Moonstruck - 4

Chapter 4
a t ; t h e ; s e a m s

* * *

Shadow's idea of a good time was not double dating with Sonic and Amy.

He felt Rouge cross her legs; he could tell because her foot brushed against his thigh. She sent him a flirty glance, eyelids lowered. The seductive bat had painted her eyelids pink instead of her usual blue. It contrasted well against her white fur. She was dressed in a saucy hot pink shirt, tight darkwash jeans and black high heeled boots. She picked at her salad and then rested her cerulean orbs back on the blue hedgehog, who was currently complaining.

Sonic was sitting on the same side as the rosy rascal, staring at his third cup of soda. He gave a low grunt and pushed the cup away from him. Amy eyed him carefully, peridot orbs resting on him and him alone. After all, she had been the one who shoved Sonic into the inside of the booth because she wanted to sit with him. Amy could be very assertive when she wanted to be, and she wasn't afraid to show it on most occasions.

"If I drink any more soda, I swear I'm going to explode," the blue blur groaned, leaning back in his seat in the booth and holding his swollen stomach. He moved it in a circle and after a few more rotations he belched. Next to him, Amy curled her rosy lips into a disgusted frown. "Ahh, that's better."

Amy rolled her eyes at him and twirled her fork in her pasta. "Ask the waiter to stop bringing you so much soda, silly."

"I tried," he pouted childishly and leaned his head on Amy's shoulder. Her muzzle steadily hued to match her pink fur as she tried to play it off and continue to eat her lunch. "I think he's too busy staring at you to pay attention to how much soda he's piling into me. I'm gonna have a heart attack from all this caffeine-"

"Oh, boo," she giggled. "You have a hummingbird heart, you should be fine. If you can run at the speed of sound and not go into cardiac arrest, I think you can drink three cups of soda."

He belched again. She squirmed away from his head. "Four cups of soda."

Rouge nudged her acclaimed love interest and winked, pivoting her head towards the two cotton candy colored hedgehogs. Sonic was laughing at her and had his mouth wide open, breathing his soda-inked breath over into her half of the booth and earning himself a squealing Amy. The pinkette swatted at his arm and folded her arms, turning away and playfully ignoring the coy looking boy behind her. Look, Rouge seemed to be saying without words. Her sapphire orbs flickered over to the pair. Amy's not as alone as she thinks she is.

Of course, Shadow had always had an inkling that he was more fond of her than he let on. There were times when the two were them were off on missions together and Sonic would stare off into space for long periods of time. He had suspected it had been Amy his mind was on - after all, there hadn't been any other girl he was serious about at the time (it was during Sonic's "wild faze", when he had just slept with dozens of women; any girl who was available, really, aside from miss Rose). Shadow had always just assumed that clandestinely Sonic's heart was never in his romantic affairs with those girls. He was quite sure at the time that he was only doing that to reassure himself that he wasn't falling hard for a younger girl; his biggest fan, at that, who at that age hadn't known very many boundaries. It was bad for his reputation and, at the time, the age difference between the two of them may have been received as immoral, judging by the fact that he was having very open sexual relations at the time.

"Faker," Shadow muttered under his breath. Because of that one fatal mistake of allowing himself to try and push away stubborn feelings for her he may have drove a stake between them permanently. Shadow knew, after all - he had dated Amy during the fiasco. She had always tried to play it off like she wasn't bothered by the news, but when Shadow had found her crying her little heart out in the bed and cursing the world for letting her be born so late...

Sonic's olive orbs snapped over. "Don't call me a faker, faker!"

Not only did the whole thing turn Amy against her feelings for him (possibly), it really just had Shadow lose any respect that he may have held for Sonic. Shadow pointedly looked away from him and sipped on his water. He would have retaliated but Rouge had captured his knee in a vise grip as soon as the f word had escaped his lips and he sort of needed his knee for racing the blue buffoon later.

"Now now, boys," Rouge half teased, half reasoned, "play nice. This is a double date, we should be having a nice time and not trying to break each other in half."

"Whoa whoa whoa, this is not-" he pointed to the space between Amy and him "-a date, got it? This is a friendly lunch between two good friends, this is strictly platonic."

