A/N:

Hello again! Welcome to my chapter three of my story. Thanks for making it this far. I'm really enjoying myself writing this story, and I'm hoping you enjoy reading along.

Thanks again for my IRL best friend for proofreading this for me, although she isn't a fan of the Sonic series. It still means a lot to me. I know my writing isn't perfect. (Then again—who is perfect? Nobody!) I have flaws like everybody else. It's good to have another person's opinion and editing.

NeckBreak: Thank you so much for reviewing! :')

Ridge (guest): Oh goodness, wow. Your review made me smile SO MUCH. Thank you so so much for your endless kind words, this truly means the world to me! I agree though, I'm supppper picky when it comes to reading FanFics, I have a lot of expectation for proper usage of grammar, spelling and punctuation. Which unfortunately…it seems a lot of people don't have that. Don't get me wrong, some do but lots don't either. I hope this doesn't make me sound rude…:S I'm so glad you're loving it thus far, I really enjoy writing it. I hope you enjoy it for the rest of the chapters! 3

Disclaimer: I still don't own Sonic or any of his characters. All rights to SEGA! However, I own Sonic Adventure the game on my Xbox 360.

Ships for this chapter: Sonamy, Crails, and RougexKnuckles. With some Sonic/Sally (not much though! I dislike the ship.) and some Amy/Knuckles. (Again— not much!)

Summary for this chapter: When Sonic got Sally Acorn something for Valentine's Day instead of Amy, her heart breaks into a million pieces. Reality then hits the girl—that Sonic won't ever love her the way she loves him. Amy makes some changes to her life, and herself. Forgetting Sonic. She forms a closer friendship with Tails and Knuckles. Knuckles takes her out on a 'date' to help Amy's loneliness from Valentine's Day. Together they double date with Cream and Tails. Sonic sees them from afar…nothing could go wrong with this, right?

Please enjoy!

Chapter 3: A Rose for a Rose!

Today was an important day for singles or young couples. Today was no other than, Valentine's Day. This entire day was just purely overrated. So many people completely take advantage of the day, making it not as enjoyable. If you need to have a date to prove to somebody that you love them, then perhaps you don't actually love them at all? You should everyday. Not just one day throughout the year.

Amy Rose was one of those girls who enjoyed today. She has been planning it for a few days now; she was going to give some chocolates to Sonic while expressing her undying love for him. Now, she's done this before. Many, many times. Confessing her love for Sonic was a fairly common thing for her to do. Some people may even say that she was a tad bit obsessive with the blue hero. Maybe, maybe not. It isn't obsession when it's love. At least Amy cares for the hedgehog. She could be like Rouge who mindlessly teases Knuckles to show her liking to him. In Amy's eyes, that's considered bullying. Rouge's protest is strict, she claims that it isn't bullying. Apparently playing hard to get is the 'key factor' to a man's heart?

Amy was in her kitchen making some homemade chocolates. What better way to win over a man's heart than making your own chocolate rather than buying it at the store. Amy taught herself how to cook over a time span of living by herself. When living alone, you must tend to your own needs. Cook for yourself, do your own laundry. Clean the house…etc.

The pink hedgehog put some oven mitts over her hands to get the pan out of her oven. The timer went off just a few minutes ago—indicating that the chocolates are finished. Placing the tray onto the island of the kitchen, Amy blew on her baking goodies tenderly. She waved her hand a bit to get some of the steam to go away. A negative about baking is that it makes your kitchen really hot. Along with cooking as well.

'There…now, tomorrow I'll find Sonic across town, and hand those to him.' Amy thinks to herself, smiling softly at her accomplishment. They smelt delicious, any man would be ecstatic to receive such a gift. The old saying is…'the way to a man's heart is by his stomach.'

Placing her now fully finished chocolates on a container, the girl placed her chocolates into her fridge to prepare for tomorrow.

0000

Tomorrow arrived rather quickly. Amy's heart was pounding quickly into her chest, some drops of sweat were falling down from her forehead. Nervousness washed over her entire body, anxiety was ridden and flaring. What if Sonic didn't accept them? What if he laughed in her face? What if-

Amy shook her head to belittle her thoughts.

She needed to focus! Some men don't find insecurities attractive inside a woman. Confidence goes a long ways—being just the right amount of cockiness of course. Don't straight out be obnoxious or rude. The pink heroine inhaled a deep breath, holding her head up high with some confidence. She could do this. It wasn't such a big deal—except it was. It was a big deal for her. Many others may look at this scene and think she's being a wimp for not just doing it. But it's hard for a girl to tell her all time long term crush about her feelings.

Walking down to where Meh Burger was, Amy knew exactly where Sonic was going to be located. Just as she suspected, Sonic himself was sitting at one of the Meh Burger's picnic tables outside. He looked pretty content with everything around him. But why wouldn't he be? The sun was shining, the birds were singing loudly. Everything in this scene seemed perfect!

Amy scrunched her nose up with confusion.

All except—Sonic wasn't alone.

Fake annoying laughter was heard throughout the pink girl's ears. Her face flushed a deep crimson with annoyance. She knew that laugh very well…

Unfortunately for her, she was right. There was Sally Acorn sitting across from the blue hero at the picnic table. They seemed to be in a deep conversation. Amy felt her fists ball up against her sides—her teeth were gridding unhappily. She wanted to march her way over there—pull Sally by her pretty red hair, and yell at her to back away from her man. The love of her life! How did the chipmunk think for a second that she would be able to treat Sonic better than Amy could? Amy has been his friend for years! She was the only one who took big interest in the hero, caring for his well-being even when he's not at best. Being rather rude actually. The heroine was still there for her love, she supported him all the way.

