Chapter 7: He Hates Me

Later on, Sonic approached the door to Star's new bedroom. He brought his hand up and gently knocked on it, not wanting to make too much noise in case his sister was already asleep.

"Come in." He heard her call from inside, prompting him to grab the handle and quietly open the door. "Star?" He softly called.

"Sonic?" Star was already laying in bed, the covers over her legs as she sat up against the headboard. The lamp on the bedside table was on, and she had an open book sitting on her lap. "What is it?"

Sonic lowered his ears a bit and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. "May I approach?"

Star nodded and patted beside her, closing the book and setting it down on the bedside table. As Sonic walked over to her, he caught the title of the novel she had been reading. The Maze Runner by James Dashner. "I hear that's a good series."

Star looked down at the book and nodded. "It is. I think you'd really enjoy it." She looked back at him. "Was there something you needed? Is everything alright?"

"Yeah… yeah, no. Everything's fine." Sonic sat down on the bed beside her, rubbing his arm a bit.

"Then why are your ears down? They only do that when there's something on your mind."

"Heh. Four years apart and you can still read me like an open book."

"I'm your sister. Your twin. I'm supposed to be able to read you like an open book. It's our twin link."

"Heh, right." Sonic sighed and brought his eyes up to her. "I'm… sorry… for what happened earlier. I didn't mean to ruin the party by picking a fight with Shadow."

"It's ok, little brother."

"It's just… I don't know why you invited him to begin with and… he just makes me so angry sometimes. He has no respect for anyone but himself. He couldn't care less if he was hurting somebody and I wasn't gonna stand for him attacking you like that just over a little accident."

"They're just words, Sonic."

"I know. And I know you said I should just let words slide off my shoulders like water but… sometimes it's hard to do so with some of the things he says. Like, aren't you even a little bit angry that he accused you of lip-syncing?"

"No, I'm not. Because I hear it all the time from other people. Haters who don't have an ounce of talent themselves. I don't blame anyone for thinking that way because it's very common for singers to lip-sync during their performances. Especially if they've been performing on tour for a few days straight. I just never had the need to do so because I love singing too much to fake it."

"And that's why it angered me when he said that. Because I know you would never do such a thing."

"And I understand that, but that still doesn't excuse you to pick a fight, much less draw blood during a fight."

Sonic sighed, lowering his head in shame. "I know… I'm sorry."

"I know you are. I'm not gonna hold it against you. I know you were just trying to defend me." Star smirked and playfully ruffled his quills. "Being that overprotective little brother I've come to know and love over our childhood."

"Heh, you're only older by fifteen minutes." Sonic chuckled as he batted her hand away.

Star chuckled and gently kissed his cheek, her brother purring from the affection. "Try not to think too much about it, Sonic. It's over and done with. There's nothing we can do about it now. And I don't think Shadow would really care about your apology based on your rivalry."

"I wouldn't apologize to him anyway."

"Sonic…"

"... But if I knew he would accept it I would try."

"You should still try even if he doesn't."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll try to apologize to him the next time I see him. Can't guarantee that he'll care very much."

"That's all I'm asking for, is for you to try." Star chuckled and gently pushed him off the bed. "Ok, good ahead and get to bed, bro, and leave me be. I gotta get some sleep so that I can meet up with Drake at the recording studio tomorrow so that we can start going over some new songs."

"But you just made a new song based on your last relationship."

"My songs are about all my past relationships, Sonic." Star laughed. "One relationship may inspire multiple songs. Get with the program."

Sonic laughed a bit and shook his head. "You're something else, sis. Ok, I'll leave you be. Goodnight, sis. I love you."

"I love you too, Sonic. Goodnight."

...

Over the past two weeks, Star continued to live with Sonic and his friends in the Thorndyke mansion. She got along with everybody that lived there, especially Amy and Cream as they were happy to have another girl in the house to balance out the amount of boys, and nobody was none to wiser about her crush on Shadow, even if she did try to stop and talk to him every time they bumped into each other in public.

As per his sister's request, Sonic had also tried to talk to him, to apologize for his behavior and the fight at the party, but Shadow was having none of it. The stain was gone, and his lip had healed, but the grudge he held was still very much present.

At the same time she was living at the mansion, Star had also been waking up early to meet with her producer at the recording studio to go over her newest song. Everybody was curious of what this new song could be about, especially Sonic himself.

"Come on, sis. Can't you give me a hint?" He begged his twin for the umpteenth time that same week.

"No, Sonic, I already told you." Star laughed. "I don't like discussing my music with anyone but my producer until I know it's ready."

"Dang it." Sonic pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. "You used to always talk about your music with me when we were kids."

"That was then, when it was a dream. This is now, where I'm a professional. I gotta stay focused and go over the music with my producer. He's the one that got me to this point, so I gotta trust his judgment."

"I guess so." Sonic shrugged.

"I promise, once the song is done, you'll be one of the first people to hear it. I'll even send you a link to the song once it's up."

"Ok, I'll be patient then."

"That's a good baby brother."

"You're only older by fifteen minutes."

...

