Today's my birthday!
I know it's not that important, but I just felt like letting the world know, thus uploading a new chapter!
My updates are actually going to becoming a little slower due to life becoming a lot more busier than before -.-, but I will never give up on these two last stories that I have planned to finish. :D So no worries :D
Alright, so read this chapter now!
What happens next...?
Chapter 12: Cold
New Year's Eve arrived quickly. The coldest day of the month and yet Amy was fired up as she buttoned up her coat. She wore a short flowy blue dress under it with leggings and black boots. Today her father had allowed her to go out to celebrate New Year's elsewhere and that meant she was free from him worrying also because he knew Sonic was going to be with her.
Amy blushed.
Sonic had said he didn't want to go to the winter dance, because it was boring, but here he was, with a red scarf around his neck, ready to head out with her. She smiled at Sonic who stood by the doorway of her room.
"You girls take forever," He said with a smirk.
"Well, I'm sooorry for not being as fast!" She stuck her tongue out at him. Sonic ignored her comment. She took another look at herself. "Perfect,"
"Let's go." He moved out of the doorway and stepped outside to wait for her.
"Impatient,"
He grinned without saying anything and Amy walked out of her room. She would have hoped he'd stare at her and compliment her about the way she looked, but he didn't. Disappointed, she pouted and both hedgehogs went down stairs and out the house. It wasn't snowing, but it was cold. Amy moved her hands up to her mouth breathing warm air into it. To her surprise, Sonic didn't have any sort of coat or sweater, but a scarf alone. Was he not cold?
"Hey," She began as they stepped down to the sidewalk. "Are you sure you wanna go?"
"Somebodies got to keep an eye on you." He said in totally blunt honesty.
"Hey! I can be careful now." Amy defended back eyes narrowed.
His gleaming eyes gazed at her fixedly. "Haha, I know that."
Staring so deeply into his eyes made her turn away quickly and with her chin up she said, "Then why do you have to keep an eye on me if you know that?"
"Because one can't be too careful," Sonic bent down. "Get on."
"Wait! Can't we walk it? My hair's going to get messed up." Her hands went up to her head covering them over.
Sonic frowned but didn't argue back with the idea. Although, he did mutter a few complains.
The winter dance was appointed at a small party hall near town on a hill. A few teachers supervised the students inside dancing, talking or eating. Sally, Knuckles, Tails and Silver stood near the snack stand when Sonic and Amy arrived together. Knuckles and Silver's eyes grew wide seeing them approaching together. Sally, on the other hand, grinned with great satisfaction.
"You're late," Sally claimed, but Sonic looked over at Amy. Amy bit her lip and looked away towards Sally.
"My bad, I wanted to walk." She apologized and Sally's grin wiped away.
"Oh, no I was just kidding! That was meant for Sonic," Sally said nervously as Sonic chuckled, walking to his friends. Knuckles and Silver raised an eyebrow at him, both at the same time, and Sonic blinked twice curiously. "Yes?"
Knuckles and Silver exchanged looks, but shook their heads. "Nothing," Silver said his hands behind his neck.
"It's rare to see you late," Knuckles added looking up at the ceiling with a large smirk.
"That girl made me late." Sonic said turning to grab a cup from the table and going for the fruit punch. Tails watched as both their faces lit up with creepy grins. Tails stepped away from them shuttering. Sonic turned around sniffing the drink.
Tails' eyebrow lifted.
"It hasn't been spiked," Sally said from behind him. She and Amy joined the group again. Sonic leaned away from the drink and handed it to Amy. Sally smirked seeing that Sonic was cautious over Amy's safety.
He turned around to serve another one. Amy blushed lightly and Sally eyed Knuckles, Silver and Tails sending signals through their eyes. Tails caught on and groan.
Sonic turned around going to hand Sally a drink when she hooted suddenly making him flinch back.
"Let the night begin! I'm going to find me a partner. See you later," she waved her hand at them and walked into the dancefloor.
