Rouge and Shadow finally arrived at the parking lot of Ikea. Even though Shadow didn't really love shopping, he enjoyed walking around this store. It was so cool to him how you can see everything on display, and the little things like pots and plants you can buy to make your home feel more like home.
Shadow looked over to Rouge. She was sleeping in the same position she was in an hour ago. Shadow smiled. 'She's so cute.' He thought. 'Too bad I gotta wake her up.' He put his hand on Rouge's hip and gently shook her. "Rouge, wake up." Rouge picked her head up. She looked around groggily. Her eyes were squinted. She slowly got up and sat upright in her seat. She looked at Shadow and smiled. "Hey handsome." Rouge stretched her arms and leaned back in her seat. "We're here." Shadow said. Rouge looked at the blue and yellow building they were parked in front of. She the looked back at Shadow and placed her hand under his chin. "You didn't kill us, right?" She asked jokingly. "Nope. I even kept my eyes on the road for you." He replied as he smiled at the gesture.
Rouge drew her hand back and lifted her seat. "Is my hair and makeup messed up?" She said as her eyes widened. She quickly opened the sun visor and opened up the mirror. She sighed in relief as she saw her makeup was ok. "Ready to go?" Asked Shadow. "Yup." She unbuckled herself from the seat and gathered her belongings. Shadow already stepped out of the car and walked to The passenger's side where Rouge was sitting. He opened the door for her. Rouge smiled at him.
She got out and turned to face their rental car. "It's comfy. What do you think?" Said Rouge as she admired the exterior of the car. "I dunno. Drives pretty smooth. What are you thinking?" Replied Shadow. "I'm thinking," Rouge paused to turn around and look at Shadow. "About buying it." She finished. "I mean we could use a big car for a lot of things. Furniture, for example." She reasoned. "Don't you think we own enough cars?" Asked Shadow, referring to Rouge's garage of a few sports cars. "Eh, I'll think about it." She started to walk toward the entrance of the building. Shadow followed along.
They entered the building, right away being greeted by an escalator. They rode it up to the second floor. Kids toys and little things like toddler lamps were all around them. Shadow was intrigued by a board game he has never seen before. It was laying on the table, pieces of it scattered everywhere. He tried to figure out how it was played.
While Shadow was off doing his own thing, Rouge ran to an area where there were crates of stuffed toys. She grabbed a carrot. It had a cute face on it. Rouge looked at Shadow, playing with the pieces. His back was to her. She looked at the toy she was holding. Then back at Shadow. "Shadow! Look!" She called to him. Before he could understand what was going on, an orange blur smacked his face. Shadow was confused. He looked at his feet, and to his surprise saw a stuffed carrot. He picked it up and looked at Rouge. She was giggling across the room, holding a stuffed broccoli over her face.
Rouge peeked at Shadow. He threw the carrot back at her. "Don't play with your food Shadow!" She exclaimed as she threw a stuffed broccoli at him. It missed him. "Oh yeah? What are you doing then." Said Shadow as he went for the broccoli and threw it back. Rouge tried to dodge it but it hit her leg. She started laughing. "Ok," Said Rouge in between laughs. "Stop we might get kicked out."
Rouge put the toys back in the crates. She walked down the aisle, looking at the things on display. Shadow walked up to Rouge. He spotted a playground with slides and ball pits all protected by glass. "Rouge let's go there." He said playfully. Rouge looked at him. "Are you a child who is gonna interfere with my shopping?" She asked. Shadow nodded. "Well lets go then." Rouge said, grabbing his arm and leading him toward the playground sign-up desk. "No no no, I'm just kidding. Stop." Shadow laughed as he pulled his arm back. Rouge chuckled. "Ok. Mess around with something you're not supposed to and I'll force them to keep you there. Understand?"
Rouge and Shadow passed the furniture displays. They didn't really like anything there. Then they entered the wall hangings section of Ikea. "Ooh! Shadow it's right there!" Rouge said excitedly as she almost ran to a wall where giant canvases with beautiful pictures hung. She looked them over. The New York picture she and Shadow liked wasn't hanging in the front. Rouge walked to the side of the display and saw the image hanging behind the ones on display. "Shadow! Come here!" She exclaimed.
Shadow walked over to where Rouge was. "Damn." Said Shadow. "It's bigger than I thought." He looked at what he could see of the image. "It's pretty though, right?" Asked Rouge, also looking at the image. "Yeah, but will it fit?" He questioned. "Probably." She replied.
After about an hour of wandering around the store, Shadow and Rouge decided to eat at the 'food court style' restaurant. They didn't really see anything they liked on the menu except chicken nuggets and french fries. They brought their food over to a table and started eating. While Rouge chewed her food, she started to giggle as she watched Shadow eat his meal.
Shadow looked at her confused. "Whats so funny?" He asked. Rouge finished chewing and covered her mouth as she tried to control her laughter. After a minute, she straightened back up, wiping under her eye with her finger. She looked back at Shadow and chuckled a bit. 'What?' Mouthed Shadow. Rouge finally spoke. "There's so much meals to choose from and we chose the kids meal. Plus you're devouring it just like a kid would." She chuckled once more, dipped a french fry in ketchup and ate it. She looked at him and smiled. "It's the safest thing to order. And it's good." He insisted as he took a sip of his drink. "It's funny." Rouge said, still smiling. A faint smile appeared on Shadow's face as he shook his head.
