The next morning, Amy woke up to the sound of other women chit-chatting. She yawned, sat up, and rubbed the sleep from her green eyes. She had decided to take time to enjoy her last days on earth, rather than fret and fear over things she couldn't possibly control, which is why on the days she didn't work, she slept in for as long as she could. She got out of bed, unable to be bothered to put on pants, and walked out of her bedroom. She looked left, and she looked right, her eyes settling upon the three women that were congregating on her balcony. She pulled open the glass door and crossed her arms over her chest. Two of the older ones held a cigarette in their hands. The other stood with her hands in her pockets, looking down at her shoes. Her eyes were puffy and she had huge dark circles ringing around each of her blue eyes.
"What are you guys doing out here? Why wouldn't you come in? You have a key," Amy said, frowning at her friends.
"I lost it," the eldest, a bat, said. She shrugged in her leather coat and took another drag from the butt in her hand. "I think I left it at that guy's house. What was his name? Buffy? Strongy? Mighty! Mighty! What a drag he was."
"Rouge, you're going to get a disease," the rabbit at her side said, her eyes watery.
"G-g-get a disease, and and d-die?" the shuddery badger said, her ears twitching.
"Christ…" Amy groaned, tilting her head upright, her eyes falling closed. "It's too damn early to deal with your shit, can you come back a bit later? After I've had coffee?"
Sticks, a badger a little bit younger than Amy, twitched. "A-Amy, you're so uptight. So uptight. You're sure you don't wanna, um, experiment? You-you barely feel it, I swear…"
"I'd rather not, Sticks." Amy really didn't know what it was, and she didn't think she wanted to.
"What you need is to get laid, it's easy. And working at that bar, with that two sizes too small shirt you have to wear… it should be easy. Give it a shot."
Her friends were constantly trying to lure Amy into a trap of eternal despair. The only one that had never made a suggestion was the youngest, Cream. Who had fallen into a deep depression after her mother jumped off a building following the first broadcast regarding the end of the world. The others had taken on the roles of the bunny's surrogate mothers. She stayed at Rouge's, as her condo was the only two bedroom. She had her own bed, her own room, her own television set. Having distractions helped drown out the sound of Rouge having a lot of unprotected and rigorous sex.
"Amy is a good girl, good girl," Sticks said, her ears twitching. "She would never, never succumb to peer pressure. THE TREES ARE PLOTTING AGAINST ME!" The badger jabbed her finger toward the ground. She made a move to jump off the three story tall balcony. Rouge groaned and grabbed the back of her shirt.
"Sticks, you need to lay off those hallucinogens. Seriously, babe, I'm worried sick about you." The bat's grip on the badger loosened slightly, her fist opened to rub gingerly at Stick's back. Rouge's concern wasn't blatant, she loved subtly, but she loved her friends. Make no mistake in this.
"Are you going to come in, or are you just going to hang out here?" Amy said, the sound of her stomach hissing made her jump. She made a mental note to get rid of the fire escape ladder her group of incredibly mentally disturbed friends used to get up onto her balcony. She craved coffee.
"Yeah, you gonna make us breakfast?" the bat said, popping out her hip.
"Yes, fine, sure," Amy sighed, she dropped her head down to the rabbit's level. She was 16, and her only friends in the entire world were three 20-somethings. "Pancakes?"
"Yes, please," for a moment, the depressed rabbit's eyes glistened with bliss. The twinkle faded slowly, leaving her gaze dull once again. Poor girl, Amy shook her head.
After breakfast (and after Amy had gotten dressed), three of the four women sat in Amy's living room. The missing critter sat on the cool tile flooring of Amy's bathroom, retching every few moments. Drugs and food didn't agree very well; the badger had overexerted herself. Amy cleared her throat, breaking the uncomfortable silence between each dry-heave that emitted from the bathroom.
"What's on the agenda for today?" She said.
"Shopping, I think. Cream has her allowance to spend; I want her to change up her wardrobe. She looks so bleak; she needs a pop of colour." Rouge poked the rabbit's pale cheek and folded her hand atop the bun's. The rabbit made an attempt to smile. Amy pursed her lips.
"How are you doing, Sticks?" Amy called.
"F-f-fine! J-just… stomach… is-issues." Retch, vomit, pant, retch, vomit, pant.
Amy sat up from her place on the couch and fetched the badger a glass of water and a shot glass full of pepto bismol. "Please take this for me, sweetie."
The badger didn't think twice, she downed the pink fluid, and followed it with the entire glass of water. In a few moments, she was back to her normal, twitchy junkie self. Which was better than being arched over a toilet.
