.So a lot has happened. I was going to update at the ends of August, but there were a few things that happened stopping me. My dog passed away so I stopped writing for a long while and I started school again so...

But I'm back. I am actually finishing the ending of this story which will be soon :)

But for now, let's see what this chapter has to offer.

"Motivation is Dying" Pinocchio-P

Chapter 16: Couple

At the end, she never did give him the bag.

Amy groaned and bent forward on a chair holding her head. After seeing a sight like that there was no way she was going to approach Sonic saying, "Here for you," after telling Mina she wasn't going to give him anything, but then again she was letting what others thought affect her.

The image of Mina talking to Sonic ran knots in her mind. She reconciled with him and it looked like he'd accepted. Seeing them together, they almost looked like a power couple and it saddened her. Amy scratched her head vigorously and groaned once more. She was so pathetic. She wasn't supposed to be thinking like this.

"Does this suit me?"

Amy woke up from her daze and straightened up to stare up at her father wearing a black tuxedo and spinning with his hands up confidently. Amy forced a smile and nodded, "Yea, that one's great, dad."

Eliot sighed and looked over at her with a soft smile. "You've said that to everyone I've wore."

Amy flinched and nervously looked away. "My bad, but you really do look good in all of them…" Her voice trailed off and he went to sit on an empty chair besides her.

"What's wrong?" he asked genuinely with that soft comforting tone.

Amy flinched and shook her headed, "W-what makes you say anything's wrong."

He gave her a pointed look and Amy nervously laughed but it died down slowly. He was her father.

"You do know you can talk to me about it."

"I know," She said. "But it's no big deal really."

Eliot sat back on the chair and looked up at the ceiling. She was avoiding the topic as usual, trying to keep her problems to herself. Not wanting others to get involved. "You know, you're mother would do the same exact thing when she didn't want to trouble anyone. She'd keep things to herself, but it only caused her more pain."

Amy sat silently hearing him speak of her mother. They hardly spoke about her mom but when they did the atmosphere changed. She closed her eyes. "I'm not mom, dad. I can take better care of myself. It's only school troubles, mostly with grades, nothing too much to fuss over."

Eliot chuckled lightly, "Is that so? Oh, I heard from the school you've made an astonishing improvement. Getting a 'B'. Sonic's been helping you, no?"

Amy's cheeks changed color due to that name but she looked off to the side so her dad wouldn't notice.

"Yea," she replied simply.

"Bernadette's boy is a good child and so is Bernadette. I wish for you to be happy with them." He claimed with a nod and Amy made a noise halfway between a chuckle and a cough. He was so confident in making this family happen. If only he knew how she really felt—no that wasn't the way to be thinking. Her dad was happy and that was all that mattered. To shame the family was the last thing she wanted. Amy curled her hand into a fist.

"Dad, are you happy with Bernadette?"

"Yes, I am."

"Then if you're happy, I'm happy and that should be all that matters."

"Excuse me," Sally muttered, slowly entering Sonic's house and looking around in awe. Sonic allowed her in and closed the door behind her. Sonic and Amy's house, Sally thought mischievously. Sonic yawned walking to the kitchen with Sally following.

"Make yourself at home," he said distantly without much thought.

"So this is where you've moved to. Is anyone home?" She asked curiously.

"My mom went out with friends and Amy left somewhere with her dad." He said stopping near the sink to grab a cup and pour water from the filter.

Sally smirked. "Am I the only one that knows where you live now?"

"Don't feel special. If it wasn't for what Amy did you wouldn't be here right now." Sonic told her and drank up his water.

"Speaking of our dear Amy. How has it been going?" She asked exuberantly.

Sonic set his cup down and blinked over to her with eyebrows crooked. "If this is the reason you wanted to come here I'll seriously make you leave," He warned her with a calm tone.

"I already know you like her. There's no point in hiding it." Sally with an amused tone. "Besides it's an innocuous question."

Sonic gave her a hard stare before turning away and murmuring, "What's with you?"

"How did you spend Valentine's? Anything special made you change your mind?" she pertly asked him.

Thinking about Valentine's was not only grating, but almost intolerable. At the end of the day he never received anything from Amy and got a bunch of cookies and love chocolates from a bunch of girls he didn't even know. Then Mina's surprise. Amy never brought up anything at the dinner table or when they passed the hall, as if she'd forgotten about him. It really did bother him. "No,"

"What?!" Sally exclaimed startling Sonic. Then she wondered if he was hiding his feelings again. "C'mon, at least praise Amy when she's not around!"

