Chapter 2

"Come on, Erik, this is going to be fun," coaxed Colin. He sat down beside the plump skunk on the living sofa. He wrapped his arms around the skunk and squeezed tightly. "Come on, buddy. Everyone else is going." He gestured towards Alvin and Marshmallow who were both walking down the hall, headed their way. "Look, Alvin and Marshmallow are going. Come on." He lightly punched the skunk in the arm.

Erik lightly flinched due to the soft blow to his thick, flabby arm. It didn't hurt, to be honest; it just surprised him is all. He looked down, his tail curling around his body and him automatically fiddling with its tip. "I-I don't know. I'm really not that good at ice skating."

"Why do you think we're going to the ice rink?" Alvin questioned. He picked up Marshmallow, chuckling at the way she looked. She looked more like a snowball with all the thick layers of clothes she had on. "It'll be fun. You won't be the only one falling flat on your face." He chuckled.

This statement only seemed to make the skunk feel worse as his ears were flattened against his head. "That's just it. I don't want to embarrass myself."

It was Colin's turn to chuckle. "You care about what people think of you way too much."

"It's true, you do," Alvin agreed.

"You need to learn how to relax, have some fun," Colin encouraged. "To hell with what anyone thinks of you." He leaned over and nuzzled his muzzle into Erik's chest. "Come on. You need to get out and have some fun. Anything sounds better than being cooped up in the house all day. Granted, I'm sure you'd find something to entertain yourself, but still . . ."

Erik sighed. "Well, I was planning on just staying home and watching bad soap operas while eating a carton of ice cream, but . . . this sounds better." He smiled. "Let's go!"

"Great," Colin cheered. "Alvin, be a doll and grab my car keys, would you?"

The four companions went out to the car, Alvin buckling Marshmallow in her car seat and giving her Mr. Snuggles and a bottle of milk to keep her quiet. He sat next to her while Erik and Colin sat in the two front seats, Erik getting as close to Colin as possible. Once again, the raccoon seemed oblivious to the obvious, that Erik was trying to drop hints that he wanted to be more than just friends with Colin. Alvin could see it as plain as day and surely Marshmallow could too. Why couldn't Colin? It was especially obvious when the skunk kept stroking Colin's back with the tip of his tail. Oddly enough, the raccoon didn't seem to mind. In fact, if Alvin's ears weren't deceiving him, it sounded as if Colin was enjoying it.

The Trout Lake ice skating rink wasn't too far from the Matthews home. The rink was already full of children and their parents and older people skating around the ice rink. The parking lot was packed, so Colin had quite a difficult time finding a parking spot. After driving around the parking lot multiple times he eventually discovered an empty spot, although he had to fight for it regarding some rude driver who was constantly honking their horn at the group. Erik flipped the driver off, resulting in the driver attempting to ram the car with their own. At the last second Colin swiftly backed up, causing the car to speed off towards the ice rink. The pressure applied to the ice rink via the car caused the ice to crack and split open, taking the car and several ice skaters with it. The horrified screams of those drowning in the freezing water could clearly be heard by Colin and the others even with the windows rolled up.

"Whoops," Colin said, giving a nervous smile. "Luckily, there's more than just one ice rink in Vancouver." He was quick about leaving, not wanting anyone to trace him to the incident. The possibility of this happening didn't seem likely since there were several people struggling to get the people out of the canyon-szied hole.

Marshmallow leaned to the left, attempting but failing to cuddle with Alvin. The red-clad chipmunk saw what she was up to and leaned to the right, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder while he petted the silver-gray fur on her head, her letting out a sigh of content in the process, her tail thumping against the armrest of her car door.

