Chapter Text
The ride home to Canterlot City was strenuous for Sunset. She may not have been the one driving, but sitting in the passenger seat for hours and tending to the driver's every need was exhausting in its own way. Beyond that, there were a lot of things on her mind she had no one to talk to about, and that seemed to slow her perception of time.
Even with how fast the car was going, it didn’t feel like they were moving. Nothing around them was changing. The only sound to be heard was rubber against asphalt, a drone that was slowly beginning to drive Sunset mad. The scenery all looked the same: desert hills, monochrome roads, both of which shined too bright under a blazing sun, bearing down from just shy of the center of the cloudless sky.
Sunset was in a loop. She would close her eyes momentarily just to go back to squinting out the window. She’d slept poorly every night at the hotel, and she was exhausted. Every time she tried to nap, she would ruminate over her last few days, and that made it impossible for her to relax.
Maybe it wouldn’t have been so hard if the inside of the car weren’t so frigid. The air conditioner was on full blast, and even if it wasn’t blowing right in Sunset’s face, it still made the cab uncomfortably cold. Her eyes were dry, her nostrils were burning, and her fingers felt numb. She couldn’t even complain about the temperature, because it was exactly how the driver wanted it.
Flash Sentry gripped the steering wheel with one hand at the bottom. His eyes were glued to the road, smacking the mintiest gum Sunset had ever smelled. He’d done the majority of the driving both to and from their destination. Originally, they were going to take shifts, but after Sunset hit a pothole on the way there, Flash didn’t want her driving his car anymore. She didn’t mind, though. He was a better driver, and that meant less work she had to do.
Flitting her eyes toward the rear view mirror for the millionth time, Sunset saw Twilight Sparkle. Her eyes were closed, head leaning against the window as she slept in the back. She was wrapped in Flash’s jacket like a blanket. Sunset was envious of how easily Twilight could sleep, but considering how exhausting the night before was for her, it wasn’t hard to understand how she did.
Yesterday was her first time going to a real concert. Starswirled was one thing, but that was an open air festival, and in Sunset’s mind, that didn’t count. The night prior was the real deal: a loud band, a big crowd, all in one small venue. It wasn’t the kind of environment Twilight liked to be in, but when she heard Sunset and her boyfriend were going, she wanted to tag along.
Her boyfriend. Ever since the night of the concert, those words left Sunset feeling bitter, but she had no interest in interrogating why that was.
Still, every time her eyes glanced at the rearview mirror, her gut would twist a little more, and the tension was getting hard to ignore. In her heart, she knew the answer, but it wasn’t one could do anything with.
“Hey,” said Flash. “You still with me?”
Sunset rubbed her eyes. “I'm a few degrees away from hypothermia, but I think so.”
“Mind grabbing me another piece of gum?”
Flipping open the center console, Sunset pulled out a sleeve of gum and a napkin.
“Do you want me to feed it to you?” Sunset sarcastically asked.
“I mean, if you’re offering.” He took the napkin, discarding the old piece and throwing it into a fast food bag they’d been using for trash sitting between Sunset’s legs.
She rolled her eyes, hanging the new piece over Flash’s mouth. “Don’t choke,” she said as she dropped it.
To her surprise, Flash caught it between his teeth.
“Much appreciated,” he said with a smug grin.
“You’re so cool,” Sunset remarked. “I’m sure if Twilight were awake, she’d be swooning.”
“Can’t say I blame her,” he said. “I would be too if I managed to end up with me.”
Flash's response annoyed her, but her own reaction annoyed her even more.
“Nah, but for real,” he continued. “I can’t even pretend I’m not the lucky one.”
All Sunset could respond with was an empty chuckle. She was inclined to agree, but she didn’t want him to get the right idea. She looked toward the window again, content to resume stewing in her own internal conflict.
Flash nudged Sunset. “Hey, you alright?”
“Yeah,” she lied. “Why?”
“Really? Because you’re doing the thing again.”
“What ‘thing’?”
“You keep sighing.”
Sunset wanted to snap at him for calling her out, but she was too embarrassed at the fact she didn’t realize she was sighing enough for Flash to notice.