Instead of stomping over there and causing a big display, she stood behind a tree to investigate the situation. She got rather impatient, she wanted to see what was going to happen next!

Her thoughts were cut short from Sonic's voice being heard. He was moving behind his back to grab something. Amy leaned in further, squinting her eyes trying to make out what her crush was doing. Her heart slipped when she noticed him bringing out a medium sized box from behind his back, handing it to the chipmunk.

"Here Sal. Happy Valentine's Day." Was all Sonic managed to stutter out. Sally's squeals could be heard throughout the area, as she clapped her hands loudly. Accepting the gift. That's all the pink girl saw and heard.

She didn't want to see anything else. Her heart was completely shattered. Her mind was floating with negative thoughts. She looked down at the box of chocolates in her hands. It had 'to my darling Sonic' engraved into a card. Tears formed her cheeks, falling down onto the card. Smudging the neat printing. Turning around, the hedgehog walked away with distress.

This was the worst day ever. No exaggeration.

What did Sally have that Amy didn't? Sure, she was extremely gorgeous. She had beautiful blue eyes, fiery red hair. All she wore for an outfit was this baby blue jacket that went over her shoulders. Her middle was beige, while her skin was a perfect shade of brown. Her family comes from royalty; Sally's mother was the queen. Technically, Sally was the princess. She took that title very seriously—rubbing it in to a lot of people's faces. She bragged a lot about the title.

The reason why Amy disliked her though, is because her attitude is great. She was such a wonderful person to all. She put herself first before others sometimes, which, that isn't a bad thing. Doing that sometimes is very healthy. But doing it too much is considered selfish. And Sally was very selfish at times. Amy wasn't.

Of course it's no competition, and Amy wasn't going to change her appearance or attitude to try and impress anybody. If it's Sally that Sonic wants, well so be it. Let him have her. If he wants a selfish and wonderful girl as his girlfriend then that's fine. Amy wasn't going to fight for something that's not worth shedding tears over anymore. If he's happy, she's happy.

Coping with it is what's going to be hard.

000

Being a girl is never easy. Your emotions are all over the place. Amy especially, was very emotionally sensitive. She cried a few days after it happened, but she wasn't going to suffer her entire life thinking about it. Now, she's focusing on herself. Since the heartache, Amy began spending time with more people. Tails, Cream, Knuckles, and Rouge. Rouge and Cream spent a couple of days at the hedgehog's house, they watched chick flicks and ate ice cream. Phase one of getting over a heartbreak. Day three of doing that, Rouge knocked some sense into Amy. Saying she needed to stop thinking about it, and show Sonic what he was missing.

Taking Rouge's advice, Amy has been doing things that made her happy. Planting flowers and crop seeds in her garden with Cream, going to the Aquarium with Tails. Helping Knuckles by guarding the Master Emerald. Going to get her nails done with Rouge. Those took up a lot of her time—thank Chaos. She barely thought about Sonic now, her mind was completely distracted.

Right now, she was sitting with Cream Cheese, Tails, and Knuckles at Meh Burger. They were all sitting outside on the picnic benches in the bright sunlight. Amy took soft bites of her burger, munching on it tenderly. Cream noticed her friends soft movements and pat her on the shoulder sweetly.

"Amy…Knuckles and I were discussing something a little while ago. I will let Knuckles take it from here." Cream says. She was so cute. Her eyes were shining bright in the sun, and her ears were flopping. Knuckles clears his throat awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. It was obvious that he was nervous to speak to the pink girl. He wasn't very good with this stuff. Knuckles wasn't a romantic type, he wasn't very good with his words. But Amy was his friend, and he wanted to pitch in to help make her feel better over Sonic.

"Okay, uh…Amy. I'm not very good with this. It takes me a lot to ask of it, I'm probably going to end up stuttering—darn it." Knuckles cursed under his breath, closing his eyes while he continued. Amy stayed quiet, listening intensely what Knuckles had to say. Clearly, it was important.

"I want to uh, take you out, with uh, me…to Stacie's Garden for dinner. We will be accompanying Cream and Tails on a double not date. Well—Cream and Tails will be on an actual date but we won't be. I would still like to enjoy a lovely evening with you." Knuckles says through lots of ums, stutters, and deep breaths.

Amy felt herself light up. She was so honoured to have such great friends who wanted to help out by making her feel better. She paused for a moment.

"But wait— what about Rouge?"

"Rouge is 100% okay with you hanging out with me. She knows we aren't on an actual date and agreed to help pitch in." Knuckles says smoothly. More calm.

Rouge trusted Amy with her life and soul. They were like sisters but not by blood. Rouge knew Amy wouldn't hit on Knuckles or try to take him home. She also trusted Knuckles. He wouldn't try anything silly or stupid by doing anything with Amy to harm the bat. Rouge and Knuckles has had a thing for one another for a long time. Their playful bickering lead to flirting. Rouge hasn't liked a guy quite like him before. He made her happy. And anybody knew that the bat had the same affect on the echidna. As saying above, Knuckles wasn't good with women or their feelings. He was like Sonic that way. He wasn't good at expressing his words or emotions.

