Giggles was a cute, pink chipmunk that loved many many things and people. She often felt crushes towards her friends, like, Cuddles, Russell, and even Flippy. But none were as big as the one she felt right now: The one she had for her BFF, Petunia the Skunk. The two had been friends ever since they were in diapers and she had never once imagined that she might develop some feelings for her.

"I have to tell her… But she's with Handy…"

This fact was killing Giggles inside and out, and she would know because she had died many times before in very grotesque ways. Thanks to the village's curse, which was cast thousands of years ago, the citizens would be brought back to life the next day if they had been murdered. Now, that being said, Giggles knew what death felt like, but the fact that her crush was already with someone was starting to feel like the worst death ever, even though she was still alive.

"Well," Giggles said, rising from the park bench in which she was sitting, "I'd better go home and eat."

But she didn't really want to do that; she had lost her appetite, which was more proof that she had fallen in love with Petunia. Giggles was the romantic type and she knew all the symptoms that showed in a person who had fallen in love with another person: Blushing, lack of appetite and sleep, and usually whenever the person they were in love with was brought up or entered the same room, that person who liked them would often leave the room without saying a word. Giggles had all of these symptoms and she knew it, too. She felt guilty about leaving Petunia without saying a word, but she didn't know what else to do! That's why she thought heading home and trying to force herself to eat something might take her mind off of Petunia.

"Fat chance that's gonna happen…"

While Giggles was on her way home, she was halted from around the corner by a golden bear with an orange afro and 70's clothing. The pink chipmunk groaned because she knew who this was and she was in no mood at all to talk to him at the moment. His name was Disco Bear, and he was a major flirter. Everytime he saw a girl, even Giggles, he flirted at her and tried to get her to go out with him. But she always dismissed him or yawned to let him know she wasn't interested… even though he didn't care. This time was no different, because he tried putting his arm around her but she just growled and smacked it away.

"Back off, creep," she grumbled, trying to walk away.

Disco Bear just chuckled and walked out in front of the troubled chipmunk girl, blocking her way. He leaned his body against the building they were near, using his hand for support and raised his eyebrow curiously.

"You wanna tell me what the chiz is?" the golden bear asked in a knowing tone.

Giggles raised one eyebrow and squinted the other one.

"What's chiz?" she asked.

Disco Bear shrugged in response.

"I think it's a German sausage," he added to the shrug.

Giggles sighed and closed her eyes in response to this.

"Well, as much as I'd love to sit and have small talk with you, I'm really not in the mood." the pink chipmunk with the bow groaned, rubbing her temples.

Disco Bear was silent for a while and stayed in place with Giggles still in front of him. He appeared to be thinking about something and Giggles took this as her opportunity to get away while he was stuck in thought. She stepped to the side and continued down the sidewalk at the slow, sluggish pace she had been using the whole time.

"Take care," she uttered under her breath.

Even though Disco Bear was kind of a dick at times, she still showed some kindness to him by saying to take care. Her mother had always told her to show every person and creature a little kindness, no matter how… "fresh" they might be.

"You're thinking about Petunia, aren't ya?"

Those words entered Giggles' ears and invaded her brain space, telling her feet to stop moving and her body to stay perfectly still. She was now frozen in place and she heard footsteps approaching her from behind. Disco Bear went out in front of her and crossed his arms.

"It's good that I now have your attention, even though I thought I'd never have to use that move." the orangette said.

Giggles was starting to get nervous and worried; what was Disco Bear talking about and why was she frozen in place? Was it because he mentioned Petunia? Giggles gulped and sweat beads glazed her face. Disco Bear sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Look, I'm gonna be honest with you, I started flirting with you for the reason any guy flirts with a girl: To impress you. But now I see that what I should do instead is advise you to get over your insecurities and talk to Petunia, 'Kay?" the golden bear said in a serious tone.

Giggles was confused majorly; she never expected someone to give her romance advice! And to make things even more bizarre, it was Disco Bear who was doing it!

"H-How did you know that I like Petunia?! And more importantly, why are you giving me romance advice?! It should be the other way around, for God's sake!" Giggles demanded.

Disco bear shrugged and rubbed his thumb and index finger together.

"Dunno, to be honest. But, whatever! Just talk to her next time you see her, capische?" he told the younger girl.

Giggles groaned in annoyance at him. "Don't you know she's with someone already?!"

Disco Bear sighed and closed his eyes.

"No one said love was easy. I mean, how do you think I don't have a girlfriend yet?" he pointed out bluntly.