“I have to,” she replied. “It’s part of the whole ‘bad girl’ image, you wouldn’t get it.”
“Nah, you’re not getting away with that this time.” Flash turned the air conditioning down. "Here’s the deal: I don’t know when we’re gonna hit the next gas station, so I need to keep the air a little lower. That means I’m gonna start getting bored and sleepy, and that means I need you to start talking.”
“Fine,” Sunset conceded. “What do you want me to talk about, then?”
Flash quickly gave her an incredulous glance, as if he expected her to know. Because, well, she kinda did.
“Come on.”
“What?”
“Come on.”
“What?” Sunset was getting visibly annoyed.
“Tell me what's on your mind,” he insisted.” I know your tells, Sunset. We dated!”
“And? It was for like, a month.”
“Two and a half months, actually. And, even if we didn't have our history–” Flash pointed his thumb at Twilight, still asleep behind him “–that one back there talks about you so much, I would have probably learned them from her by now anyway.”
That bounced off of Sunset’s brain in a strange way.
“She does?”
He nodded. “And I’m not saying that’s a problem, either. What I am saying is that I know when something’s up with you. That, and if you don’t talk to me now, you know she’s gonna pick up on it later, and you know how she gets. Face it: I’m the better option.”
Unfortunately for Sunset, Flash was absolutely right. Sure, he’d caught her brooding, but at least he knew how to be casual about it. If it were Twilight, she’d probably start freaking out under the impression she was the reason Sunset was in a bad mood.
And considering that, in a way, she was, that would go much worse than getting it over with now. She took a deep breath, hoping she wasn’t about to make this the most awkward car ride of her entire life.
“It’s complicated,” Sunset surrendered. “I want to tell you, but… I just don’t know if I should. It’s gonna make things weird.”
“What kind of weird?” he asked.
Sunset bit her thumb. “Like, it’ll make things weird between us.”
“Is it about me? Or Twilight?”
“No,” she answered. “Or, yes? It’s all three of us. And there's these really strange things I'm feeling, and I don’t want to talk about any of it because I feel like bringing this up is going to mess with our friendship and would rather just deal with myself than making a big deal over nothing.”
There was a pause. As it hung in the air, the tires against the pavement became louder by the second.
Flash adjusted his sunglasses. “You're not trying to say you have feelings for me again or something, are you?”
“No,” Sunset quickly answered. “No, I don’t, honestly. I have feelings like that, but not for you, no.”
“A single ‘no’ would have sufficed,” he said with a snicker.
“Oh, shut up,” said Sunset, playfully jabbing him. “I’m not trying to screw around here.”
“Alright, alright. But, still, I’m kinda confused. You’re talking about feelings that could mess up our friendship, but If you're not talking about me, then who–”
He stopped.
“Oh,” he said.
The two shared a look worth an entire conversation.
“Yeah.” Sunset tucked her hair behind her ear. “Glad I didn’t have to say it out loud.”
He shrugged. “It’s not like she’d be able to hear us back there, even if she was awake.”
“I guess so.” Even if the risk was minimal, it wasn’t one Sunset was willing to take.
Yet another pause. The wheels against the highway started getting louder again.
“I mean, it makes sense.” Flash held a hand up. “Like, if I’m being honest, part of the reason I didn’t ask Twilight out until the night of this year’s Fall Formal was because I figured you two were already a thing. I didn’t even really mean to ask her out in the first place. I sarcastically asked her who her date to the Formal was thinking she was going to say it was you, and she looked at me like I was messing with her.”
Even though that felt like a knife in her gut, Sunset let out an amused exhale. “You really thought she was my date?”
“Hey, you two showed up twenty minutes later than the rest of our friends. If I didn’t already suspect something, I would have then.”
Sunset let out a sigh, hoping the tinge of defeat it held wouldn’t be noticeable. “Fair point, I guess.”
Flash chuckled. “Like, you two are practically attached at the hip. Between classes, at lunch, when we meet up to hang out. Before her and I started dating, any time I’d ever ask if you wanted to do something, you’d always ask if Twilight could come along, and vice versa. You two were a package deal for the longest time; still kinda are.”