"Then alright. I would love to accompany you to a restaurant. Pick me up at seven o'clock okay? Don't be late!" Amy teases. The rabbit and fox's faces both lit up at that. They couldn't wait to spend this time together. All of the friends together!...well, except for Sonic…and Rouge.

Knuckles agreed to pick Amy up at seven. Going back to eating his burger.

000

That night at Stacie's Garden, which is a fancy restaurant, it was really hard to find a table that was free. Luckily, Cream booked a reservation. The place was packed. The whole restaurant was loud from endless chattering coming from the people around them. It was Valentine's Day, so it makes sense to how the place was packed from people. Cream booked the reservation a week ago—which is smart. She knew the restaurant was going to be like this for the romantic holiday.

Amy spent an hour that night getting ready for their double one-sides date. She had Rouge on the phone with her as she multitasked to get ready. Rouge's voice of encouragement was needed right now. It was so sweet of the bat to allow the pink hedgehog to attend a date-like atmosphere with Knuckles.

Normally anybody wouldn't let their best friend do this, but because Rouge trusted the two meant a lot. She was giving Amy a positive pep talk, telling her to remember to make it look like she was truly enjoying herself. Don't look depressed, don't look like she was forced to do this. Enjoy it. Don't think about Sonic, focus on somebody else now. Focus on yourself, finding more self love within you.

Rouge was such a good friend. Amy didn't know where she'd be without her. How did she get so lucky to have such great friends?

Currently, Amy and Cream were in the ladies' washrooms. Applying some last minute make up to their faces—light mascara and talking to one another at the same time. Tails and Knuckles were holding the table, ordering them some drinks and maybe an appetizer to share together. They were waiting patiently for the girls to come back.

"Cream, you're so lucky to have Tails by your side. I support you guys 102%. Do you two plan on becoming official any time soon?" Amy asks her cute bunny friend. Looking at her from the other side of the bathroom mirror. She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively, giggling softly as the other girl blushed and playfully hit the hedgehog on the shoulder.

"I don't know…Tails hasn't asked me or shown signs of asking me. I don't mind though— I'm not going to force him. I'll let him ask whenever he's ready. The best things happen to people who wait, you know Amy." Cream says back giggling.

Amy nodded her head in understanding. That's so true. Maybe if she became more patient, she would find her true love who would love her for her. Knuckles definitely isn't her love, but a good friend for wanting her happiness.

Finishing up applying the last bit of mascara over her eyes, the hedgehog turns to the bunny.

"Are you ready to head back out? I'm finished here."

"Ready!" Cream nods in return.

The girls held their purses close to their sides as they walked back. Tails always looked so happy whenever his crush came back into his eye view. Knuckles too, he smiled warmly at Amy when she came back. Both girls sat across from the fox and echidna, placing their purses on the side of the chair.

"I speak for both Knuckles and I, but we hope you girls don't mind that we ordered a round of waters for us all. And a starter platter of pull out garlic bread for us to share." Tails' voice was heard. Cream looked at her crush tenderly, smiling warmly. She always looked so innocent, so pure. Full of love for the fox boy.

"Did you ask to get mine and Amy's to have a lemon in our waters, Tails?" Amy agreed at that. She loved having lemon in her water. Cream's sweet smile invaded Tails' features, to which he nods. Giving off a small wink of encouragement.

"Of course, one step a head of you my love."

Tails knew them all too well. They of course, had been friends for many, many years. Although Cream was his crush, he still knew Amy pretty well also. They all knew one another to a degree. Amy knew Cream had a pet peeve for the way things were harvested in her garden. If the pink hedgehog didn't wear gloves when harvesting crops, the rabbit would get upset. It's understandable, really. You could hurt yourself badly by the thorns of the harvest.

Cream knew Amy had a pet peeve for mess in general. If you came over to her house, ate dinner there and didn't bother to help clean up afterwards—she would get upset. Amy has slight OCD. Not full OCD, but some was there. Everything in her home needed to be dust free, all the furniture needed to be placed properly around the home. No art piece crooked to an angle on the wall, etc.

Both girl heroes knew Tails had a pet peeve for people touching his machinery in his workshop. If you came over to visit, went to Tails' workshop while he was working and in deep focus. If you touched anything without ask, the fox would get upset. This too, made complete sense. If anything were to go wrong while Tails was working, it could get dangerous.

And finally, everyone knew Knuckles was possessive over the Master Emerald. Don't try telling the echidna how to do his job guarding it, and don't go near it. Or he would easily get upset.

Amy smiles warmly as the two young friends interacted with one another. Tails was so cute to Cream. He treated her very nicely.

"So, Amy." Knuckles' voice was heard, cutting the female out of her thoughts. She turned away from Cream and Tails, looking at Knuckles with a grin.

"So, Knuckles." Amy says back, teasingly. It wasn't an awkward situation, no, not at all. Both friends really enjoyed each other's company. Knuckles was actually fun to be around once you got past his hot headed attitude or shyness. He was a good guy. A loyal friend.

"I really like your dress today, it's very pretty." Knuckles says bashfully, his cheeks turning as red as his skin. He scratched the back of his neck shyly. He was trying so hard to make conversation, not to make this awkward at all. Which was so sweet. At least he's trying.

