Chapter 4

It was now Sunday morning, my only full day off of the week. I had some things to do around my dwelling, starting with an oil change on my truck. I opened the large bay door on the back of my building and drove the truck inside onto the hoist that lies just inside the entrance.

Before I went any further, I realised I still had last night’s clothes on. They still had the scent of the shy girl’s house on them, so I changed into something to work in, even though I wanted to keep that smell on me so I could enjoy it throughout the day.

As I worked, I thought about the night before, and the time I spent alone with that quiet, yet lovely girl. I felt a little bit of excitement and couldn’t help but have a little bounce in my step as I moved about. I loosened the plug and drained the oil from my engine after lifting the truck on the hoist so it was above my head. As I watched the thick, black stream of old oil run out into the waste tank, my thoughts stayed on the pink-haired beauty; how she looked at me with those teal eyes, and how she spoke in that soft voice.

I finished up with my truck, double checking that it was full of fresh oil and that the new filter was tight. Then I closed the hood and backed it outside.

When I came back in and pulled the chain to close the big door, I looked around my home. How did I end up living in what can only be described as a shop with a cement floor, steel walls and machinery everywhere? There were lathes, mills, cutting torches, welders and a tool box, as well as countless other tools and pieces of equipment. I could do any repairs to my truck here if I wanted, and if need be I’ve even used the machining equipment to make my own parts. The only space that resembled something ‘liveable’ was a room I had built in the corner. Inside, it was carpeted, and there was a couch, TV, some electronics, and a stand up shower stall in the corner. There was a washer and dryer to do my clothes, and a side door that led to a small restroom stall, but that was pretty much it. No bed. No kitchen. Some people couldn’t deal with that, but I was just fine without it.

I walked over to my mill, which was currently out of use with a bad motor. There was a crate sitting beside it with a new motor inside, which I had been planning on installing so I could use this mill again, but the lingering thoughts of last night were causing a major lack of interest in starting such a task that day.

Instead, I had a shower and put on some fresh clothes. I sat on my old, saggy couch for a minute and stared at the floor, thinking more about the shy girl. Then I remembered I had her number. I went to pick up my phone so I could look at it again to see if I could memorize her number, only to find a text message waiting.

FLUTTERSHY: Hi Goldie, its Fluttershy. What r u doing today?

My heart stopped. I wasn't keen on people calling me Goldie, but coming from Fluttershy, I could make the exception.

"She texted me! Holy crap..." Staring at the screen, I began to wonder how long the shy girl must have taken to muster up the gusto to hit 'send' after typing that message out.

With shaky fingers, I typed back.

ME: Just doing some tinkering. U?

A few minutes passed, then I realised she’d sent her message a couple hours ago. She’s probably not going to re-

A new message appeared on my screen.

FLUTTERSHY: Nothing. Did u want to come over today? I have way too much leftover chicken to eat all by myself. I thought we could have some to eat and maybe watch a movie or something? I texted the girls but they're either busy or not answering so it will just be us again.

“WOW, holy crap she asked me to come over aga-”

Another message.

FLUTTERSHY: If that's OK with u

"Hm." As shocked as I was at the invitation, I smiled, I imagining Fluttershy saying it in her soft, sweet voice.

ME: Sure what time?

FLUTTERSHY: Whenever u like. I'm here all day. U can come over whenever ur done tinkering :)

ME: Lol OK

I knew damn well I was going right away.

I threw my boots on and jumped in my now well-oiled machine, firing it up and heading down the road. I liked that her place was so close. How did I not know she lived there? How have I never run into her friends in the area before? Maybe she just moved out here, but even so, I never knew that cottage was there. Even in the winter when the leaves are gone, you can’t see far in these woods because of all the evergreens.

I found her driveway easily this time, and made the same drive up to her house and parked. As I walked up to the house, the front door opened when I was still twenty feet away, and there she was. The shy girl looked the same as always, except outside in the sun, her creamy yellow skin seemed to glow with radiance. I noticed her green skirt had three pink butterflies on it, which was something I never noticed before. Her soft pink hair hung down over one eye just for a second, until a breeze kicked up and blew her hair gently away revealing her whole face with a welcoming smile on her lips, and her eyes seemed to shine when she saw me coming towards the house.

“Wow,” I thought. “I have no words…like seriously.”

“Um, hi,” she greeted softly. “I heard you coming so I thought I’d come and greet you.”

