Spring Showers

Chapter Eleven: The Setting Sun

"Hey RJ, you wanna listen to some more songs at my place?" Heather asked, chowing down the mini pizza in her hand.

"Sure, sounds like fun." RJ nodded. He took a bite of his pizza, but he didn't really savor it. Something about all the food he had eaten as of late tasted rather stale. He was convinced that the food from the last raid was probably a little older than he thought. He sighed. He wondered why humans saved things past the expiration date sometimes. There was, after all, a reason why they were called expiration dates.

"Don't know if you want, but I found another CD from that guy who did that other CD the night before." Heather asked.

"Oh." The mention of that night depressed him somewhat, now know the consequences of those actions. Technically, he rationalized, he did nothing wrong. All he did was just listen to music with a good friend, right? So why should some stupid squirrel's overreaction to such an innocent activity bother him? "That sounds cool!" RJ replied with a little more enthusiasm.

"Great!" Heather replied happily.

"You want some more soda?" RJ offered.

"Yeah, I'd love some!" Heather replied. "Got any diet soda?"

"Uh, sure, let me get some." RJ replied, his smile now a little more forced. Despite all the artificial flavorings and miscellaneous preservatives he pumped into his body from the foods he would eat, he hated the diet sodas, the weird after taste always bothering him afterwards. "Give me high fructose corn syrup any day." He said to himself silently as he searched for some diet soda after grabbing one for himself in his fridge.

Thankfully, Stella had some of the diet cola stuff she was willing to give him. Carrying back the two cans of soda, he reminded himself to get her a six pack of the stuff on the next raid.

"Oh, thanks RJ!" Heather said as she took her can of soda out of his hands.

"How come you like drinking that stuff?" RJ asked, wondering why she preferred drinking the aspartame laced beverage.

"I just don't want to put in all those carbs into my body and put on too much weight." Heather replied, drinking down her soda. RJ stared down at his drink, a regular soda of a different brand, one that he had taken a liking to. He lifted the can and gulped down the stuff. Smacking his lips, he felt an odd sort of satisfaction from it. He didn't know why.

"I don't know why you like drinking that stuff." Heather seemed to come out of nowhere, commenting on his choice of beverage. "You're going to go all tubby if you keep on drinking down that stuff."

"Yeah, I don't really care though." RJ looked over himself. He didn't care if he did develop a bit of a bulge.

"Too bad you don't have a metabolism like Hammy." Heather added. The mention of Hammy's name caught RJ's ear. "He drinks that same stuff all the time and he never puts on any weight."

"Yeah, he really is one hyperactive little guy." RJ didn't know why, but he felt a bit… flattered.

"Come on RJ!" Heather grasped RJ's hand and pulled him. "Let's get back to my place and have some fun!" Heather smiled.

"Okay, sure!" RJ agreed. He looked forward to listening to some good music, hoping that it would at the very least distract him from reality for a little while.

-+-+-+-+-+-

"I can't find the CD!" Heather looked through the albums of CD's she had collected over the past year. "I know I have it somewhere here."

"Why don't you put on some of your other music on?" RJ suggested, exasperated after waiting nearly half an hour to listen to something. "I'd like to hear some of the other stuff you have."

"Okay then." Heather perked up, delighted at hearing RJ's interest in hearing some of her other music. "I have this mix that I had Stella burn for me." She pulled out a disk labeled "Heather's Mix V.1" out of another album full of other mix CD's. "I think you'll like it."

"Sure, put it on!" RJ said as he placed an earbud into his ear.

…

♪… WWWWWHHHHHOOOOOAAAAA!... AAAAAHHHHH!♪

"AAH!" RJ pulled the bud out of his ear, the sudden loud screaming catching him off guard. He rubbed his ear, trying to stop the ringing in his ear. "That's so loud!" RJ somewhat shouted, unable to really control the volume of his voice.

"Sorry!" Heather smiled, a bit embarrassed. RJ looked back and smiled uneasily.

"It's okay." RJ said, his hearing slowly returning. I think that song was just a little too loud for my taste." RJ put it lightly. Though the earbud was out of his ear, he could have sworn that the artist was just screaming out the entire song, the bass almost overpowering the voice.

"Here I think this will be better." Heather said and pressed the buttons on the CD player, advancing a few tracks. RJ picked up the earbud off the ground, noting that the screaming song was stopped, but he waited until Heather put on hers before he felt it was safe to put his on. What he heard playing this time really confused him.

