Chapter 8

"I told you, it doesn't matter," Amy rebuked her two friends, unpacking her suitcase. "He saw me. Our conversation laster two seconds, then I left. End of story."

"Shadow said he's losing his mind," Sticks giggled. "Poor guy doesn't even know what hit him."

"It sounds like he deserves it," Rouge sniffed. "What a piece of-"

"Can we just drop it, please?" Amy pleaded. "We knew I'd see him. He lives here. I'll avoid him as much as I can."

"That, uh, might prove difficult," Rouge snickered, pointing to the doorway, where a blue hedgehog had appeared, looking shy and ashamed. Amy froze.

"Do you want us to stay?" Sticks murmured, putting her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Nah, I'm fine. Why don't you guys go on ahead to the beach? Knuckles and Tails wanted to host a bonfire to welcome us," Amy replied. "I'll be down in a minute."

"Hi, Sonic," Sticks greeted, giving an awkward wave as she passed him. Rouge glared daggers at him.

"Hi, Sticks," Sonic murmured, not taking his eyes off Amy. As soon as the door shut behind the girls, he started towards her, not wanting to scare her off again. "Amy? Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah," Amy replied, not unkindly. "Just trying to unpack."

"Right," Sonic answered. He sat on the edge of the couch cautiously. "Must be weird, moving back into your old place."

"A bit," she shrugged. "I missed it."

"Yeah."

She sighed, then turned to face him. "What are you doing here, Sonic?"

He looked slightly taken aback. "I… I guess I wanted to apologize. For-"

"I know what for," she interrupted firmly. "It was a long time ago. Just forget about it."

"I just…" he stammered. "Well, you still seem mad at me."

"Mad? No," Amy snorted. "I'm not mad anymore. That went away about three years after I left. Now? I've finally grown up enough to know that if I let you anywhere near me, I'm going to get hurt again. I'm here to do a job, Sonic, and that's the only thing I intend to do while I'm here. I spent the past six years being trained to look out for myself, so you bet your ass that's exactly what I'm going to do."

She finished speaking, sighed, and put down the clothes she was holding. "You never wanted me around. I get that now, and it's okay. You can't help how you felt back then. But I'm telling you now that I'm going to be smart enough to know who's good for me to be around and who isn't."

Sonic stared at her, incredulous.

"I have to go-" Amy started, but he interrupted her.

"You're right."

"I know I am."

"I was cruel to you back then, when we were younger," Sonic exhaled. "For a while, when I wasn't paying attention to how it affected you, I thought it was fun."

"Yeah, real fun," Amy sighed. "I'm supposed to meet-"

"I know you have to go," he butted in again. "But please, just listen to this first. I know I was horrible to you, and you have no idea how badly I feel about it. And if there was anything in the world I could do to fix it, I would. But you also need to know how different things are now," he continued, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, losing you was the most devastating thing that's ever happened to me. I realized after you left just how much I loved you, and that hasn't changed over the past six years either. I never stopped hoping you'd come home. And I can't stand the thought of you not wanting to be around me. But, if that's what you need, then you do what needs to be done."

He moved closer to her and tucked a stray lock of pink hair behind her ear. She froze, eyes wide. He smiled at her. "I'm not going anywhere, Amy Rose. And if there's one thing you can't make me do, it's fall out of love with you."

She backed up. "No, but I can tell you to get the hell out of my house."

"Fair enough," he conceded, backing away. "Have a good time at the bonfire."

He left, closing the door softly, and Amy fell onto her butt, breathing heavily. Was she frightened? Aroused? Sad? Sort of a mix of all three, she thought begrudgingly. He'd had no right to come barging in here and say those things to her. She'd literally told him she wanted nothing to do with him, and what was his response?

Exactly.

What a tool, she taught angrily, changing clothes into an oversized 'Goo Goo Dogs' shirt and a pair of black leggings. She slid on her sneakers, locked her door, and jogged her way down to the beach, where her friends were waiting for her.