The ABC's of BFF's
A nice fuzzy story about best friends :)
The ABC's of BFF's
A: Albatross
"Did you know that the albatross sleeps while flying?" Dusk said.
"Really? Well, that's cool," said Flare, not really paying attention. Flare almost never paid attention to Dusk when he was on one of his fun-fact rants. But that's what made Dusk, well, Dusk. He was always full of random knowledge that would never be useful--at least, from Flare's point of view. Dusk was the smartest wolf he knew.
Flare pulled his black sleeves over his paws and crossed his arms. He buried his head inside and moaned into the silver table. Dusk never shuts up.
B: Butter
Dusk handed Flare a big, pink, cardboard box full of sugar cookies. "Happy birthday!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Aw...that's so nice of you!" Flare said, a smile on his canine face.
"Hehe, well, what are friends for? You gonna taste one?"
"Sure!" Flare took a big bite out of the one on top. It was the best kind--crispy around the edges and chewy in the middle. The sugar was grainy in his mouth at first, but quickly melted like the rest of the sweet confection. "Thith ith reawwy good!" he said with his mouth full. "How did you make these?" he asked after swallowing.
"Oh, you know--flour, a couple of eggs, three boxes of butter."
Flare slowly closed the box. "I think I'll save these for later."
C: Crazy
"Do you think I need to lose weight?" Dusk asked, poking his stomach as if it were a sleeping animal.
"Nah, you're fine."
"Really? I think my tummy is too big."
"The only thing that's too big is your imagination, Dusk. You're crazy if you think you need to lose weight," Flare said with a wink.
"You're such a nice wolfy, Flare."
D: Diligence
Dusk sat quietly at his desk; the only sounds being emitted were the occasional page turn and cough or sniffle. Completely absorbed into the romantic advances of Kyle onto an oblivious Isabel, he didn't notice someone in the background.
"You read romance novels?" Flare roared with laughter.
"Hey, I like them!"
"You're like the weirdest guy I know!"
"No, I'm not," Dusk said defensively, crossing his arms.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just so funny, though."
"What is?'
"The only time you can sit in one place and do something is when you're reading a romance novel."
E: Eigenvector
Flare stuffed the sheet of paper into his backpack and silently cursed his professor. He didn't get any of this eigenvector stuff. It just didn't make sense.
"Woah, wasn't that a cool lecture?!" Dusk said.
"I uh...I didn't understand any of it. What's an eigenvector, anyways?"
"You didn't understand it? But it was so easy!"
Flare looked up with contempt. "Not everyone is as good at math as you, Dusk..."
F: Fire
The alarm beeped mercilessly, jolting them both from their slumber. Dusk leapt up from the bed and in one smooth motion, yanked the cover off of the circular disk on the ceiling and ripped out the batteries. The beeping died down and he flew back into his bed without a word.
Flare smiled before drifting back to sleep again. "Best roommate ever," he thought.
G: Girlfriend
Flare sighed. "Dusk, when will I ever get a girlfriend?"
"When you stop complaining and accept that love works in mysterious ways," he said, taking a bite out of his sandwich.
"You and your romance novels..."
"It's true though. And why do you want a girlfriend, anyways? They're not that special."
"Almost all of my guy friends have one!"
"What are you, six?"
H: Horse
Dusk dribbled a couple of times, attempting some trick bounces between his legs. His lips curled and he slowly whispered "e" under his breath. He had to make this shot. If he didn't, he would get that last letter and lose to his arch nemesis: Flare.
"Brick, brick, brick, brick..." the so-called nemesis chanted.
The ball was in the air, following a parabolic path. It bounced on the rim, causing the metal to ring out. It fell, but not into the hoop.
Flare cheered. "Oh, victory is sweet," he laughed.
"There is no god," Dusk muttered.
I: Idiot
"Did you know that since ice is so much less dense than water, it takes up a lot more space so when it melts, it displaces the same exact amount of water?"
Flare scoffed. "Yeah, right. If ice is so much less dense, why doesn't it float?"
Dusk did a double-take. "You're....you're kidding, right?" His eyes were wide with both amusement and disbelief.