Amy gave him a pout. Her greens bored into his and his mouth drew down a little before he fastening the space between his lips. It was clear to the ebony and ivory bystanders that Sonic was remaining firm on his decision to burn down any sliver of hope Amy had that this was actually a romantic outing for the two of them. Cheeks flushed, she broke the gaze and stared down at her lap.

It was awkwardly silent for a long while. Rouge pursed her rain painted lips. "So, I met up with that Knucklehead and he refused to take his gloves off. What do you think's going on there?"

Her topic change was welcomed by Sonic brightly. Anything that brought his thoughts away from the girl sitting beside him usually was welcomed with warm, open arms. "I bet he hasn't washed his hands in ages!"

Amy looked between the two of them, jaw dropped in utter horror. "You two are horrible!" she snapped, standing up and smoothing her skirt down quickly. A boy from the next booth over eyed her very obviously. Shadow reached over and smashed his face down into his girlfriend's plate of pasta. "Do you really think he just stuck something hard in his gloves and tied it to his hands? He's probably self conscious over it!" she glared at them and then moved her vision over to Sonic directly. "You disgust me."

"Has he told you?" Rouge asked curiously. "Aw, Sonic, your girlfriend's been sleeping around as much as you have!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" he defended, flushing. "And she's never slept around, she's too young for that! Give the kid a break, Rouge."

Said "child" was staring at him so pointedly he felt the need to cower away from her line of sight. He couldn't tell if she was disappointed in him or pleased that he was defended her; he assumed that it was a fine brew of both feelings. She seemed to have swallowed her bottom lip, holding back an onslaught of insults and pent up emotions. She had spent her entire life barricading her betrayed thoughts from him. She was his rock, and Amy knew that was the one thing he was sure he appreciated about her.

The rosette sat back down next to him and didn't say another word. Her peridot eyes were clouded with indecision. She crossed her legs politely and womanly, her bare pink stems looking slender and ladylike. He tried not to stare too long at her lower half too much. Their eyes met for an electrifying moment and they stared. She was scorning him without words. Her eyes seemed to be doing all the talking for them.

He wasn't going to pretend that she didn't look appealing. The petite female was dressed in a long sleeved black and white stripped shirt with a high-waisted red skirt. The skirt ended high on her legs, but she was already quite accustomed to wearing short skirts anyhow. She had on a tasteful red necklace that was adorned with a single rose. On her feet she wore a cute pair of black flats with wedge heels that made her legs look more shapely and womanly than her age should have permitted.

Well, no, he thought. She is almost seventeen; I've seen seventeen year olds before.

The blue blur caught sight of the people at the table opposite them from the corner of his eye. It was a group of teenage boys, maybe a little older than Amy herself. They were laughing about something that teenagers of the girl gender probably wouldn't find too amusing and eying Amy, gawking. It was like they had never seen a beautiful girl before. Sonic grumbled to himself and slid down in his seat, looking at the group of men vehemently. Amy wasn't that pretty, couldn't they keep their eyes to themselves? Besides, couldn't they see that she was sitting next to him, Sonic the Hedgehog? The Sonic the Hedgehog?!

It was apparent that Amy was aware of the attention she was receiving as well. The rosette sent her longtime crush a teasing smile, the corners of her lovely lips curled up just slightly enough to let him know that everything she was going to do about her little fanboys was to spite him. She extended her legs, stood to her full petite height and strode over to the table. Her hips swayed slightly from side to side, making Sonic practically gnaw the top half of his straw off and swallow it whole.

Shadow and Rouge exchanged looks as Amy was invited to sit with the boys. They mirrored a certain desire to get out of there, though Rouge appeared to want to see how it played out. It was apparent to her beau that the female bat was both impressed with and proud of Amy. After all, teasing and playing the jealous card was Rouge's forte. Maybe the two of the girls had bonded while Shadow and Sonic had been racing one another.

Sonic coughed up the straw he had mutilated and grunted. "What does she think she's doing?" he asked to no one in particular. It was his own way of venting and dealing with the situation at hand.

Rouge purred her response. "Looks like she's finally going to get some. Good for her, her virginity was almost getting disgusting at this point."

Both Sonic and Shadow seemed offended; Shadow because he was also still a virgin for moral reasons and found Amy's pureness morally correct and Sonic... well, even Sonic didn't exactly know why he found Rouge mocking Amy's purity annoying. Was it because he had spent so long defending her that she had grown on him? Was she like his little sister, like Shadow had always said about her? The two of them had been close for a while...

