(((Ok, here's my idea. I'm going to introduce Zephyr AND Aria in a completely different fic altogether. They would distract from the main plot I think. To find out exactly who Zephyr and Aria are, you're just going to have to read this still-nonexistent fic, which may or may not begin before I'm finished with this one. (just in case you were wondering and didn't know, a zephyr is a Greek deity of the wind and aria is Italian for "solo". You may see it in some written music someday.) NOW NO STEALING MY COOL NAMES! They're my ideas, mine, you calculating idea-thieves... -looks around with wild eyes for a moment before running away neighing and licking a wall.-

Tails: that's disturbing...o.o; she's our author?

Knuckles: afraid so u.u;

T: -takes refuge on Sonic's head.- if she comes to strangle us with our own entrails, you're first, buddy.

S: how sweet of you. T.T

Charmy: to bee or not to bee! Teehee!

Espio: -smacks Charmy- HOW MANY TIMES I GOTTA TELL YOU? MARAJUANA IS NOT FOR KIDS! And you stole from my stash, you bastard...

Shadow: -wincing slightly- I am surrounded by incompetence.

A: OOOOOO! It's SHADOW! -tackles, bites-

Sh: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKK! Get her off me! She has rabies! OW! How DARE you pinch me there!

A: -wide grin-

(&) no, you were wrong. I don't own sonic& co. you lost the bet. Pay up, bitch. (&)

(AN: I'm so strange I scare myself sometimes)

Chapter 3- Just Can't Stop

It was going to be a long, tiring, and perhaps fruitless day she concluded. Shopping, in its blessed temporary release, nonetheless was over for the day, and she had that damn meeting with AuzCorp in an hour. And to top it off, her suit itched and she wasn't allowed to scratch in the precise area where it needed it.

'All I want right now are my running shoes...' she thought as she walked from the large revolving doors of Saks 5th Avenue, holding her numerous bags from Express and Mac. She stepped nimbly in her stilettos through the crowd, calling out and trying to hail a cab.

'With my luck I'd probably get there faster on foot. I would, really. Even in heels. I just want some comfortable shoes...'

At almost that exact moment, Sonic, on his way to Knuckles' to drop off the housewarming gift he bought, crossed the busy street which was frozen with traffic. He stopped in the middle of the street when he saw a flash out of the corner of his eye. Looking upward, he saw- or thought he saw- a metallic object hovering about 15 feet off the ground. It spun and flew in a slow circle before shooting off.

"Damn that Eggman freak to hell. And on my day off too..."

He dropped the parcel in his hands before speeding after the thing. Hopping from cartop to cartop, he made his way down Main Street. Finding an opening in the crowd, he shot to the sidewalk and sped off in close pursuit of the metal object overhead.

Just then, our businesswoman had successfully grabbed the attention of a cab and was making her way to the door under the weight of her bags.

Just then, some purple hedgehog in an expensive-looking suit carrying like, twenty shopping bags stepped right in Sonic's path and he just couldn't stop fast enough...

'I so hate inertia...'

With an almost-over-embellished "OOMF!" our blue hero collided with the poor woman, shopping bags flying in all directions and the horrifying snap of an expensive stiletto heel was heard.

"I am so sorry! Are you alright? Here, I'll help you with-"

She sniffled as her cab drove away, then looked around at her scattered newly-bought treasures, shattered bottle of concealer in "electric violet", and then down to her torn skirt and broken heel. (AN- let's not tell her that her hair's a mess too.)

The poor girl began to cry.

"Oh, look, I said I was sorry, I didn't mean to-" Sonic, now feeling like the worst person on the planet, began to say as he picked up the various bags for her.

She stood, now going from depressed to enraged, snatching her bags from his hands and glaring at him from mascara-smeared eyes.

"Wow... look, lady, it was an accident..." 'so please don't kill me...'

"An accident? No, that wasn't an accident, that was carelessness! Why don't you look where you're going? I have a meeting to go to and LOOK at me! WHYYYYYYYYY?" and she was reduced to hysterical bawling.

"I..." at this point the blue hedgehog felt about as guilty as OJ. Scratching the back of his head while bearing a distraught expression in his simple features, he'd try anything at this point to get this poor woman to stop making a scene.