"Oh wait...Oh...okay, never mind...got that mixed up for a second there."
"You're an idiot..."
J: Javascript
Dusk groaned, unable to succumb to the waves of sleep due to the repeated clacking on the nearby keyboard. "Finish already!" He covered his ears with his pillow.
"I can't! This project is due tomorrow! And this stupid computer isn't running my program!"
Dusk groaned again. He flipped off his covers and stood up. "Move," he said, pushing Flare aside. Twenty seconds of keyboard tapping later, Flare's program ran seamlessly.
"What the...how did you...?"
"You forgot to enable Javascript, dummy. Now go to sleep," Dusk said. He fell back onto his bed with a loud "thwump."
K: Knockout
Dusk furiously slammed the colored buttons on his purple controller, while Flare's fingers flew past his own blue one gracefully. The more they played, the more frustrated Dusk became.
The figures on the screen jumped around and sent energy beams to each other.
"No, no, no!" Dusk yelled, jumping up from his seat and shaking his remote with every punch.
"Oh yes, yes, yes!" Flare replied, repeatedly tapping a button until the Dusk's character was lying still. "KO!" he yelled, while Dusk contemplated throwing the controller at his head.
L: Licked
Dusk ran his tongue along the edges of the lollipop, feeling the little grooves and dips on the surface. Enthralled by his favorite show, he put his feet up on the mini table and stared at the screen mounted on the wall.
"Hey Dusk," said Flare as he entered the room.
Dusk nodded in recognition of his presence, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"Uh...where'd you get that lollipop?" he asked.
Dusk removed it from his mouth. "It was on the counter. Was it yours? Sorry." He put it back in his mouth.
"Uh...yeah...it's just...I've already licked it..." he said.
Dusk shrugged and continued watching.
M: Mascara
The sound of humming and water pouring from the tap filled the small bathroom. Dusk took out the package he received that morning. "For extra length and curl," he read aloud.
Flare knocked on the door. "You done in there? I have to go!" Dusk, so deeply immersed in his new product and distracted by the running water, didn't hear him. The door, however, responded to Flare's knocking and opened a few inches. Flare pushed it open the rest of the way.
Dusk stopped mid-stroke and put his mascara back into the tube. "Uh...this isn't what it looks like."
Flare winked. "Sure." He closed the door and shook his head. "Gayest guy I know," he muttered.
N: Nickel
"Hey look, there's a nickel on the ground!" Flare said as they walked back to their apartment.
"Huh, yeah."
Their eyes met for a moment before a violent scuffle to procure said nickel. Their bags were abandoned as they pushed, shoved, and pulled each other to get the shiny coin lying on the ground.
Flare rose up from the ground with the metal disk clasped tightly in his fist. "Ha," he said.
O: Oiler
"Hey Dusk, did you finish checking my essay?"
"Uh, yeah..."
"How was it? I mean...the only reason I'm asking you is because you're so good at math."
"You had a lot of typos."
"Really? Like what?" Flare asked, crossing his arms.
"Well first of all, you're researching Euler, right?"
"Yeah."
"You are aware that his name begins with an 'e', right?"
"Goddammit."
P: Perfection
"Dusk, Dusk, Dusk!"
"Hmm, yeah?" Dusk said, turning around from his computer.
"Guess what? I have a girlfriend now! And she's more perfect than anything else!" Flare's excitement was bursting.
"Oh, well congratulations," Dusk said.
"Wow, you don't care at all?"
"Oh, sorry. OMG congrats!" he yelled.
"Better," Flare said smiling.
Q: Quintessential
"Why don't you just admit it and ask out a guy?" Flare asked.
Dusk continued applying clear nail polish to his fingers. "Ha, funny," he said, unamused.
"Seriously, though. You're like the quintessential gay guy."
"I am not."
"Oh yes you are. You know I like you either way, right?"
Dusk scoffed. "You're just saying that because girls like me more."
"Shut up."
R: Relationships
The door slammed; the wood-on-wood clash send a sound wave through the apartment that Dusk simply could not ignore.
"What did the door ever do to you?" he asked, not turning around from his desk.
