Original Author's Note:
It's been over 2 months!
Dear Readers, I really, really love your reviews and PMing with you guys. I'm sorry that I've been taking my time uploading this chapter (and replying).
Life's been crazy; I was really busy and I eventually got to the point where I was so unhappy with how this story was going that I wanted to either quit writing it or remove the last chapter and scratch the San Antonio trip (which meant I'd have to start over on the whole plot). Well, I eventually just decided to continue with this story going on with its original plot. I hope those of you who are still reading this fanfic enjoy this chapter and I should probably end this author's note; it's getting way too long.
Thank you so much for all of your feedback! I really appreciate it!
Chapter 14: That's What They Thought
Today was the day!
SpongeBob woke up with a giddy smile on his face. Today he'd be spending the whole day with his best friend, his other best friend (who happened to be his super-secret crush), and her wonderful family!
It was almost too good to be true.
Patrick was still snoring beside him, so SpongeBob took an extra couple of minutes getting ready. He admired himself in the mirror, thought of a few pickup lines he could say to Sandy but never would and then happily left the guest bedroom. All ready for the long car ride and the cheesy tourist attractions.
Halfway down the stairs, he saw Sandy sitting on the living room couch. Her fur was unkempt; she was still wearing her pajamas and was fully focused on a book in her hands.
SpongeBob studied her. She must have been working all night, probably on the antidote. The squirrel ran her fingers through her fur without taking her eyes off of the book she was reading. It looked heavy and important. At first SpongeBob thought it could be a large fairytale collection by the way it looked, but then realized that Sandy probably wouldn't stay up all night reading fairytales.
So he scratched the fairytale idea out of his head before walking down the rest of the staircase.
Sandy flipped the page and the sponge, still watching her, saw her lips forming into a smile. She was obviously looking at a picture, because she stared at one page for a long time.
'What kind of book is she reading?' SpongeBob tiptoed down the rest of the stairs, not allowing his heels to touch the ground until he was right behind Sandy. He stopped when he reached the back of back of the couch and leaned over to catch a glimpse of her book.
When he saw the picture, confusion struck him like lightning.
The picture his friend was staring at was the last thing he'd expected.
"Why are you looking at baby sponges?"
"Ah!" The squirrel slammed the book shut and spun around. Under her fur, her cheeks were bright red.
SpongeBob looked at the cover of the book. Sea sponges?
Why was Sandy reading a book about sea sponges?
"I was checkin' about y'all's breathin'!" She glanced at the book in her lap and covered the book's title with her paws.
"What do babies have to do with my breathing?"
Sandy slid the book under her arm. "I- I-"
The sponge, oblivious to her discomfort, jumped onto the seat next to her.
"Can I look at them too? Babies are so cute!"
They stared at each other; SpongeBob waited eagerly for her answer and Sandy was so utterly embarrassed from being caught that she didn't know what to say.
Their staring contest, as SpongeBob interpreted it, was broken off by the sound of someone stomping down the stairs.
"There you are, SpongeBob!" Patrick squealed, ran up to the two creatures sitting on the couch and threw his arms around the sea sponge, squeezing the air out of him. Once Patrick let go, SpongeBob spun around to look at his friend.
"You're up, Patrick!" SpongeBob smiled and Sandy was thankful that the book in her hands wasn't on the sea creature's mind anymore.
"Are you excited about our vacation?" SpongeBob asked.
"I'm excited about our vacation! Are you excited about our vacation?"
"I'm excited about our vacation! Are you excited about- Sandy! Where are you going?" The two marine animals watched the squirrel rush out of the living room.
"I'm just getting ready." She called out, taking the book with her.
SpongeBob made a face and then leaned further into the couch cushion, Patrick following suit. They looked at each other and then back to the oak wood coffee table. SpongeBob sighed.
"I'm worried about Sandy."
He looked back at Patrick, but the starfish hadn't been listening.
"Huh? Why are you looking at me like that? Am I supposed to answer something? 'A'! No 'C'! Wait," Patrick squinted his eyes, "is this a trick question?"
"No Patrick, I was just pointing out that Sandy's been acting funny."
"Maybe she knows you like her."
The sponge shook his head at the innuendo of Patrick's absurd question and sat up straight.
"Of course she knows I like her. We've been best friends for a long time!"
"Best friends?" Patrick eyed the friendship ring on SpongeBob's finger.
