It was Tuesday afternoon, just past four-thirty, and Starlight was at work behind the counter, math book open in front of her. Luckily there weren't too many customers yet, so she'd been able to get started on that night's home work. Usually the rush happened after five-thirty, when most adults would come by after work, or parents would bring their kids after dinner. For now she was focused on numbers, but suddenly the doorbell chimed and she looked up to see Teddy and Lancer coming into the shop.
"Oh man I can't believe you actually allowed that in the paper, Starlight!" Starlight frowned as she watched the two approach, Lancer holding a copy of the school's weekly newspaper. Starlight was the editor, and while she wasn't responsible for writing everything - she was responsible for approving everything.
"Put what?" She could tell something was up, as both Teddy and Lancer were shaking with laughter (and she could have sworn that Lancer actually looked like he may have even been crying, he'd been laughing so hard). Her mind immediately started running over all of the articles, wondering which one they'd read?
"Oh, only that Ace totally bombed one-on-one against Lancer! That's so going to ruin his perfectionist reputation! Great job; you earned some new-found respect from me!" Teddy laughed as he looked over the menu before ordering a sundae. Starlight realized exactly what article he was talking about - the "anonymous" gossip page. A girl by the name of Glory was responsible for rounding up that week's interesting stories, and it hadn't been until the night before printing that she'd added the blurb about Ace. Starlight had barely paid attention while editing it - looking more at spelling and grammar than content. That tended to happen with late submissions. She groaned and hoped against hope that maybe, possibly no one else would read it? She already knew that wouldn't happen though - the gossip page was probably the single most popular page in the whole paper, sadly.
Ignoring Teddy, Starlight looked at the other boy. "Lancer, has he seen it yet?"
Lancer shrugged, and she couldn't help but notice the grin on his face. He was loving this already - which she supposed was probably good for his confidence, but not so good for her relationship with Ace. "I don't think so. But he probably will soon."
"Talk about timing, here comes Ace now!" Teddy had rejoined them with his ice cream, calling to Ace. Starlight couldn't help but frown as he approached, nervous tension building up in her stomach. Was he going to blame her? Would he understand if she explained that it had been a last minute addition, that she wouldn't have included it if she'd paid attention? Which of course wasn't really fair. But still. You can't publish bad articles about the people you have crushes on...
Ace sat down at the counter in front of Starlight and next to Teddy. "Hey guys, what's up?"
"Oh nothing much. You read this week's gossip page yet?" Teddy asked, handing him the piece of paper, grinning wickedly. Even though Teddy was Ace's best friend, he wasn't beyond laughing when his closest friends found themselves being the butt-end of a joke.
Ace shook his head and took the paper, wondering why Teddy cared. "Can't say that I have, then again I never really make a habit of it." He started reading though, and with every flick of the eye Starlight got more and more nervous. Any moment now...
"I can't believe that about Patch. I mean really, Storm? Not exactly the kind of guy I thought she'd go for. Then again I was starting to wonder if she was ever going to go for a guy at all," he winked at Starlight after making the comment, which only made her feel worse. Any second now, and he'd get to the part about him. About twenty seconds passed, and then it was obvious he was reading it, as his face dropped the friendly expression and instead turned rather hostile.
He looked up at her and she shrank back against his look of anger. He was silent for a moment before uttering a comment. "Wow, thanks." He then put the paper down and turned away, heading out the door (and doing his best to ignore Teddy's laughter - which was pretty odd behaviour for Ace, she thought).
"Ha ha, you really got him good with that Star! His ego needed the deflating," Teddy crowed, picking the paper up and reading it again.
Starlight lowered her head to the counter, promising herself she wouldn't cry. Not here, not right now! Maybe he'd calm down and she could talk to him tomorrow and apologize. She could at least explain that she hadn't even really paid attention to the piece, that it had been a last minute rush. Maybe he'd be willing to listen to her?
"Hey don't feel bad, you did him and the rest of us a favour!" Teddy laughed and got up, pulling Lancer along with him. Lancer didn't look quite as happy as he had a moment ago - but then he'd always had a stronger grip on his morals than Teddy. Plus she knew that Ace did have a habit of picking on Lancer at times - typical boy behaviour she'd always thought, and really maybe he did deserve a bit of happiness at Ace's expense. But still...
