Here's a Christmas present for y'all! :D
Thoughts are italicized.
Exaggerations are bold.
Shadamy-Christmas Party
I looked out the window. Snow, at least a foot deep, blanketed my world. I grinned.
"Perfect!" I shouted, running up the long stairway to my closet. I threw open the door, smiling at the contents. I dragged the first cardboard boxes, marked 'ornaments' by a black permanent marker, into the hallway.
I made my way downstairs with the boxes, almost tripping three times (of course). With an exhausted and relieved sigh, I sat the boxes near my tree. My tree was completely bare, and it looked sad. I almost frowned. Almost.
I reached for scissors, and cut the tape that sealed away the ornaments and tinsel. I smiled wider as I pulled out the silver shimmery tinsel and draped it over the tree branches. Then, I opened the rest of the boxes and put the rest of the tinsel on the tree. It looked like silver frost hanging from my tree. The lights came next so I hung those. I plugged them in and squealed with delight when they lit up the room in colors of yellow, white, blue, green, red, and orange.
The ornaments followed. I had lots of different colors, shapes and sizes of ornaments, but my favorite was the homemade ornament that my parents took of everyone in front of my tree when I was seven. I was giving Sonic a hug and Knuckles was trying to reach Rouge who was flying as high as she could, waving an action figure. Cream was helping Cheese try on new bows, Tails was checking out his new toolbox, and Shadow was staring off in a different direction, listening to his new iPod that I got him. I smiled. Shadow never changed. He was always bothering Sonic, keeping to himself, staying secretive.
As I admired my tree, I became aware that it was lighter outside. The sunlight from one of the windows shone through and glistened on my pink fur. I glanced at the clocked and saw that it said 12:32. I picked up my boxes and stacked them. Then I headed upstairs to put them back in the closet.
I went to my room to get changed into my Christmas outfit. It looked a little like my normal outfit, but it was a slightly darker red, with fluffy white trim on the bottom and long sleeves with fluffy white cuffs. I slipped on the red slipper flats that matched and had a white puff ball on each.
I moved back to the closet and grabbed the plastic bags full of presents. I shut the closet door and went downstairs, then started to lay out the presents under the tree. I got everyone a present, each covered with wrapping paper that matched their fur the best. Sonic's was cobalt, Knuckles' was red, Shadow's was black, Blaze's was purple, Silver's a shiny silver, Rouge's was white, Cream's a cream/brown color, and Cheese's was light blue.
Quickly, I looked at the clock. 1:00 it read. I stuffed the plastic bags in the trash in the kitchen and started to get out bowls. I opened chip bags and dumped them in the bowls to snack on. I got out the dip and opened it, setting it on the table with the chip bowls. I got out the container with sugar cookies I had made the day before and frosted them, and set it on the table also.
I suddenly heard the doorbell ring. The clock said 1:15. Hmmm…early. I went to the door and opened it, feeling the rush of cold air from outside. "Amy! We're sorry we're late!" Rouge and Cream said at the same time, crushing me in a hug.
"Guys…can't…breath!" They let me go. "You're not late, you're 45 minutes early." Rouge stared at me for a second, then swiveled her head around toward Knuckles, who was backing away slowly.
"You rushed me out the door, made me almost burn myself on my straightener, and then told me I couldn't have lunch, just because we were 'late', when we really weren't!" She proceeded to attack Knuckles while Cream and I sweat dropped. I turned to Cream.
"You can put the presents under the tree, if you like." She nodded and headed toward the tree. I finally separated Rouge and Knuckles. Rouge put her presents under the tree too. I visited with the trio until the bell rang again.
Expecting to see my blue hero, I smiled wider and opened the door. Silver, Blaze, and Tails were waiting at the door with a huge load of presents. Sonic wasn't with them. I smiled anyhow and led them inside. We laughed and joked about how everyone was acting while they were shopping.
About 10 minutes later, the doorbell rang again. I saw that it was 2:00 exactly as I ran to get it. As I opened the door, my smiled fell, seeing that the person there wasn't Sonic. Instead, I was shocked.
"Oh. Hi, Shadow. I thought you weren't coming," I said. He shrugged.
"I changed my mind. Nothing better to do, really." Insult? Maybe?
"Um, ok. Come on in." I opened the door more, watching behind him as he came in. I sighed and shut the door behind him.
"Well we're just talking right now, so you can join us if you want…" I said as I turned around. But he was already sitting on the couch with his earplugs in, so my sentence was pointless. I sighed and went to join the other guests.
"Who's here?" Tails asked.
"Shadow."
"But I thought he wasn't coming," Blaze said, confused.
"Me too, but he changed his mind. Anyone know where Sonic is? He's never late," I said. Then Rouge said something that made my blood run cold.