He thought nothing of their close friendship, however. Shadow may have been old fashioned and brutal at times but he didn't mess with women, especially girls that reminded him of Maria. Amy and Rouge were the top contenders for that category, though from what he heard about the two girls he had no idea what he saw that resembled the blonde in Rouge. Rouge wasn't exactly innocent and pure... she was a thief, a double agent and a liar. She was promiscuous. It wasn't like he disliked the bat, because Sonic respected her in a way. She was a strong woman who could hold her own against men. She was a fierce fighter and amazingly clever. She was also intensely beautiful. Just going by that, it was obvious why Shadow was with her.

But, with her faults coming into the equation too... Sonic eyed her for a moment as the flirtatious lady leaned further on Shadow's arm. The ebony hedgeboy appeared awkward. I don't see how that's going to work out if they can't agree on PDA. Or affection in general, actually.

The blue speedster hardly noticed the two of them for the rest of the time Amy was flirting herself silly. He tried to focus his attention on something - anything - besides the rosy rascal that had chased him for so long. It didn't seem like reality to him, like the fact that Amy was tossing her slender quills over her soft pink shoulder and sending the smiles that were reserved for him across the table to another boy was myth, even though he was witnessing it. Seeing was believing, so maybe if he didn't look...

She returned to home base with a satisfied subtle curl of her lips pressed across her face. She was clearly repressing a victorious smile; she knew she had bothered Sonic. It was written all over his face. And, for the first time, it felt good to upset him. It felt good knowing that he wanted to rip the faces off of the boys she was chatting with. Leading on the boys wasn't something she would have done had Sonic not recently denied having any feelings towards her whatsoever. He barely regarded her return as reason to raise his eyes from one of his many glasses of soda. The rosette leaned over, her face closer to his than it had ever been and she pressed her lips near the base of his ear. The sensation of her breath pitter-pattering across his sensitive ear made passion spread across his chest in a way he hadn't felt in a long time. And, with her voice low, she whispered in his ear: "payback's a bitch."

It was like she had forgotten Shadow and Rouge were still at the table with them. Her lips lowered from his ear and she returned to her original position in the booth, albeit closer to him than the last time. Her arm brushed against his and he felt goosebumps erupt along his tender limb. He hadn't said anything yet; his mind was too busy whirling around a thousand thoughts a minute and he swallowed anything he might have been willing himself to say dryly. Nothing more was said between the hedgehog almost-couple for the rest of the lunch.

When goodbyes were exchanged outside the restaurant (after a run in with their waiter, Jon, who had attempted to hook Sonic up with some soda to go) Sonic refused to look Amy in the eye. He gave her a gentle flick of his hand in the form of a wave and then vanished in a long streak of cobalt blue.

Amy's expression darkened in sure time. The further away Sonic got the more upset Amy grew. She looked fierce, the couple noticed, and though a look of anger wasn't a natural expression on her face they had grown to know it. It was funny... as strong as the expression was Amy still managed to look mind numbingly adorable. Perhaps that was why Sonic had spent so long angering her.

"He's obnoxious," she spat. "And so full of himself!"

Rouge stretched her wings; now that they were unconfined she could do so safely. "You're just catching on to that now, pinky?"

The rosette frowned deeper. The anger had left her face and left her with just sadness; the look of melancholy was the very look Sonic hated so much to see on her doll-like face. It was ironic that it was always him that brought the foul mood upon her. "I don't know why it's so hard for him to admit that he likes me... even so, he could just give me a straight answer instead of mixed signals!" she vented, placing her hands on her lady hips and pacing back and forth twice.

On her third rotation Shadow grabbed her slender, thin shoulder. She gazed at him. "He's not worth it, move on," he spoke honestly. Rouge gave a nod from behind him. Normally she didn't give a damn about Amy or Sonic, but their constant game of cat and mouse was tiring.

Amy slid Shadow's gloved hand off of her shoulder and mustered up a small smile. It was saccharine in essence, and the ebony hedgeboy knew it. "He's the one, Shadow. I can't just 'move on'. You'll understand when you find the one too."

