Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Babbysitter Affair ❯ Anticipation ( Chapter 3 )

 

 

The Babysitter Affair: Chapter 3

 

 

 

“And in other news, onto Station Square's Traffic Report. There's a bit of buildup in four different locations---“

“Man…Knuckles still hasn't gotten here yet.” A soft voice sighed. Watching the traffic report on her miniature black and white TV that she hoped to sell today, Amy Rose frowned slightly. She had been waiting all morning to hear from Knuckles after calling his cell phone and leaving countless messages the other night.

It was already mid-day and she still hasn't heard from him. Sighing again, her weary eyes lingered on the traffic report until her mind began to wander. She wondered if Sonic knew about the times she'd been calling Knuckles night and day. But even if he did know, she doubted that he would get on her case about it. Anytime she'd bring Knuckles' name up a lot, Sonic would always give her this strange look…

She couldn't describe it.

That Sonic…

The truth was she had been living with Sonic for almost 2 and a half years now, but the reasons why were far from what she wished they could have been.

The two of them never became a couple. Instead, Sonic decided to take her in and let her live at his place until she got financially back on her feet.

She had lost her apartment due to the current job she worked at during the time, went out of business that same day.

So, having no place else to go or turn to, Amy showed up at Sonic's doorstep and told him her story. And to her surprise, he agreed to let her stay—under one condition—that she respect both of their privacy and not try anything while he was asleep.

So meekly, yet respectfully, Amy agreed and the two shook on it.

So today, Sonic planned on helping her sell her things so she could raise enough money to get a new place after her job interview in a couple of days.

Amy had to admit, she wouldn't have gotten far if not for him---or Knuckles for that matter.

Knuckles…

“Amy!!!” Sonic called from the bottom of the stairs “Hey Amy, ya still up there?”

“Yeah!” she called back “Hang on a sec, I'll be right down!” she added, turning off the small TV and carrying it out the room.

Heading out into the hall, she held the handle with both hands and lugged all of its weight around on one side of her body. Turning into another hall, she passed the room that Shadow had been staying in. He hadn't lived there for very long and was in dire need for a place to stay. At least Amy and Sonic thought so since Shadow willingly took up the offer of living with Sonic.

Padding down the steps with the TV lightly brushing against her legs, Amy rounded the corner and caught sight of Sonic standing not that far from her.

With a friendly wave, he greeted her with a “Good Afternoon” and took the weight off the TV out of her hands.

Once they were free, they instinctively smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress then rested energetically at her sides.

“Good Afternoon, Sonic!” Amy beamed to her friend, who couldn't help but smile back.

“Yeah, it sure is. Did you sleep well?”

Amy didn't answer right away as her mind took her back to the night before. She had been on the phone late that night, talking with a certain echidna while he was out on one of his personal errands and discovered a rather unsettling situation.

 

[“Amy did you hear me?”

“Huh? The pink hedgehog asked on the other end of the receiver. She had been so caught up in her own thoughts, that she barely heard him at first. “No, sorry Knuckles…!” she smiled guiltily and smoothed a few stray locks of hair away from the side of her face. But of course, they came right back.

“What did you say again?”

There was a pause, as if to indicate that Knuckles was amused by her not hearing him and took a breath to repeat himself. “I said what did you think of the boys?”

The boys?

“Oh! They were so cute Knuckles!” Amy laughed, falling back first onto the fluffy sheets in her bed. “They look just like you! Especially Akai!”

“Yeah” Knuckles replied with the sound of a broad smile in his voice. “They're my pride n joy!”

“They sure are!”

“Mmhmm… Boy don't you sound happy!”

Hearing this, Amy could feel a streak of warmth pass over her cheeks and spread over her whole face. Trying not to let it show in her voice she playfully laughed, but that only made it worse. She was sure that Knuckles caught on. But if he did, he didn't give off any hints that he did.

There was a few moments of silence, then Knuckles spoke again. “I know I didn't tell you this, but I wanted it to be a surprise.

“Yeah what's that? She asked, her eyes widening in anticipation.

“Rouge and I were talking, and it seems that we're going to have a second wedding and honeymoon.”

The color from Amy's face almost completely drained. “ANOTHER one?”