Sunset glanced at the back seat. Twilight was still asleep, bundled up in her jacket-blanket.
It was true, Twilight and Sunset spent a lot of time together. Twilight was in really bad shape after the Friendship Games, and Sunset was her rock throughout the aftermath. It wasn’t always easy, but Sunset never complained. It made Sunset happy. It’s what Twilight deserved.
But the Friendship Games were a while ago. This late into junior year, it was evident how much more independent Twilight had become. At one point in time, Sunset would stay up until the wee hours of the morning, anticipating a phone call from an anxious Twilight shaken by a nightmare. But for the last few months, both of them had been sleeping soundly. That was progress, and progress was good.
For Sunset, it was a strangely bittersweet feeling, and it inspired fear. Twilight didn’t need her as much anymore, or at least not in the same ways. That didn’t mean they weren’t still best friends, but Twilight’s dependence gave Sunset a feeling of purpose, and suddenly that purpose felt under threat.
“Remember when we went on that cruise? I never saw one of you without the other,” Flash continued. “Or how about when you two just randomly popped out of the woods in the middle of the night at camp? Or the time you told me you spent three and a half hours trying to win a rigged carnival game? You sent me a picture of your hand and I said you should go to a doctor. And you did that all just because you wanted to win a prize for Twilight? What was I supposed to think?”
“Okay!” exclaimed Sunset. “You’ve made your point.”
“Hey, my bad,” he said.
There was an uncomfortable lull before he spoke up again.
“I, uhh, hope I didn’t just make everything worse.”
“It’s just really frustrating,” she answered. “How could you see that and I couldn’t? I just thought I was being a good friend, but when you list everything like that it makes me feel like an idiot! Why didn’t I realize it before you spelled it out for me? And more importantly, if it was that obvious, why didn’t anyone say anything? ”
He shrugged. “Probably because it was nobody’s business.”
Sunset, still clearly annoyed, conceded. The next words out of her mouth slipped out before she could even think about them.
“How do you think she feels about me?”
As Flash pondered his answer, the sounds of the car all assaulted Sunset’s ears. The longer it took for an answer, the more Sunset wanted to unbuckle her seatbelt and tumble out of the speeding vehicle and onto the hot asphalt.
“I’ll put it to you this way,” he said, “if things didn’t work out between us, and you asked her out, I bet she’d say yeah.”
Sunset almost couldn’t believe his answer. She let out an empty laugh.
“Really, Flash? You don’t have to try and make me feel better. I’m not asking if I can steal your girlfriend.”
“I know you're not, but I’m serious. I don’t remember the last time she and I had a conversation where she didn’t bring you up in some capacity. I don’t know if she likes you like that—if she’s ever thought about it, she’s never told me—but if she does, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“You wouldn’t?”
“I doubt anyone would,” he answered.” I'm not trying to go back to what I was saying earlier, but I can’t be the only person who thought there was something going on between you two.”
As if Sunset needed another kick in the gut. She was mad at Flash again, but she had even less reason to be than before. He was just being honest, and a whole lot nicer about this than he had to be. It didn’t take long for Sunset to start thinking she’d said far too much. His reassurances and understanding were all wrong. Sunset was trying to wedge herself between the two most important people in her life. If anything, he should have been mad at her.
If nothing else, that meant Sunset had a chance to get in front of the inevitable hard feelings. Either that, or he was hiding how mad he actually was, and she’d better start placating now.
Sunset’s fingers drummed against the center console. “I’m sorry,” she finally said.
“Why?” Flash turned the air conditioning down as low as it could go. The cab was starting to get a little warm.
“You don’t think this is weird?” she asked. “You know, the thing that I basically admitted that I’m trying not to say.”
He chuckled. “I really don’t think she can hear you.”
“Don’t avoid the question.”
Flash slapped his fingers against the wheel. “Look, love is love, right?”
That reply utterly perplexed Sunset. “What are you talking about?”
“Sunset, I don’t care if you two are girls. What kind of person would I be to get in the way of that? And, honestly, I’m a little hurt that you’d think I would.”
Sunset wasn’t sure if he was screwing with her or not. “Flash, are you—I mean, that’s not–”
“I mean, really, of all people, why do you think I would have a problem with that?”