“Oh thanks,” I replied. “Yeah, it’s hard to sneak around in that truck.”

“Oh…yeah, I bet. It’s very loud,” she smiled.

“I hope it doesn’t bother your animal friends,” I said, trying to show concern.

“Oh no, they’re fine. I told them-“ she stopped abruptly for a second. “N-nevermind. Come in.” She turned and went into the house, after which I followed.

I had wondered what she was going to say before she stopped herself, but I decided to just let it go, figuring it was nothing. Once inside, I breathed in the now familiar scent of her house while taking my boots off. I set them beside a pair of tall, light green boots which I assumed were hers.

“Are you hungry?” she asked. “I can reheat some leftovers for you.”

I wasn’t really hungry, but I nodded anyway. “Sure.”

“It probably won’t be as good as last night.”

“I’m sure it’ll still be good,” I reassured her.

She smiled and made up a plate with the food from the fridge and put it in the microwave. She then filled a second, smaller plate and set in near the microwave, waiting to heat it up next.

I took a seat at the table while she waited by the counter, rubbing her elbow at her side with the other hand. She looked like she was trying to think of something to say, but then the microwave beeped and she took out my plate with an oven mitt on, setting it in front of me. She grabbed a fork from the drawer and set it next to the plate.

“Enjoy,” she said with a nervous smile. “I…um, hope it’s still good.”

She put her plate in the microwave and started it as I picked up my fork.

“C-could you excuse me for just a minute?” she asked.

I looked up as she rounded the end of the counter in disappeared down the hall. I assumed maybe she was using the washroom, so I set my fork back down and decided to wait for her food to be ready before I started eating so we could eat together.

While I waited, I pulled my phone out, looking at our text conversation from earlier. Lower down, I could see my previous messages from Rarity. I decided to send her a message asking how her sister was.

I got a response after only a few seconds.

RARITY: She's doing much better this morning, thank you for asking. How was last night? Dreadfully sorry I had to miss it.

ME: It was fine. We had dinner and basically talked for a bit.

RARITY: That sounds nice. I'm surprised you guys didn't get into that game again or watch a movie though. That's usually what ends up happening with those girls...they simply cannot be content to just sit and have a lovely chat.

ME: Actually, everyone else had stuff going on, so it was just me and Fluttershy.

There was a longer pause this time before she sent another message.

RARITY: REALLY??? No one else made it?

ME: Nope

RARITY: Well I hope she wasn't too quiet for you. She really is a sweetheart, but she can be so dreadfully shy.

ME: Yeah, she was fine after a little while. Especially once she got talking about her animals. We had a good time, in fact she invited me back today for leftovers. I'm here right now.

RARITY: SERIOUSLY??? I am surprised at her! That's wonderful news though, I certainly hope you two have fun!

ME: We planned on watching something after we eat. Should be a good time.

I’ve never liked when text conversations go on too long so I decided to wrap it up.

ME: Well, we're starting to eat now so I'll talk to u later.

RARITY: Thank you again for your well wishes. You two have fun now, just try not to suggest any horror movies to her. She is not a fan. XD

ME: K thanks. Bye.

I started to put my phone away when I heard the microwave beep, signalling that it was done. My phone buzzed one more time so I looked quickly at the screen to see one last message.

RARITY: Ta-ta

I slid the phone into my pocket and got up to take Fluttershy’s plate out. I set it next to mine so she’d sit next to me when she came back and I set a fork next to the plate for her.

When she finally returned, I immediately noticed she had changed her clothes. She was wearing black yoga pants and a tight, light blue T-shirt with a V-neck. Her bust showed very nicely, perched atop her small waist, and the pants seemed to hug to her hips and thighs as she strolled towards me, sitting at the table. I was glad to see her hair was the same, flowing behind her shoulders as she walked as always, surrounding her pretty face, which had a slight blush on it as though she knew exactly what her outfit was doing to me.

She paused as she entered the room again, seeing her plate next to mine, ready to be eaten. “Oh!” She said as she headed over, realising I’d gotten things ready for her.

“I thought I’d wait for you before I started eating,” I said.

“Oh, thank you, you didn’t have to do that,” she said with appreciation. “I just wanted to go put on something more comfortable for sitting and watching movies.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” I said as we started eating. The food was still pretty damn good, but as she predicted not as good as last night when it was fresh. Truth be told though, I would have eaten dog shit if it meant I could spend time with her again.

