Red Rubber Ball by Cattz Salzarrotta

- 3 weeks ago... -

Hey Knuckles...

Hey Sonic. What's up? You look a little down?

Yeah... It's about Amy...

What about her?

Well, you know how possesive she is about me right?

Yeah?

Don't get me wrong. I like her, and she's my girlfriend. But lately... she's kinda getting on my nerves.

Can't stop bugging ya huh.

Yeah. Listen. Do you think you can do me a favor?

Sure.

Do you think maybe you can hang out with her for a while? You know, get her out of my hair so I can have some ME time.

What!?

Come on Knuckles... Just keep her pre-occupied for a couple of weeks.

But... what about Rouge...

I'm sure she'll be fine. She's always busy with other things. I mean, when was the last time you two were on a date?

I guess you're right... Fine. I'll hang with Amy for a while...

Thanks Knuckles!

But how will Amy feel about this?

Just don't tell I said so. Besides, It's not like she'll leave me for you right?

*---*

- Present -

How I regret having said that... maybe I jinxed myself when I said those last words... sigh...

Sonic was walking around Emerald Beach contemplating about his mistake. He asked his best friend to hang out with his girlfriend so he could have some alone time...

He never expected his alone time to be permanent... after Amy hung out with Knuckles, she openly admitted that she liked the echidna more than him... Luckily, Amy and Knuckles broke it to him gently, so the pain wasn't as harsh.

But even though he's broken up with the girl that he loved, he had to admit, he wasn't exactly a good boyfriend to her...

He would always dodge her and escape her whenever she was around. And often times he would ignore her.

He didn't really like her at first. She was just a fan girl to him. She would always follow him where ever and when ever he went. And she would always ask him to marry her, even though she was 3-4 years younger than him...

After enduring her constant annoying tendencies though, he eventually grew fond of her... to the point the he admitted that he liked her...

And after finally accepting Amy's love... this happens...

He sighed as he walked around the shoreline thinking about what he could have done to have prevented this...

Maybe I should have been a better boyfriend... maybe I should have given her more attention... maybe I shouldn't have left her alone with Knuckles... He thought. But as he did, he quickly shook it away. He couldn't blame his best friend... it wasn't his fault... He has to accept the fact that Amy was gone... Even though he didn't like it... he's just glad that they all decided to still be friends...

"That's the way the ball bounces..." He said out loud as he kicked a shell on the sand and into the water. He stopped for a minute as he looked at the sea...

He remembered when he first met Amy... He remembered meeting her on the Little Planet. And how she instantly fell in love with him... He wished that he did the same thing...

"The sea looks so calm this evening..." He said as he watched the water flow so slowly on the beach.

"Yeah... It sure does..." A voice said from behind him. Sonic turned to see who it was the voice came from.

Behind him was Rouge, sitting on the sand a few feet away from him.

"Hey Rouge." He said as he looked at the bat girl who seemed to look a little sad herself.

"Hey yourself blue boy." She responded giving him a sultry smile. But the smile disappeared just as fast as it appeared.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why Rouge looked deppresed. Knuckles was with Amy now, so it's pretty clear that he dumped her. But by the way Rouge looked, Sonic thinks that she got a more harsher treatment then he did.

He felt kinda sad for her. Feeling that it's his duty to help those in need, he walked over to the bat to try and comfort her. He sat beside her, a few inches away so as to respect her personal space, and looked at her with a comforting smile.

"So, didn't take it as easy as I did huh?" Sonic said softly so as to not hurt her, but still saying it in his usual tone of voice.

"Humph. What makes you say I didn't take it easy?" Rouge said calmly without looking away from the sea.

"Just a guess." Sonic said raising his shoulders.

"What about you?" Rouge asked moving forward and placing her elbows to her knees and resting her chin on her knuckles.

"We decided to still be friends." Sonic said as he laid down on the sand with his hands behind his head as he stared at the sky.

"It didn't bother you knowing you're best friend took away you're girlfriend?" Rouge asked with great interest but still sounding like herself.

To her, losing Knuckles was a great deal. But seeing someone who is experiencing the same thing and taking it so lightly struck her as odd. Especially since it was Sonic.

"If their happy, then I'm happy." Sonic said calmly and closed his eyes.

In truth he felt very hurt about it. But like what was said earlier, Knuckles and Amy broke it to him gently. So his heart wasn't left completely broken. But it still left a wound...

"Well aren't you so nice..." Rouge said smirking a little. "I wish I was that strong..." She said as she lost her smirk and removed her chin from her knuckles to stare at the sky.

"You really liked him huh..." Sonic said opening one eye to look at Rouge.

"I was never in a relationship before. And Knuckles opened my eyes to a lot of things. I never had a serious boyfriend before. Especially not like him..." She said with a hint of sadness in her voice. "I guess I'm to blame for why we broke up..." She paused for a moment as she straightened her knees and placed her hands behind her and placed them on the sand.

"I'm guessing it involved you always being so busy with other things." Sonic said closing his eyes again.

"Yeah. I was always so busy. I guess I didn't take our relationship seriously enough." She said as she faught a tear from falling.

For the life of her, she didn't know why she was confiding herself to Sonic. She was never the type to pour out her feelings to anyone. Not even to Knuckles, and he was her boyfriend!

But for some reason... She felt secure when she was around Sonic. Like, she could tell him anything without being judged. And even though she and Sonic never talked to one another on a regular basis. Whenever they did, she always felt like she could never hide anything from him. She always talked to him so casually. Like he was her best friend or something...