'Because you're annoying with your flirting and no one likes you, that's why...' Giggles answered in her head, but she answered with her mouth, "Look, I'm gonna go, okay?"

And with that, she headed for home. Secretly taking Disco Bear's advice, though…

Giggles' house was a tree like most of everyone else's in the village. Inside was very comfy and cozy and pink. Since Giggles was a girly girl, she loved the colour pink, hearts and other girly stuff.

She walked into her house and closed the door behind her. Giggles sighed as she looked around her house. She still lived with her mother, but her mother was at work right now, so, she was home alone. Since she was 15, she knew how to take care of herself. Even if she was childish at times…

That was another thing that bothered her. Petunia was the same age as her but she already moved out of her mother's house. She explained that her mother knew she was mature enough to decide when she moved out no matter how young she may have been. And Petunia had OCD and knew how to keep a clean house, and she worked at at a diner and a lamp store with flex hours so she had more than enough money to provide for herself. But it did kind of crack Giggles up that a lot of the money she spent was on cleaning supplies because she had been to the skunk's house and she saw she had cabinet's with Clorox Bleach, lotion, and all kinds of cleansers. But Giggles had been shopping with her for the past few weeks and helping her be more responsible with spending money so she would have more food and not just a bunch of cleaners. And in return, Petunia offered some of her cleaners, which to herself was a pathetic return gift and Giggles could tell she felt that way. So, she took some and thanked her out of pity that the skunk girl would keep beating herself up over it. Like how Giggles was beating herself up over not telling said skunk girl how she felt…

Giggles then smacked herself in frustration and dragged her paw down her face.

"Oh my God… I hate myself so much right now…" she groaned in a monotone voice.

In all her life, Giggles had never said that to herself. Being's as she was always so cheery and happy-go-lucky, she never had any reason to hate herself. But now, she really believed that she was a horrible creature for always lying to Petunia about how she really felt about her. Tears fell from her black, Pac-Man shaped eyes and she made heartbreaking sobs from the back of her throat. She just wanted to hold Petunia in her arms and cry into her shoulder, inhaling her lovely flowery scent all the while.

Just then, there was a knock at her door, causing the pink chipmunk to jump in surprise. Just who would be knocking at her door?

'I don't remember inviting over company,' she thought as she made her way to the door.

When Giggles opened the door, she gasped and her heart stopped for a second. The person at the door was none other than Petunia… the very skunk she had a crush on…

Just seeing her made Giggles feel happy and terrified at the same time, but then her expression turned into a sympathetic one because she noticed Petunia's face was stained with tears, and her eyes were more red than black; indicating that she had been crying a lot.

"P-Petunia?" Giggles said.

Just then, the blue skunk girl threw her arms around her BFF and held her tightly. Giggles was about to object, but then she heard her sobbing and fell silent.

"Petunia," Giggles asked after a while, "why are you crying?"

Petunia sobbed and hiccupped some more before replying, "Handy and I… broke up!"

Giggles gasped and her black eyes shrunk in response to this. She didn't know how she felt right now; happy, sad, maybe even worried? While she certainly sympathized for Petunia, a small voice inside her head was telling her that this could also be a good thing, because now she had a shot at having her. Still, she couldn't just tell her right away; that would be shallow and sudden. Petunia would need time to cope with her broken heart before Giggles would even think of telling her how she felt.

Plus, she didn't feel enough courage to tell her yet…

Later…

Giggles told Petunia sit down at the table while she fixed her something eat. That's what she herself was gonna do when she got home but she was so upset she forgot all about it. And she wasn't hungry anyway.

Giggles was cooking pancakes like Petunia had done for her one time. But that ended with both of them burning to death and the whole town blowing up. But luckily, the curse not only resurrects the citizens but also can re-build the town if the destruction is very extreme. Another thing that the aforementioned curse does is it keeps the Tree Friends from growing any older when they reach a certain age. It's different for each one. Pop stopped aging when he turned 37 which was two years after he and Cub moved to the town. Not every citizen in the town was a natural born resident there, but when they moved there, the curse stuck with them. Over the years, the curse has changed. When it was first cast on the town, it would only bring back the people that were born there; it didn't matter if they had moved there or they were just passing through or on some kind of vacation. But then, many years later, it would bring back anyone who set foot in that town, it didn't matter if they were born there or not. Now, it not only brings them back if they're in the town, but it sticks with them wherever they go. That's why she and Petunia got brought back to life even though they died outside of the town when going on a bus trip. In their town, the grass is always greener on the other side...

