I can't believe I originally planned on having this fanfic finished by now! When I first started this I thought it'd be cool to post it on Sandy's (supposed) birthday and finish it on SpongeBob's. Well. His birthday was 10 days ago and I'm not even close to finishing this!
Anyways, thank you all for the continuous (and new) reviews and feedback. It really means a lot to me!
Chapter 9:
Hot Chocolate at 2 o'Clock
'SpongeBob SquarePants... Out of all critters... SpongeBob SquarePants...'
It was 2 am.
Sandy couldn't sleep. The thoughts in her head bothered her. No, they frightened her. And Sandy was not the kind of person to be scared.
'When I first met him I would have never thought I'd fall in love with the little fella -and especially not here!' The squirrel angrily threw her pillow towards the wall.
SpongeBob and she could never be in a relationship. Maybe that was why she felt this way. Wasn't that what she did? Prove that the impossible was possible?
If so, this would be her craziest 'experiment'. The riskiest too, she realized. SpongeBob was her first and best friend underwater. Their friendship meant so much to her that her heart ached just at the thought of losing it.
If SpongeBob didn't feel the same way, she'd be making everything between them uncomfortable and awkward by telling him.
"I'm sorry." She said to no one in particular. "But I'm not taking this risk." The squirrel decided and got out of bed. A cold blast of wind from the air conditioner made her want to crawl back under her warm covers, but she just grabbed a bathrobe to wear over her night gown.
Sometimes, fur wasn't enough to keep one warm.
Especially not when one's mind was whirling like hers was right now.
'SpongeBob... The first person ya ever get these kinds of feelings for is SpongeBob.'
It was ridiculous. And a little embarrassing.
She should have seen it coming.
The way heat would flood into her face when he'd compliment her, the way her stomach would flutter at something he did, the fact that she had brought him all the way from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to her hometown said enough about the way she felt about him.
"But I ain't fallin' in love with him. I can't."She whispered, letting herself collapse back onto her bed. This roller coaster ride of feelings needed to halt.
'SpongeBob and I are friends. Nothin' more. I can't possibly let any more of these weird thoughts in my head or I reckon I'll go crazy…'
She sat back up and then walked over to her bookshelf. Surely there was something that'd keep her mind off of the sea sponge.
She browsed through the books on her shelf.
Survival Guide #1: how to avoid mouse traps
Country Classics
Ancient Squirrel Tribes and Traditions
Why Animals Have Adopted Human Traits
Time Traveling for Dummies
Lonesome Life as A Cowsquirrel
Ocean Inhabitants
Sandy stared at the titles of the last two books, blinked, then walked out of her bedroom.
A lonesome squirrel living among ocean inhabitants. That's who she was.
She wasn't exactly lonesome. But although she enjoyed solitude, she did have a bit too much of it.
Here, she didn't feel that dreadful loneliness.
Sometimes, staring out of the glass in her treedome, she felt like the lone star on the Texas flag. Alone and a little out of place, but without the star, it wouldn't be the beautiful flag she loved.
She smiled at that realization, and her smile grew bigger at the thought of being home in Texas again.
She traced the cracks in the wooden walls that she had grown up with and breathed in the familiar, homey scent. Hopefully no one would see her wander like a ghost through the house she grew up in.
She walked through the hallway, which was full of old pictures and went into the living room. Her gaze wandered to the fireplace. It was lit every year near Christmas time. It never snowed in these parts of Texas, so the warmth of the fire was the only temperature that truly reminded her of winter.
The aroma of hot chocolate had immortalized itself in her brain and was forever linked to the thoughts of holidays. "Hot chocolate sure sounds good right now..." She mused, turned away from the fireplace and made her way to the kitchen.
As she neared the kitchen, she heard a muffled sound coming from it.
It sounded like… crying?
Sandy looked at the ground and saw bright light shining from the crack between the door and the floor. 'Someone must be in there.' She heard someone sniff and leaned against the door. Yes. Someone was definitely in there.
Hesitantly, she reached for the doorknob and slowly opened the heavy wooden door.
It made a loud creaky sound, and the person sitting at the kitchen table sat up in shock.
Sandy's heart skipped a beat.
It was SpongeBob.
He relaxed once he saw it was her, but the expression on his face made it pretty clear that he wasn't really comfortable. That's when she saw his red puffy eyes that confirmed her guess. The person in the kitchen was crying.