The very next day, at the Dark House, Rouge was on her computer with a cup of coffee, looking over some of the paperwork that Topaz had sent her, when she suddenly got a notification from Twitter. It said that Star had just posted a new song. Rouge smiled and pulled up the hedgehog's Twitter feed, the post about the new song the very first thing she sees at the top.

"Even though I've reunited with my brother and am currently living with him now to catch up on brother/sister bonding time, I still have to put some focus towards my music. Luckily I was struck with some new inspiration to produce a new song. So, please enjoy this new song, He Hates Me."

Rouge's ear twitched curiously at the post before she clicked on the link that was attached to the message. Immediately, she was taken to a Youtube page, the video of Star's new song already pulled up. There was no actual music video, the bat had long ago realized that wasn't Star's style. The video only consisted of the title of the song as it played in the background.

Rouge nearly spat out her coffee as she listened to the song, coming to a quick realization of who the lyrics were specifically about. It was a no brainer if you had actually been there.

"Uh, Shadow!" She called over her shoulder. "You might wanna come see this."

It took about a minute before the grumpy black and red hedgehog finally approached the bat, his arms crossed over his chest as usual. "What do you want, Rouge?"

"Have you heard Star's new song yet?"

"No. You're into that more than I am. Besides, why should I care? She made a new song. So what? That's her job."

"Yeah but… you might wanna hear this hun, because this song is clearly about you."

"What?" Shadow's eyes widened now as he leaned over the desk a bit, watching as Rouge rewinded the song to the start and pressed play. The song immediately started with a country beat before Star started singing.

I met a guy last night and girl I felt the earth move. If you'd a been there I swear you would've felt it too. But I spilled red wine on his white shirt. I stuttered and stumbled over all my words. Cause he's got these brown eyes that drive me crazy. And oh my god that smile of his just slays me. Yeah I love him, wanna have his babies. The only problem is he hates me.

Shadow frowned as he listened to the lyrics of his rival's lookalike. He looked over at Rouge, shaking his head. "I think you've gone nuts, bat. There's no way she's talking about me. First of all, I don't have brown eyes, I have red ones. And I don't wear a white shirt."

"Of course she's not going to outright say that you have red eyes. I mean, if she had done that it would've been a dead giveaway of who she's singing about." Rouge chuckled. "But you do have white chest fur... and she did make you spill your fruit punch on it."

"Stupid klutz." Shadow growled under his breath. "But still, she could be talking about anybody."

...

"She could be talking about anybody." Sonic hissed. He too was listening to Star's new song, a bit more intently now since Amy mentioned that his sister was singing about Shadow. "Plus, Shadow doesn't have brown eyes. He has red eyes."

"If she had said red eyes then it wouldn't be anonymous." Amy mentioned. "Just listen a little more."

I thought I'd make things better so I asked if he'd like to dance. If we could get a little closer I thought we might have a chance. Then my ex walked in and a fight broke out. So much for a kiss with his busted up mouth.

Sonic was silent for a moment at those lyrics. "... Ok, that's a little hard to play off."

...

"That's... hard to play off." Shadow frowned. "She may have said ex, but she's definitely talking about the Faker stepping in... And he did get a good punch to my lips."

"See?" Rouge giggled. "This girl's got it bad for you. Oh, and did I mention that she may have not quite but still very much asked me if you were single?"

"Seriously? She did that?" Shadow groaned with a roll of his eyes.

But he's got these brown eyes that drive me crazy. And oh my god that smile of his just slays me. Yeah I love him, wanna have his babies. The only problem is he hates me.

As the instrumental played, Shadow couldn't help but wonder if Star was the one playing the guitar solo. After all, she had shown at the concert just how talented she was on the instrument. He had to admit, it kinda amazed him how good she was.

We could be honeymooning' south of the border. If he'd just drop that restraining order.

"Did she really just say I put a restraining order against her?" Shadow couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"Well I know she's been trying to talk to you a lot after the party. You two have been bumping into each other a lot in public, so did you?"

"No! Of course not. I mean... she really didn't do anything wrong. I have no reason to put a restraining order on her… She's actually quite nice given the little time we spent with her."

"So then why won't you go out with her? Or even really talk to her?"

"I'd rather not have her brother on my ass 24/7."

"So if it weren't for Sonic you'd give it a chance?"

"Well... I... No. No I wouldn't. She just looks too much like the Faker."

"That's the point of identical twins, hun. And just because she looks like Sonic doesn't mean she is like Sonic."

Shadow hummed and continued to listen to the rest of the song, his arms crossed over his chest as unsure thoughts went through his head.

...

Cause he's got these brown eyes that drive me crazy. And oh my god that smile of his just slays me. Yeah I love him, wanna have his babies. The only problem is he hates me. Yeah, whatever honey.

As the song finally came to an end, Sonic's eyes were blazing in fury.

What in the world was Star thinking, writing a song about falling in love with Shadow?! Was she nuts?! Was she just ASKING to get her heart broken again?!

Oh, he was SO talking to his sister about this.

He was not going to let another guy break her heart again. Especially not a guy like Shadow!