“Because that’s not what I was getting at, you dumbass!”
“Oh.” That seemed to hard reset his brain. “Then what are you getting at?”
“What I’m trying to say is… aren’t you, like, angry at me? Aren’t you jealous, or nervous, or anything?”
“Not really, no.”
“Are you sure, or have you not thought about it yet?” she went on. “Aren’t you worried I’m gonna like… try and steal her, or something? Aren’t you scared that something’s going to happen, our friendship is gonna collapse, and it’ll be all because of me and my stupid feelings? You remember how I used to be, don’t you? What if I go back to that because of this?”
Flash scratched his chin. “I mean, if you were going to try something, I don’t think you’d be telling me about it before you did, would you? Like, if we’re using the old you as reference, you’d be way craftier about that kinda thing, right?”
Even though that was a solid point, it still didn’t sit right with Sunset.
“Okay, but let's say you two split up one day, and she gets with me,” she explained. “Not saying that’s going to happen. But if it did, wouldn’t you suspect I had something to do with it?”
Flash pursed his lips. “You know, Sunset, I don’t think you’re some nefarious mastermind anymore. I mean, I barely ever did. But I bet hardly anyone thinks you still are except for you.”
“You’re avoiding the question again.”
“I’m not–” he started to exclaim. Then he paused, thinking over a proper response.
“Look, I don’t do the whole jealousy thing,” he stated. “If things somehow don't work, then that’s the way things were supposed to go. Like, yeah, I’d be real bummed about it, but that’s life, right? In the end, I just want her to be happy, and if her being happy means being with someone else besides me—you, or anyone else—then that’s what I would want, too.”
He patted Sunset on the shoulder. “And, hey, if it makes my best friend happy in the process, then that’s even better. So, if worse comes to worst, you have my permission to date her.”
Sunset furrowed her brow. “Not that I don’t appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t know if your permission would really matter at that point.”
“I know, but I'm letting you know now, if it ever comes to it, you have a ‘you can date my ex’ pass to claim.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow? “A what pass?”
“It’s a guy thing,” he replied. “Just roll with it.”
“That explains why it doesn’t make sense.” Sunset smirked. “May the best man win, then.”
Flash stuck out his hand. “Shake on it.”
“What?”
“Shake on it!”
“Put your hand back on the wheel you idiot!”
“Not until you shake on it!”
Sunset grabbed and quickly shook his hand before he had a chance to run them off a bridge or into a ditch. Before returning his hand to the wheel, Flash turned the air conditioning off completely.
It was silly, but the gesture meant a lot to Sunset in a way she couldn’t quite articulate.
She looked in the backseat. Twilight was stirring awake, unwrapping herself from the jacket, beads of sweat on her forehead. She rubbed her eyes, knocking her glasses askew in the process.
“Why is it so hot in here now?”
“AC’s off,” he stated. “We’re running low on gas.”
Sunset blinked. “We what?”
“Two bars of gas left,” Flash answered. “No, wait, scratch that. One bar of gas left.”
Twilight straightened out her glasses. “Uh oh. Are we going to run out?”
“Doubt it.” Flash wiped his brow. “Next gas station is a little over twenty miles away, and we should be able to make it there with what we have.”
“I told you we should have stopped fifty miles ago,” Sunset remarked.
“Yeah, you’re probably right, but I’ve got this.”
Sunset closed her eyes. “Flash, you know how I feel about that phrase.”
“Right, my bad, but still,” he said. “We’ll be fine.”
Leaning forward, Twilight looked at the dashboard.
“Flash, I don’t know if I’d be so sure. Running the numbers in my head doesn't inspire much confidence.”
“Relax, Twilight.” Flash patted the dashboard. “I know how my baby runs. I could probably get fifty more miles with what we have left.”
Sunset took a look at the gauges on the dash as well. “The fuel light is on. That’s, what, twenty at best?”
Surprisingly, Flash seemed undeterred.
“Yeah, but there’s a lot of hills around here.” As the car got to the crest of one, Flash pulled the gear stick to neutral, letting the car roll down the incline. “As long as I keep everything off and throw it into neutral every time we’re going down, we’ll make it.”