Rouge gave an impolite cough. It went ignored, however, for both hedgehogs were locked in a stare down. Shadow seemed to be trying to uncover what she really meant and Amy was searching for a sense of respect and understanding. Amy continued on anyways. "No other boy makes me feel the way he does... maybe you'll understand someday."

* * *

"Bro!"

The blue hedgehog waltzed into the kitsune's kitchen and promptly took a considerable bite out of a blueberry muffin that was sitting in a basket on the table. The basket looked intricately woven and adorned with blue and purple ribbons, laced along and tied into an adorable looking bow on the top of the handle. The blue blur raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know Tails was into these kinda things..."

"H-He isn't, I made it," a feeble voice squeaked.

Sonic jumped a mile, as if he was finally realizing Cream's presence. She was standing by the very same table he was, a muffin in her hands as well. She was dressed in a sweet powder-white sundress with the straps of a pink swim suit beetling from under the fabric. Sonic took a long moment to look her over, impressed by her sudden growth spurt; she was taller than Amy already by far. He threw away the thought as soon as the 'A-Word' came along.

He forced a grin and scratched at the back of his head in his typical manner. "Oh... that'd make a lot more sense."

She nodded sweetly and sat her muffin down in the dent where Sonic had stolen his. The little pile of muffins in the basket looked perfect, and somewhere deep down Sonic had an inkling that Cream had spent more than enough time positioning them. Tails wouldn't care much about how nice they looked. If anything, Sonic knew his little brother would just be happy that Cream had baked for him period. It reminded him of when Amy was younger; she would often bake him cakes and cookies in hopes of stealing his heart away. If anything, she stole his stomach away... was it possible that Cream had gone to her older sister for advice on boys? If so, Tails was in for a long ride...

"...wait," he grinned. "Cream, are you crushin' on Tails?"

He had never seen the fawn shaded rabbit blush brighter. Her muzzle was coated with a cherry red hue. Her warm chocolate eyes instantly bore down to her feet, staring so intensely at her cute little toes Sonic was afraid one might combust into flames. They never did, however, and eventually Cream gained the courage to give a little nod in answer to his question. There would be no denying it after being so thoroughly embarrassed about it. "D-Don't tell him, please mister Sonic!"

"Fine, fine... I won't, as long as you drop the mister," he grinned at her and patted the top of her head, messing up her hair, which was tied up in a neat bun. "You make me feel like a gramps, sheesh."

She cracked a tiny smile and scuffed the ground with her sandals. "Amy said boys like it when you cook for them..."

An arm was wrapped around the nervous bunny in a heartbeat and Sonic was giving her a cheerful one armed hug. The point of the squeeze was to reassure her of her feelings and not to shy away from coming out with it so much. Maybe he was too used to seeing girls like Amy and Rouge, who made their feelings fairly clear. Rouge was pretty obvious with the men she flirted with, and no other girl did it quite like Amy. All of Station Square knew that Amy was crushing on him hard. She was guilty of chasing him around the town and screaming his name, her cute little hand outstretched towards him determinedly.

"Aw, I can hear her now-" Sonic's voice hitched up an octave, and he continued in an exaggerated lady voice. "The best way to a man's heart is through his stomach!"

And then, as if to prove his point, he proceeded to run his stomach in a circular motion with his free arm. Cream gave a nervous little giggle as he massaged and stroked his stomach. When she didn't respond anymore he took the initiative and rubbed her stomach softly. It was a purely platonic gesture and not sexual in nature at all. Regardless, she burst into stronger, school girl giggles.

Footsteps entered the premiss and before either of them could move Tails had reentered the house. He looked at the situation before him oddly with one eyeridge propped up. Sonic had his arm around a red cheeked Cream and had his hand rubbing against her slim stomach. His older brother was wearing the same silly expression he used to wear when he was teasing Tails himself back in the old days.

"...What's going on?" he asked. He looked confused, and Cream couldn't help but think he looked handsome with a smudge of grease along his white furry cheeks. He must have been working on his plane while she arranged her gift on the kitchen table.

Sonic laughed easily and released Cream. She shied away from him, looking as if she was caught red handed. "Oh, ya know, just harassing the youth."

