Resolved
Dawn drew close to her mirror. "You're going to tell him," she said firmly. "You're going to tell Sunny how much you like him." The young princess took a deep breath. Then she fluffed her golden blonde hair, before strutting out into the rest of the palace, mentally reaffirming herself every step. There wasn't much that made the younger fairy princess nervous. But this, changing a lifelong dynamic with her best friend, her stomach was full of butterflies, her heartbeat thundered in her ears, and her palms were sweating.
Opening the palace doors she was met with, "Hey Dawn," chirped from her best friend's lips, "are you ready for the picnic?"
After the picnic, she decided, she could tell him after the picnic. And her nerves went away. They laughed and joked and sang together just like they normally did, but as their picnic started to wind down the butterflies came back, her heartbeat thundered in her ears, and she wiped her palms on a napkin hoping Sunny wouldn't notice.
"Hey Dawn?" Sunny said her name, as they gazed up at the clouds.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think a fairy and an elf could get together, romantically?" Dawn flushed, but Sunny didn't stop. "Just, I know a friend of mine with a crush, but… it's just a bad idea, right? I mean, it's great that they can be friends, like you and me, but it just doesn't make sense to try and make something more out of it when there's nothing there. Elves and fairies just live completely different lives, and it should stay that way. Elves work the earth, and fairies rule the skies, it's the way it's always been. Even if they really like each other, that doesn't mean they could make it work as a couple. I… my friend should probably just give up on the whole idea and go out with another elf. And the fairy should find another fairy. Right?"
Dawn's chest felt tight. He had noticed. Of course he had noticed. She was the queen of unsubtle. He was making up a story about a friend to let her down easily. "Heh, right," Dawn said warily. It still hurt though. "Hey, Sunny, I think the picnic isn't sitting very well, I'm going to head home."
"Oh… yeah… feel better soon," Sunny called.
They didn't make eye contact.
Dawn feigned her stomach ache for a week. Then she looked at her mirror with a new mission. "Find someone else," she said firmly. "Fall in love with someone else, and your feelings for Sunny will go away."
She wasn't wrong, it was so much easier to flirt with others than it was to tell Sunny. None of the fairy boys gave her stomach butterflies, made her heartbeat thunder in her ears, or made her palm sweat. Whenever the boy she was thinking about failed, whenever Sunny did something that reminded her how she felt… used to feel… she only needed to think about a different boy.