"Oh! Thank you so much Knuckles. I got it on sale from Station Square Valuable Clothing." Amy gushes back. She wasn't making this weird either, it was actually quite enjoyable. Knuckles may not have been her actual date, but his company was very nice. Amy could see why Rouge was interested in him.

The pink hedgehog was wearing a bright turquoise dress that was low cut, going just below her knees. It was smooth and had low sleeves for her arms. There was a white ribbon bow in the middle of the dress, below her chin. She got it recently from Station Square Valuable Clothing, which was the biggest women's clothing store in all of Station Square. It looked much different than her regular red dress. Sometimes change was good, right?

"That's so nice Amy. I'm glad you got to treat yourself." Was the echidna's response back. He provided her with a warm smile, looking at the waitress politely as she handed them their waters and their appetizer at the same time.

"Enjoy, I'll be back in a few minutes to take your orders. My deepest apologizes for being late." The waitress expresses. Which the group of friends didn't mind her lateness, it was understandable. Holidays made everywhere super busy.

The group each took a slice of pull out garlic bread, munching on it with ease. The moans and hums of satisfaction were heard across their table. The bread was so good, with just the right amount of flavours. Amy sipped at her water after taking a few bites of her bread, using her free hand to look at the menu to see what she would want. Hm, the soup and the salmon sounded good. So did the salad and the chicken breast put into it.

Cream cut the girl out of her deep thoughts by ordering a hamburger with some French fries. Tails went next, ordering a hamburger for himself as well. Knuckles went third, ordering some chicken wings for himself. Amy went last, out of politeness. She ordered her first choice and option, the soup and the salmon. The waitress wrote down their orders in her notebook, placing her pen behind her ear when finished. Telling them that it will be ready shortly, before taking off into the kitchen.

Chatter and laughter were invaded out of the group's mouths. It was very good evening between the four. For somebody who doesn't do this often, Knuckles was very much enjoying himself. Amy was such a pleasure to be around. He wasn't sure why Sonic made it difficult and brushed this sweet girl off majority of the time.

Shortly after, their food had arrived. Surprisingly enough, it didn't take long.

Amy got to eating her food quickly — she didn't realize her stomach was growling the entire time even after she ate her one piece of pull out bread. She knew she was coming here tonight so she only ate a small fruit cup for breakfast this morning. The sweet taste of salmon invaded her mouth, it was delicious. Stacie's Garden was a five star restaurant in Station Square, they had the best food in town. Of course, the crew went to Meh Burger a lot…but the service sucked, and the food was okay. It was good enough to have for a quick bite to eat but not for a date setting like this.

"Mm! This is delicious. Thanks everybody for attending with me today." Amy says happily, placing down her fork and knife to grab a napkin to wipe her mouth with. All three friends nodded their heads in agreement.

"Thanks for coming with us Amy. It's such a pleasure to have you around." Tails says sweetly. Cream fluttered her eyelashes at her crush, this was one of the reasons why she loved him. He was so kind and caring towards others, always considering their feelings.

Amy was about to respond to that, confessing to Tails about how sweet and adorable he was in a brotherly way, but her eyes widened when she saw a familiar blue hedgehog and a also familiar chipmunk standing in the doorway of the restaurant. Sally had her hand on Sonic's arm as they were accompanying one other to she supposed was a date? Amy scoffed at the thought. Well, at least they're happy. Right?

Sonic's eyes unfortunately caught Amy's presence. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion upon seeing Amy with Knuckles. Confusion invaded his features gracefully. Didn't Knuckles like Rouge? Why was he here with Amy then if he liked the bat? Wasn't that betraying her? Plus, it was a romantic holiday. Why wasn't he with Rouge for this? Where was Rouge? All those questions were floating through Sonic's brain. He was not only confused/concerned, but he was also annoyed as well.

For some reason, the sight of Knuckles and Amy together in a romantic setting didn't flatter him so much. Of course, he agreed to attend with Sally but he didn't consider this a date. He didn't like Sally like this. He liked her as a friend. Yeah, this restaurant had a dreamy atmosphere, however that didn't mean anything. He gave Sally a friendly present for Valentine's Day. Except it wasn't even that important. It was just a get well soon card for her mom along with a teddy bear. Sally's mother was in the hospital due to a big sickness so to be polite, Sonic provided Sally with a gift to hand to her mom. It probably wasn't a good idea to give it on Valentine's Day, but Sonic wasn't good with women or their feelings. He thought that was the right thing to be doing.

Either way, all he knew was that he was completely bothered by the sight of Knuckles and Amy together. The worst part was? It looked like they were enjoying themselves too. Amy threw her head back to laugh about something the echidna said, her laughter was loud and contagious. Meanwhile Cream and Tails were holding hands over the table, in deep conversation. Sonic's eyes widened. Tails and Cream were here too?!

So…all of the friends were here except for him and Rouge. Wow.

"Sonicccccc." Sally's voice purred in his ear. Causing the hero to swat her away softly, ignoring her for a brief moment. Why was Amy here with Knuckles for one, and why were all of them here without asking Sonic to join in? Or Rouge?

Also. Why did he agree to accompany Sally again? Oh. That's right. She kept nagging him about it until he agreed uncontrollably.

"Sonic." Sally says a bit harsher. Forcing the hedgehog's attention towards the princess chipmunk. He provided her with a soft smile, the corners of his lips turning up swiftly.