“That's right! I know that Rouge probably feels that we rushed or got into marriage too soon and that we didn't really know each other that well…and then the boys came…you know. Things like that.”

“Oh…” Amy barely whispered. “So…when is this all taking place?” she asked, trying to sound excited for her friend.

“Well…we're both not to sure yet, but it's been up in the air a couple times, so that's good.”

“Yeah…”

There was another uncomfortable pause.

Then Knuckles' tone lowered. “You know…Amy…”

Holding the receiver closer to her ear from the almost distant tone his voice carried, Amy's eyes fleeted around the room aimlessly, as if doing so would tune her into what he had to say a lot better.

He sighed.

“…You know…I really…just wanted to thank you Amy. You've been a really great friend over the years and…I just don't know where I'd be without you around.”

To this, Amy could barely contain her excitement as her heart fluttered and did summersaults in her chest.

“But…”

Just as quickly, she felt her heart sink. But? Why was there a but in there? What but? But what?

“But what…?” she voiced, her tone dripping with remorse a seriousness.

He sighed again. “But…I'm afraid that Rouge and I…and the boys. We're all going to move from this place.”

“That's it?” she almost shrieked. “That's not a problem! I'll just tell Sonic and maybe we can go move wherever you guys do, o-or when I get my new place, I'll be sure that it's someplace near---“

“No Amy.”

Her mouth fell open in shock and she inhaled sharply. Had she heard him right? Did he just say no to her?

“What…?”

“No. I said no. I don't want you moving all over the continent just to be close to me.”

“It's MORE than just that!” Amy spat, not believing at all what she was hearing. Here was a guy who had become her best friend over the past year and a half—the same guy that shared his deepest and innermost secrets and fears with her—a guy who opened up to her and no one else---

And here he was, going to move away from her and just leave her and everything they'd been through behind?

Amy wasn't having it!

“I can't believe you, Knuckles! How can you just decide on something like this and just choose to move out of my life!? Rouge had to have been the main one to talk you into this! I know you would never---!”

“That's enough Amy…!”

The pink hedgehog abruptly stopped in her verbal assault and held the phone close to her face, taking everything she had to hold the tears back.

“Now…before you start throwing problems and accusations on Rouge, I'll be the first to tell you, that it was MY idea.”

“Wha--!”

“Yeah…I wanted to move someplace that isn't so crowded…a place that doesn't have some many congested streets and highways. Traffic is horrendous! …I want my boys to grow up where all they have to do is eat, sleep, play and breathe. They don't need all this here. And Rouge…”

“What about me…?!” Amy blurted out, her hands trembling and her voice wavering.

“What?”

“What about ME, Knuckles? What about us? You're my best friend! You're the only person I really trust in this neighborhood! Sonic doesn't love me, Cream is too young, Tails is away at college and Shadow is too wrapped up in his own anxiety and angst to even be a good brick WALL to talk to! You're the only one! You can't just leave us hanging like this!!”

The was silence on the other end, then “You forgot about Rouge…”

“!!!”

“She IS my wife, after all.”

“So…what…” Amy spoke with an acidic tone. “You know what, I want you to lie to me Knuckles. Just lie to me and tell me you never cared anything for me…that you never trusted me with information you'd never tell Rouge… Lie to me and say you never enjoyed a minute talking with me and hearing my voice or seeing my smile…! Just lie to me! And, I'll leave you alone…” Shaking, Amy swallowed fearfully, her body feeling the after effects of her bravery and honesty. Urgently, she bit her lip, keeping her sobs in as well as anymore words, until she received an answer from Knuckles.

Her body shivered when she heard him sigh on the other end, and her heart jumped when he finally began to voice his words.

“…I… I'm at the house now, Amy. I'll…call you some other time allright? We'll finish this later. …”

Feeling every hope, and object of faith she had ever held onto tie into a knot and shatter within the pit of her stomach, Amy dropped the phone from her shaking hand.

“Bye.” Was the final word Knuckles left her with before the phone clicked.

Shaking uncontrollably, it took Amy a good few minutes just to register what had taken place that whole conversation. And once she did, hot tears invaded her eyes and she threw herself into the bed sheets, inflicting her anger upon them in the form of muffled screams and sobs. ]

“Amy? Hey Amy are you in there?” Sonic asked, waving a hand in front of her face and quickly retracted it. She was staring off into space with a black look on her face.