"Shut up, Dusk."
He turned around. Flare was leaning against the closed door with his arms crossed and his head turned to the side. "What's gotten into you?" Dusk asked.
"She cheated on me," Flare said, his voice cracking and jumping octaves and his face streaked with tears.
"Oh...I'm sorry..." Dusk said, standing up and walking over. "She's just a bitch." He hugged his friend to comfort him.
"I'm done with relationships, Dusk," he said, hugging him back.
S: Synchronized
"You know, you really should go out," she said, "You both have black hair, you're both the same height, and I've never really seen you two apart."
"Yeah right," Flare said as Dusk scoffed.
"I'm not gay," they both said at the same time.
"See?!" Sandy said, waving her arms above her head as if she were battling a horde of angry flies. "Perfect!"
T: Talking
The sun was setting and splashing shades of pink, orange, and purple across the landscape. On a park bench and under a tree, Dusk and Flare discussed their future aspirations.
"Mm...a graphic designer," said Dusk after a few seconds of thinking, "What do you want to do?"
"Probably an engineer. Graah...I'm tired..." Flare yawned.
"If you want, you can lean on me and sleep," Dusk offered.
"Nah, that's too gay," he said, leaning the other way.
U: Undergraduate
"Wow," said Flare, looking at his calendar, "in just two months, we'll be done with this college forever."
"I know," said Dusk. He sniffled.
"Something wrong?"
"No...I mean yes...I mean...What if I never see you again?" Dusk whined.
"Oh...well...I have to admit, I've really gotten attached to you," said Flare, rubbing the back of his head. "I really would like to continue being roommates."
"Can we please?"
"We'll see," Flare said as his eyes started to water.
V: Vanilla
"Come on, you'll like it!" Flare teased, shaking the bottle in front of Dusk's face.
"No, you know I don't drink."
"Yeah, but this is vanilla flavored! You love vanilla stuff, right?" he said, pouring a glass anyways and handing it to him.
"Fine, but if I pass out, then roll me over, okay?" Dusk said. He accepted the glass and drank it in one go. After shuddering, he relaxed. "...Can I have another one?"
W: Waking
"Ahhh..." Dusk moaned as he awoke from his bed. He felt around. Actually, it wasn't his bed. It was the floor. He looked around to find Flare on the computer. His head was pounding and he silently swore to never touch alcohol again.
"Flare...what happened?" he asked groggily.
"Oh, not much," he said, turning around, "You got really drunk and you started spewing off about Selenium and how it sounds like Selena. Oh, and you confessed your love to me."
Dusk coughed loudly. "I what?!"
"Yeah. Selenium and Selena. I see the connection, but I don't really understand it."
X: Xenophobic
"Um...you weren't meant to find out..." Dusk said softly.
"Yeah, well...drinking makes fools of us all, right?" Flare said with a forced laugh.
"I can uh...I can find another apartment if this makes you uncomfortable," he said, rubbing his arm.
"It's okay. I want you to stay. I'm not uncomfortable with this. I'm okay with different things."
"Really? So uh...I'm sorry..."
"It's okay."
"I'll give you a lot more distance then."
"No," said Flare, putting his paw on Dusk's shoulder, "If it's okay with you...I'd like to try something new."
Y: Yogurt
"I'm really glad I get to keep living with you," said Dusk, leaning on Flare.
"Well, I'm glad you're sure you want to be a graphic designer so you don't have to go to graduate school." Flare dipped his spoon back into his cup and picked up a glob of thick, purple yogurt. "Because you'll have to earn money for us until I graduate and get a job," he continued. He dabbed a bit of the purple goop onto Dusk's nose.
"Gwah!" he yelled, immediately straightening up and wiping his face with his sleeve.
Z: Zillion
The room was dark except for the nightlight beside the bed. Dusk snuggled up to Flare a little more before sighing in relaxation. The only sounds were the yawning of the two as their sleepiness grew.
Through the occasional stroke or nuzzle, they were both thinking the same thing. Everything was perfect and as long as they had each other, and it would continue to be that way. They both knew that they would be happy together for another zillion years.