Spring Showers
Chapter Ten: Resolutions
"Hey Verne." Hammy dashed up to him.
"Hammy! You're up!" Verne said, giving him a hug. Verne looked to Hammy and frowned somewhat. Hammy didn't look like his normal self. "Hammy, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I guess." Hammy replied, a little unsure himself of how he was feeling. Verne didn't see the usual grin that Hammy almost always had, nor did he display any of the liveliness he was accustomed to seeing in Hammy. Granted the past few days were hell for the young squirrel, but he didn't even look as if he was troubled at all.
"Is there anything you wanted me to talk to you about?" Verne asked.
"Kinda." Hammy simply replied. They sat down and Verne waited for Hammy to tell him something. Hammy just looked at Verne, not with a totally blank look, but not as if he was totally there either.
"So, Hammy, what did you want to talk about?" Verne broke the silence. Hammy didn't even finch before he spoke up, as if what he was doing just came naturally to him.
"I just wanted to know what happened when you found me." Hammy asked.
"Yesterday?" Verne asked for clarification.
"Yeah, I guess." Hammy replied. To Verne, Hammy acted as if nothing serious had happened to him.
"We found you on a tree branch and you were soaking wet." Verne started to explain. "RJ had to go up and get you down." Verne waited for a second to see if mentioning RJ would elicit some response out of Hammy. But he didn't react at all.
"When we got to you, we found that your entire body was cold. We checked your pulse and your heart was still beating, though a little weakly. Then RJ took you in his arms and we ran back to the log as fast as we could." Verne observed Hammy, still waiting for a reaction of any sort.
"Oh, I see." Hammy replied, turning his head slightly to the side, looking as if he was trying to imagine what Verne had told him what happened. "Hmm." Hammy considered it a bit longer.
"You really did scare RJ when you started to shake in his arms." Verne added, hoping that little detail would jar some reaction, any reaction out of Hammy.
"Oh." Hammy just looked back at him, recognizing what he had heard Verne said. "I got to thank RJ for getting me home then." Hammy stated.
"Hammy, are you sure you okay?" Verne put his hand on Hammy's shoulder. "You don't seem to be acting like yourself."
"I don't know." Hammy replied. He rolled his tongue around his mouth, trying to think up of something to say. But it was somewhat difficult to think about what to say when he couldn't really think about anything. "I can't think."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Verne asked, confused at his words.
"That's just it. I really can't think of what to say. I don't feel anything, one way or another. I just feel normal." Hammy explained as best he could.
"Oh." Verne replied. That was definitely the most abnormal response he had ever heard in his life. Verne was starting to get a better picture of what had happened to Hammy. "Hmm."
"Hey Verne!" RJ walked up to the turtle, and then saw Hammy. "HAMMY! YOU'RE OKAY!" RJ came up to him and gave him a hug. Hammy hesitated but he eventually put his arms around RJ. "How are you doing?" RJ asked.
"Uh, fine, I guess." Hammy looked up to him.
"Oh, that's good." RJ replied somewhat uneasily. He noticed something different about Hammy, something off about Hammy's character.
"Oh, um, thanks for getting me home yesterday." Hammy acknowledged the kind deed RJ had done for him. "Sorry for making you worry when I started to shake."
"Don't worry about it, Hammy." RJ came up and gave him another hug. Hammy once again just raised his hands around RJ and hugged back loosely. "Hey, do you know what will make you feel real good? I got some chocolate milk in my fridge if you want some. Go on and help yourself." RJ smiled to him.
"Okay." Hammy nodded to him. "Thanks." He expressed his gratitude for the offer and walked off to get some of the chocolate milk to drink. Once out of earshot, RJ moved up to Verne.
"What the hell is going on with him?" RJ asked Verne.
"I think he's gone numb." Verne answered, figuring that it was the most sensible explanation for what happened to Hammy this time. "The poor guy doesn't feel anything."
"How in the world is that possible?" RJ demanded to know.
"Hey, calm down. I'm worried about what's wrong with him too, you know!" Verne yelled to him.
"I'm sorry." RJ apologized for his outburst. "It's just seeing Hammy like this… how can he keep on putting himself through this?" RJ asked, hoping some answer would just drop out of nowhere.
"It's either he doesn't want to feel anything…" Verne tried to explain. "Or he can't feel anything." Verne reasoned. "Something big must have happened to force Hammy into this kind of condition."
"Oh god, no." RJ groaned. "It's all my fault." RJ admitted.
"What?" Verne asked, wondering what RJ was talking about.
"Two nights ago, I was dancing around with Heather, listening to some music with her, just having a good time and all." RJ explained. "Then last night, around Heather's place, I found the remains of a crumbled chocolate chip cookie by a small opening in a bush, which had a perfect view of where Heather and I were dancing the night before." RJ buried his hands into his face.