Puzzled, Sonic raised an eyebrow not knowing what in the world she was talking about now. "Praise?" He asked her walking away and out the kitchen with her following addle-headed.

"Yea…" Sally responded carefully. It sounded as if he didn't know what they were talking about. She bit her lip confused. "Anyway, who gave you something this year? I bet you I got more?"

"The usual," He began tiredly as he walked over to the stairs. "A bunch of girls that I don't know, my teachers, some friends and this time Mina."

"Mina!?"

"She wanted for us to put the past behind us. Apparently it was Amy's idea," Sonic clicked his tongue suddenly annoyed by the thought. He muttered, "That girl, all she thinks about is friendship."

Sally's heart was frightened and nervously she asked, "That aside, did Amy give you anything?"

"No,"

"Really?" Sally gasped but didn't say anything else as they reached the top. He reached his door to the left and opened it. He entered his room and Sally took a peek at the closed door which across which was Amy's.

"Let me grab my sweater and then we'll go," Sonic informed her going into his closet.

Sally meanwhile was in deep thought. Didn't Amy say she made one for each and every friend? Why wouldn't she hand over Sonic's bag? She faced Sonic and with a fixed look. Something must have caused a hinder in Amy's plan, she pondered. Mina…

She decided she wasn't going to let this go.

She took out her phone quickly. She found the contact she was looking for and immediately began texting. Sonic turned around looking for something when he came in contact with Sally who looked deep in thought.

"You look busy," he smirked.

"It's nothing,"

Just then Sally's phone rang and she took it out from behind her back, which Sonic found oddly suspicious. She lifted her finger up at him and took the call. "Hello? Oh hi!"

Sally stepped out of his room and Sonic turned back around focused on finding his sweater which he eventually found behind his beanbag chair. Sonic he placed his sweater on his arm to hold it and grabbed his wallet from his desk. He stepped out from his room but Sally wasn't on the second floor anymore. He made his way downstairs where he found her hanging up on her phone near the living room.

"Sally?"

She flinched, but fixed her composure quickly before turning to him. "Ready?" Sonic asked.

"Actually, something came up right now." She began slowly, looking disappointed.

Sonic stopped and blinked at her. "Oh, then it's cool. We can hang out next time."

"I'm just needed for something until five. Can we meet at five instead?" Sally asked. Sonic looked up at the clock on the living room's wall and nodded agreeing. "Yea, I can wait."

Sally's frown disappeared into a large and happy grin. "Really! That's great!" She cheered and rushed over to the door. "I'll text you the meeting place. Again, sorry."

A short half-suppressed laugh came out of Sonic seeing her excited. He moved his sweater from his left arm to his right. Going out for lunch or to hang out was normal yet she was super excited for this particular time. Maybe she had something planned out for them.

"See you!"

With that Sally was gone leaving Sonic alone in the house. He scratched his head and looked around. There went his afternoon plans, he thought with a soft chuckle. Maybe a good run would help pass time.

Meet at the park in front of the Night carnival.

Amy looked up from her phone with a nervous smile. Meet, she said, but what for? In her mind there were two options either she was being invited to the carnival or they were spending the time at the park. But at five o'clock as the sun was setting down?

Spending time with Sally would be fun, she thought changing the subject. It was as the gossips she'd heard back in her younger days in high school where two good friends spent time together instead of as a group. They only hanged out after school, but never during the weekend. This was going to be a new experience.

Amy arrived to the park and stopped near a tree right in front of the entrance to the carnival. She looked around slowly wondering if she was early. She checked the time on her phone again. No, if anything she was right on time. Then where was Sally?

"Amy?"

Her head whipped around only to find Sonic standing in front of her with the same expression she had. A mixture of confusion and shock.

"S-Sonic?!" Amy stuttered but failed to get anything out afterwards, but Sonic looked his phone once more asking, "What are you doing here?"

He approached her looking around to make sure they were the only ones around and they were.

"S-Sally," She quickly pointed at her phone as she lifted up at him but still failed to say anything else.

Sonic's eyes widened and he stared at his phone again. It was a set up. The text that she sent him was also sent to Amy. He surveyed the text and noticed she never gave specifics, but was tricked due to her telling him earlier that they'd met. And he fell right passed her suspicious actions. Amy was probably tricked because she had no sense of intuition.