She was left by herself at the counter, her math homework forgotten and wishing she were anywhere else. Unfortunately though she was going to be stuck at work for the next two and a half hours! She desperately hoped no one else would come in, that she'd have at least a little bit of time to compose herself before customers showed up. Maybe she could plead with her dad that she was sick? Or that she had too much homework? Maybe if she called Misty, the older girl could come in and cover her shift?
Then the doorbell chimed again and she wiped furiously at her eyes, angry with herself for crying at work. She had to be professional! She breathed a tiny sigh of relief when she saw that it was only her friends, Brighteyes and Sweetheart. She knew that Brighteyes didn't really like Ace that much (they tended to disagree with each other a lot in class) so maybe she'd be able to convince Starlight that things were going to be okay. If not, she knew Sweetheart would at least offer sympathy.
The girls took seats in front of her, and it was Sweetheart who first noticed that she looked upset. "Are you okay, Starlight? Have you been crying?" The two girls leaned closer over the counter, and Starlight sighed miserably before launching into an explanation.
"Glory wrote something about Ace for the gossip page, about him losing to Lancer, and I stupidly let it go to print without really paying attention to what it said," she began, wondering who would reply first.
"Oh no!" Sweetheart began, her expression matching her friends. "Oh Starlight that's terrible! Did Ace see it yet?"
Starlight nodded. "Teddy made sure to point it out to him," she said, hoping that Brighteyes wasn't going to chastise her for failing to read something before putting it to print.
Sweetheart frowned, unsure if she ought to say anything about Teddy's behaviour. He was her friend, but she knew that he didn't always behave appropriately around others - even his own close friends!
"That's Teddy for you," Brighteyes said, shaking her head. "Never passing up an opportunity to laugh at someone."
"Oh I'm sure he didn't really mean it," Sweetheart said, frowning. The problem was that she was certain that he bhad/b meant it exactly the way he'd done it - but she couldn't help but stick up for him.
"He even had Lancer with him," Starlight explained further, content so far with their sympathy. The last thing she wanted was a lecture from Brighteyes about the responsibilities of being an editor.
"Well, Ace does tease Lancer a lot, so at least someone nice benefited from this," Brighteyes said, though she still looked troubled and Starlight was certain that a lecture was indeed coming! She figured she might as well head it off.
"Look I know it's my own fault for letting it go to print and not really reading it! If only I'd seen it, I would have taken it out," she muttered, disappointed in herself. You'd think she'd have been paying full attention, seeing Ace's name? "I feel terrible."
Instead of looking smug, Brighteyes surprised Starlight by looking confused. "Why do you feel terrible? Because Ace is upset?" She asked, and Starlight nodded. "What about every other pony who has something upsetting written about them? What about Patch? Do you think she wanted her crush on Storm put in the paper? What about Daisy? Do you think she wanted to have it printed in the paper that she plagiarized her history paper? Even though she cheated and cheaters deserve to be outed, but not to that degree," Brighteyes paused, though she sounded like she was only getting started.
"Brighteyes, now is not the time to lecture Starlight!" Sweetheart said, looking like she was on the verge of tears herself.
"It absolutely is, Sweetheart! It's not right for Starlight to treat Ace any differently than everyone else, just because she has a crush on him. If anything, it's actually good for Starlight to see that Ace has faults too, and that he can fail at things," Brighteyes replied, an annoyed look on her face.
Sweetheart looked like she was about to argue, but Starlight spoke up. "No she's right, Sweetheart. I shouldn't treat Ace any differently," she said sadly, feeling even worse about herself. What Brighteyes had said was true - she was especially surprised with herself for not even thinking about Patch's feelings! And what about everyone else who'd had gossip written about them? Didn't their feelings matter?
"I'm a terrible pony," Starlight muttered, lowering her head to the counter. What she should do is cancel the whole gossip page from the paper! But she knew there would be uproar over that, given how popular it was. She was stuck.
"No you're not, Starlight," Sweetheart said soothingly, "You're a really truly good pony, who usually always does the right thing."
"Usually," Starlight repeated, "But not always, and especially not in this case."
"Oh stop feeling sorry for yourself," Brighteyes snapped, shaking her head. "You can't do anything about it now, except apologize and move on. Give it a few days and no one will even remember it anyway, it happens every week."