But how long had he been sitting there?
"Why aren't you in bed?" Sandy asked, and then wondered if she sounded like a mother scolding her child. If so, she didn't want to sound that way.
"I'm just... I'm just drinking this glass of... water" SpongeBob gasped for air and tears began to swell up in his eyes.
Sandy walked over to him. "You okay?"
"I'm fine." He sniffed.
"What are you doing up this late... or early?" She said, glancing at the clock.
"I'm just..." He sniffed again "thinking."
Sandy looked around the kitchen to find out what was bothering her friend. Instead, she just remembered why she came here in the first place. "Do you want some hot chocolate?"
"That sounds nice..."
Sandy's heart ached at seeing her friend like this; she walked over to the pantry and grabbed a package of chocolate powder. Pouring milk into a pan on the stove, the squirrel decided to start a conversation with SpongeBob. But how could she when she had just realized that she was in love with him? And with his being so sad- she didn't know what was wrong and definitely didn't want to accidentally pour salt on an open wound. SpongeBob could get emotional over the silliest things. So she stayed silent and began mixing the chocolate in with the milk.
Sandy felt him watching her and felt her fur stand up. She tried not to look in his direction.
"I now know what homesickness feels like." SpongeBob spoke up.
The squirrel turned around to get a better look at him. "You do?"
He nodded. "The Krusty Krab is closing up right now. Mr. Krabs is counting his money; Squidward is mopping the floors since I'm not there. Gary is probably watching classical jazz on Squidward's TV. And Patrick ... I don't know what Patrick is doing right now... normally we go jellyfishing after I come home from work. But I'm not at work. I hope Patrick's doing alright..." He cupped his head in his hands. Sandy left her position by the stove and wrapped an arm around him. Silently telling herself it was a friendly gesture and not something more.
"Patrick's doing fine. I bet he's sleeping in, watching TV and doin' nothin'."
SpongeBob chuckled. "I hope so..."
Sandy rubbed his back before standing back up to give the sponge his hot chocolate. "Don't worry. You'll be back in the water as sooner than a barefoot jackrabbit-"
"I get it Sandy. I'm just worried about Patrick. I really miss him."
She sat down across from him and sipped her own hot chocolate.
"You did tell him you were coming here, right?"
"Well... I..."
Sandy grabbed SpongeBob's hands. "Don't fret about it. We both know Patrick's a little slow and I bet by the time you're back; he probably just then noticed you were gone."
"Well, one time, remember when you got all mad at us for making fun of Texas and then started chasing us and threating to-"
"SpongeBob. What does that have to do with this?"
"You just said Patrick was slow, but when you were chasing us, and we were running for our lives, he wasn't that slow. I guess you did catch him with your lasso, but still-"
"I meant in the head." She interrupted him. "Like, he ain't very smart."
"Oh! I thought you meant he was so slow at walking that we'd beat him back to Bikini Bottom before he got here. We could've met him in Hawaii! Then we could have all gone to one of those really cool hula dancing parties. We could wear those grass skirts and those cool leis… which would be perfect, because we both already have one of the flower necklaces!"
Sandy shook her head, trying not to think of SpongeBob dancing with hula dancers. "Now, speakin' of going back, we gotta get those lungs –er, gills of yours working properly."
SpongeBob smiled and leaned over the table. "I wouldn't mind breathing air y'know…"
Sandy leaned against her chair to keep distance. "I guess you don't ever want to smell the… um... grease in the Krusty Krab, or taste a soggy Krabby Patty again or feel a salty current in the cool ocean-"
"Never mind!"
Sandy smiled and then grabbed a piece of paper.
"So, tomorrow we'll stop by the lab and get some equipment. Then I can show you a bit of Houston, how do you like that?"
"That's great! Wait." his eyes widened, "Is Houston that big city we drove through?"
Sandy didn't answer; instead she stood up and put her and SpongeBob's empty mugs in the dishwasher. "I'll see you tomorrow at…" She looked at the clock to count how many hours of sleep they'd get. "9 o'clock in the entry way. Okay?"
SpongeBob nodded and Sandy walked back to her bedroom and collapsed onto her bed.
That wasn't that bad.
She barely even thought of her developing feelings for him. And if she could always keep those thoughts away when she was around him their friendship could last at least another… 16 years? As long as she could do that their relationship could be fine.
Their relationship could be fine…