"Oh, no!" Verne figured what must have happened.
"Hammy must have seen us and felt jealous and ran off." RJ couldn't take it anymore. His emotional barriers were slipping, a small tear tracing down his face. "Why did he have to see us?" RJ asked, expecting no answer.
"I think that we should just end this right here and now." Verne said with a deep sigh. "When Hammy gets back, we'll talk and hopefully, we'll get over it and move on." Verne added. "Hammy doesn't deserve this."
"No, he doesn't. He can't help who he falls in love with." RJ remembered the same words from that horrid night so many nights ago. "But we can't let him delude himself that anything more can come from punishing himself like this." RJ wiped the tear from his face before looking up to Verne, trying to hide it from him.
"So it's settled then." Verne sighed once more. "We talk with Hammy and get this over with." Verne groaned, dreading the conversation.
The two waited in an uneasy silence for Hammy to return and have the talk with him. They had no idea what would come out of this conversation. They hoped that they would be able to resolve the issue at hand as amiably as possible, but they had to mentally steel themselves for the worse if Hammy were to have another emotional breakdown.
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"Hey guys." Hammy greeted them, pulling with him three small bottles of chocolate milk. "I thought you guys might like one."
"Thanks, Hammy." Verne said as Hammy passed him a drink.
"Yeah, thanks Hammy." RJ smiled to him as he took the bottle from Hammy's hands.
"You're welcome." Hammy nodded and took a seat next to them, twisting his bottle open and starting to gulp down the contents. "It's good, RJ. Thanks for sharing." Hammy looked to RJ before taking another gulp of the milk.
"Hammy, can we talk to you about something?" Verne tentatively opened up the conversation. RJ took a deep breath, preparing himself for what was to come.
"What is it? Another raid?" Hammy asked.
"Hammy, I was talking with RJ and I told him about the feelings that you have for him." Verne stated.
"Oh." Hammy replied simply.
"Hammy, I don't think I'll be able to return the feelings that you want me to." RJ spoke up. "I don't know how I would be able to." He admitted. "I don't want you to beat yourself up because of this. I don't want to see you get hurt again." RJ looked to Hammy for some response.
"Hammy, do you understand what we're saying?" Verne asked, letting Hammy have his chance to speak up.
"I understand what you're saying." Hammy replied, looking up from his drink. "And you don't have to worry about me." Hammy assured them. "I've gotten over it, for the most part." Hammy took another sip of his drink. "It was hell to go through, but I'm okay now." Hammy said.
"Oh… That's… That's good." Verne stuttered. He and RJ looked to Hammy, rather surprised at his response. They had expected something along the lines of Hammy crying his heart out, bawling and screaming incoherently, miserable at the confessions. But instead, Hammy just sat there, listening to them, casually sipping and enjoying his drink. They looked to each other and a message seemed to cross both their minds.
Maybe Hammy was over it.
"Hammy, don't take this the wrong way, but your answer really surprised us." Verne admitted.
"We kinda thought that you'd be, I don't know, a little upset at what we said." RJ added. "But you seem to be taking it real well." There, Hammy put down his drink and looked to his two friends.
"After I saw you dancing around with Heather, seeing you so happy and carefree, I became really jealous and ran off crying." Hammy stated. RJ flinched, feeling sorry for Hammy. "Eventually, I realized that having feelings for you was a foolish thing for me to do. It wasn't worth all the pain I had to go through, so I just gave it all up. So I resolved to get over it and go on with my life." Hammy finished his speech, returning to the chocolate milk and drinking up some more.
"Oh." RJ and Verne blinked. Maybe Hammy really was over it. "So no hard feelings?" RJ asked.
"No." Hammy replied. "Don't worry RJ. You're still my best friend and I really care about you." Hammy assured him. "Just not in that way anymore." Hammy added.
"Oh, okay then." RJ nodded to Hammy's response. "That's good."
"Is there anything you want to ask us Hammy?" Verne asked him, wanting to know if there was anything Hammy wanted to know, for closure's sake.
"Yeah, just one thing." Hammy nodded before looking to RJ. "RJ, do you remember anything from that night when we drank that 'beer'?" Hammy looked to him.
"Yeah, I do." RJ lowered his head. "I'm sorry I lied to you about that."
"It's okay." Hammy forgave him. "I kinda thought that you did remember that night. But it's okay. It's in the past." RJ picked up his head and looked to Hammy. "No use dwelling on it, right?" Hammy cracked a small, uneasy smile.
"Besides, it's not as if you'd ever have those feelings for me anyways." He added.
"Yeah." RJ nodded before looking down, away from Hammy. He still blamed himself for all the pain and suffering Hammy had to go through. If he had been a true friend, he would have helped Hammy with his problem and this conversation would have happened earlier and have been more productive.
And something about Hammy's last words stung him deeply for some reason.