"Right. Let's go sit ourselves in the corner over there." The corner was right next to where his friends were sitting. He could get a close up and personal view on Amy and Knuckles. He needed some answers. Answers for his confusion and his growing anger.

Also, that was the only available table. Every other one was full with couples.

Sally cut off the hedgehog's thoughts again by pulling him towards the table after agreeing to sit there. Sonic allowed himself to be pulled, for he didn't want to start an argument with Sally. Especially in the public eye.

Upon sitting down across from his friends around him, Sonic kept making random quick glances at Knuckles and Amy from behind his menu. Sally didn't seem to notice — she didn't notice that they were all here. She thought it was just the two of them. The waitress came around for them, asking what they wanted for their orders. To which Sonic ordered his regular set of chilli dogs, meanwhile Sally ordered a large salad and that's it. With a water. The blue hedgehog just couldn't get enough of his secret investment of his two friends. Except this time, Sally knew something was up. Seeing as he kept ignoring her whenever she spoke up, or asked him questions. That got old after a while. So, Sally matches Sonic's gaze and her face complete lit up when noticing his friends sitting just a table away from them.

"Oh! Hi everybody." Sally says greeting the group, getting up from her chair and walking over towards them. Amy's eyes widened when seeing that the princess was making her way over. No, no, no…

"Uh, hi Sally." Amy murmured back. Knuckles and Tails cleared their throats awkwardly. Meanwhile Cream coughed rather loudly, before blushing deeply at how loud it actually turned out and began drinking her water to hide her embarrassment.

"Amy! Girl, is that a new dress? It looks like it's from Station Square Valuable Clothing. I think I saw it last week on the clearance shelf. It looks AMAZING on you!" Sally embraces Amy into a light hug when compliment her. Which the pink hedgehog awkwardly hugs back, her breath was becoming uneven a little bit.

"Uh, yeah it's from that store. Thank you for the compliment." Amy murmurs again.

And well. This was the worst part about Sally.

Is that she wasn't a complete cow. There was absolutely NOTHING, nothing! Wrong with her. She was extremely gorgeous, her family comes from royalty. Her title is technically a princess, her family is rich. They live in a mansion. She seems to be super intelligent too, she knows a lot of history of her home town and other places around the world. She shows a true passion for stuff like that, also history amongst her people too. And now, she's a down to earth sweetheart.

And Amy hates her for it.

Because the girl wasn't flawed at all! Like…at least have something wrong with her. Make her become a complete cow with a poopy attitude. Something…anything to make the heroine girl feel less guilty for disliking the chipmunk so much. Sally unfortunately hasn't said or done anything wrong for Amy to hate her. She has been nothing but nice, like for Chaos sake. She just complimented the pink girl. She didn't have to do that, but she DID.

"You're welcome girl! Say, are you two…" Sally smirks suggestively are her and Knuckles. Amy's eyes widened as she put them on the spot. The chipmunk crossed her arms across her chest, giggling softly. Knuckles eyed his 'date' slowly. Waiting for her reaction to see how she was going to respond so he could go along with it.

"No!" Amy says a bit too quickly, her cheeks turning as red as Knuckles' fur. Sally quirked an eyebrow, clearly confused. It made sense.

"I mean— yes." The pink heroine squeaks out a few seconds later. Bowing her head with embarrassment. Sally grinned, accepting that answer while also studying the body languages. Amy looked clearly embarrassed. Knuckles clears his throat, noticing Sonic eyeing at them suspiciously and also with annoyance in his eyes. Pure jealousy.

The echidna reaches over the table and grabs Amy's hand in his own. Lightly kissing the back of her palm, and also her knuckles. His cheeks turned a bright red as well when doing that, he wasn't used to doing that kind of thing.

Everybody's eyes were wide at that swift brief action.

Sally, however. Was completely satisfied and happy for them.

"Aw! You two are so cute! I always knew you two had a thing for one another. Knuckles always got so bashful and embarrassed when hanging around you Amy, and now I know why." Sally fuses again, cupping her cheeks in awe.

At that very moment, time stopped for a minute.

Tails coughed loudly when hearing that, letting out a loud 'ahem!' while continuing to cough. Cream choked on her water, accidentally spilling some on the table. Knuckles looked the most shocked out of them all. He definitely did not have a thing for Amy…and if that princess squirrel or whatever the hell she was, thought that…well, she was very, very wrong.

Sonic's reaction though? Was the worst. Or maybe the best?

His fists clinched up towards his sides, his nostrils were flaring up angrily. His eyes were almost black, even. His natural jade green eyes darkened. He didn't like the thought of Knuckles crushing on Amy…but even he knew that wasn't true. Knuckles never had the hots for Amy. Over the years of being his frenemy, even Sonic knew the echidna pretty good. Sometimes he thought he didn't know his friends as much as he had hoped, except anybody with eyes could see that Amy and Knuckles never had a thing for each other. Like come on!

Sally didn't seem to notice the harsh reactions. (Or perhaps she did—she choose to ignore them.) she looked at the two who were still holding hands and giggled loudly.

"Okay I don't want to keep you two waiting any longer, we must go back to our seat to eat. Sorry for interrupting your dinner you guys. Toodles!" Sally says, grabbing a now very timid Sonic to drag him back to their table.

Amy let out the breath she didn't know she was holding, and scratched the back of her head. Knuckles removed his hand quickly from hers, looking down at his hands as he toyed with them to avoid eye contact. Now all of the girls' appetite was completely gone. She had no more ambition or appetite to eat now. Sally just had ruined her night—again!

