"There's going to be none left for baking," Cream said, trying to prise the bowl of raw cookie dough from Tikal's hands.
"It tastes so much better like this though!" Tikal protested. It came out muffled due to the chocolate chips that she'd crammed into her mouth.
"Oh leave her be!" Rouge said. "Poor thing's heartbroken - it's not every day the love of your life leaves the country."
"You're lucky that I'm a pacifist," Tikal grumbled. "Or I'd dump this bowl over your head."
"Have you heard from Marine yet?" Cosmo asked, lurching forward to grab the bowl while Tikal was distracted.
"She only landed home a few hours ago. Told me she was heading straight to bed. Jet lag." Tikal shrugged. In spite of her casual tone and passive expression, a flush of pink covered her cheeks, which implied that she wasn't telling us everything that was said in the text. Cosmo smiled knowingly, before passing the bowl back to Cream who examined its contents. She let out a gasp. "Rouge, do you have any more chocolate chips?"
"Gotcha babe!" Rouge crowed, jumping neatly to her feet and opening up one of the higher cupboards. "Baking supplies are up here - do we need anything else? Sprinkles? Cake-pop moulds? Edible glitter?"
"This isn't Bake Off, Rouge, chocolate chips are fine!"
"Milk? Dark? White? Rainbow - ?"
Maria's eyes met mine and we bit back our laughter. I shook my head and turned my attention back to Rouge's array of nail polish, which was spread out all over the floor. It looked like a professional salon - gel polish, glitter overcoats, nail stencils, the works. Everything in her house was like that. She had six different types of pasta in glass jars arranged neatly on the shelf.
We were in Rouge's for a sleepover - again. Her house was the biggest, so could accommodate all of us, and she had the most freedom when it came to her family. Her parents were divorced, her mother worked long hours as a fancy expensive lawyer, and her older sister Topaz was in college in Mobius. It was high time for one, between the post-Christmas slump, Tikal's sadness over Marine's departure, and Cream's family drama.
I secretly suspected that Rouge also wanted a distraction of her own - according to Tikal, Knuckles had gone out with Julie-Su again last night.
Maria and I were painting our nails. Rouge was controlling music on her phone, ordering food, while simultaneously scrolling through Julie Su's Instagram feed from the kitchen island. Tikal, Cream, and Cosmo were baking chocolate chip cookies. Blaze wasn't here yet, but was due any second -
At that moment the door ring. Rouge darted out to open it and Blaze followed her back into the kitchen. Cream and Maria both jumped up to hug her.
"Sorry - the movie time didn't account for a solid fifteen minutes of trailers!" Blaze said. For a split second she looked taken aback by the enthusiastic greeting, but settled quickly into it. She smoothed her fur down as they pulled away.
"How was date-night?" Maria asked.
"It was ... pleasant." Blaze said simply. Maria raised her eyebrows expectantly but Blaze didn't elaborate. She didn't need to - the light in her eyes said it all.
"Ah love," I said wisely, unable to resist. "Brings out the poet in all of us."
Blaze ducked her head.
"I still can't believe that you have a boyfriend," Rouge said. "Guess it's just me, Amy, and Cream, in the single squad now"
"Well, what about - ?"
Cosmo fell silent as we started witheringly at her. She blinked her blue eyes, her mouth hanging open in surprise as she tried to explain herself. She finally gave in. "Never-mind," she said sheepishly. "I guess we weren't fooling anyone, huh?"
"Finally!" Cream clapped her hands together.
"You guys weren't exactly hiding it, what with all of those not-so-secret looks over the cafeteria table," Tikal said.
"I knew what I saw on New Year's!" Rouge cried, hands on her hips. "I can't believe you - !"
"We didn't ... want to make a big deal of things until we were sure." Cosmo explained. "There's been enough pressure with him transitioning and stuff, I thought it would be a good idea for us to have a little privacy before we made things official ... but, well ..." she let out a little sigh and stared dreamily into space.
"Definitely not one of us single-gals," Rouge said, shaking her head despairingly at me.
"Hey wait," Tikal said. "I'm not - "
Even Cosmo snapped out of her Tails-induced daydream long enough to raise her eyebrows at Tikal.
"In ... a ... relationship ... um, officially ..." Tikal finished lamely.
"How about unofficially?" Blaze asked innocently. Tikal's blush deepened.
"If we're counting that, then shouldn't Rouge count too?" she said loudly. "She's not officially with anyone, but - "
"The difference, babe, is that I don't get all gooey-eyed over any of the people I go out with." Rouge pulled a face. "You wouldn't catch me sighing over my phone, or making playlists for Valentine's Day."
"No need to drag me." Maria complained, admiring her nails. She was too tactful to point out that Rouge had been obsessing over Julie-Su's Instagram for the last hour, trying to uncover clues about how serious she and Knuckles were.