"Maybe he's hanging out with his new girlfriend!" She said with a smirk. I froze. Girlfriend?!
"Sonic has a girlfriend? Since when?" Knuckles scoffed.
"He's been hanging out with that Sally chick a lot. I think they may be dating," she explained.
Cream, knowing my feelings, looked at me. "Amy, you okay?" she whispered. I nodded.
"Um, yeah. I'll just…go get some games. I'll be back in a second."
I bolted upstairs, startling Shadow, whose eyes glanced up quickly at me. I ran into my room and frowned. Sonic got a girlfriend? He couldn't have! Surely Rouge was mistaken! She is known for gossip and rumors. It could be just a rumor.
Too caught up in my own thoughts, I didn't know he came in the room until his deep voice spoke. "Rose, are you alright?" I jumped.
"Geez, Shadow. You scared me," I said. He continued to look at me. "Yeah I'm fine. I'm getting games for the others." I opened the closet and took out a few games. Then I closed the door and started around him. As I did, I stumbled and he caught my elbow.
"Are you sure?" I turned my head so he wouldn't see my fast growing blush and said, "Y-yeah."
I made the trip down the staircase and placed the games on the table. "Okay. I have a couple games you guys can do, or you can do something else."
"Why don't we play Truth or Dare?" Blaze suggested. Everyone agreed. "You want to play Amy?"
"Um, how about you guys play? I'm going to set up some more stuff."
"Alright," Silver said. I escaped to the livingroom and sat down on the floor. I looked at Shadow, who had resumed his position on the couch and was watching me.
"Hey Shadow, this is a Christmas party, not a funeral. Ya know, bright and cheery. Not black and death," I said, referring to his attire of black hoodie with red designs, black pants, and traditional rocket shoes. He shrugged, indifferent.
"People are going to think you're emo or something." He seemed to smile the smallest bit.
After a moment of silence, I headed upstairs for more decorations to set up and pass the time. I found a small box and took it downstairs to place the contents on my fireplace mantel. It contained three ceramic items. A small train, a wreath, and a candy cane. I sat them on the mantel and stored the box back upstairs.
I found a real wreath in my attic and decided to hang it on my door. There was a nail from last year still there so my project didn't last long. Disappointed, I hung it and looked down the street. My blue hero still wasn't here. Saddened, I trudged inside.
I settled on rearranging the ornaments on my tree. As you can tell, by this point, I was desperate for something to get my mind off of Sonic's lateness. The sneers and laughter of my peers in the dining room danced out into the livingroom.
Suddenly, Knuckles yelled at the top of his lungs, causing me to jump and knock an ornament off of the tree. A white gloved hand shot out and caught the decoration. I sighed in relief. "Thanks."
"No problem," the deep bass voice replayed. I turned to look at him and took the ornament from his hand. I placed it back on one of the tree's branches, blushing.
Cream rushed in and filled me in on what had happened. Apparently, Tails dared Knuckles to kiss Rouge, and he refused. Rouge decided to hit him, after he said he wouldn't kiss her if the world depended on it. Of course, I thought.
Cream left to join the others again and I sighed.
"You seem anxious." I heard Shadow say next to me. I looked at him.
"I do? Oh, well, it's just that Sonic is late, which is unusual. I'm upset because he might not show up." Shadow didn't answer, but his expression darkened slightly. I left the room and entered the kitchen, taking out the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies.
I mixed the ingredients and put the first batch in the oven. The aroma started to infiltrate the kitchen and dining room, where I started to hear the conversation between my friends dwindle. Most likely trying to figure out what it is, I thought. I heard the timer beep and I opened the oven, taking out the cookie sheet filled with the delicious smelling cookies. I placed another set in the oven.
I let the cookies cool for a while, and then set them on a platter. I took the platter out to the dining room and saw my friends' eyes grow large. No one moved until I set the platter on the table and stepped back. Then the table was suddenly surrounded by the others attacking the platter of cookies. After the swarm of hungry friends' hands bombarded the plate with shouts of, "I call the huge one!" and "That one is MINE," I took a few and sat on the couch next to Shadow (a respectful distance away of course).
His ear twitched as I came in, showing that he acknowledged that I was there. I took a bite of one of the cookies. I held another out to him. I smiled as he took a small bite. He seemed to like it.
For the next hour, I busied myself with playing games with the others, spending some time talking to Shadow (well, mostly him listen to me talk, since he wasn't very talkative, as usual), and cooking some of our dinner for later. By now, I knew that Sonic wasn't coming. But for some reason, I didn't really mind. It was kind of peaceful without him.
