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Finally, finally, Noelle had managed to slip away from her mother. Doing anything unnoticed was a tall ask on any day--even with her mother being busy with mayoral duties, word about Noelle's happenings seemed to spread like wildfire--but especially today, on her graduation day. In a few short months she would be going to the big city for college, living out the dreams she had held since she was a young fawn whose sister had promised she would take Elly, some day, to a city with shining lights and bustling streets.
But today, Noelle Holiday was on a mission. Everyone knew the old rumors about the tree in the courtyard: that on graduation day, when two lovers confessed under that old cherry tree, the only one that bore blossoms in all of Hometown, they would be blessed with eternal happiness as a couple. She wasn't sure how much she believed that rumor, really; fate had a funny way of tearing down 'eternal happiness', between the loss of her father just a year ago and the bitter divorce Kris's parents went through back when they were still young, right after Dess disappeared.
...She still remembered hearing from the older kids in town, how Asriel was planning to confess to her sister at graduation. There were no love confessions under the old tree, that year. But this year was going to be different. Her heart was still beating out of her chest even after sitting through Berdly's hour-long valedictorian remarks, all because of the letter she'd found, crammed messily halfway into her locker.
"Meet us at the tree after graduashon," was all it had read, in handwriting that may as well have been chicken scratch (or, well, maybe not chicken scratch; Berdly's handwriting was much better).
There was only one person who could've written a letter like that, and she sighed dreamily just imagining her penning it: Susie. Susie, who she'd eyed since the day she transferred in, who'd spared only Noelle from her bitter mean streak. Maybe it was wrong of her to feel that way about somebody who'd shoved her childhood friend into a locker, but funnily enough, after that day, Susie and Kris had become the best of friends. After they'd... disappeared into the school's supply closet for several hours.
She tried not to think too much about what that might've meant. She'd asked the two of them, once, but the only response they gave was that they were 'committing crimes'.
Really, everything had changed from that day on. Susie had lost her edge in the last year or so, something Noelle didn't want to admit she bemoaned a little bit. And Kris had started spending time around Noelle for more than just homework help, after they'd stopped so many years ago. They'd even started playing the piano in her house, again, filling the frigid house with the sort of warmth it'd lacked since her father was hospitalized.
But Susie, oh Susie!!! Even if Noelle's mom forbade her from coming over, the two of them had spent so much time together over the past year or so, playing Dragon Blazers in the library, eating greasy, cold, Ice-E's P"e"zza, and even cheering on Noelle at her track and field meets. They'd even gone to the Sadie Hawkman dance together!! Well. Not really together, since the teachers strictly forbade bringing along a date. But they were in the same space!! Sharing the same punch bowl and dancing three feet apart, as the rules mandated!! Kris was there, too, wearing a hand-me-down suit that was a good few sizes too big for them. It was nostalgic, in a way, having them there; they'd promised each other many years ago that they'd go to the dance together, like their siblings did. Things had changed, and maybe they'd never be quite the same anymore, but maybe not quite the same wasn't bad. It had brought Susie along, after all.
And now!! She was meeting Susie!! Under the courtyard's tree!!! Noelle had prayed for many things in her life before, but now, more than ever, she was praying and praying to the Angel for everything to go smoothly, repeating the words under her breath over and over again as she turned the corner to the courtyard. There Susie was, wearing a graduation suit that had seen its fair share of dirt and mud, and... there was Kris, leaned up close against her, whispering.
She nearly turned around on the spot, then--Susie had gotten the wrong locker, after all. It made sense, really, that she'd want to confess to her best friend. What was Noelle thinking, believing that Susie would choose her over her bond with Kris? The two of them did everything together; they had sleepovers together, did all their projects together, and still, to this day, disappeared into the supply closet together, after class ended. She'd heard the rumors about them, but still dismissed them, because she thought she was above that somehow. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Still, they were her two closest friends, now, and if they were together... she might as well congratulate them, she figured. So Noelle stepped forward, her stomach twisted.
