Tradition

"Amy? What are you doing here?"

I casually leaned against the door as I waited for the bag-laden pink hedgehog to say something. However, she entered my house without answering my question. I was so used to this that I didn't try to stop her.

"Well," She put her hands on her hips. "I'm glad I came early."

"What? It's 2:00 in the afternoon." I mumbled.

She ignored me again as she went into my kitchen with the bags. Sighing, I went to the living room and turned on my video game console. After a while of background noise, mainly in the kitchen and dining room area, my curiosity got the better of me and I went to go inspect.

Amy was mumbling to herself as she put something in the oven. I could see cooking ware in the sink and splatters of who-knows-what on my countertops. Usually I kept my house decent and seeing the mess that had accumulated in such a short amount of time irked me.

She turned around and finally I could see acknowledgement in her eyes. But it quickly turned into anger.

"You're not ready! Why are you still in your pajamas?"

"What?"

"Look at you. You don't even have a shirt on."

"Well, I wasn't expecting company." Before she could turn away I caught her wrist. "Now what the hell is going on?"

"I'm getting your house ready."

"Why?" The pink girl gave me a withering look at my question. An awkward pause appeared in our conversation. I started to fidget and let go of her arm.

"Don't tell me you forgot." Amy rubbed her wrist.

"Forgot what?" I had started to lean against the kitchen window when Amy huffed and grabbed my arm and led me to my calendar.

Birthdays are a big thing in our groups of friends. There's always some kind of celebration, whether in a park or in a home. But there is one birthday that has the biggest traditional celebration of all. That was the 21st birthday.

I think the tradition started off with Rouge. It only seemed right because she owned a club. When someone turns this magical number it means he or she has drinking rights. In our group we take full advantage. The person who is celebrating the birthday hosts it in their own home. The afternoon is mostly filled with celebration and food. But as 9:00pm rolls up, (9:00= 21:00. Get it?) stomachs get settled and the gang sits around the table and tries to goad the birthday person into drinking their very first glass of alcohol.

That was the situation I was in now.

"Well?" Rouge was standing over me, her own glass in her hand. I glanced at her bored expression.

"Well what?"

"Drink it."

I returned my gaze to the greenish liquid that was sitting on the table. I could feel the agitation of the rest of the gang as they waited for me to down the drink so they could have their own. In fact, the only complacent person that I noticed from glances was Cream. However, she couldn't drink any alcoholic drinks for two more years.

"I don't know what 'it' is." I folded my arms and shook my head. "Therefore I'm not drinking it."

A growl came from Shadow. "I don't see why we have to wait for him."

Cream was sitting next to him and patted his arm. "We did it for you. Let him have this moment of power." Shadow growled again but made no effort to remove Cream's touch.

"Look, I made the damn thing especially for you. It's not made to kill you. It's made to slowly accustom you to alcohol and not make you throw up on your pretty furniture." Rouge drummed her fingers on the table. Groans and whines started to erupt from around me.

"Hurry up!"

"We got to go soon."

"I want to get to this drink today!"

"I have half a mind to force you."

Finally, I got bored and clutched the glass in my hand. The anticipation of my comrades got thicker as it came to my mouth. I stopped it just inches of my face, much to the dismay of the others.

"What the hell?!"

A cocky grin came upon me as I looked at Knuckles. I laughed at his expression and winked.

"Seems like you've suffered enough." With that I drained the glass.

Let the headache begin.

I think the most I drank was a bottle and a few shots. I wanted to keep some sanity tonight.

Sonic and Knuckles were a different story. I think the focus went from me to them after that. They were the ones who initiated the shot contest and were the ones who kept it going long after everyone else went out. Then they sang together until Shadow tried to stuff pillows down their throats.

They always acted stupid around liquor, which is on of the reasons why they didn't drink in public.

Cream and Amy, due to an agreement, were the designated drivers and started to take people home after midnight. The only ones that they didn't take were Sonic and Knuckles, which due the same agreement and they were to stay at my house. By the time Amy came back to stay the night in order to help me I was about to hit my two best friends with a wrench.

Amy didn't have a drink until we got those two settled down, which wrapping them up in blankets and putting them in the living room with pillows. Amy and I had a decent conversation until we couldn't really think anymore and headed up to our separate bedrooms.

"You know, Tails," She said as we walked around the knocked out duo to the stairs. "It's kinda hard to believe you forgot your birthday."

End

Well, there it is. My little horrible fanfic for Tails's birthday. It was going to be longer and more detailed but every time I tried to elaborate I ran into dead ends. I wish I did better.

Well, Happy 21st Birthday Tails!