"What the?" RJ tried to listen to the song, but was confused at the words he was listening to. Or rather, he wondered if what he was hearing were actual words at all.

"Shake, shake, shake that booty…" RJ could hear Heather sing out the words of the song. He tried to dance to the music, but he soon realized the difficulty… and the weirdness… of dancing to the song.

"WHOA! Heather, a little too close there!" RJ backed off from Heather a bit once he realized that Heather was pushing up and rubbing her body against his in a rather provocative way.

"Come on RJ, dance with me!" Heather encouraged him. However, the fact that her tail was moving up against his leg was not helping her cause.

"Uh, that's okay, Heather." RJ said, pulling out the earbud again. "Actually, I think I should take care of a few things I have been meaning to do for a while now." RJ excused himself. "There is still the big raid we have in a few days.

"Uh, okay." Heather pulled out her own earbud and looked to RJ rather dejectedly. "You sure you don't want to listen to any more?" She asked.

"Maybe later." RJ replied, scratching his head. "Why not later today, okay?" He tried to make her feel better.

"Okay, cool." Heather nodded, smiling a little, which was a relief to RJ. "Maybe I'll get some different songs for later." Heather said.

"Yeah, that sounds good." RJ replied politely, in his mind thankful that he wouldn't have to listen to any more screaming or incomprehensible babbling. "A little variety never hurt." Still, he looked forward to listening to more songs with her. Maybe she still had that Ben whatever guys CD. Who knows, maybe they may do more.

"Good idea." Heather nodded. "So later tonight then?" She asked, hopefully.

"Sure, it's a date." RJ replied with a smile. He moved up and gave her a quick hug before pulling back, still keeping his hands in hers.

"Okay!" Heather nearly jumped for joy upon hearing those words.

"So, I'll see you later then, okay!" RJ said, letting go of Heather's hands but only widening his smile. He started to step back away from her to leave.

"See ya then!" Heather said as she waved good bye to him. She looked forward to tonight. "It's a date." She nearly squealed repeating it to herself. She immediately dropped everything and started to fix up everything, including herself.

She wanted tonight to go perfectly. She had her chance with RJ.

-+-+-+-+-+-

♪La da da dum da, la da da dum da…♪

Hammy hummed to himself as he dug a hole into the soft ground, making space to re-conceal some of the leftover nuts he had dug up recently for a meal.

As of late, that is all Hammy has been doing. He'd go out on his own, seeking one of his stores of nuts, and eat some, reburying the rest to keep them safe. Come autumn, he'd stock up on more nuts for the winter and for whenever he'd want a snack. He'd just follow the same cycle over and over to pass the time until he had to get some sleep.

Still, just eating nuts was getting a little tedious. Next time, he thought, he'll try some of those macadamia nut chocolate chip cookies he had at the log. It had already been a while since he had tasted a good cookie after all. A long while.

For some reason, in his head, a tune started to play over and over. He had heard a pretty young female human singing it a long time ago, but only now did the song seem to manifest itself in his thoughts. He liked playing the song over and over in his head now, the lyrics giving him a bit of comfort, as ironic as they were for him now.

"♪ You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,

You make me happy when skies are grey,

You'll never know dear how much I love you,

Please don't take my sunshine away. ♪"

Hammy sighed. He placed the nuts he had into the hole he had dug and started to pile up the dirt on top, concealing the nuts underground once more.

"Maybe I should go back to the log and see what's going on." Hammy said to himself, curious to what the rest of the family was up to now. Making sure that his store of nuts was safe, he started to make his way back to the log.

"Hey Hammy, is that you?" A voice called out to him.

"Huh? Oh, Stella. Hi!" Hammy waved to her. Seeing her and Tiger coming towards him, he decided to stay put and wait for them.

"Hey Hammy, what are you doing over here by yourself?" Heather asked, a little concerned for him, especially after the last two times Hammy went out on his own. Seeing him hurt like that really did scare her, though she maintained her cool to help him.

"Oh, just taking care of my nuts." Hammy replied. Stella and Tiger bit their tongues, knowing that what Hammy said could be so horribly misconstrued into meaning something of a not so innocent nature.

"That's good." Stella replied simply.

"So Hamilton, how are you feeling?" Tiger addressed him. "Are your wounds healing well?" He asked.

"Um, yeah. They are doing good." Hammy cracked a smile, a bit flattered at Tiger's more formal address to him. "Stella did a really good job helping me." He added, his words seeming to bring a smile to the faces of Stella and Tiger.

