The Devil has Blue Eyes
Chapter 7: Denial (of Love)
In Central City, Blaze the Cat was sitting in front of a screen, waiting for the web-cam to come on. She and Sonia kept in busy contact; with regular scheduled times to meet up over Skype. It was especially important when they were hundreds of miles apart and both led such busy lives. She was dressed in a dressing gown, with a towel on her head.
"Have you accepted the call yet, Sonia?" she asked through her microphone.
Amy had come back late that evening, and had a long shower that had her smelling of roses, which wasn't suspicious at all until one remembered that a few days ago she had been smelling strongly of Scourge. Blaze hadn't questioned her about it. She had completely avoided the subject of men at all, and for some reason, her emotionally vulnerable flatmate hadn't mentioned Sonic at all.
"Hold your mares, the connection's laggy out here," Sonia's voice shot back through the headphones. Blaze could tell she was smiling, without having to see her.
The loading screen abruptly shut out, replaced by Sonia's unfocused face. Once adjusted, her eyes lit up. "Like it?" she asked, pointing down to her t-shirt. It had the Sonic Underground logo, with charicatures of herself and her brothers embalmed on it. "We're getting hoodies, too!"
"You know you don't have to dress up for me... Undress, maybe, but..." Blaze grinned, "Thanks for making time for me, Babe. I know the concerts take a real toll. Are the fans screaming?"
"Yes. Which is more than I can say for you, Miss Purr," Sonia shot back, returning her grin. "Let's keep that stuff to a down-low though; I don't get much privacy when I live on a boy-infested tour bus," she rolled her eyes. "I miss you..." she added, knowing full well that the feeling was mutual.
"Hmmm..." the purple feline was less likely to say that sort of thing, not because she didn't, but because she always thought it was obvious. After a moment she remembered, "Yeah, I miss you too..." and the other important thing sprung up, because this kitty was never one for chit-chat, but at least made the attempt, "How's your brother missing his ex?"
"He's not," the hedgehog replied, leaning back in her chair with a yawn. "He's too busy expecting her to call. Something about crawling back, and... Oh, I don't know what he says. He mostly talks to Manic about it, if at all. Why? How's she taking it? Is she gonna call soon, because I'm honestly reaked of hearing about it.."
Blaze rubbed her forehead, then pulled the towel off her head, ruffling her fur, "That's exactly the trouble. They're both so goddamn stubborn. She wants him to call her, he wants her to call him, nobody wants to give in... it's deadly. Both of them waiting for the other to fold and... I don't think she's going to cave. She's trying to get over him. She's trying to get over him a lot."
"Blaze... she didn't!" Sonia gasped, obviously coming to the wrongest conclusion of all. "What did she do?! I mean, did she try to kiss you or take a grab or something?! Broads..." She rolled her eyes. Sonic hadn't been doing too well at all; he was really good at holding his head up high and ignoring it, but she knew that Amy's loss was affecting him. He did love her a lot.
"No! No! She's not that far gone..." Blaze grinned, "You know she's an arrow. It'll take more than ice-cream to end that way. And I wouldn't let her..." Her grin dropped, "It's worse than that..." She reached up and adjusted the camera a little, turning it to follow Amy passing through the room. The pink hedgehog had a pep to her step, and wasn't looking unhappy. "She deserves Sonic. She's a good girl. He's a good guy. And..." she didn't like saying it, "She's headed for a rebound. She loves that hog-headed brother of yours more than anything... I know she does. But like most idiot females, she's trying to convince herself she doesn't."
Sonia was about to respond, likelywith some type of insight, but a loud knock on her door distracted her. "What?!" she yelled, looking away from the screen.
There was muffling on the other end; Blaze couldn't make out the words. But she recognized Sonic's voice. "Go away!" Sonia yelled, but the banging continued. "Ugh, Blaze, hold on," she got up and headed for the door, off-camera. "Damn boys..." the door could be heard prying open. "What is it?!"
"Hey! Guess what! Manic's managed to score me a duet with-" Sonic started, overtly loud, before noticing the computer. "Ohhhh, who ya talking' to?!" He asked, teasing.
From hundreds of miles away, Blaze waved vaguely at Sonic when he came on-screen, although she couldn't hear much. Sonia kept the concern out of her voice, "Who do you think? My girlfriend, obviously," she shrugged, "You should be talking to yours, too; the power of the internet means you don't have to be so far apart. You could call her now; she's home..."