"I'll get you to your meeting if that'll help..."

"No, no, I'm too late already. I couldn't look presentable in time. My boss is going to FLAY me and put my head on a stake and-"

"Alright, well, the least I can do is take you to lunch..."

She looked at him as if he'd gone mental.

"Lunch?"

"Yeah lunch. It's about 12:30. It was going to be a lunch meeting, wasn't it?"

"Yes, but-"

"Ok, then." He said with a cheerful conclusiveness, taking her bags from her. "I know just the place!"

Sonic hailed another cab.

-----------------------------------

Knuckles lay on his couch, staring at a stain in the ceiling, taking a long draw from his Corona.

'A mood ring... she was wearing a mood ring... in the shape of a teardrop... it was blue... like her... who ever heard of a blue echidna? That's odd... and she had to have at least twelve tendrils as opposed to six or seven. And she wasn't wearing any gloves... maybe I should call her..."

He looked at his green cell phone that was lying on the coffee table. It had been a day or two since he met her. But would he call her?

He turned away from it, sipping again from his bottle. 'Nahh, give her another day or two. She isn't that important right now. I still gotta get a job. Not another secretarial gig like before. Pushing papers just isn't my thing.'

His thoughts again reverted to the disheveled blue echidna in the baggy overalls. He still missed Julie, and her eyes somehow reminded him of his former mate's; even though they were pale green and Julie's were lavender.

'Why am I still stuck on her? She probably never even loved me back...'

He sat up, frowning.

'Did I even love her to begin with? Was I just in love with the concept of having someone to love? Does that even make sense? No, it doesn't'

On this last thought, he flopped back down, guzzling the last of his beer.

'Emotions are so deceiving.' He construed, his attention again reverting to the stain on the ceiling. Just then, he heard a rustle at his door.

'That's odd….. what could that be..?'

He stood and walked to it, opening it cautiously.

Low and behold who else could be at his door but the periwinkle-blue echidna, coupons in hand, bewilderment in her wide green eyes.

"Knuckles?"

"T-... 'shit, what's her name?' Tarsa? What're you doing here?"

She held up the stack of coupons in her hand as if it would explain her presence.

"I put them on people's doors so they'll come by... you, um... want a couple?"

Knuckles just blinked stupidly for a moment. "Sure..."

'My, this is awkward.'

"Can I…. come in?" she asked a little timidly.

"Sure! Sure." 'My place is a mess and I say sure. Twice even.'

He opened the door for her, blushing conspicuously.

"I just moved in. I'm still kinda trying to get things squared away..."

"Oh, it's fine." She giggled a little to herself, walking in. "You should see my place! I'm usually too busy to tidy up... Y'know, it's weird I should run into you like this! You're only like a block from me."

"Yeah, pretty weird…. A block, huh?"

"Yeah, on Sycamore."

"Oh."

They stood in awkward silence for a moment, staring at each other blankly.

"So, um, have a few coupons. There's a 40 discount on any two bottles of mixer drinks. You know, like bloody mary or margarita mix... just thought you'd be interested. We also have food." She cringed slightly at the obviousness of her statement.

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." He stifled the urge to grin as he took the slips of paper from her. 'God, she's just so cute. Like a kitten. .'

"Do you... still have my number? 'Cause if you lost it, I could write it down for you again..." she mentioned, glancing around quasi-uneasily while twirling a lock of hair around a finger.

"Oh, I have it." He smiled suavely, making her even more uncomfortable.

"...could I...possibly have yours?"

When a woman asks a question like this, there is no possible negative answer. If you say no, she would ask why, or worse, act like it was ok and walk away sadly, then hold that one simple word against you for the rest of her life no matter how inanely trivial. So, of course, this left Knuckles in a predicament because he really didn't want to give it to her. Yet anyway. He had his own subconscious reasons.

"Uh, I just got my cell, so I don't know the number by heart yet. I'll call you, though."

"Oh, ok. Well..."

More awkward silence and staring. Tarsa brushed a lock of hair from her face.

"I'll... see you around then. At the store." Again she cringed at her lack of thought.

