A damp coyote hoisted himself out of the pool, red-faced and grumbling. Sonic cracked up, dashing away from the scene of the crime. Sympathetic, Bunnie didn't really mind that the poor guy had chosen to sit next to her, shivering and bitter.
"Well, zat was rude. I will be giving him the piece of my mind, oui."
He looked familiar. She didn't think she'd ever met someone so embarrassed yet so eager to prove himself. It was so almost-funny that she was sure she wouldn't have forgotten.
"Anyway, you are a friend of zat hedgehog, yes?" he was asking her, still soaking wet. His poolside chair wasn't dripping so much as it was flooding. She'd asked him if he wanted a towel, but he had turned his nose up at the very idea, opting instead to dry in the summer sun. His pride, apparently, was much more important than pneumonia.
"Well, ah guess you could say that. Ah know Sally, and Sally knows Sonic, so he's...ah guess," Bunnie explained.
"Ah, so he is not the close friend of yours," he said smugly, pleased by that idea. "It is probably being for the best." He sent a quick glare in Sonic's direction.
Bunnie couldn't help but laugh. It was endearing, almost cute. "He's a sweetheart. Ah promise," she told him.
He wasn't convinced. "I wish he would save some of it for strangers," he grumbled. Then something seemed to register with him. "Did you say...you are knowing Sally?"
"Ah do indeed," Bunnie replied. "What about her?"
"Ehem…" he looked down. "Perhaps this is...how you say, weird, but...you could introduce me sometime, yes?" He sounded hopeful. Bunnie was pretty sure she knew what he was getting at.
As Sally's best friend, this had happened often enough that Bunnie had accepted her duty of making sure people knew that she was currently not available. (Although, it was a little strange that people still didn't know - it wasn't like Sonic made it a secret.) She couldn't blame this guy, though. He asked it like a child, wondering if he could go play in the snow.
"Ah hate to break it to ya," Bunnie said gently, "but she's currently dating Sonic."
Brazen, his reply took her completely by surprise. "Zat is of no consequence. I am sure she will see my considerable merit." He puffed his chest out, like he'd been filled with two gallon jugs of liquid confidence. The quick rebound was impressive.
Suddenly, she recognized the stranger. Confident smile, same swimming trunks, same pool -
"You're September!" Bunnie couldn't help but exclaim.
"September" raised an eyebrow at the accusation. "Is zis a foreign expression of yours?"
"Antoine! That's it! No, no - yer on the calendar! The university calendar from last year! You got me through the first four weeks of Physics 101!"
"I did? ...Mon Dieu!" he cried. "Zat calendar! Zis simply will not do!"
"What in tarnation do you mean?" Bunnie said.
"Zat is a horrible picture of me," he grimaced. "The photographers here in America, zey do not know a thing about the art! The lighting, the positioning...it must be just so. You understand? It is not good at all." He shook his head twice to emphasize his point, without stopping his tirade.
Now Bunnie raised an eyebrow. "Ah think you look perfectly fine."
Antoine stopped talking abruptly. "Ehm...really?" he asked uncertainly.
"Ah wouldn't have survived physics with anything less," she smiled.
A new blush made its way across Antoine's muzzle. It was like he had a different shade of red for every occasion. "Why...thank you, ma cherie. And I would not survive zis country without a beauty such as yourself."
"Flattery will get you nowhere," she giggled.
Antoine had other plans, however. When did his face get so close to hers? "Ah, but it has already gotten me zis far," he smiled. "I think it might at least get me to a kiss, no?"
Incidentally, he was right. But it wouldn't be for a while. A year, in fact.
Come October, Antoine had become part of Bunnie's circle of friends. Yes, even Sonic. In addition, he'd nearly completely forgotten about his feelings for Sally. Emphasis on nearly.
It must have been during a game of hearts that Bunnie had noticed. "Pass to the left, right?" Sally had asked.
"The left, yeah," Sonic confirmed. He took the cards that Antoine had given him. "'Twan, come on, man. Work with me!"
Bunnie laughed, looking at Antoine for a reaction. Antoine seemed preoccupied, however. He took the cards Sally had passed him - was he blushing?
About a week later, Antoine had asked Bunnie if she wanted to see a movie with him, but she could tell he'd had someone else in mind. Hoping to take his mind off it, she agreed. Well, a pep talk on the way back had certainly helped - maybe a little too much, as when he dropped her off, he proudly announced his intention to take Sally out on a date the next chance he got. This was fine, seeing as she and Sonic had broken up (on good terms) recently, but Bunnie really wasn't as confident as Antoine was about this and she didn't have the heart to tell him.
Early November came, and with it came a rather bruised bouquet in the dorm hall trash can. And, by February, a frustrated and lonely Antoine spent Valentine's day in his room, his self-pity driving even the normally understanding Tails out of the room. ("At least you have a prospective date!" Antoine had sighed as a weary Tails closed the door behind him.)
So, just before April, Bunnie took matters into her own hands. ("You're comin' with me, 'Twan.") Leading him by the arm, she'd brought - or dragged - him to the end-of-winter floor party. It helped that the RA was dragging him by his other arm. Bunnie had insisted that his funk was no longer an option available to him, and "sweet motha' of pearl, 'Twan, you're gonna meet some girls!"
And although Antoine did not end up with anyone that night, he seemed to be doing much better. Then, in April, Sally took Bunnie aside.
At first, Bunnie had thought Sally was speaking in another language. She had led off with, "So when is he going to ask you out?" after all. Who was this "he"?
Sally, in disbelief, had replied: "You really don't know?"
She insisted that no, she really didn't. Sally looked like she wanted to tell her, but then a mischievous look came over her and she went silent.
Bunnie had spent the rest of April confused. But by May, she had an idea when she found him at her favorite spot in the library for 3 weeks in a row.
And in June, when Antoine announced it was the first day of summer and kissed her without warning, hastily explaining the way he felt and would she like to go on a date?, she almost wasn't taken by surprise. Almost.