"Hammy? Hammy!" Verne jogged up to the bush, hiding from the humans on the other side.
"Hammy! Come on!" He whispered as loudly as he could.
The small squirrel turned to him and happily jumped into the shrubs with his reptilian friend. RJ put his arm around Hammy's shoulders and shook him slightly.
"You don't wave at humans Hamilton! They'll think they're going crazy and then when they actually go crazy they break things… including fuzzy little animals like you."
Hammy eyes got big as he gulped loudly and started shrinking in fear.
Verne rolled his eyes, "He's joking Hammy, don't pay any attention to him."
Hammy ran up to catch up to the others who were fixing up a new log. Verne walked beside RJ and covered his mouth so the others wouldn't see.
"You were kidding right?" He asked vigilantly.
RJ raised his eyebrows mockingly, "Do I joke about stuff like that Verne? Think about it."
Verne stopped dead in his tracks as RJ continued his way to the new log. The new log was bigger, more spacious and didn't have any holes in it. RJ walked through it with Stella and Tiger following.
"Great, now we have to fill this whole thing up…" RJ moaned.
Stella patted his back and laughed lightly, "Look on the bright side, now there's room for your girlfriend." She teased.
"Oh, and by the way. Verne lost count on how many days until winter, so we're free of counting for this year."
RJ brightened up immediately, "Yes! No counting!" he cheered as he jumped out of the log joyfully.
Heather and Roxie were talking away as he sat between the two of them, but they didn't seem to notice. As they were talking his attention turned to the bald spot on her leg. He tried to touch it while she was preoccupied, but she suddenly slapped his paw sharply.
"Don't touch that, it hurts." She stated as she rubbed it tenderly. "Plus you of all people know not to touch females around that general area."
Heather giggled loudly behind him trying to muffle it with her paw, so far it wasn't working.
"It's not that clo--"
"Yes it is!" Both Heather and Roxanne said in the exact same time.
"Okay, okay." He said as he raised his paws up in defeat, "What did the humans do to you anyway?"
Roxanne shrugged halfway, "Not sure, all I know is they put a lot of needles right at the same place. That's why it hurts so much."
Stella sat right between RJ and Heather, making things a little more squished together.
"Can you believe Tiger followed us all the way from the hedge?" she asked, mostly to the girls.
"I guess. He probably hitched a ride most of the time--" Heather started.
"Oh, he did. Three times actually. But wasn't it sweet of him all the same?"
"Yeah it was," Roxanne said. "That's really romantic isn't it? For some guy to come and save you… or at least follow you so he doesn't lose you?"
"Duh,"
"Yeah."
RJ pressed his ears together tightly as they began talking all at once.
"Well nice talking to you ladies." He said as he made his escape.
"Yep."
"Bye RJ!"
"I'll see you tonight!"
Once again they began talking systematically, whispering like teenage girls in high school.
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Roxanne sighed as she watched the fireflies yet again. It was very refreshing to be outside with the trees protecting you and the lighting bugs out again. She swung her legs back and forth, making the branch she was sitting on wave up and down slowly. She stopped as she saw a white flower with vibrant yellow pollen on the stamen. Carefully she plucked it off of the tree stem and placed it lightly on her ear.
"Bored with watching me yet?" She asked suddenly.
RJ jumped from the branch above and landed expertly beside Roxie.
"Nice landing" she commented.
"How'd you know?"
"Easily. I could feel someone watching me so I thought if I asked if they were bored yet they would give up… I kinda thought it was you."
RJ smiled as he rolled his eyes, "Nice flower."
"Are you jealous that you don't have one? I can get you one." She asked.
"Har, har. That was so funny I forgot to laugh." RJ replied.
"Well now that you remember, why don't you laugh now?"
"Oh, you think you're so funny--"
"I am funny." She stated. "Number one smart ass in my class of professional smart asses."
RJ gave up and rolled his eyes yet again. "Okay then smart ass."
Roxanne smiled triumphantly and held her hand out into the open. Before you knew it she had a firefly on her fingers.
"How do you do that?" RJ asked.
"Catch a firefly? All you have to do is wait for one to get close enough until you can reach them and lift your hand up so they have to land on your hand."
Roxie gently blew on her hand, making the firebug take flight once again. She looked around for a moment and finally spotted one, and then she lightly held RJ hand open and raised his arm slowly. A little tiny lighting bug crawled across his palm, making Roxanne snicker.
"That's the smallest firefly I've ever seen." She whispered as she watched it crawl and then light up rhythmically.
Roxie yawned and laid her head on RJs shoulder as they watched the firefly.
"I don't know about you, but this was one very different spring adventure for me."
"You should have been at the hedge last year."
"And steal bear food? I'm not that crazy." She said quietly.
RJ yawned as he tried to answer, but tried again, "Yeah, sometimes you can be though… I think you're not as crazy as other raccoons 'cause of your eye color."
"Really?"
RJ made eye contact with Roxanne, trying to see her dark brown eyes at night.
"Yeah, not a lot of raccoons have brown as an eye color… I guess you're different."
Suddenly she had complete déjà vu.
"Different? To him?" She repeated in her mind, "What makes me different from anyone else he's ever met?"
She smiled lightly. "Maybe I am different…"
"Thank-you…" she whispered.
"No problem babe,"
"Don't call me that." She said as she was getting up.
"Whatever you say babe."
Roxanne rolled her eyes and bent down to kiss his cheek.
"Goodnight RJ…"
"Good night Roxie."
THE END!!