"Every week!" Starlight moaned, dropping head against the counter again. She'd have to issue a hundred apologies!
Brighteyes sighed in frustration. "Get a hold of yourself, Starlight! It's only bothering you so much because Ace is mad at you. Just go and apologize to him tomorrow and you'll be fine. Then you can think about whether or not you should cancel that gossip page with a clear mind."
Starlight knew she was right - after all, she'd been wary about the gossip page when she'd taken over the editor position, but she'd thought about it then with a clear mind and had decided to keep it. She couldn't do her job and change her mind on a whim because she'd hurt a friend. She'd have to sleep on it.
She made it through the rest of her work shift without another breakdown, and finally retreated upstairs to her family's apartment when she was done. After eating a quick dinner with her mother (her father was working another two hours until the ice cream shop closed) she retreated to her bedroom and thought about finishing that math homework, but then her phone rang.
She hesitatingly picked it up - what if it was Ace? What would she say? "Hello?"
"I can't believe you Starlight! How could you do that to me?" Not Ace - Patch! Starlight cringed at the angry tone of her friend's voice.
"Patch, I'm so sorry. I didn't think before I-" The other girl cut her off mid-explanation.
"No kidding you didn't! He's going to know tomorrow when I see him at school Starlight. He'll know and he'll laugh at me! What kind of a friend are you?" Before Starlight could try and explain Patch hung up, leaving her even more upset than she had been. She laid down on her bed, her math forgotten again, and cried herself to sleep.
The next day at school had her quietly walking down the hall to her first class, receiving compliments on the paper all along the way. Of course not all of them were about the gossip page - there was a lot of other content, but there were a few comments here and there about some of those items. However as she neared her first class, she wasn't exactly ready for the scene that greeted her.
"Hey Ace, maybe we should rethink the team and make Lancer the captain now, huh?" She watched on in agony as Ace slammed his locker shut, pushing through the crowd of guys standing nearby - including Teddy and Lancer. Ace saw her, and seemed to hesitate, as though he was uncertain of whether he should say anything to her or not. He decided not to and glared at her instead as he walked by. Her heart was almost broken now as she made her way towards class - was he even going to let her apologize? She slipped into her desk, glancing at Patch, who returned her gaze with a glare before turning her head. She noticed Ace come in then and sit down next to Patch, and the two immediately started talking in hushed whispers.
iThey're probably talking about me, about how crappy a friend I am/i, Starlight thought to herself as she fought to keep her tears down. Miss Hackney entered the room and began the class. Starlight just couldn't concentrate on class at all and spent the morning gazing at Ace and Patch. When lunch finally came, everyone left, leaving her alone with Miss Hackney.
"Is something wrong dear?"
Starlight sighed, then walked over to her desk. Time to out her thoughtless behaviour to her mentor. "You know about the paper right?" Miss Hackney nodded, as Starlight sat on the edge of her desk. "Well it blew up in my face this week. Ace and Patch won't talk to me now because of what Glory wrote about them, because I let it go to print. I feel so bad; I saw everyone picking on Ace this morning, and it's all my fault! I just don't know what to do."
Miss Hackney suppressed the urge to lecture Starlight about gossip columns - that was a conversation better left to another occasion when Starlight wasn't so personally invested. "I understand, things like this happen. Why don't I talk to him after class, he and Patch both. I hate to see any of you fighting with each other." She smiled at Starlight, who thanked her and left. She just went out to the front steps and sat, having no desire for food right now. She hoped Ace would talk to Miss Hackney, he usually opened up when he was upset, thankfully he was nothing like Teddy in that regard, who never said a word to anyone (except maybe Sweetheart). She figured Patch would be okay after a while, as she never really stayed mad at anyone for very long. It would be a tough few days until she got over it, but at least she was sure Patch would end up forgiving her. But she was really worried about Ace.
iProbably ruined any chance I had with him/i, she thought miserably. She sat there the whole lunch hour until the bell rang and class started again. She couldn't pay much more attention during the afternoon periods then she had during the morning. Finally the end of the day came and everyone filed out of the room. Patch took off before Miss Hackney could catch her, but luckily Ace was taking his time, with no interest whatsoever in going to soccer practice. Starlight was the second last to leave, as Miss Hackney winked at her while she left.
"Ace, do you mind staying for a minute?" The elderly teacher asked, hoping he wasn't terribly upset with Starlight.