"I'm sorry you guys. But I think I'm going to call this a night. I'm going to call a taxi to bring me home." Amy says softly. Ignoring the piecing eyes from her peers around her. She didn't want sympathy, she didn't want pity. She just wanted to get the hell out of here and go home, and call Rouge.

Cream gave her a comforting look as she got up from the table, pulling out some cash from her purse and placing it on the table.

"Okay Amy…I'm here if you need me. Don't be afraid to call me when you get home, alright?" Cream says to her best friend. Moving in to give the hedgehog a hug. Which was returned.

"I will Cream. I'll call you too Tails. And Knuckles? Thank you for the lovely evening. I enjoyed your company, and enjoyed being out with everybody. Maybe we can redo this one sided double date again sometime. But tonight I'm just not feeling it."

"We understand Amy. And thanks for coming, for accompanying me. I enjoyed it so much. I best be going too. This is the longest time I've been away from the Master Emerald. I don't think anybody stole it but it's best to be on guard and alert at all times." Knuckles replies, standing up from his chair. Pulling out his own set of bills, placing them on the table.

Cream walked over to Tails and hugged him tightly. As she too, moved to grab some bills from her purse, Tails moved his hand over hers to stop her.

"Cream, you're my date." The fox boy laughed. Pulling out cash of his own to pay for both of them. Amy sighed lovingly at them. They're so damn cute.

"Thanks Tails." Cream blushes. Moving to kiss his cheek as a thank you. Which the boy fox blushes as well.

Amy waved goodbye to her friends, giving Cream a huge hug, indicating that they were going to speak on the telephone later about the night they just had. After Cream, was Tails. The young boy draped his arms around the heroine pink hedgehog tightly, whispering that he will talk to her later as well. Finally, was Knuckles. Knuckles awkwardly gave Amy what seemed like a side hug, squeezing her hand gently. They all said their goodbyes before they left the restaurant separately.

0000

When Amy got home, she was sitting on her couch painting her toe nails. With her house phone pressed tightly against her ear. Her house phone was an old fashioned one, so it had a cord that came from the wall. It didn't go out very far, so the girl sat on her couch closest to her telephone on the wall. Rouge was on the other line. As soon as Amy got home, she called the bat right away to tell her exactly what happened. Word for word.

"I'm SO sorry Rouge…I didn't know that Sally was just going to show up there with Sonic. I also really wasn't expecting her to make a comment about Knuckles and I having a thing together. Please know I didn't mean for this to happen tonight…it was just supposed to be an innocent date. Also please know that I don't have a thing for Knuckles, and never did." Amy gushes through the phone.

She felt awful. The whole thing was just a disaster within itself. It was a bad idea, she should've never agreed to go out with Knuckles.

Luckily for her, Rouge giggles on the other line.

"Babe. It's okay, it's okay! I know, trust me. I know you wouldn't do that to me, you would never hurt me like that. And neither would Knuckles. I trust both of you with my life. Sally was just being a jerk, don't worry about her or her silly comments."

And that's just it. Amy sighs with annoyance.

"But that's the thing. Sally isn't a jerk. She's quite nice — actually. She complimented me on my outfit for the evening. She didn't have to do that, and! She gave me a hug!"

Rouge inhaled a deep breath.

"Wow. I'm not sure what dirty game she's playing, but I'm not buying her whole 'I'm such a nice girl' act. There's obviously something wrong there."

"Maybe…but I really don't want to think about that anymore. It's done and over with. Anyways—how was your night? What did you end up doing?" Amy asks, blowing on her nails to get them to quicken the pace for drying.

Rouge hums sweetly.

"Actually, I hung out with Shadow for the night. We went to dinner together, then he took me home." Rouge explains. Amy's eyes widened.

"Shadow? Gosh it's been forever. How is he doing?"

"He's fine. Still as shy as ever, we spent maybe a half an hour of just us texting on our phones without any eye contact or speaking at all. It was kind of nice actually— I was expecting it to be awkward but it wasn't. I had fun, it was nice to spend it with somebody different."

Amy was about to reply, but she was cut off by a beeping sound coming for her telephone. That meant that somebody else was calling. Amy quickly looked down at her phone's caller ID to see who it was.

"Sorry Rouge, but that's Tails calling. It might be important—I have to answer." Amy says sweetly after noticing Tails' caller ID come up on her phone. Rouge giggles on the other end.

"It's probably not important. He probably just wants to talk to you about stuff, usually he has been calling to talk about Cream, no?" Rouge says. You could feel her smirk on her face from here. The pink girl shrugs her shoulders, even though Rouge couldn't see her.

"I don't mind being here for Tails. He is growing up rather quickly Rouge. Puberty is hitting him pretty strongly right now. He trusts me enough to talk about his feelings on the matter—it makes me feel so special…I'm glad he comes to me. He knows by now he can talk to me about anything, I won't ever judge him." Amy says back. Blowing on her other toes to dry off the nail polish.

"Yeah you're right. Besides, I would rather him speak to you about girls rather than me!" Both girls laugh at this. She's right. Amy was a much better influence with girls than the bat was. Amy was kind, patient. Which is what Tails needed right now was patience and advice.

"Anyways—I'm going to go now. I don't want to leave Tails hanging. I also don't want him to think I'm ignoring his call. I'll call you back later, okay?"