The group arrived at the Kerrisdale Communty Centre. Like the previous ice rink there were already several people skating about, some in groups and others completely alone. The group went to get their ice skates, Erik and Marshmallow being the first to go and Alvin and Colin helping them get their skates laced up and tied before they got their own. They trusted Erik to keep an eye on Marshmallow while they got theirs and once all four of them had their skates on they slowly went out onto the rink due to Erik and Marshmallow being a little nervous about going out. Alvin and Colin were able to coax the two out, the two holding onto each other's paws just as Alvin and Colin were. However, they suddenly stopped when they heard a loud crunch. Turning, they saw that Marshmallow had lost her balance and had fallen quite hard on her rump. She got up, rubbing her backside and groaning in pain. Luckily, she wasn't hurt and she went on, holding onto Erik's paw all the tighter.

Eventually, Marshmallow and Erik split up, as did Alvin and Colin, and the group went their seprate ways. Still, they kept their eyes on each other for fear that if they didn't someone would get hurt. Poor Erik and Marshmallow were having such a difficult time staying on their own two feet (both of them constantly tripping over their tails or their own two feet) that they considered taking a break and sitting down and watching the others. Colin took Erik aside and helped him get his footing while Alvin got Marshmallow. In his mind, Alvin imagined that such was exactly the way Erik wanted it anyway.

"Keep your eyes on me, okay?" Colin instructed Erik, skating backwards while the skunk skated forward.

Erik smiled. "No problem there." He got a little closer to Colin, wrapping his arms around the raccoon's slim waist. Afraid that he was doing something inappropriate, he backed off, but when he saw that the motion didn't apparently bother Colin he resumed the position, burying his face in the soft white fur on Colin's chest while the two of them continued to skate.

Colin chuckled and ruffled the white fur on Erik's head. "You're doing good so far. Keep it up."

"Thanks," Erik replied.

"Okay, let's do this one little teeny-tiny step at a time," Alvin suggested. He got behind her and lightly gripped her shoulders, propelling her forward. He felt her wrap her tail around his waist, probably as a means of protection rather than showing any kind of affection towards him like Erik was doing with Colin, Alvin could plainly see. He continued to skate forward, moving her forward along with him. "Okay, I'm going to let go now, okay?" When she gave a nod he released her. He only winced when her tail uncoiled itself from his waist and managed to find its way to her front. She lifted a leg and set it down, causing her to trip over her tail and fall flat on her face, making him wince. He skated over to her while she let out a groan of pain, rubbing her nose. He knelt down and examined her face. "You look all right." He smiled. "That's okay. You'll get the hang of it eventually."

She looked down, rubbing the tip of her tail. "I don't know, Alvin." She suddenly glared at her tail and angrily pushed it away. "Stupid tail!" She folded her arms and made an angry face, making her look so cute that Alvin couldn't help but laugh.

"If we can find some tape, we could tape it to your back," he suggested.

She shook her head. "No, I'd look silly and I don't want to lose any fur when you rip it off."

He shrugged. "Well, okay, we don't have to do that. Why don't I get behind you and hold onto your tail. That should help."

She nodded. "Okay." She rolled over onto her stomach and pushed herself up. As she stumbled backward she caught by Alvin, who steadied her and gently pushed her forward. She squeezed her eyes shut, afraid that she would yet again trip and fall and injure herself. She felt Alvin gently grip the tip of her tail, keeping it steady and out of the way so she could hopefully become a better skater. Her fears were somewhat evaporated, yet she still retained the fear that she would fall and make a fool of herself, even though no one was paying her any attention and wasn't laughing at her when she tripped and fell. Looking around she noticed that there were several children who were tripping all over themselves and she felt a little better, not as self-conscious about her poor skating skills.

"You're doing great," Colin complimenting, smiling down at Erik. "Just keep your eyes on me."

Erik nodded his head and continued to move forward while Colin resumed moving backward. Somehow their tails found their way to each other and Erik, feeling the tip of Colin's tail, allowed his to wrap around Colin's until they were pulled together via their tails being wrapped around each other's waists. He hooked his arms around Colin's neck, staring into the raccoon's gorgeous baby blue eyes while the two of them continued to skate.