"Sure looks like it," he managed out. Sonic raised an eyebrow and removed his hand from Cream's slender stomach; it didn't even faze the hero that the scene may have looked suggestive at all. Especially with his infamous reputation with the ladies as of late. Tails shrugged it off and didn't think much of it. He knew Sonic better than that. His sapphire orbs fell on the basket of muffins on the table. "Sonic, did you go out to the market, or...?"

"Nah, your little lady friend here made them specially for you," Cream couldn't believe it. Sonic was making a fool out of her! Oh, she could feel her face simply roasting with a stubborn blush. It only got worse when Tails sent her a sincere thank-you cheer and dug into the muffin basket right away.

She watched him intently; she cared way too much about how he reacted to her cooking. If Amy's theory really was valid then this was paramount. If he hated it she was sure to shrivel up and die. Thankfully, his eyes sparked brighter at the taste of her home cooking and her spirits soared. He liked it! He smiled again for her and gave her a big thumbs up, indicating his enjoyment of the gift thoroughly.

His attention was re-aimed at the grinning blue hero that had seated himself near the fawn-shaded girl. "Wait, why are you home so soon? Weren't you out with Amy?"

"I plead the fifth," he replied quickly. The kitsune inspected the expression; there was nothing blithe about his expression. The idea that the "date" with Amy didn't go as expected should have brought worry to the younger brother but he couldn't help, guiltily, feeling immense relief. Maybe Amy Rose wasn't as much of a distraction as Tails had initially hypothesized.

Out of nowhere, Cream gave a squeaky, nervous giggle and brushed past Tails as she trotted out. Both the boys turned to watch her go, her long, cute ears flopping behind her mischievously. Both boys raised an eyeridge at her as she exited suddenly.

After the awkward moment had passed, Sonic turned to his kid brother. "Any ideas why she just juiced on us?"

The fox boy shrugged. "I honestly haven't a clue."

He shook it off quite well and made another grab for a muffin. "I mean, I've never really understood the complex infrastructure that is the female mind. It's the one thing science has never fully explained to me... especially girls at Cream's age."

Sonic laughed and plopped down on the sofa, kicking his feet up on the coffee table. "Trust me, little buddy, they don't get any less confusing as they age. In fact, I think girls get progressively more confusing until they reach liiike... death."

The worse part was although Tails knew his brother wasn't being completely honest about this accusation, the kitsune didn't doubt the truth in the statement. Judging from the few girls he knew well (being Amy and Cream), neither of them were particularly understandable. In fact, Cream had gotten more confusing as she reached her early teenhood. The lady hedgehog had always been a little quirky and moody, but Cream was picking up more and more of her elder sister's traits. The bunny had yet to begin chasing boys around, but if she continued to pick up after Amy it was in the foreseeable future.

Sonic patted his shoulder; the brotherly pat reassured him of any nervous feelings concerning girls and their ever changing emotions.

"She's pretty cute, though, innshe', bro?"

There was a certain devious glint in Sonic's green orbs. "Uuh," the kitsune was probably blushing. "Yeah, she's pretty... don't tell me she's your next conquest."

"I am not a pedophile!" the hedgeboy looked mildly offended. "She's way too young for me bro, 'sides, a little birdy told me she's got a thing for you."

"...Oh."

Sonic's grin was almost unbearable. Never in their relationship had the subject of girls been brought up in this way; it was inverted, almost. Sonic would often tell Tails about what he found attractive in the girls he sprung with (especially during his "wild faze"), but Sonic hadn't often teased him about girls. Especially when they were younger, Knuckles would question Sonic's feelings towards Amy and Tails would laugh along, but never had anyone questioned his feelings for any girls. The exception would have been Cosmo, but they never brought her up to him anymore... after all, there was still a sore spot concerning her...

"Go for it! Don't you want a cute girlfriend?" Sonic flashed him a thumbs up.

The younger boy couldn't bring himself to take the hero's advice; who was he to advise him to go for it when he had spent years from a potential cute girlfriend? He had flung with a bunch of trashy women; Amy was wholesome and sweet and growing into a beautiful young woman, and yet Sonic still couldn't find it in him to completely come clean with his feelings for her. He always preached that their relationship was platonic at best, but still Tails had his suspicions. Even though he was hazy on Sonic finally coming out with his feelings for the rosette, for it would drive a spike in their friendship and make him even more distant and hard to acquire than usual, his hypocrisy was blazingly obvious.