At 6:30, I decided that dinner was due, so I set the table with Shadow. "Food!" I called, and everyone came running. There was chaos as everyone chose where they wanted to sit, who to sit by, and what to eat. I ended up sitting by Blaze and Rouge. As I was about to dig in, the doorbell rang. I made a face, but got up to answer it.
I opened the door to see a brown chipmunk wearing a red vest and red boots with white puff balls hanging from them, and red hair. She was turned away from me, looking out toward my driveway. "Don't forget the presents!" She shouted to someone.
"Um…can I help you?" She turned around and smiled.
"Hi, I'm Sally. You're having a Christmas party, right? Sonic invited me. He's in the car. You're Amy, right?"
I blinked. "Yeah, um, it's nice to meet you. Is So-"
"Hey, Ames!" I saw Sonic suddenly behind Sally, holding bags of presents. "Sorry for being so late. I kinda lost track of time." He chuckled. "You guys opened presents yet?"
"No, we're eating at the moment-"
"Oh good! We're not too late then." I sighed.
"Want me to take your presents?" He smiled and handed them to me.
"Sure. Thanks!" The duo headed to the dining room and I put their presents under the tree. Then I headed back into the dining room to eat.
"Wow Amy, your food is delicious!" Tails said and the others quickly agreed on. I smiled and flushed slightly.
"Thanks, Tails." We ate, chattering happily to each other, excluding Shadow and I. I can't believe Sonic invited Sally. We've always just done a party for us every year, kind of like a reunion. I didn't want to be rude, so I let her in, but this is special to us.
Silver interrupted my thoughts suddenly. "Amy? Is it time for presents now?" I blinked.
"Um, yeah. I'll clean up real quick and be in there in a jiffy." Everyone stood and headed to the livingroom except Shadow, who was picking up dishes. "Shadow, you can join the others, if you want." He ignored me and continued to pick up the dishes. I sighed but helped.
We finished picking them up and I told him I would finish them later. We went into the livingroom to join the others and I sat on the floor next to Shadow. We had entered during a conversation the others were having. I caught the rest of it.
"So you two are dating?" Blaze asked Sonic and Sally. Sonic nodded.
"Since last week." Rouge smiled smugly.
"I told you," she bragged. I felt sick to my stomach. Knuckles opened presents first, followed by Cream, Silver, Tails, Rouge, Blaze, Sonic, and then me. After opening presents, I started to pick up wrapping paper. Everyone had gotten everyone presents except Sally and Shadow, which was to be expected, since they weren't expected to come.
I took the wrapping paper to the garbage and threw it away. It took me several trips, but I finally got rid of it all. I sat back down.
"Wait, Sonic did you get Amy a gift? I didn't see you give her one." I thought for a minute. Knuckles was right. I looked at Sonic. He was talking to Sally, and stopped for a second to think.
"Nope. I didn't get her one. I wasn't thinking of it." He went back to talking with Sally. I felt my heart shatter. He didn't even think about me? I sat there for a moment, trying to fight back tears. Then I stood up and headed toward the door.
"Amy, are you okay?" Cream asked.
"I-I don't know. I have to get some air." My stomach wasn't feeling any better. I opened the door and walked outside. Stepping outside was like walking into one of the freezers in the grocery store. Shivering, I sat on my porch step. My thoughts jumbled around in my head. I tried to make sense of them, but they just scrambled around. The tears in my eyes brimmed over.
Fingers brushed the tears out of my eyes. I looked up to see who it was. It was Shadow. He must have followed me outside and I was probably too deep in thought to have heard him.
"Are you okay?" He asked me for the second time that day and sat down next to me. I smiled slightly but shook my head. He pulled me into a hug and my eyes widened. Shadow's hugging me?! He let me go after a moment, and I was still dazed.
He pulled out something and handed it to me. It was a long and slender, glossy white box. I gave him a confused look. "It's your present," He explained. "I wanted to give it to you in private." I glanced at him. His face was unreadable. Slowly, I opened the box and gasped.
A necklace with a black chain lay on soft white cotton. The pendant was a pink rose made of gems that were set in black. I gently touched a gemstone petal and watched the moonlight flicker across the smooth the surface. "Oh wow. It's so beautiful!"
Shadow picked the necklace up off the cotton. Silently, he draped the necklace around my neck and clasped it in the back. I picked the pendant up again, marveling at it. I smiled at him. "Thank you, Shadow. It's wonderful." I hugged him and he slowly wrapped his arms around me.
I let him go a little later, and looked up at the sky. I saw something floating above us and looked closer. It was mistletoe, but it was surrounded with a light blue aura. I felt my face flush. I was going to give Silver a little piece of my mind.
Shadow must have seen it too, because he turned my face toward him and touched his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck.
Yes, Cream, I'm okay. I'm perfectly okay.
