “Cease this.”
“You totally do! That’s a thing, right? Louie’s aro too and he said it’s a thing!”
“It’s—” Violet kept swatting at Lena’s hand as it redoubled its efforts to poke her. “Look, it is a thing, but it is not a current thing happening to me right now with regards to Huey.”
“Well.” Lena shrugged, stopping her hand mid-poke. “If you say so, I guess. But I’m watching you.”
Violet narrowed her eyes. “Is this whole thing an attempt to get revenge for how long I teased you about Webby?”
“No idea what you’re talking about,” Lena said, bringing her phone back up. Then, in a whisper: “You liiiiiiiike herrrrrrrr—mmph!”
Violet let go of the pillow she’d just slammed into Lena’s face, letting it fall down into her sister’s lap. “I’ll be in my room if you need me.”
“You can run from me, but you can’t run from your feeeeeliiiiiings!” Lena called after her.
“Come on, Violet,” Violet murmured to herself as the laugh track from Lena’s TV show faded away into the background. “Pull yourself together.”
She let out a breath, and slipped into her room.