It was nice hanging out with the girls. We experimented with sheet masks, ate pizza and chocolate chip cookies, and lolled about on the couch. Cosmo and Tikal scrolled through Buzzfeed quizzes. Maria and Rouge booted up the old Wii and immediately started an extremely vigorous round of Just Dance. I started painting Cream and Blaze's nails, in shell-pink and navy-blue respectively.
"So what's the deal with the Valentine's Day dance?" I asked.
"It's nothing that special. Homecoming with like, a third of the budget and overall effort from the school." Blaze shrugged. "I didn't even go last year."
"You didn't go to Homecoming either," I pointed out.
"I didn't even go last year." Maria added.
"Oh." I grimaced. "Okay, I take your point."
"It's a Sadie Hawkins dance." Blaze said, in the kind of voice one used to describe things like naked mud wrestling.
"So sexist," Tikal huffed. "Not to mention heteronormative."
"I think it's cute ..." Cream frowned.
"Were you thinking of asking someone?" Cosmo asked, her eyes shining knowingly as Cream let out a squeak and buried her face in Cheese's fur.
"We really are going to be the only one's left, Amy ..." Rouge panted, as the final notes of the song drew to a close. She'd scored a few dozen more points than Maria, but was now hunched over the sofa, gasping for air. Maria was already loading up another song, frowning at the screen. I felt a flash of relief - if she was distracted she couldn't stare knowingly at me, or cast remarks about me and Sonic.
Sonic ...
We'd barely spoken apart from a few text exchanges about homework assignments, and the mumbled greetings he offered me as he slid into the seat next to me in History class. He was the last one to arrive and the first one to leave, moving a split second before the bell ever rang, as though he had some kind of sixth sense about him. I should have been grateful that he was sitting at our cafeteria table more often, but even then he seemed distracted ... like he was still out on the track ...
And I couldn't catch him.
What are you running from, Sonic?
Are you running from ... me?
I knew that the girls were talking about the dance, simultaneously talking about how silly it was going to be while also wondering what they should wear to it. A few weeks ago it would have been the only thing on my mind. I'd have been hoping that Sonic would see me in the crowd and ask me to dance, and also been terrified at the very thought. I'd have been excited by the discussion about dresses and accessories, the promise of dancing to loud pop-music with my friends, teasing Silver about his devotion to Blaze, taking bad selfies with Tails and Cream, the prepping at Rouge's house beforehand, the potential for another sleepover in Maria's soft clean bedroom after ...
But all I could think about was Sonic. How distant he'd been since he came around over the holidays.
Was it my fault? Had he been able to tell that I liked him? Was he pulling away because he didn't like me back?
"I mean, after everything that happened last year - "
"Shhh!"
"Oh come on Maria, it's not like it's a secret anymore." Rouge huffed. "I'm just saying, it's probably for the best if we all go as a group. Otherwise people start feeling like they need to attach themselves to someone, and we get another Sonic and Mina situation."
I felt Maria's eyes land on me, could picture them wide with concern. I pretended that I hadn't heard them, applying more glittery polish to Cream's thumb, but I had to blink hard to fight back my tears. That was a good point. He'd given me enough warning, hadn't he? His talk about Mina, how he regretted messing up their friendship ... his discomfort surrounding Tails and Cosmo getting together ...
"You're my best friend, Amy. I don't want to lose you."
Was that a warning?
Had I screwed everything up?
"Amy? Are you okay?"
I blinked, and was taken aback by the dampness of my eyelashes. My cheeks felt wet too. I was crying. Everyone was staring at me, in wide-eyed concern, brows furrowed in confusion.
"I'm fine!" I tried to tell them, but it was too late. They fell on top of me, a jumble of limbs, hugging me and clamouring to know what was wrong.
"Did something happen?"
"Was it something we said?"
"Amy, you can tell us anything!"
I let out a sob. Not because I was upset, but because it meant so much that they cared about me. I'd spent so long hiding my tears from people - from my family so I wouldn't worry them, from kids at school so they wouldn't make fun of me. But the girls all cared about me.
Rouge looked at me, stricken. "Are you down about being single for Valentine's Day? Fuck, I'm sorry - I should learn to keep my mouth shut. I didn't know you were sensitive about - "
"Rouge ..." Maria placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let's see what Amy has to say."
I'd recovered from the tears. My eyes met Maria's. Her expression was uncharacteristically shrewd, but free from any judgement. I knew then that she was my friend, and that she'd stick by me whatever I said.
I gave Cosmo one last hug before pulling away. "Okay ... I need to tell you all something. I should have said something sooner, because we've all become so close over the last few months. You girls have no idea how much your friendship has meant to me ... I just didn't know when to say it - "
"Oh my gosh Amy, you're scaring me, just tell us!" Rouge cried, throwing her hands up to the ceiling. A ripple of laughter ran through us, breaking some of the tension. I took a deep breath.
"The truth is ... I ... like Sonic."
Silence. I didn't dare look at them.
"Is that it?" I heard Blaze ask. She didn't sound surprised, just slightly bemused. "Amy - we know."
