CHAPTER 10

DEAL

Back at the Chaotix, it was near the end of the day and Shadow was behind the building with Sky trying to hide from Margaret even though he knew that she would find him eventually. As the sun started to set, the orange light it gave off shone on the hedgehog while he sat on the ground looking up at the white bat in front of him. "So, what's with the brother sister shit?" He asked.

Sky gave him a look of confusion, "Huh?"

"You heard me. Why do you call Rouge your sister when you know that you two are cousins?"

"Oh that", he said. "Well when Rouge and I were younger, we were so close to each other, we didn't feel like we were just cousins. We felt like we were more brother and sister. So we just like calling each other that."

The hedgehog made a small nod, letting him know that he almost understood what he was completely saying.

"Shadow!" A voice called near them.

Sky and Shadow turned and saw a purple chameleon walking towards them.

"There you are, Shad", Espio spoke with relief. "I thought you freakin' abandoned me with her!"

The hedgehog sighed, "No, I just wanted to get away from her yelling. Her yelling and what's left of my hangover just doesn't float my freakin' boat."

Espio looked away from Shadow and turned to Sky who was looking down at his watch. "So what's your deal? You've been looking down at your watch almost the entire day. Got something important to do?"

Sky looked away from his watch and faced the chameleon. "Well yes I do. I'm waiting for Tonya to show up so we can get started on our date together."

Espio's heart started to beat faster with uprising anger. He knew Sky had a date with Tonya, but he had to find that out for himself because no one had told him about it. Especially Tonya. Just hearing someone say that Sky was going out with her, still filled his body with uncontrollable rage. "Well", he murmured. "She should be coming any minute now so you should go wait out in the front."

The bat made a nod in agreement, "Yeah I should go and see if she's here already."

After when Sky had left them alone, Shadow stood from the ground and turned to Espio. "Es, I had no idea you let Tonya go so easily. I thought you'd be mad as Hell that Sky is going out with her."

The chameleon grabbed Shadow by his coat in frustration. "What the hell are you talking about? I would never leave Tonya! Especially in the hands of him!"

Shadow could tell Espio was now showing his anger about his situation and tried to calm him down. He gently removed his hands away from him. "Listen Es, Sky is a really nice guy. What makes you think he's so bad?"

Espio couldn't make any comment because he had nothing to back up his opinion about Sky being someone they couldn't trust. "Well...uh?"

The hedgehog sighed and crossed his arms. "See? You can't even come up with one excuse why Tonya shouldn't date him. You have to admit to yourself, Es. You're just jealous."

Espio couldn't help but to blush in embarrassment. Yes he knew he was jealous over them, but he never wanted to admit it. "I'm not jealous! I'm going to follow them on their date and I'll prove Sky isn't right for her!" Before he could go anywhere, Shadow had grabbed him by his arm.

"Forget it", he said. "I'm not gonna let Tonya catch and slaughter you."

The chameleon pulled away from his grip and smirked. "Ah! But that's when you're wrong, Shad man!"

Shadow's eyes widened as he saw Espio disappear from his very eyes. At first he wondered where he had went but as he thought more about it, he remembered that Espio could blend in with his camouflage. "Wha? Es? Oh wait a minute...that stupid disappearing act again."

"You bet!"

He then felt a playful tap on his shoulder and saw Espio leaning on his shoulder. "Fine. We'll make a deal."

Espio looked up at him with an arched eyebrow. "A deal?"

He made a nod, "Yeah. If you can catch one weird thing that Sky does, we'll tell him together to back off from Tonya okay?"

He formed a smile and nodded, "Okay."

"And that doesn't include making out with her unless she doesn't like it!" He added.

Espio sighed heavily and made a small nod, "...Sure."

"But if you don't, you have to promise me to stop treating Sky like he's an enemy and leave him and Tonya alone." He held out his hand to him, "Is that a deal?"

The chameleon stared at his hand for a moment and then decided to agree to the deal. He shook his hand. "Deal."

They were then interrupted when they heard a familiar yelling coming from the front of the building.

Shadow's eyes widened, "Oh shit!" He whispered. "It's Margaret!"

"Jesus man! It's almost time to close and she still wants to work us to death!" Espio whispered back.

They were then startled when Margaret had confronted them looking madder than ever.

"There you two morons are! What the hell do you think you're doing!" She shouted.

Before neither of them could speak, they were sent flying towards the ground by Margaret's fierce punches.

Shadow held his head in pain while he lied on the ground. "Christ, woman! I'm just getting over a major hangover here!"

The crocodile cracked her knuckles, "Yeah, yeah like I care. That's what you two get for disappearing on me." She watched as the two got off the ground slowly. "This day is over." She spun around. "Prepare for another full day of work tomorrow."

After she left, Shadow and Espio looked at each other and sighed full of exhaustion.

When Shadow and Espio walked back inside the building, they saw Sky who was wearing a white suit with a red tie, talking to Rouge and Tonya.

"Hey it looks like the girls are back", Shadow said as he walked over to them.

Espio's body froze when he saw the purple cat who was in front of him. He could not take his eyes off of her appearance.

She was wearing a short black dress with her shoulders exposed and a massive cleavage.

To him, she was no longer beautiful. She was perfect. His eyes focused on Sky and noticed that he was eyeing Tonya as well. 'That bastard!' Espio finally decided to walk over to them as well. As he confronted them, he heard Sky comment about Tonya's dress.

"My I do believe I'm in the presence of an angel", the bat spoke. "You look beautiful."

"Re-really?" The cat made a deep blush in embarrassment because she thought she looked horrible. 'I hope Sky doesn't actually think I look like a slut', she thought.

The bat made a small nod, "Absolutely."

She formed a smile full of happiness. "Oh Sky, you're so sweet."

Espio was already growing tired of their little moment and decided to cut in. "Hey Tonya, I think you look great too."

The cat looked over to him, but not full of happiness but full of annoyance. "Yeah...thanks."

A sweat drop appeared on the back of Espio's head from Tonya's uncaring expression. 'Aw man that's cold.'

Tonya then saw Sky hold out his hand towards her.

"Shall we get this night started?"

The cat smiled and took his hand, "Yeah let's go."

As they walked out the door, Margaret walked into the main lobby with Charmy. The crocodile noticed Rouge's return but didn't see Tonya so she assumed she must have left with Sky already. "Oh Rouge, you're finally back?"

Rouge giggled as she leaned on Shadow's arm. "Sure am. Ton and I had a great time." She looked up at her boyfriend. "How about you, Shadow? How was your day?"

The hedgehog looked over to Margaret's cold expression and sighed. "I really don't wanna talk about it."

Rouge hugged him tightly because she knew Margaret had once again made his day a living Hell. "Aw everything will be all better when we get home and I'll make you something to eat."

His ears twitched when she said that she would make him something to eat and he was not looking forward to that. He once again sighed heavily.

Charmy started to look around but couldn't find Espio anywhere. "Hey has anyone seen Espio?"

Margaret began to take out a cigarette pack from her coat pocket. "That idiot must've left already."

"Wow", Charmy said. "He must've been really tired from working so hard."

Shadow stared at the front door and knew that Espio had left already to follow Sky and Tonya. 'Careful, Es', he thought. 'I don't want you getting hurt.'