Ace stopped by her desk and wondered what she wanted to talk to him about. "Anything to get out of soccer practice. What is it?"
Miss Hackney ignored his slightly rude response, chalking it up to having to deal with being teased all day by his peers. "I know you're upset over what was written about you in the paper, but you shouldn't let it come between you and your friends."
Ace felt his jaw drop open and he stared in silence for a moment. "What?"
"Starlight feels terrible about what happened, and I know she'd like to apologize to you for it." Miss Hackney watched as his eyes narrowed in anger, and she suddenly wondered if perhaps she should have been a little more subtle?
"I can't believe this! Did she ask you to talk to me or something? If she has anything to say to me she can say it to my face, or maybe she'd rather print it in another paper!" Ace grabbed his bag and left before she could say anything more. Miss Hackney watched him go and mentally berated herself - she should have been more subtle. She sighed then and hoped the kids would resolve their problems on their own.
Starlight sat on the steps, having decided to wait for Ace, hoping that Miss Hackney had talked to him and gotten him to calm down. She heard the door swing open and watched as Ace bounded down the steps. He stopped when he saw her, looking down at her with an angry look.
"I can't believe you! Not only do you print this stupid story about me, which you don't even know the whole story to, but now you go and complain to Hackney about me, making me look like a jerk! Thanks a lot Starlight!"
"Ace please, I just want to talk to you!" Starlight stood up and hoped he wouldn't leave, she desperately needed to make him understand what had happened and how bad she felt!
Ace glared at her and shook his head. "Well I don't want to talk to you, and you can feel free to put that in your stupid paper too."
Starlight felt tears forming in her eyes and tried to contain them. She did not want to break down crying in front of him! "Ace please just talk to me. I'm sorry that I let the story go through, I want to apologize but I just don't know what to do to make it any better."
Ace laughed in derision. "Gee, maybe you can deal with everyone coming up to you throughout the day telling you that it's about time that someone took you down a few notches, that you obviously aren't perfect any more, that maybe this should teach you a lesson in life and all the other stuff I've had listen to today. Maybe then you can have at least some sort of right to even try and talk to me."
"Ace I'm sorry, I don't want you to be mad at me, I can't handle that!" This was going all wrong! She needed to explain - not beg his forgiveness!
"Oh right, so you can print things about people all you want but you don't want anyone getting upset over it? That's ridiculous, Starlight!"
"Ace, please don't be mad. I just want to make it up to you somehow!" She panicked then, unable to take him glaring angrily at her. She was talking again before even thinking about what she was going to say. "I really like you Ace, I have for a long time!" Oh no, had she just told him she liked him? Would he realize what she meant?
Ace shook his head again and frowned. "Yeah well that's a fine way of showing it. Could you do me a favour and start hating me instead?" He turned and took off, not giving her a chance to say another word. She couldn't help this time as tears came pouring down her cheeks. She got up and ran off, not wanting to chance staying here. She took off for the woods, deciding that maybe a walk would do her good. Thankfully she wasn't working tonight - there was no way she'd be able to concentrate on serving customers! She walked for a while, finally deciding to sit down by the lake. Her tears had pretty much stopped by then, but she was still sniffling.
"Good job dummy, now not only is Ace mad at you, but he hates you too!" She said out loud, her voice wavering as she spoke. Little did she know Ace had been walking along the same path and had heard some crying, coming up to investigate. When he had seen her sitting by herself, sniffling and looking upset, he couldn't help but sit down a bit farther away and watch, realizing that she really was terribly upset by what had happened. He sat by a tree and watched her, listening as she talked to herself.
"My god what were you thinking? This whole thing was stupid from the beginning. Now not only does Ace totally hate you but now he knows for sure that you like him too! So much for waiting for the right moment. Oh god, what am I going to do? I can't take this, I can't have him hate me, not now. Oh why can't I just get over him? He doesn't even like me back, so there's no chance of anything happening with us, especially not with him hating me." She broke down into tears again, unaware that her whole speech had been overheard. Ace couldn't take any more of it, deciding it was time for him to face her and admit why the whole thing had really felt like a slap in the face. He walked down towards her, his steps quiet in the grass, and she still hadn't noticed him even as he sat down next to her. He touched her shoulder, getting her attention.