After the two friends finished eating, they went back to the canvas displays to get the box they needed for the picture they wanted. Rouge ended up buying a bunch of food from the food section. Shadow agreed to whatever Rouge wanted to do. They finally made it out the exit. Their car was far from where they were, so Shadow went to drive it over to Rouge while she stood with their stuff.
'My god, what's taking him forever?' Thought Rouge. After about a minute, she saw a grey SUV with the Audi symbol on it pull up in front of her. A black hedgehog stepped out of the drivers seat. "Finally, you took forever." Complained Rouge. Shadow opened the trunk. "I lost the car in the parking lot. Took me about five minutes to find it." Shadow stated. "Took you long enough." She blurted. Shadow rolled his eyes. Rouge put the light bags into the trunk. Shadow helped load everything else in.
They loaded everything in neatly and walked to the front of the car. Shadow unlocked the car doors and they both sat down and sighed. Rouge looked at Shadow. "Well that was fun, right?" Shadow took a minute to settle down before responding. "Yep." He sighed and started the engine.
"Wait!" Rouge exclaimed. She unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed onto the center console. Her back was to the dashboard as she rummaged through bags in the trunk. She took something out and climbed back to her seat, careful not to touch any important lever or button. Shadow chuckled and shook his head. "Really?" He said.
Rouge was holding the broccoli and carrot plush toys they were fighting with when they first came into the store. "Pillows." She simply said, and handed the broccoli to Shadow. He smiled and gave it back to her. "There's no comfy way I can drive while holding that." He assured. "Put it behind your neck." Rouge said as she leaned to Shadow to put the plush behind his neck. Shadow pushed it away. "I'm good." He said. "Suit yourself." Rouge replied as she snuggled with the plush vegetables.
Shadow drove out onto the road. About 10 minutes into driving, it started to drizzle. Soon it started pouring. "Well that was good timing." Rouge commented. She fumbled with the toys she was holding, and then put them down in her lap. She did something on her phone.
They both sat in silence, nothing but the rain hitting their car and the windshield wipers could be heard. It was so peaceful.
Rouge hit her phone on one of the toys and looked through the windshield with a bothered look on her face. Still looking out the windshield, she broke the silence. "Shadow." "Hmm?" He answered. Rouge looked at him with anger. Shadow felt as if he had done something wrong and was starting to become worried. "There was a radish plush toy at the store." Shadow began to laugh. Rouge lost the angry look on her face and started giggling.
Once Shadow calmed down from laughing, he blurted, "Really? I was beginning to think I did something wrong and that I was about to get yelled at, yet you're concerned about a plush radish?" They both started to laugh again. "He's gonna miss his friends, Shadow!" She interrupted. "Well sorry, I didn't even know there were plush vegetables there." He said as he kept looking at the road. "Well now I feel bad." Rouge mumbled, picking up her phone and looking at the screen.
Shadow stopped at a red light. Rouge took that opportunity to show him the radish. "Isn't he cute? And we just left him there." She whimpered as she showed Shadow the image of the plush radish on her phone. "I didn't see any radishes there." He replied as he stepped on the gas. "Well he was and we left him there." Rouge said as she put her phone back in front of her again.
They arrived at Rouge's mansion as Shadow parked in front of it. Rouge looked at him. "Doesn't the car need to go back?" She asked. "Yeah, but I figured I should drop you off here and go return it myself. You wouldn't want to walk in the rain would you?" He replied. "No, and neither should you. I could drive after you to pick you up." She offered. "You sure?" He certified. "Yeah, i wouldn't want you getting sick, it's cold. Especially in the rain." She confirmed.
They both got out and unpacked the car quickly. They were both in the doorway of the mansion. "Ok, drive my car. It's closer to the garage door." Shadow grabbed the keys to his car from the dresser and handed them to Rouge. She quickly walked towards the way to the garage. She entered her garage and walked through her array of sports cars. She walked all the way to the garage door where Shadow's car stood. She clicked a button on the keys that made the doors fly open. They reminded Rouge of wings.
She sat in the car and the garage door opened. She drove out to see Shadow inside the still parked car in front of her mansion. She drove onto the road and the garage door closed. Shadow started to drive and Rouge followed. Soon, they arrived back at the dealership. Shadow got out and ran to the doors, trying to avoid getting soaked.
Rouge waited in her car until Shadow came out with a dealership worker under an umbrella. She saw him motion toward the car and say something. At the end of their conversation, it looked like Shadow thanked the worker. Then he ran up to his car and opened the door. He quickly sat in the passengers seat and shut the door. "I think this is the first time I'm sitting in the passengers seat of my car." He said as he buckled up.
Rouge put down her phone and looked at him. "You might wanna take a warm shower when we get back. Don't take any chances." She said as she started up the car.
Rouge drove them back to the mansion. She parked the car in the garage. They both got out. "Go take a nice, warm shower." Said Rouge. "Fine.." He groaned as he walked out the garage into their house. Rouge chuckled and entered the living room where they dropped off their stuff from Ikea.
She started to go through the bags. Rouge pulled out the two stuffed vegetables and Sat on the couch. She looked them over and smiled at them. Then she collapsed into the pillows on the couch and drifted off to sleep with the toys in her arms.