Chapter 3: Let's Go Buy Some Marshmallows

"Hi, Amy."

I don't know if it was because he was sleeping or shocked or angry or what, but I wondered if I looked as stunned as Sonic did.

"C-come in." He continued.

My mind was blank.

I couldn't put together continuous thoughts.

"You wanna..." He motioned at his couch for me to sit down.

"I'm sorry about bothering you so late." I apologized as I sat the package I was carrying on the floor.

"No it's okay. Really." He assured me. "Amy, I-I...uh...I'm glad you're here."

He almost sounded like he was trembling.

If the situation wasn't so tense I probably would have noticed how funny it was.

He was seated in his recliner sitting straight up having trouble looking at me.

"I was thinking earlier tonight, about how lonely I was, and I really did want someone here to spend Christmas with."

"Yeah..." Was all my dry throat could muster.

Before I even noticed it, he had gotten up and sat down beside me on the couch. He looked at me in the eyes for the moment as I stared back at him full of fear and curiosity.

If I had to make a definite call on what happened next, I guess it would be ruled a hug as Sonic just wrapped his arms around me and I returned the favor. I'm sure it looked kind of awkward though as we were both sitting down at the time.

My body was humming with a rush of adrenaline, excitement, and just pure happiness at what was going on. The feeling was just indescribably perfect as I held Sonic close to me for the first time.

He pulled back from our embrace all too soon and smiled at me.

"I missed you so much." He told me light heartedly as we both stood up. His arms wrapped gently around my back as he hugged me again.

I would have said something.

I wanted too.

But I was still at loss for words at what was going on.

First he hugs me. Then, he tells me he misses me. Now, he hugs me again. It's almost like he was acting like I normally would around him!

He pulled back but still had his arms wrapped around me.

"You wanna play a game or do something for a while?" He suggested.

"Here, how about you open your present?" I offered him, bending over to pick up the gift I brought.

"We can do that later, let's go outside!" Sonic said as he tossed me my coat.

I agreed as we both bundled up and headed outside as he turned on some lights.

I don't know if I was being brave, smart, or stupid but as soon as I was off the brick steps that lead up to his house, I slung a hastily made snowball at him. I had been trailing my hand along the brick while we were going down the stairs. Of course I did this because, using my famous feminine intuition, I knew he would have thrown the first snowball if I didn't.

He never saw it coming.

It smacked him right in the back!

"Amy! Now you're gonna pay!" He did a girly impression of my voice as he darted in front of my face and flung a scoop full of powdery snow at me.

We ran around his front yard for about half an hour throwing, pelting, and dousing each other with snow and ice balls. We were about twenty feet apart, both cowering behind small bushes trying to catch our breath.

I noticed he had a slight redness in his cheeks from the cold. I could only guess mine were the same because it was freezing and all!

"How about we head back inside?" I suggested. "Sounds good to me."

He ran for the door and I followed close behind.

Once inside, Sonic immediately headed for the kitchen cabinet and started working on making a couple of cups of hot chocolate.

"Hey, where do you keep the marshmallows?" I asked him, looking up and down his cabinet shelves.

"Amy, are you insane? Why would you put marshmallows in hot chocolate?"

"Because they make it taste better."

"If by making them taste better you mean it makes them taste worse?"

I looked at him and groaned.

"So you don't have any?" I asked.

Who doesn't keep marshmallows in their house? I thought incredulously.

"Nope." He said quickly.

"Well I'm gonna run out and get a bag real quick. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"You're not seriously going out, just for a bag of marshmallows are you?" He stopped stirring the milk on the stove and looked at me.

"Yep."

"I'll go with you then. We can drive. No sense in you going by yourself."

Sonic dashed into his bedroom to get his keys.

We put our coats and hats back on and headed out to find a grocery store that was still open this late on Christmas Eve.

We hadn't been driving for very long. We were just approaching the outskirts of Station Square when Sonic broke the tranquil silence inside the car.

"Amy, do you remember when we were little? How we met?"

"Yeah. Of course."

Why is he bringing this up? I thought oddly to myself.

"Why?" I continued out loud.

"Do you remember the first time I saw you?"

"Haha. Yeah. We were like six or seven back then weren't we?"

"Yep! I mean, you were in the sandbox outside playing by yourself and I was running around?"

I knew what he was talking about, but I let him continue to see where he was going with this.

"I mean, you had made this little town of buildings in the shape of the bucket you had and I ran through the box and destroyed most of the town."

He turned and looked at me and smiled before focusing on the road again.

"I didn't even notice it at first until I heard you yelling 'baka baka baka' over and over again."

"I remember now." I lied, wanting to see how much of this story he actually recalled.

"I came back up to you and apologized after introducing myself."

"And you actually helped me make more sand buildings again." I grinned.

"And after we got finished, I ran off again. A few minutes later I snuck up behind you and covered your eyes. When you turned around and looked at me I kissed you on the cheek and ran off again. I laughed so hard when you started saying 'baka baka baka' again."

I smiled at that memory. I can't believe Sonic actually remembered that story.

"That's still the only time you've kissed me." I jabbed him in the side. I was immediately worried at how he would respond to that.

"Well, Amy. I was thinking about this earlier tonight when I couldn't sleep. I think I've always run away from you because I wanted to run away from that orphanage. I mean, nothing bad happened there. But nothing really good did either. I think I was afraid of you because I associated you with being alone and afraid at that orphanage."

"Plenty of good things happened there. You met the one and only me of course." I joked with him.

"Well of course that. But, I don't know. I guess I was just afraid I would never get to leave."

"But we did." I reminded him.

"Yeah. He smiled brightly as we pulled into an almost empty parking lot.

"Amy," he continued. "Thank you. You're the only person I could ever talk to about something like this because you went through basically the same things I did growing up."

Sonic confided in me!

I think that's what he was doing? Whatever it was, it made me feel complete inside. Not because of anything on a romantic level with Sonic or anything, but because I helped him as friend.

I was completely lost in my thoughts as I was blown back to reality by Sonic leaning over and kissing me on the cheek.

To Be Continued...