As per the sibling code, the blue hedgehog had dedicated every waking moment of his life to pestering his only sister. So, he not only interrupted her web chat with her girlfriend, he invited himself into it by jumping past her and sitting in front of the camera. "Blaze! What's cookin', Kitty-Cat?!" He stood way too close to the camera lens, so he was entirely out of focus and Blaze could almost see right into his nose.
"Sonic! Can't you see I'm busy?! Get out!" Sonia yelled, trying to shove him away.
"You said Amy's home?! Good! Tell 'er to gimme a ring; I gave her one but the whole world saw her dump it!" Sonic yelled, a little overtly cocky. A lotta overtly cocky. He easily out-strengthed his sister, so was able to hold his ground in front of the camera despite her shoving. "If she calls, we could be havin' steamin' cyber-sex like you two shapely lovelies!"
"Oh my God, get OUT!" Sonia yelled, finally managing to push him out of the way. Blaze had seen plenty of this before. Manic liked to troll his sister, too. The two boys often double-teamed her. Sonic fell to the ground with a thud when she shouldered him with a running start.
"Dammit Sonic, stop being such a gimboid, pick up your cell phone and call her," Blaze snapped as Amy passed by in the background, "She loves you, and-"
"Who are you talking to? Give me that!" Amy snatched the microphone off the desk, and turned her back to the screen, shouting into the mic, "You can tell Sonic that I'll ring him on a cold day in Hell! I'm not his toy, and he can tend to his own tonker for all I care!" She threw the microphone back to Blaze and rushed away from the computer without looking back.
"See?" Blaze told the stubborn male, "You can't use go-betweens for making up, Sonic! Now get off the screen! I'm trying to talk to Sonia!"
"Well that's a fine how do you do!" Sonic retorted, crossing his arms angrily. It seemed they were still arguing after all, even though they hadn't talked in several days. "Lucky for me, I narrowly escaped a lifetime in Hell by dumping her sorry, jealous ass!" He allowed Sonia to push him away just then, no longer in the mood to josh her.
Sonia was fuming, but not because of Sonic's intrusion; it was because of his hard-headed attitude towards the whole ordeal with Amy. "Stop being such a dick, Sonic! Call her and have the argument so you can make up! You wouldn't be so upset if you didn't love her, Stupid!"
"Stay out of it, ya fake-piano playin' sissy! I sure as Hell am," he shouted back, before Blaze heard the door slam.
"Ugh! Men..." Sonia rolled her eyes, sitting back down.
"You have got to get him to call her or... something," Blaze rubbed her head, "Write to her. Anything. Like you said, have the argument, throw a few slaps around, maybe break a plate. I think..." she looked around and leaned to the computer in a conspirital kind of way and whispered into the mic, "I think she might be on a rebound... You meet the worst guys on the rebound!"
"Worst girls, too," Sonia threw at her woman, forming a smirk when the comment settled in. The joke was, they'd gotten together and hooked up on Sonia's last rebound, only they ended up sticking it out. "I'll talk to him later, when he's cooled off. Unfortunately, Manic's being a bad influence. He's been talking nonsense of 'getting over her'. Tough talk, considering he's never been in love before. Boys will be boys.."
"It's worse than that..." The purple feline gritted her sharp teeth, "I came back to the apartment the other night and she was making out! With Scourge! She's never even talked to that slimeball before! If she'll touch him, who knows how low she'll sink?" Blaze had no idea that Amy had already fucked him. She'd have thrown a screaming fit and gone out to shoot the green menace with an explosive shotgun if she had.
Sonia blinked for a moment, trying to compute this new information. Blaze could almost read her thoughts though, one by one as they crossed her mind. And in the exact right order, too. Scourge was once part of their band, but betrayed them and got thrown out for being an arrogant, selfish asshole. Scourge was a womanizer. But worst of all, the green scumbag hedgehog was her - and Sonic's - step brother. Whether anyone liked to admit it or not, ever since her mother married the filthy green rodent's douchebag of a father, Scourge was family. So it wasn't just the thought of him preying on Sonic's ex-fiancé that made her eye twitch; it was Amy's choice to go along with it that irked her as well. She knew damn well of their status as siblings by in-law. And it was disgusting. "Put that skank on the screen. I have some choice words for her."
"Sonia... you and I both know what Scourge is like," Blaze groaned, "You can't blame Amy for the kind of guy he is; he gets his eye on a pretty tail and he won't let up. That poor girl didn't stand a chance. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that was it, I told her he's a filthy creep and she hasn't seen him since... I think... probably..."