"I don't hate you." Her eyes widened as she saw him, tears still there in the corners.
"How long have you been here?" Starlight asked, her voice slightly panicked. She couldn't believe this was happening to her, it was too much!
"I heard everything." He looked down, not able to look in her eyes.
Starlight groaned and drew her legs up to her chest, laying her head down. "I feel like such an idiot now, why is this happening to me? All in one day too, this is too much."
Ace frowned as he watched her, feeling bad that she felt so bad. "Starlight, we need to talk."
"About what?" She asked miserably, wondering if he was going to lecture her too.
"About us. About that stupid little story Glory wrote and you published. I mean, neither of you even know the whole story anyway! But you still let her publish it without checking the facts."
"I know and I'm sorry, there's nothing else I can say." Starlight didn't even want to bother explaining anything - she thought it would just be best to let him say what he wanted to say.
"I mean who would honestly think that Lancer could beat me at anything? But instead of asking about it, everyone just chooses to believe it because it's about me, and any chance they can have to talk trash about me they'll take. Just because I happen to be perfect at everything, they think my ego needs a knock whenever possible. Nice to see that even you play into that," he said with a really bitter tone to his voice, and he knew he was probably taking his frustration out on her when he shouldn't be. After all - she hadn't written it. She'd just agreed to publish it.
"I don't Ace, I swear! I would never think of doing that, I think you're perfect the way you are," she cringed as soon as she heard herself say those words. She sounded like such a lovestruck loser!
Ace frowned and felt even worse now for berating her - she obviously had no malicious intentions towards him. It was Glory he should really be upset at, not Starlight. "I know, I'm sorry, I'm probably taking this out on you when I shouldn't be." Of course he was doing it for more than one reason, and he was kind of angry with himself for not even bringing it up yet. Now was the perfect time, after all. Was he still nervous? Stupid, really, because usually he was never nervous, and Starlight obviously liked him. After all - she'd just verbally admitted it, hadn't she?
Starlight forced herself to calm down - to think about this logically. He wasn't reacting to her declarations of affection, which she guessed was good right now? Maybe they could both go on and forget she'd ever said anything? "So, what did happen then, with you and Lancer?" She asked, thinking that maybe getting the whole story would be good.
Ace was grateful she'd asked - it gave him a bit longer to put off what he figured he should tell her. "We were just messing around, and this girl came by, you know Ember, from the girl's soccer team? Well Lancer has a crush on her and he wanted to get her attention, so I let him win. I was actually doing something nice and helpful and this is what I get for it. Now everyone thinks I'm a jerk because I'm mad at you."
Starlight was shocked at the explanation. For starters she had no idea that Lancer liked Ember! "I'm really sorry about this, Ace. It was really late when Glory wanted to add some things, and I didn't pay attention to what she had written."
"Well unfortunately for me, everyone else paid a lot of attention."
"I know, and I'm thinking of cancelling the whole gossip page! It's causing so much trouble, not just for you and Patch, but for everyone who gets anything written about them. It's just really popular, and I only kept it because I thought no one would want to read the paper without the gossip page." It almost felt good to get that off her chest - ever since she'd talked to her friends about it the night before, her motives for keeping the gossip column around had been gnawing at her.
"Don't change your paper for me, Starlight, or for Patch. People will still spread gossip anyway, so it's really not that big of a deal. I mean I never even cared until now," Ace said, and it was true. If it hadn't been for Glory being at the right place at the right time (unless Ember had been the one to tell her? Or even Lancer?) then he still wouldn't care about the gossip column. "Anyway, do you want to know the real reason why it bothered me so much that you published it?" He asked, forcing himself to look at her. This was going to be super embarrassing, but it would only be worse if he didn't do it now.
"Of course I do." Starlight looked at him, wondering what this other reason could possibly be. Unless Ace had a crush on Ember too? She didn't think she could handle hearing that...
Ace averted his gaze again, staring at the lake. "Well, Melody's been bugging me lately about you, telling me how much you like me."
Oh my god, how could she? Starlight was getting a little nervous, wondering just what Melody had been saying. She hadn't failed to notice that Ace and Melody had started hanging out together a lot this past year, in fact if you saw one of them, you'd usually see the other.
Ace carried on, still looking at the lake and trying to sound more confident than he felt. "She told me she thinks we'd make a cute couple."