"No, I mean ... I like-like Sonic."
It sounded so middle school.
"Yes. We know."
"No I mean - Look you're not listening," I finally looked up at them all. Embarrassment be damned, they had to know the truth. "I like Sonic. I like him in a non-platonic way. I have a crush on him."
"Amy." Blaze said. "We know."
"But you clearly don't, because you're all being so calm about it!"
"Because we know!" Blaze cried.
"You know?" I blinked.
"Yes!" Blaze shook her head at me, exasperated.
"We all know." Cosmo added.
"You all knew?"
Everyone nodded. They all had serious dead-pan expressions on their faces - apart from Maria, who was smiling to herself. I glowered at her.
"Did you tell them?"
"She didn't have to," Cream said. "It was a little obvious."
"How obvious?" I demanded. Fear gripped my chest - did Sonic know?
"I mean, Blaze was able to pick up on it. Considering that it took her two years to realise that Silver was in love with her - "
"That's neither here nor there," Blaze said hastily. I could barely listen. I grabbed a pillow from nearby and buried my face in it.
"Does everyone know? Do the guys?"
Everyone suddenly seemed very interested in their surroundings.
"Do they?!"
"Who's gonna tell her?" Blaze muttered.
"Tell me what?"
"They've been placing bets. We have a group chat."
"I started it!" Cream piped up. "After - oh but, that ... doesn't matter now." she cleared her throat awkwardly and looked away from the expression of horror on my face.
"So everyone knows?" I asked again. "Sorry, I need to make a list of all of the people that I can look in the eye - "
"Everyone." Tikal affirmed.
"Well I didn't know!" We all turned around at Rouge's outburst. She was staring around at all of us like we'd all revealed that we were actually secret agents. "Was anyone going to tell me about this?"
"We thought you'd figure it out!" Cream protested. "Like the rest of us did?"
"But ... how did you guys know?" I asked.
"The way you guys were flirting when we all went to Knothole," Maria said. "And Shadow said that your reaction when he forced you guys to sit together on the bus home spoke volumes."
"You were always purposefully not looking at him and blushing whenever he spoke to you at the cafeteria table." Cosmo smiled.
"Knuckles called it like, your second week here." Tikal said.
"Knuckles?" Rouge looked like she'd been kicked in the stomach. "Knuckles knew before I did?"
"Before anyone did." Tikal clarified. "Guess he's not such a dope after all, huh?"
"I think I need to lie down ..." Rouge looked like she was in pain. She dropped down onto the sofa and grabbed a bag of popcorn from Cosmo, ripping it open and stuffing it into her mouth. "I need some time to process this."
"And the way that you two go on during History class," Blaze added. Her yellow eyes shone with amusement. "Well - it wasn't all that difficult to see the signs."
"Wait - the two of us?"
Blaze nodded. "Both of you. Wait - is that what this is about? You think he doesn't like you back?"
I shrugged my shoulders.
"And you all call me oblivious!" I'd rarely seen Blaze so worked up about something. "Why else do you think that I sent you to his house the other day?"
"You needed your notes!"
"Give me some credit," she waved her hand dismissively. "Like I'd ever leave anything that was remotely important with Sonic."
"I can't believe any of this." I shook my head slowly. "I actually can't process it."
"You and me both," Rouge said through a mouthful of popcorn.
"You guys ... really think that he likes me?"
If that's true, then why won't he talk to me?
"Obviously none of us can know for sure," Maria said. "But ... I've known Sonic a long time. And I've never really seen him act the way he does around you with anyone else."
"He acts like that around everyone." I muttered. "He's too nice. That's the whole problem. That's why I like him so much."
Everyone let out an 'aww'.
"No, not aww! It's so not an aww situation! What am I supposed to do? I've never liked anyone before - "
There were more 'awws' at that. I wanted to die.
"You should ask him to the dance!"
"I can't just ask him to the dance!" I cried.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want to ask him to the dance!"
"But ... you like him," Maria said, as though it were obvious. I didn't answer her. I could barely hear myself think over the sound of my heartbeat.
"I know what you do!"
Rouge had shot up from the sofa. She looked at me like I was a tray of jewels she couldn't wait to get her hands on - I could almost smell her excitement. Her narrowed eyes and pink-lipped smirk sent a fresh wave of terror running through me.
"Now listen, I might not have much experience when it comes to relationships. But if there's one thing I do know, it's how to get a guy's attention."
"She already has his attention." Blaze pointed out. She was frowning, but if I knew one thing it was that nothing could stop Rouge when she put her mind to something.
"Amy Rose. So help me, if it's the last thing I do, you'll be slow dancing with Sonic at the school-dance this time next week.
I was suddenly very, very afraid.
Dun dun dun!
Next chapter; Sadie Hawkins.
Thank you all for reviewing! Love to you all (and happy Valentine's Day, since I'm unlikely to update before then!)
Scarstar xxx