"It's not the fact; it's the principle, Blaze. Scourge is my step-brother; Amy has the fame, the body and the common courtesy to hook up with somebody who doesn't have family history with the man she was close to marrying! But you know what; don't get her. I'd rather back-hand some sense into her in person for this one. It's that personal," Sonia explained, obviously very upset. "Sonic can't know about this. It'd destroy him. Ugh... I need a martini."
"I'm sorry, Babe..." Blaze sighed, "I didn't mean to upset you. It's just that I know Amy still loves Sonic..." she paused, "She kept that ring, y'know. She thinks I don't know but I saw her looking at it the other night. She and that bonehead brother of yours have their arguments but they've always made up before. Oh... please don't miss a show just to come home and beat her.."
"I won't. But if I get to her before she breaks things off with that disgusting worm of a hedgehog..." Both Blaze and Sonia were fighters, and their arguments tended to get very physical in the past. So the seated cat knew, from personal experience, that if her girlfriend got her hands on Ms. Blossom, she'd beat the living rose petals out of her. "I'm sorry I'm getting so mad. I just can't help it. This... this is personal." Blaze got the sudden impression that her gal-pal's anger might be a lot more deep-rooted than she was letting on. But she didn't get the chance to ask. "I have to go. I need to find Sonic before he makes the mistake of finding himself some empty fuck-buddy at a bar. He's a lot more heart-split than he's letting on."
"Well, the same goes for Amy, y'know..." Blaze frowned, "If I see Scourge around here again, he'll be out on his ass, I promise you. But if she'd let herself down for a quick session with him, Sol alone knows who she could try and fill herself up with - although I can't imagine anybody worse. Jeez, she'd find a better match if she jumped into a dumpster!" She leant back, "Sonic's a smart guy when he's not doing what Manic tells him. I sure hope you can talk some sense into him, Girlfriend."
"I'll knock some into him if I have to do it with my fist."
The bar wasn't that cheap. But it was the perfect place to pick up one-night-stands, which was why Manic brought his brother with him. He didn't have anything against Amy; she was a great chick and if Sonic was going to settle down, it may as well be with her. But this stupid breakup over nothing obviously meant he wasn't any more ready to settle down than the drummer himself was. So he was buying the drinks for the first hour. There were babes a-plenty. It was always cool to look single, which Manic was.
"It's good that you're not cavin', Bro," he told his blue counterpart, "If that pink hussy's gonna throw a hissy fit just over you goin' on tour, you gotta stick it to her props and just... get yourself a good time."
Despite trying his very hardest not to reveal how angry and hurt he truly was by the happenings that took place over that webchat with Blaze, Sonic kept throwing the conversation he was having with Manic back to it. He did it with his best fake casual expression which, to anyone but his womb-buddies, would seem perfectly legit. Manic knew better.
"It's not like I need her anyway! She acts like I do; like I did something so mondo-horrendous. I don't get girls! Doesn't bother me or nothin', I'm just saying, you know?" He asked rhetorically, taking another swig of his light beer. "She needs me! She'd be nothing without me! ..well, that's not true, but I made her more famous than she otherwise would be!"
"Yeah, now she's standin' sole, she's goin' solo," Manic took a roll-up from the veritable ashtray behind his ear and started to create something new and dreadful, "Now don't get me fucked up, she's a great dame. She's got talent; all kinds. But bummer meyhorres; is that chick clingy! It's like there's something wrong in her noggin; like if she doesn't have a stag she ain't worth nickels. Some chicks are like that, y'know? And you don't want that kinda girl on your back; you'd rather be on hers!"
"Amen to that! Women're a pain in the spine enough when they're not latchin' onto 'em twenty-four seven!" Sonic threw back, lifting his feet to rest them on the bar stand. "It's why I ain't worried about it; the chick's nuts about me. She's bound to call because she can't go too long without THIS hedgehog!" He took another small sip, obviously thinking about it. "She'll call," he repeated, more to himself than to his sibling.
"Hey, you don't need her to call!" Manic saw the uncertainty, "Make up your mind. Put up with her forever or keep playin' the field, they've both got perks! But don't sit around mopin'," he paused and rolled up the paper carefully, "You're not the only dude in the world. There's a million hunks as slammin' as me out there! Besides..." he lit it up, "Girls are really warped after a rough breakup..."
"I ain't mopin'. When she calls, I'm gonna let her have it for makin' me wait so long!" Sonic retorted, having completely ignored Manic's point. "Poor girl must be miserable without me. Lost. And alone.."