“But what if we don’t?” asked Twilight. “If we don’t make it, are we going to have to push it to the next gas station? What if we have to push it uphill? Will we have to walk? Do we have enough water to make that trip? Shouldn’t we stop, conserve what we have, and call for someone? We’re in the middle of the desert, we could–”
“Twilight, please stop getting so worked up over nothing,” he interrupted. “I know what I’m doing, but I need to focus.”
“Right,” said Twilight, clearly not feeling any less anxious than before, but plenty more ashamed. “Sorry.”
Sunset shot an icy glare at Flash. He was so focused on the road that Sunset wasn’t even sure he saw it, but she hoped he felt it. Flash was certain to get an earful next time they had a moment alone.
Still, as annoyed as she was about Flash’s lack of empathy, there was a more pressing matter. Unbuckling her seatbelt, Sunset shifted around, forcing herself between the two front seats.
“Scoot over,” she said to Twilight as she crawled into the back.
Sunset nearly fell between the front and back seats, but Twilight quickly caught her before she landed face first on the dirty rug below. She nearly kicked Flash as she wiggled to the back. Once she was sitting next to Twilight, she put her hands on her shoulders.
“This is kinda scary, I know, but we’re gonna make it through this, okay? He’s not trying to be a jerk, this is just stressful, but I’ve seen him pull off crazier things than this.”
“Hey,” said Flash. “I wasn’t–”
“I thought you had to focus,” Sunset sharply interrupted.
He flipped her off, and Sunset responded with a middle finger of her own.
Twilight didn’t seem convinced. “Crazier than almost running out of gas in the middle of the desert?”
“Okay, maybe not a lot of things, but here and there, yeah. The point is: you shouldn’t doubt him. This is the guy that taught me how to drive.”
Twilight blinked. “Sunset, no offense, but how is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“Because even if I’m an insane driver, my record is spotless.” That was only partially true, but Twilight didn’t need to know about Sunset’s non-zero amount of speeding tickets. “It takes skill to drive like a maniac without fucking up, and the only reason I can do it is because of him.”
She was still tense, but the more Sunset talked, the more Twilight seemed to unwind.
“Besides, when we make it through this–”
“If,” Twilight interrupted, “we make it through this.”
“When we make it through this,” Sunset reaffirmed, “you’ll have a really fun story to tell about the time you came back from your first concert. You’ll get to be like ‘we almost ran out of gas in the desert and died, but we didn’t!’ How many people can say something like that?”
Because of the excessive heat in the car, Twilight tied her ponytail into a bun to keep the hair off of her neck. It vaguely reminded Sunset of the day they first met. Even back then, she always thought it was a cute look.
“I don’t know,” said Twilight. “I’m not sure I value precarious experiences to the same degree as you.”
“Well of course, but nobody does in the moment. You will one day, though.”
The two kept talking as Flash continued to micromanage the fuel usage. If Sunset were being honest, she was pretty nervous too. She trusted that Flash knew what he was doing, but he seemed a little too prideful about it. It was almost like part of her wanted him to be wrong, and she didn’t want to think about why that was.
Either way, Sunset didn’t have the time or energy to fixate on that. Even if she did, the rising heat inside the cab made Sunset feel even more exhausted than she already was. She tugged at the collar of her shirt, pulling at the sweat-dampened fabric stuck to her skin. The mounting heat was enough to make her miss the cold air blowing directly into her eyes.
“So,” Sunset began, “now that you’ve had time to sleep on it, what did you think of the concert?”
“You don’t have to talk me down the rest of the way, you know,” Twilight answered. “I’ll be alright.”
If it weren’t for the fact that Twilight would see, she would have glared at Flash a second time. Of course, Twilight deflecting with “I’ll be alright,” wasn’t a new thing, but she’d probably be more willing to open up if not for Flash’s carelessness.
“Okay, well, it’s hot as fuck in here, and I don’t want to think about that. So if you won’t let me help you out, then you help me out.”
Twilight fidgeted around with her hands.