Sonic groaned running his hand over his hand. He cursed under his breath, "That squirrel,"

Amy put her phone away wondering why he was here. Sally never said anything about anyone else joining them. She nervously chuckled, "Maybe she's running late,"

Sonic's head came up and he stared pointedly at her. "Sally's not coming,"

"She's not?" Amy nearly exclaimed, quite surprised. Sonic rolled his eyes and put his phone away too.

"We were tricked. Damn, what a waste of time." He said. It completely left Amy shocked. Sonic being tricked was unusual. To think Sally could do that in one simple go while she struggled to lie, dupe and get through to him. She envied Sally at that moment.

"C'mon Amy, let's go home—" Sonic turned around and stopped dead in his tracks when he faced an old lady buffalo. She slowly looked up at him and smile. Sonic backed away as Amy approached his side.

"My, my, are you a handsome youngster," She began with a raspy lively voice.

"I'm sorry ma'am," Sonic said rubbing his arm.

"No, no. All is fine. Say, would you two happen to have come for tonight's carnival night festival?" she asked tilting her head to the side. "It is a fine park, isn't it?"

"Ah, yes it is." Amy agreed with a smile.

"But sadly we didn't come for this," Sonic stated smiling sheepishly.

"Wouldn't you want to enjoy a night's worth of fun, young man? A couple should be having fun." She wondered.

"Couple?!" Sonic and Amy repeated simultaneously. Turning to each other they shook their heads and faced away back to the lady.

"No, we aren't—," Amy said shaking her head vigorously in sync with her hands.

"We're just friends," Sonic added with a nervous look.

"You two should go enjoy your time as youngsters. Please, take these." The old lady pulled out something from her bag and handed it to Sonic in one quick movement. "I bought tickets for my grandson, but it turned out he already had tickets of his own. I'm too old and weak to go in there myself, but you two will do."

"Ma'am," Amy gasped.

"Well, I am off. It was nice to see such young and lovely faces around. Have fun." She said cheerfully and slowly walked away with her cane.

Sonic looked down at the two tickets and over at Amy. Amy froze and her mouth opening, hesitant to say anything, then closed. Again, why was nothing coming out. Was it because she didn't want to impose? It was quiet for a good moment until Sonic cleared his throat and waved the tickets around aimlessly. "Do you want me to call and say we'll skip dinner today?"

Amy's eyes slowly widened. This was sounding like a…date.

Her eyes shimmered with the dim lighting of the park lights. Amy nodded and Sonic sighed with a smile giving her a ticket and taking out his phone. An opportunity like this couldn't be turned down and set aside. Spending the rest of the night with Sonic, she could be able to get closer to him.

At the other end of the park, behind a bush, blue eyes eyed them from a far as an old buffalo came behind her. Sally turned around and grinned at her, handing her a payment.

"Perfect. Thanks granny." Sally extoled. The granny giggled and turned back around seeing the two hedgehogs approaching the carnival entrance.

"Happy to help out a lovely couple. I remember when I was young and beautiful all the boys coaxed over me," she laughed. "But never did I ever have such a wonderful friend such as yourself." She replied.

"Thank you. I just figured all they needed was a little push. Hopefully with that everything else can come out naturally." Sally claimed softly, with lambent eyes following them until they disappeared. She rose from the ground and smiled. A push was all that was needed for them to understand that they both liked each other and want to spend time together. She had another hunch that both were unaware of their feelings, but she didn't know. Maybe Sonic was conscious that Amy was interested in him. Of course Amy was clueless. With this she hoped for the best.

The carnival was loud and everything was moving fast. Amy struggled to keep up by Sonic's side and was being pushed by the enthusiastic animals. Sonic looked around not knowing where to start. This was completely unplanned and out of the blue that picking where to go first was difficult. Not to mention, how was Amy feeling about this? Was she feeling uncomfortable? No way, she looked happy when they entered.

He made a glance over to her, but didn't find her immediately. He turned around completely seeing her apologizing to someone and he rushed to her side.

"Amy?"

Amy turned to him as the lady left. Amy nervously looked away. "I'm sorry. It's really crowded here."

"Stay near me." Sonic offered a smile hopefully to make her comfortable and with a nod of his head gestured for her to follow. "First let's eat. I brought my wallet. I'll pay."

Amy felt her cheeks begin their blushing routine. Sonic's nice side was soothing, something she was starting to get used to. She followed behind him wondering how he was feeling. If he liked being in these sort of places. She paused.