"Okay, let's try this again," Alvin suggested, holding onto Marshmallow tightly. He gently pushed her forward once he'd let her go and watched as she glided across the ice, wobbling to and fro but otherwise maintaining her balance and not falling and Alvin couldn't help but smile proudly as she continued to move across the frozen ice, her arms outstretched just in case she needed to catch herself if she were to fall again. After having fallen so many times the pair had gotten a helmet and a set of elbow pads and knee pads, making it look as if she was skateboarding rather than ice skating. They both imagined that she must have looked quite silly, but thankfully no one was saying anything or making fun. They'd even gone as far as attaching a pillow to her butt to soften the blow to her bottom as she fell, but the diaper seemed to be doing that job just fine. Maybe if she was fatter, her butt would have been softer and the diaper wouldn't have been needed to soften the blow when she fell.

As she turned, Marshmallow had a huge grin on her face, her tail wagging happily while she skated towards Alvin. She gave him a high-five while he congratulated her on a job well done.

Erik's tail wagged as he stood up on his toes and gently gave Colin a kiss on the raccoon's nose. He pulled away, a happy smile on his face, but his expression fell into one of worry when he saw Colin's expression. He looked away, his tail curling around his feet. "I'm sorry." He started to skate away from the raccoon, but was suddenly pulled back by Colin grabbing him and turning him around and he was surprised to see Colin smiling, which in turn made him smile himself, and his tail yet again began to wag, a happy feeling creeping up in his stomach and warming the rest of his body at the possibility that Colin just might share the same feelings towards him that he had towards the handsome raccoon.

Colin shook his head. "No, don't be sorry, Erik. You just got caught up in the moment, that's all."

Erik's face fell.

"Anyway," Colin went on, "I'm hungry. Let's go see what Alvin and Marshmallow up to, then we'll go grab a bite to eat. Sound good?"

It wasn't until this point in the conversation that Erik realized that he himself was hungry, as indicated by his growling stomach. He gave Colin a nod, suddenly feeling depressed that his hopes had been once again dashed. With Colin, he skated until he spotted the pair sitting at a nearby bench drinking bottles of water.

"Hey, you guys hungry?" Colin asked. "Me and Erik here are hungry."

"I could go for a burger," Alvin said.

"I could go for a nice bottle of milk," Marshmallow added, licking her lips.

"Come on, let's go," Erik suggested, gesturing with his paw for the two to get up.

Alvin helped Marshmallow off the bench and helped her skate over to the desk where they deposited their skating shoes before going on their way.

The group decided to go inside and eat. While in line, Erik pulled Alvin aside and asked, "Are you busy tomorrow?"

The red-clad chipmunk shook his head. "No. Why?"

"Would you hate going out with me tomorrow to get Colin's Christmas present?"

Alvin smiled. "No, of course not! What are we getting?"

"Colin's been having some back problems, so I was thinking we could get a hot tub and a new bed, but-but don't quote me on that because I'll have to see if I have enough money."

"If money's an issue I could always pay for half."

Erik smiled. "That's sweet, but I couldn't-"

"No, please, I'd be happy to."

Erik suddenly launched himself at Alvin, shocking the chipmunk when he found Erik's lips plastered to his. Embarrassed and realizing that they were in public, the skunk quickly pulled away, looking away from the red-clad chipmunk. "I am so sorry about. Please forgive me."

Alvin, to Erik's utmost surprise, shook his head. "No, don't apologize." He reached forward and gently caressed Erik's cheek with the back of his hand, making the skunk let out a low moan of pleasure. "I think it's wonderful that you care enough about your best friend to do something that nice for him. You're so sweet." He smiled. "And cute and cuddly and-"

Erik's head jerked up in Alvin's direction so that the two of them were staring at each other face to face. "Do what?!" A few people, including Colin and Marshmallow, looked over at the pair due to the skunk's outburst.