Knuckles and Silver exchanged surreptitious glances. "Good idea!" Knuckles said knowingly to Silver. "C'mon Silver, Tails. Let's go find some girls,"
Knuckles sent a hard stare to Tails' direction, mentally gesturing for him to follow along.
What are they up to? Tails wondered jadedly.
Having no choice but to follow along, Tails sent an apologetic glance at him and followed Knuckles and Silver. Sonic and Amy were left alone. It all happened so quickly that Sonic wasn't able to say a word to them. Holding, what was Sally's cup, he shrugged and took a drink out of it.
"They were acting strange," Amy stated not looking at Sonic.
"They're always strange." He said not minding them. He knew exactly what they were doing and why. Whatevers, he thought. They were only friends. Nothing to their interest was bound to happen. Sonic turned to Amy watching her stare at the students dancing as she sipped on her drink distantly.
He leaned forward to peek at her and her eyes found his and she broke off from her daze. "Ah, sorry."
"Do you wanna dance?" He asked.
Amy's eyes shimmered. If she had heard wrong, shame on her, but that sounded as if he was asking her to dance together on the dancefloor. "Really?" She asked shyly.
"Yea, go ahead." He said extending his hand out briefly, gesturing for her to walk to the dance floor.
Oh.
Amy's hopes had dropped again. Shame on her for thinking that he was willing to dance with her. He didn't even see her in that way. Her heart gave a little squeeze inside her chest, but she laughed it off and shook her head. "On second thought, I'll stay."
Sonic laughed shortly. "Don't let me stop you. Go dance with Sally. She goes wild."
Amy looked hesitant. If she recalled correctly when one was given a snow globe didn't it mean that they were their partner? Why was Sonic acting so relaxed about this? Did he really not care if he was her partner or not? Then again he was here to look after her. He originally didn't want to come. Again, being nice while hurting her feelings. She smiled nervously at him hiding the disappointment in her voice. "Yea, I'll go find Sally."
He watched Amy walk off into the dancefloor. The hall's lights dimmed and multicolored laser lights shined everywhere almost blinding Sonic, but he didn't lose sight of Amy.
Far from where Sonic was Sally watched in aghast as him let Amy go without following her.
"Are you kidding me!?" she growled as Knuckles and Silver grabbed her arm before she stormed over to him. As they tried to tell her to calm down Tails sighed shaking his head. Facing Sonic as he drunk fruit punch near the food stand he noticed Sonic's eyes were looking up without wandering around. They were focusing at only one thing. Sally wasn't seeing that.
Tails smiled warmly.
The music increased and the crowd of students began cheering. The students started jumping up and down at the sound of the music. Midnight wasn't too far away from now and the party was getting started. Amy walked through the dancing crowd looking for Sally. She didn't go that far off, did she? As she passed by many students stared at her but Amy ignored everyone. That wasn't going to bother her on this special night.
Her head turned around and her eyes landed on a green hawk dancing closely with a light blue hedgehog, Reens, a girl who was in her class, but switched out due to high qualifications. High qualifications, but what is she doing, Amy thought horrified. Jet's eyes landed on her and he froze blinking to take a better look at her. Amy turned around quickly going into the crowd. Heading into the dance floor alone was a bad idea. She needed to get away quickly.
Squishing through a group of girls she pushed her body forward and jumped out appearing in front of Sonic. She blinked puzzled. He was on the dance floor. Some of the girls around gasped and stared curiously at them. From above Sonic could see a green hawk making his way through and Sonic groaned. Already causing problems.
"Come," He grabbed her arm and pushed his way through the crowd. Some of the girls swooned as they disappeared and Jet appeared where they were. He looked around and spotted the blue and the pink hedgehog.