What? Starlight was confused - she'd really thought that lately Melody had seemed like she was finally returning Ace's crush on her...
Ace paused for just a moment, almost not about to continue. He hoped she didn't notice his hesitation. "So I was actually planning on asking you out this week. I've just been putting it off, because, believe it or not, I'm actually kind of nervous. Or at least I was. I thought you'd say no for some reason."
Starlight couldn't believe her ears, Ace wanted to go out with her? "Oh my god are you serious? You were going to ask me out?" Ace nodded, and Starlight sat there in shock, unable to absorb what he'd just told her.
Ace finally turned to look at her, wondering why she was taking so long to reply. Was she second guessing her crush on him now? Was she going to say that in light of what had happened, she didn't think it would be a good idea? "Starlight?"
Starlight turned to look at him, feeling terribly guilty. "I can't believe I ruined it! All this time I kept dreaming about you asking me out, and then you were going to, but I ruined the whole thing by letting Glory write a stupid story about you! How can I possibly make up for that, Ace? Especially knowing all this?"
Ace surprised Starlight (and himself) by grinning at her. "Well, you can start by going out with me on Friday," he said, suddenly feeling his nerves completely disappear. "Then we can just forget about this whole thing; I'm sure if we show everyone that we've patched things up, then everyone will just calm down over it."
She looked into Ace's eyes, suddenly calmed by his confidence. She smiled then and surprised herself by laughing. "Okay, I will."
Ace smiled before pulling her to him for a hug. Starlight moved closer and laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, blissful that she was finally getting exactly what she wanted. It was weird - hearing Ace confess his interest in her had erased her nerves about him entirely. It didn't erase her guilt, though, and after a moment she pulled away.
"I still feel so bad though, I mean everyone was so mean to you today," she said, frowning.
Ace shrugged and grinned, already in the process of letting go of the hurt he'd felt over it. "Honestly, it's okay, I mean I am kind of used to it to be honest. Everyone is always so intimidated by me that they try to get me on things all the time, they just usually never succeed. Besides, everyone is used to me being a cocky jerk anyway, so I guess maybe I had it coming."
Starlight grinned at his answer. "You're not that bad."
"I don't know if I should trust your opinion. I think you're a little too biased," he said with a laugh.
Starlight laughed too, "Yeah I think you're right. You're probably a total nightmare according to everyone else." They were both silent for a moment before Ace suddenly leaned over, kissing Starlight on the cheek. She looked back at him in surprise, unable to help but blush when she saw him smiling.
He didn't mention the kiss though. "Why don't we go get something to eat?" He asked, desperate to show everyone that he and Starlight had more than made up. Besides, he'd been so irritated during the day that he'd barely eaten anything at lunch, and he was rather hungry!
"Let's go," Starlight agreed, also starving now after her refusal to eat at lunch. The two teenagers left the lake and walked into town, barely any air between them as they walked, both faces smiling happily. They headed for the ice cream parlour, deciding on dessert before a proper meal.
At a table inside the shop sat 3 of the couple's friends - Clover, Sweetheart, and Brighteyes. They were just finishing ice cream sundaes, and all three reacted in surprise when they saw the two ponies walk in through the door.
"Hey, is that Ace and Starlight? I guess they're on speaking terms again," Brighteyes remarked, pleased that the internal drama hadn't lasted long. She'd hated to see Starlight beating herself up the day before.
"Not only speaking terms but I think they're much closer than that! Don't you see the way they're walking so close to each other? I think they did more than just make up," Clover observed, excited for her friend.
Sweetheart watched in surprise. "I don't know Clover, it couldn't be! Ace likes Melody doesn't he? And I thought Melody was starting to like Ace back? What is she going to say when she sees?" Sweetheart was kind of worried. She hadn't thought much of Ace and Melody spending time together this year, but Starlight had started telling her about her fears whenever she saw them talking about their times partying with their friends. Sweetheart had started worrying about whether or not Melody was into Ace now too.
"I guess we'll have to wait and see about that. But for now let's go and talk to them!" Clover, Sweetheart and Brighteyes quickly made their way to the counter, where Ace was sitting at a stool and Starlight had just slipped behind.