Alvin's cheeks burned red as his eyes darted around the restaurant, his cheeks growing even redder when he discovered so many people looking at him and Erik. He cleared his throat. "Did I say that out loud? No, what I meant to say was-" He stiffened suddenly as he felt Erik's arms being wrapped around his waist. He looked down to discover Erik giving him a tight hug, the skunk's hug pressed agianst his stomach.

Erik pulled away and beamed up at the red-clad chipmunk. "Don't wory, Alvin. I think it's great that you feel that way." He giggled and gently pressed a finger against Alvin's nose. He took Alvin's hand. 'Come on, let's get back in line."

"Need any help cleaning up out there, Erik?"

The skunk turned to look back across the small store counter, almost dwarfed by the big black bear standing behind it. He smiled, smoothing his apron with both paws. "No, I think I've got it, Chandra, but thanks for the offer. Not much to clean up, with only four tables, you know."

"Sounds good. I made up some more of the bran muffin mix so it's ready when you come in tomorrow. I can toss together some cranberry too if you like." The bear motioned towards the display case along one side of the counter. "Those went really well today."

Erik gave a table a quick wipe with a damp cloth, reorganizing the napkin and sugar holder to be perfectly centered, then turned and made a playful waving motion with one paw. "Go! You have studying to do. Get out of here. Oh, hey, take some of the honey oat scones with you while you're at it. I think we made too many of those. Live and learn, you know?"

Eyeing the dozen or so scones still sitting in the case, the big bruin wrinkled her nose and chuckled. "Yeah, thanks for the offer, Erik, but no thanks. I know it's out of character for me, but I don't actually like honey all that much." She flashed a grin, white teeth peeking through her dark fur. "That damn Winnie-the-Pooh stereotyped us bears forever with that whole honey thing."

"Well, that's a relief. I won't have to lock the supply closet where I keep the honey, huh?"

"Not because of me. Besides," she slapped a rather rounded middle, "I have to watch my girlish figure." The bruin chuckled as she draped her apron over a hook behind the counter and picked up a heavy backpack. "See you tomorrow at eleven, then?"

Erik held the door for her and nodded. "I should be able to manage until then. Have a good night, and thanks. Your help made the opening a lot easier."

"Hey, thank you for the job. Where else would I have found someplace where I could bake and watch people enjoy what I produced so personally?" She smiled and stepped out, the door jingling behind her.

Erik smiled to himself and locked the door, then turned to regard his new domain.

It wasn't much, just a little storefront that had previously been an ice cream place. In Vancouver, ice cream places were great in summer, but the rest of the year wasn't quite as lucrative, and the owner had finally closed the doors. The location, though, was great, not far from businesses and several schools. For the small business that Erik had planned for the past two years since he had decided to change his career path, burned a bunch of his savings and gone to culinary school, it was precisely what he had desired.

He leaned against the door and surveyed the shop. Four tables, three seats at the counter, the nice big display case for baked goods, and a drink cooler over against one wall. It wasn't much, but most of the business in this first day had been walk-in and walk-out traffic, drawn in by the sandwich board offerings and the opening day discounts and the smell of coffee. The comments had been encouraging from those people who had tried the various goodies from the case. The skunk's tail wagged softly as he walked back behind the counter. So far, "Erik's Eats" was a hit and may even have taken in a profit. He drew out the cash drawer and stepped into the back, stowing the funds in the small floor safe under the cheap desk.

Unfortunately, running a bake shop was definitely more than putting money away, and there was preparations to do for the morning. He grunted, washed his paws, and got back to work.

He was nearly elbow-deep in a bowl of cookie dough when the door rattled, making the skunk jump in surprise. "I need to get a radio in here," he grumbled, peering out at the door. "We're closed!" He went back to work.

The door rattled again, this time with a light tapping. Erik rolled his eyes. "We're closed!" continued to work the dough together. "Persistence is great if we're open, but come on…"

A lighter rattle caught his attention, and he looked back at the door as the mail slot popped open and a familiar voice called, "I'm sure I look silly doing this, Erik, so could you please open the door? It's freezing out here!"