"Okay babe. We'll talk soon. I love you mwah mwah." Rouge says, making kissing noises on the phone. Causing Amy to giggle slightly.

"Love you too. Bye bye."

And with a click on the button, the heroine goes on the other line to greet Tails.

"Hi honey, sorry I took so long to answer. I was chatting with Rouge on the other line." Amy says in a kind tone.

"It's okay, I expected as much. How is your day going?" Tails asked back. Amy quickly glanced at the time on her wrist watch, mentally gasping a bit when noticing the time. It was really late, actually. She was going to make some tea for herself, then get ready for bed. She had an early rise to do her daily routines or working out, cleaning the house. Etc.

"I'm fine thank you for asking. How are you doing? Anything new and exciting happening between you and Cream?" Amy asks back. Her toes were completely dry now, so she screwed the nail polish cap back on and placed it on the side table from the sofa. She heard Tails pacing around on the other side of the phone, probably multitasking like she is.

"We're good…but I want to make something special for her. Do you think I should make her something from my workshop? Are girls into stuff like that?" Tails asked curiously.

"Hold that thought Tails. I'm taking you in the kitchen with me." Amy says. The fox boy chuckles, stating that he will wait as the heroine gets up from her couch and moved into her kitchen. She filled up her tea pot with water and put it over her stove to boil. Filling up one of her mugs with the right amount of tea leaves.

"Okay I'm back. Anyways. I'm going to be honest with you, okay? Now hopefully this doesn't make me sound rude, but I'm not going to sugar coat anything. Majority of girls—especially Cream, aren't a fan of machinery or tools like you are. Cream is…much more passionate about gardening, or baking. She is a huge fan of gardening. You and I both know how much of a green thumb she has. Why don't you try getting her a pack of seeds for her garden? Any vegetable or flower she will love, also, why don't you try harvesting with her? She would love that. Sometimes it's not what you make her or buy her, it's the time spent together that really matters." Amy explains, switching the phone to her other ear, pressing it tightly in between her ear and her neck so she could wash her remaining dishes in her sink.

She quickly turned on the water, waiting for it to heat. When the water was hot enough she placed her sink plug in the drain hole and filled the water up with dish liquid. She placed her dishes inside the foamy water, using a sponge attached to a scrubbing handle to wash her dishes. Rinsing them off in her second sink. Placing them in her dish holder dryer when they were officially clean and rinsed.

Suddenly, her front door was being knocked on. But Amy couldn't answer at the moment. She was clearly busy. Trying to wash her dishes, make tea, and talk to Tails on the phone all at the same time.

"You're right Amy…you're always right." Tails laughs nervously. "Should I make her a dinner as well? Cream's favourite food is carrots and mashed potatoes mixed. I could make her homemade hamburgers to go with it or something." Tails continued. Amy hums. That doesn't sound like a too bad of an idea either,. Her cute bunny friend would love that. Any time spent with Tails was the best for her.

"Yes! That sounds perfect!." Amy squeals back.

"Can you help me with picking out the supplies? Or…help me make it? Do you think you have some time tomorrow to come out to help me make the dinner? Sorry if this is a lot to ask." Tails squeaks back, clearly embarrassed now. But fortunately for him, the pink hedgehog laughs.

Her door was knocked on again, but she ignored it once more. She couldn't go answer it. So, whoever it was, needed to get the hint to come back later. Her hands were deeply into water trying to wash the remaining of her dishes. Plus, her tea pot stopped making steaming sounds. Which meant that the tea was ready, also.

"Of course! I would love to help you. That's what I'm here for. You can count on me." Amy says sweetly. Finishing up the remaining of her dishes, and rinsing her hands off with Luke warm water. Drying it off with a dish towel shortly after. She left her dishes in the drying rack, and pretended to dust off her pj bottoms with her hands. Tails' voice was mumbling on the other end of the phone, and Amy held her hand at her hip, nodding along with what he was saying.

As soon as Amy turned around to tend to her tea pot containing the hot boiling water, she jumped and let out a low scream when she noticed Sonic standing right amongst her. She placed a hand over her now rapidly pounding heart, giving Sonic the death glare.

"You idiot!" Amy mouths out to Sonic. "You scared the hell out of me. Don't do that." Amy says through gridded teeth in a low deep voice. The hero shrugs his shoulders, not even giving off anything apologetic. The girl rolled her eyes, turning away from her old crush for a brief second, grabbing her mug full of tea leaves to pour some hot boiling water into it. She watched it resolve, and poured some creamer and sugar into it too.

"Uh, Amy…? Are you okay? I heard you scream." Tails nervously asked. He wasn't as brave as his friends. Sonic and Knuckles were much more brave than Tails, they could approach just about anything or anybody without even showing a sign of being scared or paranoid. Tails on the other hand? Would be hiding behind either Sonic or Amy's shoulders. Scared to death.

He used to be a lot more brave when he was younger. Following Sonic around, doing his own thing. He wanted to become just like his best friend, so alongside of their many adventures, Tails defeated Eggman and his empire by himself multiple times. Now? He wouldn't be caught doing it. Something inside him just caused him to become more paranoid over the years going by. Although, he wasn't exactly sure why.