"Damn,"
Sonic dragged Amy outside of the hall room and into a small room near the exit. There were windows around in which to see the outside. Nobody was outside due to how cold it was. The night was dark and somewhat cloudy. Some stars could be seen making a beautiful night. He took a look behind them but Jet didn't follow them. As he anticipated Jet was still searching for Amy, but not when he was around. Amy looked up at Sonic shivering and rubbing her arms. It was cold due to the exit to the outside being open and she forgot her coat inside.
"What happen? Why did you bring me here?"
"For the same reason why you were running." He said.
Oh, he saw. "Is he mad? Why was he following me?"
"He's probably thinking you'll take him back." Sonic laughed. "Even he thinks you're dumb enough to."
Amy frowned punching on hard on his shoulder. "It's not funny!"
"It is!" He held his stomach. "Because if he thinks you're going to easily take him back he's got another thing coming."
Amy's narrowed expression softened and she gaped at him. He was praising her. Her cheeks became hot and she breathed warm air out, fog rising into the air. Sonic's laugher ceased and he glanced at her. "Yup," she replied.
"To be honest I didn't think you were going to go dance on your own. You're just something else," His hands fell to his sides.
In Amy's eyes, Sonic sparkled. Not just his eyes, but everything. His face, his fur, even in the night his skin gleamed wonderfully. Every moment spent around him made him look even more perfect than the last. Amy clenched her fist and swallowed hard. She mustered up her courage and opened her mouth.
"Can you dance with me?!" Amy suddenly blurted out startling Sonic.
Sonic's expression turned hesitant and he nervously stared at her. Her heart hammered against her chest but she kept her confident expression. She had no reason to be afraid of his answer. At least she tried asking. He cleared his throat after a moment and looked inside the doorway.
Shortly after he turned back to her. "Uh,"
.:xXx:.
By the time Jet had come back to Reens she was dancing with another partner, completely forgetting about Jet. Jet groaned and Mina pushed herself through the crowd where Jet was. Mina's eyes widened. "What happened?!" Mina questioned loudly hoping Jet could hear her through the loud music.
"He's with her!" Jet loudly replied back.
"Wha," Mina gasped confused. "So it's true?"
Jet didn't hear her words and leaned forward. "What?!"
"Do you know where they went?" Mina asked loudly into his ear. Jet pointed into the direction where he last saw them. Blue eyes spotted Mina moving through the crowd and for a doorway that led to the outside. Before Mina could reach the doorway, a brown chipmunk swiftly leaned her back there blocking her way.
"Sally," Mina gasped stopping immediately.
Sally smiled innocently. "Hello Mina."
Mina's eyes slowly narrowed down. "Um, may I pass through?"
"The teachers told me not to let anyone through. You could get sick in this cold, so stay inside." Sally explained breezily watching Mina's expression darken.
"Someone I know went outside. I'm just going to go get her really quickly." Mina said trying to go through, but Sally stepped into her line of way.
Sally's light blue eyes stared intensively at Mina with a smile. "Her? Oh her! Don't worry about her, she'll come back on her own real soon. Besides, we're minutes away from the count down. Go get ready."
"Right as always Sally," Mina dark expression wiped away and with a fake smile she giggled before turning her heel and walking away. Sally sighed relieved watching her leave. Knuckles, Silver and Tails watched the whole thing and mentally applause at Sally's good work.
(Romantic Winter Music - Silent Snow)- Youtube
There was a second floor to the party hall. A room with a glass roof and white sofas was the indoor balcony. Nobody was there because it wasn't a closed space. It was outside.
Sonic had made a quick run inside to get her coat. If it weren't for the coat she'd turn into a frozen statue. And then Sonic only had his red scarf.
"How are you not cold?" Amy asked shuddering.
"Don't know. I'm just not." He said and stopped in front of the railing looking outwards down at the city's bright lights. Above them the stars could be seen shining even brighter. Amy blinked in awe and placed her hands on the cold railing. "Wow! It's so beautiful!"
"If you want we can wait for the count down from here. On the other side of town they throw fireworks so we can see them from here." He said pointing down at the city. Amy followed his finger and clapped twice excitedly.