“Whoa creepy.” Steeping closer to her, he lightly nudged her in the shoulder. “Amy?”

“Hm?” She didn't hear exactly what he said, but heard his voice and responded to it. What was it that he had asked her before? Oh yes. He asked if she slept well.

Faking a smile, she nodded to him and toyed with a loose lock of hair. “It could have been better though.”

Well that part was the whole truth.

Sonic eyed her suspiciously. He could usually tell when Amy was fibbing, but other times, he really believed she was just being her usual cheery self.

Shrugging it off, he sighed and patted the little television in his hand. “So, are you ready to sell this thing?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I sure am! That thing cost me a fortune when I got it from a garage sale…They thought it was some sort of `antique.' “ she began brightly, then her smile faded and annoyance took its place. “I should have known it was just another black and white portable TV.” She crossed her arms and sighed, her vision drifting off to a nameless spot in the house.

“Yeah hah! But that's okay, Amy! We all make mistakes sometimes. Some of us more than others!”

“Yeah…” she replied, her tone devoid of all emotion. `Boy, don't I know.'

Soon Sonic's chipper mood faded and he began to worry about his friend a lot more than usual. Ever since she and Knuckles started hanging out with the other, things have gotten a lot livelier around the house. But lately, things seemed to be going in a rocky direction for Knuckles and Rouge and Amy hadn't seemed to be taking it too well.

Unknown to Sonic, his eyes narrowed as he contemplated this and fell on Amy. `Amy…', he thought, his eyes lingering near hers to find any hint of truths within them. But her eyes remained elsewhere and never met with his.

`Just what happened last night?' Sonic continued asking himself.

As if she could hear him thinking about her, Amy faced him suddenly with wide searching eyes.

The moment she parted her lips, Sonic knew what she was going to ask, but let her do so anyway.

“Did Knuckles call you back yet?” she asked urgently, her expectant eyes fleeting between both of his.

Not sure how to answer her this time, Sonic simply sighed and shook his head. “No.”

“Oh…” she whispered, appearing hurt and disappointed. Then she lifted her eyes back to Sonic and cracked a small smile. “Well what are we standing around here for? Let's go get this sale on the road!”

Admiring her attitude, Sonic smiled and agreed. “Yeah! Now that's the Amy I know!” Giggling lightly at his enthusiasm, Amy's smile brightened and she eagerly followed Sonic out the front door.

Once outside, Sonic had already laid out at least 3 tables with blue clothes draped over them. Countless knick-knacks, old toys and electronics covered them all. There was even a table with some old jewelry Amy had when she was growing up.

She had no use or need for them now.

Walking around the tables to make sure they held the right merchandise, Amy smiled while lightly lacing her fingertips across each clothed tabletop.

“Wow, you did a great job Sonic! I'm impressed!”

“Thank you, thank you!” Sonic grinned, taking small mock bows. “I'm glad you think so Amy! Took me a while to get the designs just right.”

Amy paused abruptly and slowly turned to face him. “Designs? What designs?”

Sonic smiled, a little unsurprised that she hadn't noticed it yet and nodded towards the edges of the cloth. “There. See it?”

Amy's eyes widened and she quickly squatted to the ground to be able to see what he was referring to.

And the moment she did, her cheeks warmed with a genuine smile.

In white, and sloppy, letters Sonic had embroidered her name in the stitching. Seeing this, and being glad that her name consisted mainly of just 3 letters, Amy reached out and fingered the fabric—imprinting each curve and stitch to memory. “Oh Sonic…you really did this…! For me?”

Smiling broadly, Sonic nodded. “Yep.”

Standing to her feet, she dusted off her dress and eyed him pleasantly. “But…but why?”

“Hmmm…Just think of it as a going away gift, from me.” He replied with a wink. “The truth is, you've been living here a long time, and well…” Sonic looked away from her for a second, as a bashful smile overtook his lips. Amy winced.

Was this for real? Did he really care about her that much?

`Then maybe…maybe there's still hope...!' her heart secretly wished. “And well…?” she echoed, eagerly awaiting his response.

