Chapter 18: Fuzzy Feelings

Spines hummed a tune while flipping burgers. Alice walked out of the bathroom cursing under breath, but stopped when she saw the customers...happy. The customers looked like they actually enjoy their food which made Alice suspicious. She headed out back to the kitchen and saw Spines happily flipping burgers.

"Yo!" she yelled.

Spines turned around and smiled. "Oh hey, was the bathroom fun?" he joked.

"Forget that." Alice replied. "Why are these people enjoying the food? Did you do something?!" she asked.

"Weeeeelll...I might have seasoned the burgers more, made sure the buns were warm, and threw out that old burger sauce to make a whole new batch." Spines bragged. "No biggie."

"...Very clever…"

"Thanks, now these people want more burgers so I'm keeping them coming!" Spines proclaimed. "For I...Spines Rose...will make sure EVERYONE'S TASTEBUDS ARE HAPPY!"

"Geez…" Alice muttured. "Anyways...mind making me a burger? I'm hungry from cleaning toilets."

Spines shrugged. "Sure, what do you want on it?"

"Cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and that special sauce."

"..You know the special sauce has mayo right?"

"...Well then I guess it's not so special." Alice replied. Spines sighed but then his eyes widened when he saw a beautiful girl at the counter, trying to decide on her order.

The girl was a hedgehog with magenta fur and long wavy quills that ran all the way down to her back; she also had a fair colored muzzle with a button nose and green eyes. She wore a black turtleneck sweater with a long flowy red skirt. She also wore a black hairband, which matched her sweater.

"Who's that?" Alice asked, noticing the girl Spines was staring at.

"That's Mindy Simpson…." Spines whispered. "My childhood crush…"

"Oh yeah, you did mention a crush." Alice recalled. "So that's her huh? I was right...she's out of your league."

"S-Shut up!" Spines replied. "She….wow she's grown...she was in my elementary school when I lived in Mercia."

"You lived in Mercia?!"

"Er...yeah, I thought I mentioned it.

"Nope, tell me more about your crush."

"Well…" Spines started, having a flashback.

Flashback begins

I was at school... when I was a kid..and I was playing with the most beautiful girl I've ever seen….she was interesting..had the cutest laugh..but asked such interesting questions…

"Spines, I was thinking of changing it up this year with my look...have any advice?" she asked.

Spines blushed intensely. "W-what do I care about that?" he asked.

The young girl giggled. "It's just a question...I know it's silly.." she replied sadly.

"Well...okay, don't laugh but...I always found it kinda cute when a girl wears a hairband...I don't know why I find it cute..I can't explain it." he said.

Mindy nodded and smiled. "Hmmm..I might try it out! I hate how my quills can get in my face." she stated. "May I have your cookies?" she asked, noticing his lunch.

"S-s-sure." Spines stuttered, handing the girl his cookies that his mom packed for him. He watched his dear crush eat the cookies, admiring on how cute she looked when she got cookie crumble on the corner of her mouth.

"She's so cute…I wanna impress her somehow...I wanna...I wanna make my own cookies! Yeah, I'll ask mom!" Spines thought.

When I got home, I asked mom if she could teach me how to bake...that's when I started to have a passion for being in the kitchen…

"You want to know how to bake cookies?" the pink hedgehog asked.

"Yeah...there's this..erm..girl I like.." Spines stuttered. Amy's eyes glistened, hearing this news.

"Oh goodness! My baby has a crush!" she cheered, hugging her young hoglet tightly.

"M-Mom! It's no big deal!" Spines replied. Amy released him and smiled.

"Sorry, I'm just a sucker for love! When I was younger, I was deeply in love with your father and I wanted to cook for him to win him over! Oh he was so cool!" she said. "Anyways...I will teach my son to cook for the power of love!"

After baking the cookies, Spines handed his mother a gooey, chocolate chip cookie. Amy took a bite, immediately enjoying the sweet flavors.

"Mmm...oh sweetie, you did amazing for your first time!" she cheered.

"Thanks, I think I should've probably done better." Spines replied.

"Oh nonsense, they're perfect!" Amy reassured, picking up her son and nuzzling his cheek. Spines squirmed a bit, laughing as Amy was tickling him with her nose.

"Mooooooommmmm.."

"Aw..I love you, dear."

Flashback ends

"So that's when you started cooking…" Alice said. "So..did Mindy like the cookies?"

"She did..but then she got sick from all the cookies she ate and threw up on my shoes." Spines replied.

"...True love…" Alice deadpanned. "So why not talk to her?"

"Because...look at me...I used to be cuter as a kid but now...I look like a beast." Spines replied.

"Ever heard of Beauty and the Beast?"

"Yeah."

"Well guess who's the beast?"

"..Very funny."

"And I think she's leaving."

"What?!" Spines yelled. The dark blue hedgehog looked out from the kitchen and saw the magenta hedgehog leaving the restaurant with a To-Go bag. "No no no no no!"

"Why are you mad? Not like you were gonna talk to her" Spines asked.

"Y-You don't know that!"

"Be honest…"

"...Yeah...maybe I would've chickened out..but no matter, not like I'll see her again." he said sadly.

"Hey Champ, you don't know that." Alice replied.

"Hey janitor, you might want to mop the puke in the kid's pen." Dave instructed, which made Spines chuckled.

"Guess you got some chunks to clean." Spines stated.

"Yeah, you'll never see her again, idiot!" she yelled, before walking over to the playpen.

Kristen the fox flew towards Spines's home with her two tails. She landed at the front door of the apartment and rang the doorbell.

A robe cladded Amy opened the door and saw the fox, giving her a smile. "Well hello there, how may I help you?" she asked in a friendly tone.

"H-Hi, I'm looking for Spines. I saw this address on the school address book." Kristen replied.

"Yes, this is Spines's house. I'm his mother, Ms. Amy Rose." Amy introduced.

"Oh, wonderful! Well I'm Kristen, have you seen Spines, Ms. Rose?" the fox asked.

"Hmm..last I saw him he was going to school. He should've been back an hour ago." Amy said. "Oh I hope my boy is okay….wait, how come you need to see him?" she asked.

"O-Oh uh...well..er tutoring..math tutoring!" Kristen lied.

Amy's eyes widened. "M-My son is a tutor...that's amazing!" she cheered. "Wait..but my son kinda..struggles in math."

"Well..he's improved I guess." Kristen replied.

"Well..he must've been improving greatly if he's a tutor!" Amy stated. "Would you like to stay here and wait for him, dear?"

"No thank you, ma'am." Kristen replied. "But thank you for the offer."

"Such a polite girl….kinda reminds me of a friend.." the pink hedgehog thought.

"Well, I hope I see you again, Kristen." Amy said.

"Yes, thank you so much, Ms. Rose." Kristen replied. Amy closed the door and Kristen sighed, with no other clue to where Spines was.

"I guess I'll get some dinner at Burger Kingdom." Kristen said. The fox flew away from the apartments and headed to the fast food restaurant. She walked in Burger Kingdom, which looked pretty popular ue to Spines's new burger recipe.

"The food must've improved.." Kristen thought.

"Kristen?" a voice called. The fox turned around at the call of her name and saw her best friend, holding a mop and in a janitor's uniform.

"Alice…"

To be continued…

(Oh by the way, my first Sonamy lemon attempt of how Sonic and Amy hooked up is now posted. It's titled Will You Stay the Night? Rated M for sexual themes. If anyone's interested, please give it a read. Thanks!)