“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to have much fun. And at first, I wasn’t really. It was way too loud, even before the bands got on stage. People were so negligent and rude, and I could hardly see over them half the time. And why do they make it so loud that we need ear plugs? That feels kind of counterintuitive to the idea of listening to live music.”
Sunset nodded along as Twilight continued her little rant. Her reaction wasn’t disappointing, and even less surprising. The important thing was that it got Twilight talking about something other than the current situation, and as long as that was the case, that meant she wasn’t panicking.
“With all that said, I did enjoy it a lot more than I thought. I feel like I’d really enjoy it if it were music more in line with my tastes, though. No offense to you or anyone else who enjoys The Skelevangelists, but a lot of their music just sounds like noise to me.”
With a chuckle, Sunset wiped some sweat-wicked hair off of her forehead. “For what it’s worth, I thought the same thing at first, too. But Flash made me listen to them so many times that I got a couple of songs stuck in my head, and now I’m infected, too. It’s an acquired taste. Or curse. You’ll probably get it too, eventually.
“But hey, next time we plan to do something like this, we can plan it around a band you want to see. Any ideas on who you’d want to see first?”
Twilight started naming some of her favorite musical acts, and Sunset got lost looking at her as she did. Even before these latent feelings came into view, Sunset always enjoyed watching and listening to Twilight talk about her favorite things. The way she gesticulated was so unique to her. The way her eyes danced around as she went on, always doing their best to avoid contact. The way she paused, looking slightly irritated every time her glasses slid down her sweat-slicked nose. Twilight was cute. Really cute.
“… then there’s Augmentia, but I can’t imagine tickets for any of her shows being affordable. Maybe–” Twilight was interrupted by a bead of sweat landing on one of her lenses. She groaned, taking her glasses off and rubbing the lenses clean with her shirt.
Sunset took this opportunity to slip out of her top, which was quickly becoming soaked in sweat. She leaned forward, throwing her shirt into the front passenger seat.
Sunset nudged Flash. “How much further now?”
“Ten miles,” he said.
“Do you still think we’re going to make it?” asked Twilight.
“We’re as good as there,” he answered. “I’m gonna need one of you to run into the convenience store, buy the biggest bottle of cold water and dump it all over my face once we’re there.”
Sunset smirked. “Heh, ‘one of you,’ he says.”
He smirked. “Hey, I meant it, but does that mean I can get both of you to do it?”
“I don’t know.” Sunset sat back in her seat. “Twilight, are you okay with me waterboarding your boyfriend?”
Twilight blinked and shook her head. “Sorry, what were we talking about?”
Sunset grew concerned. “Are you alright?”
“Me?” asked Twilight. “Yeah, of course. I mean, potential heat stroke notwithstanding.”
Sunset leaned forward again, grabbing a water bottle from the cupholder in the front seat. Letting her seatbelt pull her into the chair, she took a couple of gulps.
“Here.” Sunset handed the bottle to Twilight. When she didn’t immediately take it, Sunset dropped the bottle in her lap.
“H-Hey!” cried Twilight, “Cold!”
Sunset chuckled. “And? It’s hot. You should be thanking me.”
Twilight guzzled down the water at a record pace. She handed the bottle back to Sunset, who then tossed it into the front seat.
“So what’s got you so distracted suddenly?” asked Sunset.
“I didn’t know I seemed distracted,” said Twilight.
“You keep staring at me, though.” Sunset playfully grinned. “There’s nothing on my face or anything, right?”
“No.” Twilight shook her head. “Honestly, it’s just really hot and that makes it hard not to space out.”
Part of Sunset wanted to believe that was an excuse. Maybe Twilight was distracted by Sunset herself. Her shirt was off, after all. But that would mean Twilight was attracted to her, and she found that highly unlikely. Twilight’s relationship track record was boys all the way down, and while it was a short list, it was also consistent.
“What about you?” asked Twilight.
“Huh?”
“You wanted to talk about something to distract yourself from the heat, right?”
Sunset shrugged. “Yeah, but I think it’s so hot in here that my brain’s starting to melt.”
From there, the conversation petered out. The only things to listen to were the tires against the road, and the sound of Flash periodically shifting gears.