Come to think of it, she didn't really know anything about Sonic, about what he liked or his past. Never once had they sat down and talked about themselves. Her eyes looked up at him searching around the food stands and she wondered what his life was before he moved in with her.

"Ah, there's a chili dog stand there. Want to?" he asked facing her and she immediately agreed. Sonic bought her a hot dog and himself a chili dog with onion rings.

Sonic took the first bite first and then Amy. "It's yummy," Amy said fascinated by the taste.

He turned to Sonic seeing he was engrossed in eating and she giggled. Ah, this was a good time to ask. "You look like you really like chili dogs?"

"Yea," He said simply covering his full mouth. "My favorite food."

That was a good start. Getting to know him through small details was a start, she reminded herself. Curious to know more about him she continued, "I can kinda tell,"

Sonic smirked and moved the chili dog over to her. "Wanna try?"

The first thing that came to Amy's mind as she looked at the bitten chili dog was 'indirect kiss' and it made her turn red. She looked to the side with a head shake. "It's fine."

Sonic noticed her blush and his smirk widened. Most girls, from experience, didn't like biting on what has already been bitten on. They felt uncomfortable. He never thought Amy would be one of those girls. He pushed his chili dog closer to her face. "Don't be shy. Try some,"

"I don't really like chili. I'm more sweets." She claimed turning her head away and covering her face with her arms.

Sonic chortled and leaned his hand back. With a shrug, he continued to eat while looking at her red face. Amy was doing her very best to control herself and reminded herself that he was her friend. That's why he offered. There was no other reason to it.

"What kind of sweets do you like?"

The question threw Amy off because she hadn't expected him to ask any questions right then. She nervously looked around before her eyes fixed at him. She came up with the answer, "I like cake and pies and chocolate,"

Sonic hummed and bit the last of his food. He looked up at the sky and mumbled, "Chocolate, huh."

"Seeing you cook last time made me wanna learn too and I tried making some chocolates for…" Her voice trailed off. She was explaining the recent Valentines chocolates making. A burst of nervousness erupted inside her throat that became dry.

"For Valentine's huh. Yea, Knuckles and Silver told me about it," Sonic replied causally so Amy was unable to detect or hint anything other than what was. Was he annoyed, alright or just trying to imply that he wanted some?

"Yea," She muttered suddenly becoming awkward. It was quiet for that moment until Sonic broke the ice. He turned to her with an eye raise.

"I'm done eating, are you?" He asked with a light smile plastered on his muzzle. He was so unreadable that Amy wasn't sure how to act anymore. She bet he was unset but hiding it, but the reason that hindered her from giving him the chocolates was…

"Sonic," she called out bring him to look at her with wide eyes. Her words stopped half-way up her throat, but she swallowed down her nervousness and added, "About Valentine's…I made chocolates for you too…"

His expression stayed with his lifted eyebrow. He was confused or indifferent, she couldn't tell. "Huh?"

"I made you something for you on valentines, but I didn't give it to you…" She lowered her head looking at the ground to hide her flushed face and out of embarrassment.

Sonic sighed scratching the back of his head and looked up at the sky. "It's fine. Valentine's past already—"

"But it wasn't fair!" Amy interjected cutting him off. "And I'm sorry for that."

Sonic glanced back at her and with his hand, raised her chin making her look at him. He was smiling genuinely. "Then make up for it today by having fun with me here."

Sonic let go for her chin and winked at her before gesturing with his eyes to finish the food in hand so they could go.

'He winked!' Amy thought mesmerized. Sonic winked at her?! No, she thought, there was no alter meaning to it he was just inviting her as a friend to spend some time and have fun. She convinced herself that was it.

Sonic looked down at Amy who looked ahead taking a look at the games and rides. He chuckled seeing her so tensed. Saying the truth was a hard thing and tensing too, but he appreciated that. A couple ran towards them and Sonic noticed and grabbed Amy by the shoulder moving her aside so there wouldn't be a collision. Amy gasped as they passed and looked up at Sonic.

"T-Thanks,"

A sudden urge to wrap his arm around her shoulder protectively emerged but was pushed down. He released her and instead chuckled. Amy laughed along watching the two who pass run hand-in-hand. What a cute couple, she thought. And then looked at Sonic wistfully.

'How pitiful,' she reminded herself. She wished they looked as cute as the other couples did.

But little did she know that among the thoughts of others around, they were the cutest pair that ever arrived to that park that night.

How sweet.