"Here you go, Petunia." Giggles said, placing the breakfast food in front of the blue skunk girl.

"Thank you…" she replied flatly.

Giggles took a seat next to her crush and said nothing.

Petunia didn't touch her food for a long time and that made Giggles start to worry.

"Hey… are you alright, Petunia?" the latter asked.

Petunia shook her head and pushed her plate away.

"Thank you for the pancakes, but I'm not really hungry right now…" she said in a hoarse voice.

There was a lump in her throat and it hurt really badly. So badly that it was making it hard for her to speak. A waterfall of tears escaped her eyes and she howled like a coyote in the night. Giggles closed her eyes halfway and made a sad face in response to this. She felt the need to do something about it, but what could she do? She glanced at the plate of pancakes and back at Petunia.

The blue skunk girl continued to sob and cry until she heard tiny noises. Then she uncovered her red, puffy eyes and saw that Giggles was cutting the pancake up into bite sized pieces. Petunia opened her mouth to speak, but was halted when a bite was shoved into her mouth. Giggles pulled the fork out and looked at Petunia with her black, Pac-Man shaped eyes. There was a clear feeling of sorrow in them and that made the blue girl want to cry again. But, she swallowed her sobs, and the bite of pancake, so she could talk to her friend.

"Giggles… why did you do that?" she inquired, fidgeting with her own hands.

"Well, my mom always told me that the first step in a broken heart… is a full stomach." the pink chipmunk answered.

Then she removed her red bow from the top of her head and twisted it around. Petunia parted her blue lips in response to this and tilted her head questioningly.

Then she understood what Giggles had meant.

"Come to think of it…" she spoke, catching her friend's attention. "I do feel… a little better, I guess. Thank you, Giggles."

The pink chipmunk blushed a faint red colour and her heart fluttered like a butterfly.

"Heh… no problem, Petunia..." was all she could say.

Later…

Giggles and Petunia had spent the rest of the evening talking to each other and opening up about each other's feelings. Not including the former's true, romantic feelings for the latter, of course. Giggles had offered for Petunia to stay over at her house for the night, but she just rubbed the back of her head nervously and admitted that she had to get home.

"I can't just skip out on my end-of-the-day house-cleaning… But I will definitely take you up on that offer sometime this weekend, okay?" she explained.

Giggles was sad that her crush was leaving, but she also understood and respected Petunia's choice.

"I understand… Well, I'll see you later." the pink girl replied.

Petunia blushed and smiled. She loved having a best friend who understood and respected her…

After a quick hug, Giggles showed Petunia the door, even though she already knew her way out, and bid farewell to her.

"Oh, wait, Gigs?" the blue skunk girl said.

"Yes?" her friend asked.

Then, an unexpected thing happened… Petunia kissed Giggles right on her cheek…

Giggles felt her heart pound wildly and her face grew to a bright, hot, red colour. When Petunia pulled away, she chuckled and fidgeted around with her fluffy tail.

"Thanks… for everything…" she said shyly.

Giggles was speechless; she did not know what to say at this point… She could only watch as Petunia strolled away from her house, out of sight…

When Giggles went back inside, she sat at her dining table and put both her hands on the sides of her head.

"Why… Why… Why did she do that?!" the pink chipmunk girl demanded to no one but herself.

This was a catastrophe! Now, she was sure it was more than just a crush… She had fallen hopelessly, desperately, utterly, and undeniably in love with Petunia… And what could she do about it?

'Nothing… at the moment…' she answered inside her head. 'But still…'

Giggles didn't know what to do, say, or feel… Her heart was aching, her face was burning hot, and tears were about to come pouring out of her eyes… Then, she spotted the plate of half-eaten pancakes. She parted her lips and pulled the plate over in front of her to stare down at it questioningly. As she took up a piece on her fork, she recalled what she told Petunia earlier.

"My mom always told me that the first step in a broken heart… is a full stomach."

Giggles smiled with pursed lips and tears welled up into her eyes as she raised the food to her mouth and took a bite…

Done! Another one-shot! Well, more on this couple and more will be in "Two Sides of the Same Story" which will be a while. See, I want to finish my other stories before posting anymore so I won't have my hands even more full than they already are. I mean, I have all different kinds of things to do: Schoolwork, stories, artwork, chores, and CAN I GET A BREAK?! And stop asking me to continue "Can I Love My Sister?"! I'm not cancelling it, I'm just trying to make it so it looks like I really put all my effort into it.

Shadow: Okay, jeez, calm down, Em…

Shadow, you're back!

Shadow: Yep!

R&R!