"Thanks, Ames. You're a lifesaver, s-seriously." Sticks was her best friend, she always had been. While Cream was like a little sister, a cutesy little girl she took care of while her mother was gone. Sticks was someone Amy could confide in. Sticks knew all of Amy's deepest secrets, and Amy knew hers. After the news of the apocalypse, Sticks found herself neck deep in a pile of pills amongst other drugs. She had never been very good at coping with bad news. Amy had tried to intervene, to help Sticks quit. However, in the few short weeks since the initial broadcast, she watched Sticks diminish into a shell of what she used to be. It broke Amy's heart, but deep down, she didn't think Sticks would last until the end of days. She shook her head and tried to rid herself of the morbidity.
"C'mon, let's go." Amy entwined her fingers with the badger's and lead her out and away from the bathroom. She sat her down on a chaise lounge and brushed the fur from her eyes.
"Well," Rouge said, after a moment of calm and quiet. She looked at Amy, then at Cream, and finally at Sticks, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I think Cream and I should head out."
"I'll tag along," Sticks said, getting up, stumbling a moment, and regaining her balance. Amy slowly raised her hand, waving. She got up behind them and grabbed a keyring with a single flowered key.
"Rouge," Amy said, holding up the key. "Take this so you don't have to climb up my balcony again. I don't know how stable that thing is. Besides, it's getting pretty chilly out. Do not leave it at another one of your suitor's houses. Please, that's the last one."
"Thanks, babe," Rouge said with a wink. Amy threw the key, and Rouge grasped it in a closed fist. Amy saw the girls out, and sighed as they left. Her heart ached for them all. All lost souls with terrible, terrible coping skills. Cream had lost her mother. Rouge's boyfriend left her for his secretary, the prick. Sticks lived with her brother up until he disappeared. While she was cleaning his room, she stumbled upon a stash of recreational drugs. Of course, she was instantly addicted and found herself lost in a sea of uncertainty ever since.
Amy didn't mean to brag, but she figured she had handled the news of the impending apocalypse better than the rest of them did. She coped by pretending everything was okay. She was excellent at acting, her drama teacher used to praise her skills and tell her she could easily become a star.
She had just settled into her plush Laz-E Boy when she heard a knock at her door. She grunted, sat herself up and went to get the door. She looked through the peephole, frowned, and pulled open the heavy steel door.
"Hey! Amy, right?" A blue hedgehog said, rocking back on his heels. Amy narrowed her eyes.
"Mm? Yes? Who are you?" Amy was sure she had seen the blue hog around before, along with his ragtag group of buddies, but she wasn't going to let him know that.
His eyes widened. "Oh shit! I mean, shoot… Uh, I'm Sonic," He brushed a hand down his front; he fiddled with the bottom button of his shirt. "And, I have some mail for you. For some reason, uh, they keep putting it in my slot. Dumb, right?" The cerulean guy ran his hand through his quills and licked his lips.
"Yyyyyeah," Amy looked at the doorjamb for a moment, side-eyeing the male. She crossed her arms over her chest, blowing a stray quill out of her eyes.
"Sooooo, um. You live here alone, right?" His eyes met hers. Was this guy nervous? Was he… intimidated? Amy deliberated her answer, was he going to sneak in? Do her harm? What were his intentions? He would have made his move already, she was sure.
"Yeah, I do." Amy absently played with a quill, looking him over. He wore a plain plaid button down shirt, and a pair of jeans, worn at the bottom hem.
"Do you want to come over to watch a movie with my roommates and I, maybe? Like, you don't have to, really, but you can. You must be, like, lonely here right?" His lime eyes searched her face for any sort of a hint. Amy's lips twitched, the corners arching up slightly.
"That actually sounds very nice." Amy allowed a smile to spread across her pink lips. This guy was attractive, she'd admit it. He had roommates, so it wasn't an excuse to get in her pants. She thought for a fleeting moment she might have went to high school with him. She shrugged it off.
The man's eyes got almost as wide as his smile. "Great! That's awesome! Did you want to come over tonight, maybe? We have a ton of movies. Seriously. We'd even let you pick!"
Amy nodded, fingering the tip of one of her quills. "Yes, that sounds good. Does… 7:30 work?"
"Absolutely! I'll see you then." He left, Amy closed the door, and went to ponder this.
Why now? Not that she really cared. It was a nice offer. Part of her really enjoyed the idea of having a man around. Another sincerely hoped he wouldn't step on her toes and get in her way.