"Hammy, are you going to be okay?" Verne asked.
"Yeah." Hammy nodded. "Yeah, I think I will be."
"That's good." RJ smiled and came up to Hammy. "You'll be okay." RJ gave him a hug, patting Hammy in the back.
Verne, still to the side, breathed a deep sigh of relief. It was over. Hammy was going to be okay.
"Why don't I get us another case of chocolate milk?" RJ offered, breaking the hug with Hammy. "When I get back, we can plan for that big raid we'll do in a couple of days." RJ suggested.
"Sounds like a good idea." Verne agreed happily.
"Okay." Hammy replied, nodding to the raccoon.
"I'll be right back then." RJ said as he strutted away to his pad.
He needed to get away from Verne and Hammy. Something was wrong about this whole thing, but he couldn't put a finger on it. His gut was telling him something didn't feel right. Even then, he was still unsure. He didn't exactly understand what his gut was telling him.
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"Hey Verne!" Ozzie called to the turtle. Verne looked up, still munching on some carrot sticks with a ranch dressing dip. He quickly swallowed the stuff down before replying.
"Oh, hey Ozzie! What do you need?" Verne asked him.
"I was just wondering if you've seen Hammy around." Ozzie replied.
"No, I haven't seen him lately." Verne replied. "Oh, um, you want some?" Verne pointed to the carrot sticks next to him, offering Ozzie some.
"Oh, thank you." Ozzie happily took a piece and dipped some in the white dip next to it. "Is Hammy okay?" Verne asked. "He hasn't acted like himself lately."
"Oh." Verne sighed. "It's a long story." Verne advised him.
"Is he still trying to get over RJ?" Ozzie asked, chewing on his carrot.
"What?" Verne reeled back at the question. "You mean you know what is going on with him?"
"Verne, you're not the only one who has loved and lost." Ozzie reminded him. "Seeing Hammy's actions over the past few days kinda reminded me of how I acted when I lost the first love of my life."
"Do you think that he'll be okay?" Verne asked for his opinion.
"It'll take time." Ozzie replied. "But everything will work out soon enough." He grinned at his last statement.
"What do you mean by that?" Verne wondered what was with Ozzie's prediction.
"I kinda figured that being too close to Hammy, you wouldn't notice other things around you." Ozzie replied, finishing up the last of his carrot. "You know I love acting, Verne." Ozzie reminded him.
"Of course, Ozzie." Verne replied. "You're the best one I know. You've saved us countless times." Verne added.
"Thanks. It's what I do." Ozzie appreciated the praise. "Being an actor, you also learn how to read people." Ozzie smiled. "And I have noticed a lot of things about everyone over the last year."
"Oh, like?" Verne asked.
"How much Stella and Tiger have gotten close." Ozzie started off.
"Oh, everyone knows that." Verne scoffed at Ozzie's statement.
"Well, did you know that…" Ozzie moved up to Verne and whispered into his ear.
"AAAAAHHHHH!" Verne screamed his lungs out. "I DID NOT NEED TO KNOW THAT!" Verne yelled out. He shook his head, trying to shake away the images that were trying to form in his mind.
"Well, you thought you knew everything that was going on." Ozzie snickered. "And I hate to say this, but Stella, Lou, and Penny also know what's been up with Hammy." Ozzie told him with a more solemn tone. "We were all worried about him, but we knew that Hammy would only open up to you. So we left the situation to you, believing that if we got involved, things would only become more complicated and we may look as if we were alienating Hammy from the family."
"I see." Verne nodded his head, understanding the rationale of the opossum. "I understand why you kept away." Verne told him. "Still, I wish I had a little help with Hammy."
"We helped when we can, especially when Hammy got hurt." Ozzie pointed out. "But it was best if he made it through this without our interference." He added. "He's growing up and unfortunately, he has to learn from this experience, as painful as it is."
"Hmm." Verne somewhat disagreed with the logic Ozzie argued, but he understood that the end results would benefit Hammy in the long run.
"But don't worry, things will work out." Ozzie placed his hand on Verne's shoulder. "I don't know how everything will work out in the end, but I know it will turn out for the best."
"I hope so." Verne sighed. "I really hope so." Verne looked up and saw Hammy emerging from the forest, most likely after having eaten some of the nuts he had stored away.
Verne and Ozzie watched as he walked to the log, passing RJ and Heather. They sat together, eating some mini pizza's that they had heated up earlier for their lunch, chatting about this and that. Hammy walked past them, not giving them a second glance, not caring that they were together.
Hammy did seem like he was over it. Still, Verne felt sorry for him. He could only imagine how hurt Hammy must feel. But at least he was getting through it. Verne looked back to Ozzie, catching him sighing, a small frown on his face. It seemed like Ozzie sympathized with Hammy as well. Verne felt a little better realizing this.
Hammy at least had family to understand how he must be feeling now.
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