Chapter 3-Untouched

"Rouge, you have to wake up." I whispered, slightly nudging the sleeping bat. I on the other hand, was wide awake, still jogging in place to cool down from my morning walk.

"Ugh, but my head hurts!" she whined, "Five more minutes."

"If I let you sleep off every hangover, you'd probably only get up on Mondays and Wednesdays." I teased, ignoring her groan, "It's past noon and I've gotta go now, so you better not fall back asleep."

"Yeah yeah." She muttered sleepily as I practically ran to my room.

I couldn't wear shorts to work, as I learned after the first summer in a very hard way, so I quickly changed into a pair of baggy, thin jeans with slashes across the front every few inches, perfect for staying cool in the musty garage. I kept on the light red shirt with the flat top cutting straight across my shoulders and that rose up high enough to reveal my whole flat stomach. Summers were especially hot in the shop, seemingly more so than anywhere else, so I couldn't really care too much about being to revealing as much as not having a heat stroke.

I jumped down the stairs, not bothering with the probably broken elevator, and ran straight through the alley, ending up on main street. I hopped on the back of a bus as it pulled away from the curve and squeezed past a few people to get inside, pressed against one of the outer poles of the bus. I closed my eyes and breathed slowly through my nose, trying to ignore the thought that I had been forced onto a public transportation aid and rid myself of the nausea that came with it.

After seven blocks of deep breathing, I opened my eyes just in time to see the workshop where I had to get off. I hopped off the moving bus and quickly onto the sidewalk before causing any traffic jams on the busy street. After collecting my balance, I slid into the car repair shop Tails had started as a side job about a year ago and secretly given me a job. He wasn't there very often, as his main responsibility was to train workers for the job, but every now and then stopped in to check up on things.

I grabbed my clipboard off the front counter and opened the main doors to let a little breeze rush in. I turned on every fan in the building on my way to the back, where I would be working on today's assignment. I had never really been interested in cars before, but Tails just happened to offer while I was still looking for a job and it turned out to be pretty good. It had been almost two years since I left the team and I now had two jobs, this and a part-time night shift. Rouge worked full time at the same club she had back then as the assistant manager. Basically, she was in charge of everything but still not quite the top. Rouge would go back and forth every night between DJ, bartender, and basically just a monitor to make sure things didn't get out of hand.

After about an hour of tinkering on one of the totaled cars in for repair, I heard footsteps slowly dragging across the concrete floor. It was Tuesday, so no one was supposed to be in for work today but me, unless we had a lot of work backed up, which meant it was a costumer who wasn't too familiar with the concept of making appointments.

"Hello? Anyone here?" a gruff voice called from the main room.
"Yo jussa sec!" I called, rolling myself out from under the rickety blue Chevy and jogging around the corner to the front.
To my surprise, the person leaning on the counter was one that I actually recognized.
"Amy? No way!" Knuckles said, the bored expression falling off his face.
"Hey! What're you doing here?" I asked.
"Well, I heard Tails owned this place and I came by to see if he could help me out with some car trouble, but I didn't expect to see you here! Why are you?"
"I...work here."
''Huh...cool.'' he said, slightly taken aback.
I laughed, ''What so pretty girls can't work at car shops?'' I teased.
''No, that's not it!''
''Gotcha!'' I giggled and he grunted slightly.
''So how ya been? I haven't seen you since...what, three years ago?''
''More like two.''
''That's right! You had lost your mind!''
''Nu-uh! Just my memory! And it came back anyway.''
''Huh. So how come you haven't been around for a while? I mean, you're never hanging around with Sonic or-''
''Okay, don't say that!'' I snapped, making him take a quick step back. I sighed, ''Sorry, Knuckles; its just...I've been trying to forget about Sonic, and...It's been a while, you know?''
''Suure...'' he said cautiously. ''Okay, so what have you been up to lately?''
''Umm...nothing specifically. I don't really live with the others or anything now; me and Rouge share an apartment and...There's really not much more.''
''Hmph,'' he thought for a minute, ''You actually hang out with that batty jewel thief?''
''Oh hush! She's way past that and it's kind of nice to be able to relate to someone, ya know? Plus, we're about the most kick-ass team around when it comes to parties.''
He laughed, ''So sweet little Amy spends a little time with a party-happy slut and gets to be a bitch herself.''
''Hey, it aint like that!'' I defended, ''It's not like she's a whore or anything; she just knows how to have fun and I'm glad it could rub off on me, even if I'm no goody-two shoes anymore.''
''Hey, I was just kidding, okay? I don't think it's even possible for you to bitch-out, Amy.'' he laughed and I joined in. ''Well good for you then. But anyway, I did have some car trouble; can you get Tails on the phone or something?''
''Yeah, because even though I WORK here, I'm utterly incapable of having a look.''
He groaned, ''okay, but aren't you busy or something?''
''Please; my project right now is a totaled hunk a junk that'll take about two weeks to fix; what's an extra hour or so?''
''Okay, it's out front.''

Knuckles had a really nice car; I sleek red mustang with some REALLY nice parts.
''So what exactly is wrong with it?''
''Well, I guess it's not exactly something wrong more than just a precaution. Whenever I try to start moving after stopping for a red light or whatever, it kind of sputters and doesn't really go as smoothly as I'd want. I took it in to some other place, but no on there knew what the hell they were doing, so I thought I'd give this place a try.''
''Mind showing me the problem first hand, or should I just take a guess?''
''No, hop in!'' he said, pulling a set of keys from his pocket.