"Um, hi, Susie, I, um... I think you put this in my locker, by mistake?" She held up the crumpled letter, crumpled even tighter in her grasp.
Susie's expression as she turned to look at Noelle, was... unreadable, maybe, but certainly not good, somewhere between surprise and upset. "Oh, shit, Noelle, you're here. I didn't know if you were gonna make it or not, but... if you don't want to, you can just... tell us."
Huh? What? "Don't... want to?"
"Go out. With, uh, me and Kris... I mean, pssh, nevermind, this was a dumb idea. Who cares about some stupid tree, anyway." Susie kicked the dirt at her feet, collecting more on her trailing suit pants.
"Huh? Huh? Huh? What?" Go out??? With Susie and Kris??? Was she hearing things?? What?? "But I thought... you're here with Kris?? So aren't you two...?"
"I mean, if it's a problem with you, then, uh... yeah, kind of, but, like... I, uh, really like you too, y'know? And, uh, so does..."
Kris delivered a swift kick to Susie's ankle, cutting her off, before trailing their own foot in the dirt, refusing to make eye contact with either of them.
"Um?? Kris?? Do you actually... want to go out? I mean, I'm not against it!! We always talked about that when we were little kids, I just thought, um... that you weren't interested, anymore?"
Noelle's face was burning, at this point. It was rare that she flushed so much that it was visible through her fur, but at this rate, it felt more impossible that her entire face wasn't bright red. And Kris... well, they looked like a tomato, fahaha. It was cute, but she was pretty sure saying that would get her kicked in the ankle instead.
"'m... not not interested," Kris mumbled.
"Speak UP, dumbass!" Susie pushed them forward, landing Kris flat on their face in front of Noelle. Without a thought, she knelt down to grab her oldest friend's hand and pick them up as they stumbled to their feet.
"...mmph," they grumbled, grabbing tight to Noelle's hand, "...fine. I... I like you, 'kay? I kinda... figured you knew, and didn't feel the same, 's all... since I always liked you, Elly."
For a single moment, Noelle could see Kris's eyes through their mop of hair; their crimson eyes had always felt like they'd burned through Noelle and seen to her core, ever since they were kids. But maybe she was mistaken, to think Kris always knew exactly how she had felt.
"No, no, Kris, I... I felt the same! That you knew I liked you, and... just, started avoiding me..." Ahh, why were there tears pricking at her eyes? Was it the fact that they could've been close so long ago, if they had just spoken? If Dess hadn't...?
"Um, Kris, was this about... about Dess? I just always thought... you only wanted to hang out with her, and not me, fahaha... but, um, I know... you... know it wasn't your fault, right?"
No matter how much she tried to peer into their face this time, though, Kris's expression was completely hidden. Gosh, all of this, because of... No, there was no use in reliving it now. Instead, Noelle took Kris into a hug, enveloping them in the same way she wished she had years and years ago.
"Dess... she wouldn't have wanted you to stop spending time with me, you know. She... she was kinda mean, but she liked you in her own way, y'know? She'd always ask when our wedding was, fahaha."
There was no response other than the shaking of Kris's body, and the bulk of Susie's being added onto the hug.
"Hey, we're not having a group hug without me, right???" Susie wrapped her arms tightly around the both of them, settling her snout atop Kris's head like a weight and letting out a huff. Susie... hugging Noelle... and Kris, too. Angel, she could die right now and be happy. She really couldn't blame Kris for feeling the same, and besides, she'd never had a pit in her stomach at imagining the two of them together unless it was without her. Then...
"I love you guys," Noelle sighed, contented.
"Love you dumbasses too," Susie echoed, picking them both up and spinning them in the air until, finally, Kris snickered from in between the two of them.
Maybe there was something to all of this 'eternal happiness' business, Noelle thought, and maybe, just maybe, they'd be this happy forever.