"But if you're cold I wouldn't mind going back either." He said.
"I'm not cold. Who's cold?" Amy replied with fake questioning. She wasn't going to let the cold interrupt her alone moment with Sonic. She blushed not believing that she actually thought that.
Laughing, Sonic leaned on the railing staring out. The vibrations from the music coming from downstairs could be felt under their feet. The music was also loud enough to reach their ears. It was quiet between them so everything else was filling in for their silence. Amy popped her lips a couple of times before playing with her fingers.
"So, you brought me up here..." She began looking at her fingers spinning around one another.
Sonic smirked. "I did,"
"Any particular reason?" She bit her lip looking up at the sky.
"Jet's downstairs. I'd rather you be away from there for a bit." He admitted. "Just till you see the fireworks."
Amy slowly turning her head in his direction with a nervous smile. "So um about my question from before. Was that a no?"
Sonic faced her. "Yea."
An arrow slashed through her heart. How he managed to be so honest at a time like this was cruel. Her body stiffened and she looked away feeling awkward. "Okay."
Sonic grinned, his teeth glinting with the light from below. "To dancing downstairs anyway."
Amy's head whipped back, hope flashing across her face. "Downstairs?"
"I'm not good at dancing in public. It's also too compressed there." He said making a face.
"But no one's around now and there's a lot of space." Amy said holding back an excited squeal as she made her point.
Sonic took a moment to think to himself and when his eyes found hers he chuckled. "In that case I wouldn't mind dancing with you,"
Her heart wanted to flutter its way out of her chest and her breath hitched when he lightly chuckled facing his body towards her. The color of a light pink creeped up on her cheeks and he inspected his hand and hers before locking one of his hands with hers together and placing the other on her waist. She inhaled his scent as he brought their bodies close. His body gave out his heat considering it was cold. It warmed her up slowly.
"My mom taught me how to dance when I was small, so I'm pretty good at it." He said, his minty warm breath brushing across her face. So warm. The cold air hit them lightly but she didn't feel it. Sonic grabbed her stiff hand and guided it up to his shoulder.
"I think this is my first time." Her voice was in a whisper and she didn't know why, but Sonic heard her, being so close to her.
"Really? Then I'll teach you." He eyed at her smiling as he took a step forward. Amy found herself taking a step back and looked down seeing her feet. How close they were. Sonic took a step to the side guiding her with him. Amy followed along.
"I'm doing it!" She giggled.
Sonic smiled taking a step back when he felt something pierce his foot. Sonic winced glaring at her and Amy gasping. Her heel stepped onto his foot, but that was normal. She wasn't going to get it on the first try.
"I'm sorry." She let go of his shoulder, but Sonic grabbed tightly onto her hand. Amy stopped.
"Don't get scared. Follow my lead." He said softly taking another step back and she looked down making sure she wasn't going to step on him again. She gradually got the hang of her footwork and when she was going to tell him, she was suddenly twirled around. He caught her hands and stopped her to where she was facing him. His eyes searched Amy's surprised eyes.
"That was fun," She managed to breath.
Their bodies were so close to each other that she it scared her that he'd feel her heart beating quickly. To her surprise, Sonic was poised and unlike her, he wasn't rattled by how close they were.
"Yea, you're pretty light on your feet." He complimented amusingly, gracefully moving around in circles, their feet doing most of the magic.
"You're mom must've been really good at dancing." She said, looking deep into his eyes.
"Still is." He claimed spinning her around once more, her dress gliding with the wind. Catching her hands into his he brought her to move forward.
"Then my dad has nothing to worry about at the wedding." She chuckled.
Sonic stopped. His hands let go of hers and his face gazed upon her. For a moment time stopped for the first time. His eyes and his eyes only were all she saw. How it glistened with the city lights. She'd hope from them to be sparkling with passion, but his eyes were harrowed.