"Sandy's my third best friend, Patrick. You're the first, Squidward's the second, then comes Sandy, Mr. Krabs is the -"
"Okay, okay! You're getting me all confused with all those letters!"
'Letters?' SpongeBob stopped counting his friends and folded his hands. "I know Sandy knows I like her because we're friends and friends like each other."
Patrick raised an eyebrow for a split second, then sat back and didn't say anything. The starfish had already zoned out of their conversation, while SpongeBob began to panic. A million questions suddenly invading his thoughts.
Did Patrick mean like, or like-like? Did Sandy know that he like-liked her? And if that was the case, how would she know? How would Patrick know? Did someone read his diary- Oh right. Squidward did. But that was his work diary… Did someone read his real, secret diary? The one with- He shook his head one more time.
'Don't worry about this, SquarePants –Fish paste! When would they have read my diary?!'
SpongeBob looked around, worrying about the sudden questions streaming into his consciousness until he couldn't keep them inside any longer.
"Patrick. How longdo you think she knows?" The sponge asked. Patrick looked at his friend, having already forgotten what they were talking about, but SpongeBob looked like he needed an answer.
"What, SpongeBob?"
The sponge hesitated before lowering his voice to a whisper. "Do you think she's known it all along?"
"No. I mean, I don't even know what she's supposed to know and so, how should I think I know if she knows that you think something that I forgot? I think."
And well… Sandy didn't know it all along.
The pieces in her head were just now starting to come together, yet her brain was much more focused on sorting out her own feelings.
She kicked the heavy book under her bed and swung her old closet door open. She should have packed last night. Should have.
But how could she when all she thought was how plan 'Avoid SpongeBob' had failed? How his blue eyes seemed to sparkle every time he looked at her? And how their fingers touched for the briefest moment in history when she took the bottle of ketchup out of his hands? How those few butterflies in her stomach that'd come up whenever he smiled had exponentially multiplied into a swarm ever since they left Bikini Bottom…
She was crushin' on him like a little schoolgirl and it needed to stop.
She looked at the shirts and dresses and hung up blue jeans inside her old closet. She had unpacked the clothes in her suitcase and hung them up in her closet the day she came. Then there were old memory clothes like her first karate suit and merchandise t-shirts with her schools' names and slogans printed on it.
But the pineapple dress from Hawaii was the first thing that caught her attention.
She hadn't worn it yet.
And after the whole mess with SpongeBob she didn't want to wear it. What would he think if she walked downstairs wearing an outfit with his house displayed all over it?
Sandy grabbed a few things from her closet, changed, packed, brushed her fur and teeth and then let her thoughts drift off to her new favorite and least favorite subject: SpongeBob.
She liked him. No doubt about that.
She liked the freckles on his cheeks and those dimples that appeared when he smiled. She liked his smile, a lot.
She liked his buckteeth and the way the tip of his nose was slightly curved upwards.
And she loved those blue eyes.
But the most of all, she liked his personality.
He was funny -sometimes he could be a little annoying- but wasn't that one of the first things she noticed, his great sense of humor?
He liked karate too.
And he loved everyone.
Who couldn't love a fella as pure hearted as SpongeBob?
Even Squidward had a soft spot for the little square dude.
The more she thought about it; the more she wanted him to know.
She wanted him to know that his eyes were the most beautiful shade of blue she'd ever seen and that his smile cheered her up more than anything else in the world, as long as it was a genuine SpongeBob smile and not some kind of 'I'm-sorry-I-ruined-your-invention' kind of smile.
But she couldn't tell him any of that, because, what if he didn't feel the same way?
And he didn't.
She knew that just like she knew how to lasso bullfrogs blindfolded with her hands tied behind her back and- wait that didn't work.
Sandy shook her head.
SpongeBob was too childish to ever have feelings like that for someone; despite whatever he said on the pier. SpongeBob was only capable of puppy love.
At least, that's what she thought.
"Sandy? We're all waitin' for you."
The squirrel spun around to see her dad in the doorway.
"Oh sorry," she quickly kneeled down to zip up her suitcase. "I was distracted."
Her father mused on her for a moment, and then turned around. "She's awake!" He called downstairs. Then he lowered his voice and faced his daughter again. "You alright, darlin'?" The look on his face showed nothing but concern.
She shrugged it off. "I'm fine, Pa."
"What about that invention?" Sandy's dad pointed towards her desk. The ingredients were still scattered across the wooden desktop. Sandy looked at the mess and then turned to her dad.