"Thanks Hammy." Stella said.

"She truly does wonders, does she not?" Tiger added, complementing her. Stella fought back from blushing at his comment, but her body language was more than enough to give her feelings away.

"Uh, Hammy?" Stella said, trying to divert attention away from herself. "Are you doing okay?" She asked, her tone now filled with concern.

"Yeah, I'm recovering from my injuries okay." Hammy replied, confused at why she would ask him virtually the same question Tiger had just asked him seconds ago.

"Hammy, I'm not talking about your injuries." Stella clarified.

"So then what are you… oh." Hammy realized what she was really asking him. "So who told you?' Hammy lowered his head slightly, feeling embarrassed about discussing the sensitive topic.

"No one told us anything." Tiger spoke up. "We understand what you are going through, Hamilton. We've gone through the same experiences before. We have loved and lost before."

"But you have one another now." Hammy pointed out. "You may have loved and lost before, but you've found someone now." He added. "I have no one." He stated. Stella and Tiger were a little taken aback by his comment, his tone of voice, his facial expressions, his body language… it's as if everything he was saying was detached from any emotion, as if he were just stating logical argument and nothing more.

"You have family." Stella tried to combat his logic, maybe to give him a little comfort.

"You know that it's not the same." Hammy replied, staring at her. Stella didn't like the dull coldness she could see in his eyes. "And I don't think I want to try to fall in love again."

"In time, you will change." Tiger stated. "Maybe you may not be ready for it now, but someday you will find someone who will make you change that view and you'll fall in love with them." He added.

"But would they fall in love with me?" He countered.

"You may not find your true love the first, the second, or even the third time around, but you will find someone someday who will love you as much as you love them." Stella supported Tiger's argument.

"What's the use of trying to fall in love if I'm only going to get hurt over and over again?" Hammy said. "I might as well save myself the heartbreak and forget about trying anymore."

"Hammy, please just trust us." Stella appealed to him. "Love is worth it."

"I don't know." Hammy shook his head, a little tired at the conversation that seemed to go nowhere and do nothing for him. "I… I just want to go and rest now." Hammy moved away from them.

"Hammy, we're here for you." Stella sighed, a bit frustrated at his resistance. "You know you can talk to us about anything. We'd do anything to make you feel better." She added.

"It's okay." Hammy said. "I'm doing okay now." He assured them.

"Hammy, you'll find someone else, trust me." Stella told him, moving up to him and rubbing his back to help him feel comfortable.

"You will find someone to love you." Tiger reaffirmed Stella's statement.

"I just wish it was RJ." Hammy didn't look back as he pulled away from Stella's hand and started to make his way back to the log for a nap. After a few steps, he figured that Stella and Tiger weren't going to follow him. He considered that a good thing.

He wouldn't be bothered by them about this anytime soon.

"He's not over it." Stella said to Tiger softly as they watched the squirrel walk away from them, noting his sluggish gait.

"But he has given up completely." Tiger sighed. They continued to watch as they started to hear Hammy humming softly to himself.

"♪ You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,

You make me happy when skies are grey,

You'll never know dear how much I love you,

Please don't take my sunshine away. ♪"

Hammy sighed as he assured himself of his resolve. He'll never try again. He will always have the feelings in his heart, he realized. But no one will ever know. It would be best just to act as if he was over it, to keep everyone off his back. He learned that busying himself with menial tasks helped to keep his mind occupied on other things and off of his feelings. He realized this after the first time he had done it unconsciously, only catching himself and realizing what he had done in a moment of close examination. He had managed to separate himself from his feelings and act as if he was completely fine.

And it was easy. It was so easy, he continued to do it, fooling everyone.

Though Ozzie may be the best actor in the family, he may become just as good as he is. Somehow, he'll continue to figure out ways to mask his emotions. He'll find a way to act like he used to so the family will feel better and hopefully forget about everything about this.

Especially RJ. Everything will go back to normal. That was best for the family.

He will never try again, he was sure of it. He sighed again, gulping, holding himself back from crying. He reminded himself that he was done crying. He had formed his resolve. There was no use thinking of what could have been.

He still had to continue living after all.

No longer interested in what anyone else was doing tonight, he looked forward to getting home to sleep, to escape into his dreams.

At least in them, he still had his sunshine.

-+-+-+-+-+-

If you have any advice or suggestions, please feel free to review me. All flames will be ignored.

-+-+-+-+-+-