"I'm fine Tails. Actually—Sonic just entered without my permission, so I think he has something important to say…." Amy started to say through gridded teeth again, suddenly becoming very annoyed with the blue hedgehog and his actions. "I'm deeply sorry Tails…can we discuss more of this a little later? I'll call you back when I'm in bed. We'll chat before I fall asleep, does this sound okay?"

Tails nodded, although she couldn't see him.

"Okie Doki Amy. I'll see ya later. Tell Sonic I said hi." Was all the young fox mastered to say, before Amy agreed and hung up the phone. She turned to Sonic, putting her hands on her hips in annoyance. Giving him a smear angered expression on her face.

"What do you want." Amy says harshly. Not having any time for Sonic and his bs right now. She just wanted to enjoy a good cup of tea before bed, then slip into bed and read for a little bit before she called Tails back. Is this too much to ask? Apparently so. Sonic stepped closer to his friend, standing a mere few steps away from her.

"Ames…I think you and I need to have a chat." Sonic says, shaking his head. Amy rolled her eyes, shaking her head also.

"No. I have nothing to say to you. You clearly don't return my feelings that I had for you. I tried holding it in for so long, but I'm done trying to act like things are okay between us. It isn't, clearly. I tried making you something for Valentine's Day, but that turned against me for you gave Sally something instead of me. At first it really hurt me, but then I've come to realization, that this is my reality. You don't and probably never will return my feelings. And that's okay. I'd rather see you happy with somebody else than be forced to be happy with me." Amy rants, closing her eyes.

Her thoughts and rants were cut off by Sonic's lips pressing against her briefly. A gasp escaped the girl's lips and she stepped back a bit in shock.

"Wha-what are you doing?! What about Sally?" Amy demands, crossing her arms across her chest. Eyeing at Sonic with curiosity and disgust. What? Was this a pity kiss? No thanks!

"Ames you're something else." Sonic laughs. He pats the side of his nose while closing his eyes for a second. The girl hedgehog frowned upon hearing that. She was about to get defensive about this—and fight back, but Sonic cut her off by continuing.

"I don't like Sally like that. I never did, she's just a good friend to me. On Valentine's Day when you witnessed me giving her something, that was because her mother was in the hospital and I was giving her something for her mom. Now, before you start hitting me with your hammer…I realize that using the holiday wasn't the best way to pass somebody a get well soon gift. But you must know by now I'm not very good with this stuff." Sonic says bashfully. He scratched the back of his head nervously.

Oh yeah. She knew very well that Sonic wasn't good with women. He didn't underestimate their feelings very often, and often came off as rude whenever a girl showed interest in him. That's because he barely had any experience with girls. So he didn't know how to respond nor act around them when this stuff happened.

The pink heroine girl tapped her foot against the ground impatiently. Okay…? So? Does this mean that he likes somebody else…?

His response didn't answer to her mind very good.

As if reading her mind, Sonic sighs and bit down onto his bottom lip.

"Yes Ames…I like you. I think you're such a great girl; you're so kind and caring, you always put other people before yourself. I can't find any reason not to like you, I think you're wonderful."

Amy was not expecting this at all. Her mind was all over the place. She stood in front of Sonic for what seems like forever without saying anything, but she can't help it. She had no idea how to respond. Her inner self had already accepted and moved on from Sonic's rejection. Seeing him give Sally something instead of her on a romantic holiday was really hard to try and cope with, and she was doing so good for herself. She was creating such a good life for herself without Sonic. So having him say this really made her crash beneath herself, going back to square one all over again.

After about ten minutes of not saying anything, and just instead went into deep thinking, Amy sighed deeply. Rubbing her temple with her forefinger.

"Okay Sonic…I don't know if I can accept your confession just yet. I mean, I just got out of getting over you. It took me so long to escape this state of mind, and now it feels like I'm falling back once more. I don't know if we can rush right into a relationship just yet—but if you truly mean what you just told me, I would love to slowly work ourselves up to a relationship point." Amy says softly.

Sonic nods his head in agreement, liking the sounds of that.

"I like that Ames. Let's do this!" Sonic shouts, giving off his signature wink and grin with a thumbs up, causing Amy to giggle. He took this as an opportunity to bring the pink girl into an embrace, inhaling her scent. Amy hugged back softly, feeling his hands running up and down her back in a sweet way.

Ah yes. This was perfect. Sometimes taking things slow is best. Slow and steady wins the race.

All she knew was that she couldn't wait for the outcome.

Fin.

A/N: Hello! Phew you made it through this beast of a chapter. This is my longest chapter to date, oh goodness! (9,000K words…)

Usually, I would have this uploaded sooner…whenever I have an idea popped in my head, I keep writing and writing until I get the entire idea out into words on paper. I normally get chapters completed written within a few hours max.

Except for this one. I had many ideas for this, so I worked on it bit by bit within the entire week. Finally, it's finished!

I'm debating on if I'm going to do a part two to this in the future. With Amy and Sonic working on their relationship, and getting some more answers from Sally. Maybe. I might get into this.

I'm so sorry if there's any mistakes even after I got my friend to proofread it for me. I'm writing on my phone. I'm also sorry if some scenes again— drag out too long and seem a bit boring. That's a major flaw of mine, I'm trying desperately to work on it though!

Thanks so much for reading! Please leave me a review expressing your thoughts and feelings. Even an idea you have if you'd like! It really means a lot to me. I appreciate everybody who reviewed thus far, you are amazing!

Stay beautiful friends, until next time!