"I reckon it'll be finished before I leave."
"Remember, it was yer mom's decision to go on a vacation, not mine."
"I just have to have it finished by the time we leave." Sandy explained. "If SpongeBob can't breathe water he'll have to stay at my house and I..." She trailed off and smiled, exhausted.
Mr. Cheeks laughed and nudged her with his elbow. "We wouldn't want that, would we?"
Before Sandy could roll her eyes, her cheeks began to burn. Her eyes widened and she quickly faced the wall opposite of her dad. What if he caught her blushing?
But worrying about it only made her cheeks redder… 'Don't blush. Don't blush, Sandy!'
"You sure you're okay, sweet pea?"
Sandy bit her lip, frantically searching for a reason why she had turned around so suddenly. Her eyes landed on an old stuffed animal on her shelf. "I forgot to pack-" she looked at the toy for a second, trying to remember its name. "Bronco the Bullfrog!" She grabbed the stuffed animal off of her shelf and hugged it, pressing her face against Bronco, hoping the blush would go away. "I couldn't live a day without poor old Bronco, y'know?"
"Bronco's been sittin' there since you started sixth grade."
"Well, I just..." Sandy looked up at her dad. "I need to revive my relationship with the poor fella that's all."
Mr. Cheeks gave his daughter a concerned look and left the room.
With Bronco under her arm, Sandy dragged her luggage and followed suit.
This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.
Sandy Cheeks was losing her sanity due to a tiny crush on SpongeBob SquarePants.
And of course the first person she saw downstairs was SpongeBob himself.
He eyed Bronco for a second, and then smiled at Sandy.
The squirrel grinned back like a sixteen year old on her first date.
There he was, standing right therein front her parents' doorway. So many boys had stood there, waiting for her to come out and play, walking inside the Cheeks' house and wiping the dirt off of their feet on the rug, picking her up from prom, but for some strange reason, the yellow, square shaped sponge was the only one she ever wanted to see waiting there for her.
"Can we go now or are y'all just gonna stare at each other for another five minutes?" Randy asked.
Sandy widened her eyes in shock, from both Randy's question and from her own reaction to having seen SpongeBob.
This crush was getting out of hand.
The rest of the Cheeks family turned around to look at her and Sandy buried her flushed face in the stuffed animal in her arms.
SpongeBob, Sandy and Patrick landed in the Cheeks' old van with both of Sandy's parents.
Sandy and SpongeBob sat by the windows; Patrick had fallen asleep in the seat between the two.
SpongeBob thought about the stuffed animal in Sandy's lap for a brief moment, and then leaned back and looked out of the window.
'I like her. Who wouldn't like her? She's pretty and smart and nice and there's something so special about her and no. I'm not just saying that because she's a squirrel.'
SpongeBob let his gaze flit back to her for a moment.
She was looking out of the window, her head resting against it and a paw on the windowsill. SpongeBob could tell something was troubling her by the way her brows were furrowed and her lips slightly pouted, but he didn't know what she could be thinking of.
He liked to watch her think though. And when she turned around and looked at him, he smiled. Their gaze met, and SpongeBob could feel a blush spread across his cheeks.
For a second he wondered if he should confess his feelings to her right then in the car. To finally get it over with and then see where the future takes them. But the thought alone made his hands sweat and his heart pound faster. Besides he wasn't ready and they were in a car with both of her parents and Patrick was drooling right between the two of them.
Sandy turned back to the window, and SpongeBob did as well, caught up in his own thoughts. He needed that moment to be really special.
He could give her a long, carefully written letter declaring his undying love for her or a bouquet of a hundred red roses. He knew she liked the pink flowers he always brought her, but weren't red roses practically a synonym to 'I love you.'?
SpongeBob looked at Sandy again. He couldn't do either one of those. First, he didn't have the money to buy so many flowers and feed Gary a whole month (the sponge could filter feed if necessary) and words couldn't describe the way he felt for her. Secondly, he was scared, because, what if she didn't feel the same way?
Sandy was too good for him. Even with his handsome looks, hilarious and charming personality and the not-to-forget 5-star fry cooking skills, a squirrel like Sandy wouldn't fall for him.
She liked guys like Larry: muscular, strong, tan, and handsome. Sandy deserved the best of guys, and while Larry definitely wasn't the best of fish, SpongeBob wasn't perfect either.
Sandy would never fall for a guy like him.
At least, that's what he thought.