"...I'll think about it," Tails said in a very brusque manner. "Maybe. I have to go test out the tornado, do you want to come?"

The blue blur gave a whoop and pulled his 'little buddy' into a brotherly headlock. "Now we're talking!"

* * *

Her cheeks were so warm she was sure they would leave permanent burn marks along her delicate muzzle. The vibrant pink and red hues painted across her pale fur and skin like a tell-tale giveaway of her feelings, her innermost emotions. Why did she have to be so easy to figure out?! Even Sonic, who was more oblivious to his own feelings than anyone she knew could tell that she was crushing on Tails!

She scampered as fast as her skinny legs would take her. She wished she was prettier like Amy. She wished her legs were more shapely and she wished she had prettier eyes; brown eyes, how dreadful and boring. Nobody found brown eyes that pretty, they were like mud puddles. Why couldn't she be cute and petite like Amy? Why couldn't she be bright eyed and outgoing like her? How come every time Cream herself tried to be flirtatious and steal away his heart she chickened out at the last minute? Ugh, love! Love love love! Why couldn't she get this right?

Amy had boys falling at her feet. Amy was so pretty that she was on magazine covers and TV commercials and it seemed like even Sonic was falling for her charm. Rouge was a sex goddess, and nobody questioned that fact. What did that make her, the quiet little girl with good intentions?

She burst down the grassy path and practically beat Amy's door down with her open hand. She didn't even know if Amy was home at the moment, she just needed someone to talk to.

"Amy! AmyAmyAmy!" she cried; she was scarcely aware of the tears streaming down her face. She felt her voice raise an octave. It was another trait about herself that niggled her: her voice got high and squeaky again whenever she cried.

When there was no immediate answer at the door she grew weary. The summer sun was bold and bright above her, like an obnoxious luminous glow that was like a bad itch. It wasn't cheering her up in the slightest. If anything, it was making her warmer and more irritable; her emotions were getting the best of her again and it was that very moment she hated being a young teenager. Bolting from her place, she dashed around the side of her house, dragging her slim fingers across the walls of Amy's home. Once she reached the back of the house she peeked in through the back window, using her hands like visors to better peek inside.

Oh, where is she? She's not out with Sonic anymore, he's already back at Tails', she thought, frustrated. Why was it every time she didn't need Amy she was around, but when she really needed a crying shoulder she was no where to be found? Maybe all those years of trailing after a certain blue-furred boy had finally begun to morph her.

When Tails was around, so was Amy; it was impossible to keep the boy's attention when he was too busy staring to Amy so fiercely that Cream was afraid her best friend would combust into flames. Staring into her reflection in the window, Cream tilted her head; surely it wasn't that he didn't find her ugly... she may not have been physically mature like Amy and Rouge, but she was still cute, as Sonic had said. She pouted cutely into her reflection and used the back of her hand to wipe the stray tears from her doe eyes.

The steady clicking of heels on the stone walkway stole her attention at once. Scrambling to compose herself, she peeked her head around the side of the house and caught sight of a stream of pink, ribbony trusses. The bunny scampered around the corner and, tears welling again, threw her arms around the older female and succumbed to a pathetic mewl in her older sister's chest.

The rosette gave a shocked gasp; she stumbled backwards and caught the young teenager in her arms skillfully. She could see the redness of Cream's muzzle, the sheer embarrassment left over from her encounter with Sonic and Tails. It was practically exploding off of her and into the air. She could almost smell it. The rascal brought her soft hand along the small of Cream's back and stroked from there to her shoulder blades in a comforting manner. Gingerly, she asked what was wrong.

For a while Cream couldn't bring herself to answer. She was too busy crying for all of her insecurities and doubts. It felt better just to be in the arms of someone who had always been proud and supportive; though Tails' feelings toward Amy was still a mystery to her and she couldn't help but feel vehemently jealous at moments Amy was still helpful, and Amy was always piping up with ideas for stealing Tails' heart the very same way she had attempted to do for Sonic not so long ago.

She was jealous and upset. She was angry and she was sad. In all honesty, Cream was a train wreck at that moment. All of those early teenhood hormones had finally gotten to her, despite her mother's best efforts and all of those typical girlhood insecurities were pouring out into Amy's soft chest.

"I... and Tails..." she mewled, finally. "I'm so embarrassed!"