After a few blocks, I had fully diagnosed the problem and told him on the way back to the garage.
''See, what it is is that the transmission is starting to go out. It might just be that it needs to be tightened up a bit, but it could also be ready to die, which could be pretty serious if it happens like at a busy intersection or something. Because if it goes out while you're moving, your engine's gonna blow completely right then and there.'' I explained as we pulled into the parking lot.
''See what I heard there was blah blah blah I'm smarter!'' we both laughed, ''so what now?''
''I'll have a look while you get me lunch.'' I said, popping the hood.
''Sure, what do you want?''
''If you go in the main door, you can go around the counter and there's a door right to the left. Go in there and just get the box of pizza from the fridge in there. You can grab a soda or whatever if you want.'' I said, handing over the keys to the employee break room.
''Okay, be right back.'' he said, jogging in while I easily found the loose transmission wires.

I tightened the wires while chewing the cold pizza and also tweaked the motor and changed the oil while I was at it.
''So is it done?'' he asked as I slammed the hood back down.
I turned the keys in the ignition, showing him the purr of the engine as it roared to life so smoothly I almost wanted to drool.
''Damn girl! You're goood! What do I owe ya?''
''You brought the pizza out, right?''

Time seemed to pass to quickly that day, that's what happened when I pressed the snooze button even once in the morning, throwing off my whole day. I didn't notice the time until it had already started getting dark out.

"Damn." I muttered, rolling out form under the now only half-smashed car and throwing a few tools across the room into a tool box. With the last toss, I banked a large wrench of the lid and in, causing it to close after the tool had fallen in with a loud clank.

I wrote down the day's progress on my clipboard and put it on the shelf behind the front desk for Tails to look over either tonight or tomorrow morning and track it for the costumer of the car. Next I put away anything else left from the day. I switched the 'opened' sign off and watched the words sputter out. I ran to the back and locked all the doors and shut off all the lights and fans. I snatched a set of keys from a counter top and jumped on my motorcycle that I had left there the night before. The engine groaned loudly as I put on my helmet and reached for the garage door remote. I pressed the button to close and lock the final huge door in the front, immediately zooming out just underneath the door before it could finish closing.

I flowed smoothly into the traffic and took the quickest route back to the apartment, skidding to a halt in the parking lot and taking the stair up two at a time. I walked inside and didn't hesitate to turn on and blare the stereo in the living room, knowing that Rouge would still be at work. I left the bathroom door opened as I ducked through the water just long enough to rinse off all the grease I had acquired at work and shave my legs quickly.

I slipped on a pair of booty shorts and another half shirt and vest with little strings of beads the rattled as I moved. I wore a pair of boots, even though they looked sort of strange on my bare legs, and quickly applied some eye-liner, mascara, and dark eye shadow. I yanked my iPod from the still-blaring speaker, making it go suddenly silent as the music device turned off, stuffing it in my bulky purse with a few papers strewn across the dining room table.

I decided to take my motorcycle again, since I was running slightly behind, instead of walking and doing some stretches on my way as I usually did on my way to my second part-time job. I stuffed my still wet hair up into a pony tail, though only about half would end up staying up since my new summer hair cut had already been put into style, layered so that most of it didn't even come past my face. I put on my black helmet with little pink scull and heart designs mixed together on the back and took off, flowing through and around traffic at about twice the posted speed limit.

I threw my helmet around the handle bars as soon as I skidded into the parking lot, swinging my crinkled hair so it didn't stick to my face when it dried. I walked up to the entrance to the club where Rouge worked, walking around the line and ignoring all the complaining costumers and rather just swinging around the neon green hat that signified I was an employee there.

"Hiya scank breath." I greeted the security guard teasingly.

"Sup mini-bitch?" he matched my joking insult, allowing me to duck under the line and into the club, where I jogged to the back, waving to Rouge and Mack, the other bar-tender, as I passed.

I went to the little studio in the back and checked the chart for tonight's schedule, though I already knew what it would say. There were no classes I had prescheduled for Tuesdays, so basically my job was to go out and dance and offer lessons to anyone who seemed interested. I was in charge of the free-style department, which seemed kind of ridiculous to teach free style when really it was just more of a make-it-up as you go thing, but that was fine with me.

Basically, what I did was teach people a few moves and how to put their own touches on them. It was really more of a confidence thing, showing them not to be afraid to express themselves when they danced. Rouge had suggested I do a class after seeing how interested some of the others were whenever I was on the dance floor. I had thought it would be a total bomb, but a lot of people seemed interested in taking lessons from the club-famous "Flamin' Rose", as a few people had nicknamed me.

I swayed to the beats evenly until an appealing song burst through the air. I was true to the song, have "All the Right Move in all the right places" without even following a designed routine. It just came naturally to me, twisting my legs and spinning on my toes, then popping a hip and throwing my head back as I fell into the splits almost too quickly every time. Rolling my shoulders and letting the movement flow down my spine and back and hips and legs. Moving with the music.

It was hard to believe I could just dance and get paid for it, but I guess I could see why, as the song ended, reality greeting me with a circle around me where people had cleared away and were now applauding me. By the end of three songs, I had 20 people signed up to take a lesson tomorrow night.

I worked until only 10:00, leaving four hours before Rouge and going home to collapse. I'd do the same thing tomorrow; wake up at 7:00, get a coffee, take a jog, etc., repeating the same fabulous pattern every day pretty much. My life always had a pattern, or at least now it did. Now that I didn't have Sonic to help put a spin on my life. Nothing changed, nothing got me especially happy or sad; I was stuck in a rut of contentment. Just contentment.

A/N: Hey guys! Hope you liked this chapter and thanks for all the reviews; they're really helpful as far as motivational purposes, so hope to see some feedback like that again. By the way, I'm going to be switching between Amy and Sonic's point of views for each chapter, maybe an exception here and there. The plot will be kind of taking off about here, so get ready for some major suspense! Hope you guys are ready; just remember, the more reviews the faster the updates! Peace out! (-)