For some reason, Sunset started to feel guilty. It wasn’t like she had any reason to, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t fabricate one that sounded legitimate. Twenty minutes before then, she was sitting up front confessing to one of her best friends that she has a crush on his girlfriend. Now, she was sitting back there with her with her shirt off. Even though her intention was to keep Twilight grounded during a seemingly stressful situation, she had to question her motives, especially considering how she felt about Flash earlier.
As she simmered in her pot of emotions, she would occasionally sneak a glance at Twilight. Every other time she did, she’d find Twilight looking back at her. The moment their eyes met, they would bounce away from each other instantly. That made her feel even worse. It wouldn’t be surprising if Flash felt awkward about her doing this, but if Twilight felt that way too, Sunset might walk out into the desert by herself until her legs give out.
Flash slapped the steering wheel. “What did I tell you?!” he shouted.
Before anyone could answer, Flash slammed his foot on the gas, and the car surged ahead.
Sunset grabbed onto the front seat and pulled herself forward. “Flash, what the fuck are you–”
She stopped the moment she saw the gas station ahead. Flash pressed the brakes, whipping Sunset right back into her seat.
“Told you we were gonna make it.”
Sunset rubbed her head, trying to regain her sense of equilibrium. She looked over at Twilight who was similarly disoriented, her glasses having fallen into her lap from the sudden stop. Sunset was almost overwhelmed by the inexplicable urge to hug her, but she abstained.
Before Sunset had a chance to ask what his problem was, Flash was already outside of the car at the pump. That meant Sunset and Twilight in the back seat. Together, but alone.
“See?” asked Sunset. “Now you’ve got a fun story to tell.”
Twilight giggled. “Thanks for coming back here with me,” she said. “I won’t lie, I was a lot more anxious than I let on. I know Flash is a good driver and all, but the numbers I ran in my head didn’t inspire much hope.”
“Honestly, I was pretty nervous myself.” Sunset reached toward the front seat, grabbing her shirt. “I think Flash was, too. Otherwise, I don’t think he would have snapped at you like he did.”
Twilight wordlessly nodded for a few seconds. “He did?”
Sunset mockingly imitated Flash’s words from earlier. “‘Please stop getting worked up over nothing, I need to focus,’ as if nearly running out of gas in the middle of the desert is ‘nothing.’”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s not really how I took it. Though, I guess I can see what you mean.”
Suddenly, Sunset felt incredibly embarrassed. She’d gotten so worked up over that, but Twilight hadn’t even acknowledged it until Sunset brought it up. On one hand, she was proud of Twilight for not dwelling on it, but on the other, that made her doubt how well she knew her best friend.
“Anyway,” said Twilight, “I need to get out of this car.”
Before Sunset could react, Twilight suddenly pulled her into a hug, and she immediately felt so many things at once. She should have enjoyed it, but it felt wrong. There was a brief battle in her mind about whether or not she should push Twilight off of her. Fortunately (or unfortunately, Sunset couldn’t tell), Twilight didn’t linger.
“You’re the best,” she said as she exited the vehicle. That left Sunset all alone in the car.
Not long ago, the sound of rubber on asphalt was driving her crazy. But as she slipped back into her shirt, surrounded by the gentle gas station ambience, she began to miss it. It wasn’t like it was silent, but it was too quiet. The subtle sound of a stream of fuel flowing into the gas tank. A faint, muffled song with no distinct elements to it other than a twangy guitar playing from the speakers overhead. That was it. That left Sunset with too much mental bandwidth.
When Sunset heard Flash yank the nozzle out of the car, she finally snapped out of it. Stepping out of the car, Sunset felt like her legs were made of gelatin. She leaned against the car, immediately regretting it when she felt how hot the surface was.
“Ow, shit,” she hissed, shaking her hands out.
Flash chuckled. “Same thing happened to me,” he said. “Pretty sure I’ve got grill marks on my back now.”
Sunset gave him some semblance of a laugh and went back to stretching. As she watched Flash enter the convenience store, she felt another twist in her gut. She should have followed him—even if she wasn’t buying anything, her bladder was about to burst—but she just stood there. Those two were in there, and she had just spent the last hour or so making things weird for both of them.
They deserved some time away from her. She could wait until they were done.