I finished my plate and set my fork down, looking around the room. She set her fork down not long after, even though there was some left on her plate. Evidently, she must have decided she’d had enough.

“S-so what do you want to watch?” she asked, suddenly getting up and heading to the couch. I got up and followed her over, watching her sit at her spot on the chaise lounge in the far end of the couch. I decided to sit on the spot next to it. The lounge was pretty wide, so I was a couple feet away from her.

“I’m not sure, what do you have on here?” I asked.

She turned on the TV and flipped through the menu, stopping at some romantic-comedy that I didn’t have much interest in seeing. “Is this OK?” she asked.

“Uh, it’s fine,” I said. “Whatever you’re into.”

She could see that it didn’t really arouse my interest, so she kept looking through the menu. “We’ll keep looking. I want you to enjoy yourself too,” she said, stopping on a Marvel movie. “How’s this?”

“Yeah this one’s pretty good,” I said. “Do you like these kinds of movies?”

“I like them a lot actually,” she confessed. “I like seeing powerful people use their abilities to save the day. Sometimes, I wish…um, that I could be more like them.”

I looked at her for a second, then said: “I think you’re fine the way you are. I think your friends do, too.”

She blushed, then said “Thank you, but still…I have a hard time even talking to people I’m not used to. I don’t know how my friends do it.”

“You seem fine around me now,” I said.

“Yeah,” she replied. “I don’t know, there’s something about you that makes me feel, um...calm? I don’t know...” She looked down at her lap as the movie started, then at the cushion she was sitting on. She looked at me next, then patted the seat right next to her. “You wanna sit here? There’s lots of room and you can put your feet up and stretch out just like me.”

I looked at her, surprised. My heart jumped a little and I could feel my face get warm as I blushed. She could see it, so she smiled and looked back down.

I suddenly realised that I hadn’t moved yet. “Go sit by her, you asshole!” I cussed to myself.

I slid over to the free half of the chaise lounge cushion and put my feet up, placing them only inches away from her feet. I leaned on the back of the couch with my shoulders almost touching hers and we watched the movie.

It turned out they were running a marathon all day of these superhero movies, so when the one we were watching was over, we just started the next one. We exchanged comments here and there, had some chuckles at the funny parts and she even got a little teary at the few dramatic scenes.

I didn’t mind these kinds of movies, but there were some parts in the action scenes that I thought were bullshit. I didn’t say anything though, she was enjoying herself and I didn’t want to spoil it for her by critiquing the movie too much.

I was paying close attention to her. Whenever she moved something, especially her hair, I could smell a wave of intoxicating fragrance that would make my eyelids shudder uncontrollably. I wondered what she was thinking with me so close to her, and I wondered how she would react if she knew who was really sitting with her on that couch.

I could see it getting dark outside as another movie came to an end.

“That was the best one yet,” she said, putting her arms up and stretching her back. I could see her bust sticking out in the corner of my eye as she arched her back sharply, letting out a soft, content moan.

“Yup, they saved the day again. Too bad they have to do it again in the next movie,” I said as she finished her stretch. I continued, “you know, cuz the mortician working on the bad guy’s body is gonna drop his lunch into the machine which will create the nuclear lightning bolt thingy and that’ll bring the bad guy back to life…or some damn nonsense.”

She giggled at me for the first time, and it struck me again how cute her voice is.

When I turned to face her again, I suddenly realised how close we were to each other. Our noses were only a couple inches apart, and her teal eyes seemed to sparkle as we stared mindlessly into each other’s eyes. My heart started to speed up when I felt her warm, soft breath blow gently against my face from her ever-so-slightly parted lips.

“What should I do? Should I kiss her? Would she like that?” My thoughts raced.

As if instinct took us over, we both started to lean closer, millimeter by millimeter until the tips of our noses just barely touched, which caused her to suddenly blink a couple times and look back at the TV, seeming to snap out of it. “Is there another one starting?” she asked, getting us back on track.

I exhaled a bit and turned to face the TV. “Next time,” I thought.

We started another movie as we continued to sit together, stretched out on the couch.
I wasn’t even paying much attention to the movie. Instead, I was observing the shy girl. Her movements, her scent, her breathing, she was such a graceful, innocent creature, and her mesmerizing effect seemed to take hold of me as I closed my eyes and eventually fell into a deep sleep. A real, true deep sleep; the first I’d had in months.