She gave a sigh as she rubbed her eyes then closed them as she laid herself down on the sand beside the hedgehog. She felt so calm now. It felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders. But even with that, the pain of heartbreak was still there... but talking to Sonic helped mend it a little.

"Hey Rouge..." Sonic said breaking her thoughts.

"Yes Sonic?" She replied calmly, her sad tone disappearing completely.

"I know this is kinda weird for me to say this but... do you think that maybe we could be friends?" Sonic said opening his eyes and sounding a little nervous.

"Why?" Rouge said sounding a little surprised but at the same time happy at what Sonic was offering.

"Well, I know we don't know each other that much but... I really need some support here. I know I always have Tails to lean on but..." Sonic said trying to be as honest as he can be. "Right now... I really need someone I could relate to... someone more mature..." He stopped a moment as he chose his words carefully.

"Believe it or not. Whenever I'm around you I always seem to be more relaxed and casual." He said as he confided to her.

She felt kinda happy hearing Sonic say those things to her. Especially since he said the word friends...

She never had a real friend before... someone you can share secrets with... someone that cares about you when have problems... and someone who comforts you when you really need it...

I guess me and Sonic shared a bond we never knew... she thought happily.

"And even though you don't feel the same way-" Sonic was about to finish but was cut off by Rouge.

"Who said anything about me not feeling the same way?" Rouge said while Sonic was still talking and turning her head towards him.

"What?" Sonic said turning to face her and totally surprised by her reply.

"I enjoy you're company Sonic." She said as she smiled at him.

"Really?" Sonic said lighting up a little and returned the smile.

"Yes, really." She said as she sat up.

"So were friends now." Sonic said as he sat up as well.

"Maybe a little bit more then just friends." She said as she nudged over to him and pecked him on the cheek.

Sonic's face went crimson afterwards. He couldn't believe what Rouge was implying! Did she really mean that!? Or is she teasing me!? He thought.

Sonic frantically patted his face to try and get rid of his blush. Rouge laughed as she watched the hedgehog's attempt to try and hide it.

After a while, they started to talk. About themselves, their adventures, and their likes and dislikes. To be true, their likes and dislikes weren't exactly at par with one another, some were but not all. But when it came to the adventure part, they could totally relate. They talked on and on about their adventures. Whether it was with others or on their own.

"I never knew that you knew Fiona!" Sonic said as Rouge told him about this one time when she beat Fiona and Nic to a treasure in a far off temple.

As they went on about their memories and their new found friendship. They didn't realize that it was already late.

"Looks like we've been talking for hours." Sonic said as he looked up at the night sky.

The stars seemed brighter then they were tonight. Maybe it was because they were outside the city. Or maybe it was just his imagination. Which ever the case, the stars just seemed to look like they were shining brightly at them.

"Hey Rouge." Sonic said as he looked away from the stars to face Rouge. "Were serious about what you said earlier. About us being more than just friends?"

Rouge paused for a moment. It was true that she said that... and it may seem a little odd... But she enjoys Sonic's company. And there's no reason for them not to be friends. And there was definately no reason as to why two friends couldn't be more than that. Even though they only started being friends now... the way they open up to one another like this seemed like they were friends for as long as she could remember...

What the heck! No point grieving over that knuckle-head! But I'm gonna make sure that this relationship goes better than the last one. That I swear! Rouge thought as a smile went across her face.

Time to see if he feels the same way... She thought deviously.

"Well, I was kinda. But if you don't want to..." She said slyly and teasingly so as to entice the hedgehog.

"No, no, no! I mean I want- What I mean to say-" Sonic said frantically and flailing his arms while blushing madly.

Rouge rolled her eyes as a smile went across her thoughts. Looks like he feels the same way... she thought.

She placed her finger on his lips to silence and calm him.

"Sonic calm down." Rouge said in a half serious half soft kind of way. "Yes, I was serious." She continued as she removed her finger from his lips.

Sonic smiled broadly as his blush disappeared a little. He then began rubbing the back of his head.

"This feels kinda odd. I just got dumped by my ex to be with you're ex and vice-versa. And then we decided to date each other!" Sonic said accompanied by hand gestures.

"What's so odd about us going out?" Rouge said nuzzling towards Sonic.

"Well... it's just that, no one would ever have expected me and you to end up with one another. Talk about an odd pairing." Sonic said as he went back to rubbing the back of his head and then quickly placing his hands in front of him.

"I guess that's just the way the ball bounces..." Rouge said as she rested her head on Sonic's chest.

"That's funny, because I was just-" Sonic was cut off by Rouge who grabbed his hands.

"You're hands are cold..." She said softly.

"What does that mean?" Sonic said puzzled.

When did the conversation change so quickly? He thought.

"They say that when you're hands are cold, you're heart is warm..." She said as she smiled and then kissed Sonic on the lips quickly and simply.

Sonic returned the smile and then leaned in to return Rouge's kiss. He did it the same way she did, quick and simple. It's still a little early to deepen the relationship after all!

They both got up and started walking back to the city, with Sonic's hand across Rouge's shoulder and her hand across his waist.

"This is the second time we shared a moment on Emerald Beach..." Sonic said as they continued to walk.

"Yeah. But this time we walked away with something special..." Rouge said as she rested her head on Sonic's shoulder.

Today was quite odd. They both felt heartbreak, found out a secret friendship between them, and found love with each other all on the same day! But as odd as it was, there was no doubt they enjoyed what has transpired today. They both made up their minds that they were going to take this new relationship more seriously then they did with their first.

The End