"Oh, for the love of . . ." The skunk set the bowl down and grabbed a hand towel, wiping cookie dough off his fingers as he hurried to the door and opened it for the slim chipmunk who stood outside with a grin on his furry face. "Didn't I tell you the secret knock?"

"Must've slipped your mind, mister successful businessman," Alvin chuckled, poking his smaller friend in the belly with a light finger as he stepped through the door. "In business one day and already working on banker's hours."

Erik whuffed and laughed as he locked the door behind his friend. "Oh, come on. You know I had to get up at five to get in here this morning."

"I know. You stole the blankets on your way out." Alvin set his bag on a table and reached up, lacing his arms around the skunk's neck and pulling him down for a hug. "How did it go, Erik?"

"Pretty good." Erik squeezed the chipmunk lightly. "The lunch rush was really good. I think having the sandwich board out during the morning rush hour made folks curious, and it sounds like I might want to add sandwiches to the baked goods sometime soon, but I think the honey oat thing didn't work out."

Alvin walked over and peeked in at the lonely-looking honey oat scones. "Do I recall saying something about that? I thought your bear friend would take those home with her."

"I got a talking-to about stereotypes when I suggested it. A.A. Milne is in deep shit with that girl, I tell you."

The chipmunk giggled and settled himself on a barstool as Erik moved back around it and got back to work. "How much more do you have to do tonight, Erik?"

"Not a lot. I just want to get this cookie dough done, then wipe things down and I'll be finished." Erik grinned. "If you want to help, I won't complain."

"Hey, you do all the cooking at home. I'll just heckle for a bit."

"Oh, thanks."

Alvin smirked at the skunk behind the counter and joined him. "Just point me to what you want me to do."

"Well, you can start by bagging up those scones…"

The two friends worked quickly together, Erik chatting proudly about the day as he worked on preparation for the morning. Alvin simply listened happily as he helped tidy the place. Finally, the skunk put away the final bowls and dumped the utensils into the dishwasher. "I think that'll do it." He turned to wash his paws once again. "I think I'm going to have dough in my fur for the rest of my life, though."

Alvin giggled, stepping up behind the skunk and sliding his arms around his waist, snuggling up against his friend's back. "I'm so proud of you, Erik. You're happy at your work for the first time in years. The freelance thing was going to kill you."

"I know. I'm glad too." He stroked the furry arms around his middle and leaned into the warmth. "I've got Colin to thank, of course. He kept us up on the bills and the house while I was in school."

"Hey, teachers are good for something after all." Alvin giggled and nuzzled into the back of Erik's neck, pressing tighter to the skunk's body.

"You're good for a lot of things too, Alvin, you know that." He slipped out from Alvin's grasp and went back to work with getting the place cleaned up and ready for tomorrow's day while Alvin merely tried his best to be as helpful as possible.

"So this model's got multiple jets at each seating spot, three different powers for the jets, and it's certified to use less energy. Plus, it's on sale right now." Leaning over the edge of the hot tub in question, the salesman tapped one of the jet clusters with a webbed paw and grinned. "That's a special design, really relaxes the lower back. No lie, I own this one myself, and when an otter's telling you a water-related product is good, well . . ."

This statement, taken with a grain of salt, of course, aside, Erik couldn't disagree with the merits of the blue fiberglass tub he was studying. Most importantly, it would fit in the spot he and Alvin had picked out next to the back patio with minimal work to get it sorted out. "I think it's a good choice. Let me check with," he glanced around, "er. Alvin? Where'd he get to?"

A tapping from the identical tub next to the one he was looking at quirked one of the skunk's ears up. The cover lifted slightly and a pair of baby blue eyes gleamed from inside. "I like it."

"Oh, for the love of . . . Get out of there!" Erik gave the salesman an apologetic look as Alvin extricated himself from the other tub with a grin. "We'll take it."

"Excellent!" The otter rubbed his paws together happily. "Let's go do some paperwork, hmm? Then, we can arrange delivery and installation."