Knuckles fought the smirk that was taking over his face. "Alright. Seeya later."

This time it was her turn to retreat. As he closed the door he could faintly hear her on the stairs, whispering harshly to herself "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!"

He laughed to himself. 'Yeah, she's cute. Not like attractive cute...even though she is...very...attractive, but she's just adorable. I think I'll give her a call tomorrow.' He grabbed another beer from the small bile-green fridge, and threw himself on the couch again, flicking on the TV.

------------------------------

"I had no idea there were any good Chinese restaurants in this town!" the businesswoman said cheerfully over her mu gu gai pan.

"Yeah, I'm actually from Mobius but this place is worth the trip." (AN- remember that Mobius is a city in this dimension, not a planet)

"It sure is... by the way, my name's Velociti."

Sonic laughed -nearly choking on his eggroll- at the fact they hadn't introduced themselves yet.

"I'm Sonic."

They shook hands over the table.

"So, what do you do for a living, Sonic?"

"Ah, mostly freelance stuff, but I work for a research and development internet company, writing code. I'm so glad they switched from Linux. I was about to go insane!"

"I bet you make more money off the freelance work."

"Hell yeah. There's more call for web development. No one knows html anymore."

She sipped her tea. "I'm in advertising. Mostly graphics design."

"Difficult field to work in. There are too many graphics designers that are unemployed these days. Good for you!" he smiled approvingly.

"Yeah, we had a big presentation today." She sighed. "I'm probably going to be unemployed soon too, if I don't get it together... my boss is going to kill me."

"Hey, at least you don't have to die on an empty stomach!" he noted gleefully.

They both laughed for a moment, and then sighed simultaneously and sat in silence.

"Well, I'm just stuffed! Thank you so much for lunch."

"Like I said, it's the least I could do."

"You're forgiven." She smiled, sipping her tea again.

"Hey, you think maybe we could do this again sometime?" he asked hopefully.

She thought for a moment. "I don't see why not."

He pulled out a business card. "It's got my cell, work, and home numbers on it. Gimme a ring when you get the chance...?" (AN- Sonic has a business card! Awh, he's all grown up… sniffles, sheds a tear)

"Oh, sure. Here's mine." They exchanged cards.

(AN- all professional and briefcase-like. )

"Maybe we could talk business! I could use a web designer."

Sonic smirked. "Aren't you lucky you ran into me?"

She laughed. "Just who ran into whom now?"

(AN- pointless witty banter. I didn't think Sonic was capable of such a thing.)

He chuckled as he signed the receipt.
"So, I'll see you around. Call me if you ever get some free time." he said in rising.

"Will do." She rose as well.

(AN- we all know this date couldn't go so perfectly….and boringly…. So what's the LAST thing Sonic is expecting at this moment? … besides Robotnick leaping through the door in a unitard and tutu…..)

Just then a familiar pink form walked into the quasi-crowded restaurant.

"Sonic?"

"Amy?"

"What? Who?"

The three hedgehogs stood in confusion for a moment.

"Who's she?" Amy demanded, pointing an angry finger in Velociti's direction.

"Why should it matter?" Sonic asked her with rising frustration.

"It does. I thought we had something, Sonic..." and the ditz began to shed false tears for effect, bottom lip quivering.

"Look," Velociti straightened her skirt, standing between the two. "Amy, right?- nothing happened. Your boyfriend ran into me and broke my $900 Vercace stilettos and ruined my $1,000 Chanel suit. He bought me some chow mein. It's not like I slept with him for pete's sake!"

"I AM NOT HER BOYFRIEND!" the blue one shrieked.

Amy began to bawl. Noisily in fact. "How can you say that? I love you!"

Sonic turned to Velociti, grabbing her shoulders and giving her a serious stare. "In all honesty, God as my witness, I would sooner sleep with Michael Jackson than with her. She's a stalker and she's crazy. Ignore her."

"Don't worry, I believe you." She picked up her various bags and began to make her way to the door. "Hey, I'll call you."

Amy cried out and ran back through the door, wailing all the way down the street.

Velociti emitted a stifled giggle as she walked out the door after.

((OKAAY! I need more people to review, so, spread the word, won't you?)))