"Oh, right they'll be dancing at the wedding." He said sounding surprised and Amy's head tilted confused, but she replied, "Yea, It's this spring, huh. Not so far from now."
"Then we'll be legally step siblings too," He said quietly.
Amy's drew a breath reality hitting her. Her crush on Sonic fogged up the fact that he was going to be adopted by her father and was her step brother. She knew that, but why was it crushing her heart now. She backed away nervously laughing. "Yup, I'm really excited."
Sonic closed his eyes exhaling sharply. "That's good to hear."
His tone didn't say so. He looked troubled. "Aren't you excited?"
Sonic opened his eyes. He rubbed the back of his neck looking up and blew air out but he didn't reply. Sonic was too honest of a guy. His silence gave away the answer.
The sound from downstairs got louder and the voice through a microphone stated that the count down to the New Year was beginning soon. Amy opened her mouth and hesitated to say anything but she soon did. "Is there something wrong?"
"I wouldn't say there's something wrong, but I'm not one to get overly excited." He slowly began his voice lowering.
"Liar! There's more to that." She said skeptically looking at him.
"How are you so sure?" He asked his arms crossing squinting.
"Because your eyes show it." She observed pointing up at his face.
Annoyed for a slight moment by her pointing finger, he pushed her hand down. Amy's lips pouted at him. Sonic lifted an eyebrow at her but Amy's features lingered. Sighing he turned to walk back to the railing where they were at first. He leaned on it. Without looking at her he finally said, "Okay, I'm not that thrilled about it."
"I can tell," She muttered approaching him. "But why?"
"I'm guessing it's the idea of a larger family." He admitted.
"Eh!? You don't like us?!" She exclaimed and he glared at her.
"That's not it!" He looked away. "Up until now it's always been my mom and I. Having more family—I'm not used to the idea yet."
She recalled Sonic spewing at her about them not being family before. She didn't realize it back then, but those were his true feelings. He was protective of his mother and was having a hard time accepting that others can protect her too. A very sensitive side of him was opening to her and she once thought he was all prefect and confident. Even perfect mobians had a weak side.
She leaned on the railing next to him.
"You really are a mama's boy." She giggled, but Sonic ignored her. Amy added, "You know, my dad's very protective. It's okay to worry about her but trust my dad when he says he'll put family first."
Sonic chuckled lightly. "I've seen it and I know, but I need time to get used to it."
Amy bumped shoulders with him. "Then we'll wait until you feel comfortable."
Sonic grinned sidelong at her and Amy backed away seeing their faces so close to each other. She nervously giggled and covered her mouth looking at the city. Sonic followed her gaze hearing the music stop downstairs. A warm smile creeped on his muzzle. Meanwhile a small frown went on Amy's. Downstairs, the students counted down:
20
19
18
17
16
Step siblings. That meant they were family. Family loved each other of course but clearly not in the way she felt for Sonic. Her heart squished tightly before sinking. That hurtful feeling similar to when being regretted, but this hurt so much more.
15
14
13
12
11
10
Sonic peered at her from the corner of his eyes. She was shivering. He turned unraveling his scarf off his neck and wrapping it around hers. Her eyes widened and she turned to him surprised. "Five, Four, Three, Two." He said.
Amy smiled and together opened their mouths. "One."
"Take care of me this new year?" He added. Amy nodded giggling as students burst with cheers and cries. The rush of downstairs' excitement reached Sonic and Amy as they gazed into each other's eyes. The fireworks flew up into the sky blasting into colorful designs. It awoke them and both Sonic and Amy laughed lightly stepping back. The cold wind that caused Amy to shiver once didn't trouble her anymore. The warm blush of her cheeks was keeping her warm now.
All your hearts right about now are confused yet satisfied, am I right?
That ending though. With New Year's passing what is to become of our lovely hedgies? You can only guess.
Oh! The OC Reens is from ReenstheHedgehog2. Thank you.
Until weeks pass. See ya!