"Hey you know what else you can do to make it up to me?" Ace said to Starlight, his trademark grin in place. "You can buy my a sundae." Ace winked as Starlight laughed at him, but set about making his favourite - hot fudge with extra peanuts! "Thank you Star, you know how to make it just right," he complimented before taking a bite.
Starlight grinned and set about making herself her own favourite sundae - strawberry shortcake! She didn't notice when the girls joined Ace at the counter, too busy making herself a treat. She was surprised when she turned around and saw the three of them there.
"Uh, hey!" Starlight greeted, unable to help but smile.
"So, I guess you two have patched things up?" Brighteyes asked, smiling at Starlight, who just grinned.
Clover wasn't as subtle. "Did Cupid finally get that aim on his arrow right?" The five of them laughed, and Starlight could only nod.
"Oh it's about time!" Sweetheart said, feeling elated. She'd been worried about Starlight since the night before! Funny how 24 hours could change things completely.
Just then Melody entered the shop and made a beeline for her friends, noticing Ace and Starlight together. She sat down next to Ace. "Did you finally do it? Oh please tell me you did!" Ace laughed, as the others looked rather confused.
"Yes I did, calm down. Are you happy now?" Melody hugged Ace, then reached over the counter and hugged Starlight.
"I've only been bugging him for the past month or so to ask you out. Nice of him to take his time." Ace shrugged at Melody's comment, leaving everyone else surprised but still happy that the two had finally gotten together.
Just after Ace and Starlight finished their sundaes, Brighteyes noticed Patch walk in with a few of her friends, sitting down in a booth on their own. Patch hadn't noticed the gang, as she was engrossed in conversation with her other friends.
"There's Patch," Brighteyes commented, "And she looks excited and happy, at least."
The group of them turned and stared, watching as indeed Patch beamed while talking to the little group. She didn't seem angry at all, which Starlight supposed was a good thing. Maybe Patch would forgive her already?
Eventually Patch's friends left, and Ace got up then. "Let me go and talk to her," he offered, which was fine by Starlight. Ace and Patch were good friends, after all, so even if Patch was still angry at Starlight, she was sure Ace would smooth it over.
Patch noticed Ace suddenly and grinned as she watched him sit down. "Well hello, you picked a terrible time to skip practice, by the way! Lancer was so intent on showing everyone how exactly he beat you that he slipped and fell on his face!" Patch laughed, and Ace joined in.
"Nice to see everything is back to normal, then," Ace replied, wishing he had indeed seen that. He supposed though he was happy about had happened instead.
"Yeah it was brilliant, especially perfect because Ember was watching too, I made sure to call her over," Patch admitted.
Ace grinned. "Perfect! So anyway, did you happen to see you know who today?" He asked, having a feeling that Patch's good mood wasn't only caused by Lancer making a fool of himself in front of his crush.
Patch couldn't hide her grin. "I did, and it all worked out. He actually asked me out! Makes me feel stupid for not asking him earlier, you know? Turns out he'd actually been thinking of asking me out for the past few weeks, but he thought I wasn't interested. I guess I was a little prematurely harsh on Starlight," she admitted.
"Glad to hear it, because that's actually what I was coming over to talk to you about," he said, and Patch looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"Did you two make up already?" Patch asked, and Ace nodded.
"Yeah, I ran into her as I was leaving and we had a bit of a fight. Actually that's a lie, I pretty much just yelled at her and she cried, then I ran off like a jerk and left her there. Ended up seeing her by the lake, crying and talking to herself."
Patch grinned as she shook her head. "You decided to eavesdrop on a poor broken-hearted girl that you'd just screamed at?"
Ace grinned back at her. "Yeah, but it was good! We're going on a date on Friday," he decided to casually drop the bombshell, and laughed at Patch's look of disbelief.
"You're what?" Almost everyone in the shop looked at them after Patch's outburst, before she started laughing. "I can't believe that Ace, talk about perfect! Is she working tonight? I want to apologize to her." They got up and made their way over to the counter, where Starlight was waiting to hug Patch.
"I'm sorry for being mean to you all day, Star," Patch said, embracing her friend.
"Oh it's okay, really. I guess I should have expected it and at least warned you beforehand if it was going to print," Starlight replied.
"It all worked out anyway! Storm asked me out, so it's cool," Patch told her.
"Awesome! The four of us should double date some time," Starlight said with a wink, and Patch laughed before agreeing to the idea.