“And well uh…” he continued, running a hand through his quills, “It's really been a treat having you live here and all and I hope you move into a great place and get a great supportive job and…”

“And…and???” Amy anticipated, her voice heightening with each word.

“And,…ah shoot, I'm no good with goodbyes!” Sonic sulked, then he shrugged. Walking over to her, he reached out a hand to her.

`This is it!' Amy thought, her eyes becoming moist with an antediluvian feeling she thought she got rid of for good with Sonic…

Lowering her lids halfway, she leaned closer, expecting a kiss or a hug…

But her hopeful illusion was torn to pieces when all she felt was Sonic's firm hand clasp her shoulder. Reacting to the motion with a slight jolt, Amy dejectedly gazed up into Sonic's eyes and felt her bottom lip quiver.

Thinking she was just as difficult with saying goodbyes as he was and nothing more, Sonic gave her shoulder a pat and smiled to her, a smidge of remorse swimming in his eyes.

Catching this, Amy began to wonder exactly what he was so remorseful about, then figured it was just him and his `being bad with goodbyes' and nothing more…

Feigning a cheerful smile, Amy rubbed his gloved hand and then slowly moved it from her shoulder.

She could feel Sonic's eyes on her, looking almost through her and she hated it. Not wanting to be the center of his attention any longer from being rejected and let down a second time since she arrived there, Amy moved past him and sent her divided attention towards a random table.

Tears stung the backs of her eyes and she pushed the sensation further down within herself. She couldn't deal with it now. Not with Sonic there. She couldn't talk to him about her feelings. She never could. He'd listen, but he wouldn't understand. And if he did understand, he wouldn't say a word about it. All he'd do is try to make up some lively fantasy -some creative false illusion for her to believe in when he knew the real truth.

She was a woman now. She didn't need the sugar-coated lies anymore. She needed the cold harsh and straight-forward truth.

Shadow told her the truth, but he was hardly ever there.

Besides Shadow, there was only one other person who actually heard her out and who could relate.

Looking down, her hands balled into fists and soon she regretted ever telling Knuckles the things she had.

She felt like such a fool…A complete fool…

“Hey, what are these?”

Amy frowned as the once again cheerful voice of Sonic drifted into her ears and brought her out of her depression.

Slowly looking upwards towards the sky, she took a deep breath, relaxed her body, then turned his way.

Silently, her eyes traveled down to where one of his gloved fingers pointed and her eyes widened in surprise as a small smile danced across her lips.

“Those are my old walkie talkies!” she exclaimed with glee. Reaching out for one, she shook it, and flipped the switch. “Does they still work?” she asked rhetorically, pressing her ear to one. Once she heard the thin buzz on the other end, her smiled doubled in girth and she handed Sonic the other one. “Here! See how far you can go with this!”

“Allright!” Sonic eagerly replied and zipped a good 4 feet away from the house.

Cupping a hand over his mouth into the tiny speaker, he blew into the microphone.

“Ahh! Sonic don't do that!” Amy's squealed from the speaker. Sonic smiled. And waved the walkie talkie in the air.

“IT WORKS!!” he shouted to her from across the yard.

Shaking her head, Amy couldn't figure out why he just didn't tell her that through the microphone and started heading back to the table. Sonic did the same.

Once they were within arm's reach of the other, both shared a well needed laugh as they eyed the small devices.

“Hey, do you really wanna sell these?” Sonic asked, starting to miss them already.

Amy placed a finger to her chin and thought about it. “Hmm, yeah. I'll sell `em anyway! I need the money” she laughed and set the one she held down.

Eyeing her closely, Sonic smirked, then whipped out his cell phone.

As he punched in a lyric of electronic beeps and boops, Amy recognized the sequential pattern as Shadow's number.

As the call went on, Amy could hear the ringing through the speaker from where she stood. 5 rings passed and still no answer.

“Hmmm…” Sonic pondered, gazing at the phone as if it wasn't listening to him and dialed Shadow's number again.

“Wait Sonic, Are you sure this is a good idea?” Amy asked, holding up a hand in caution. Then she wrinkled her nose in disgust. “He might be in one of his moods again…” she groused, emphasizing the word `moods'.

Sonic shuddered in remembrance and sighed. “Yeah well, he's still our friend, regardless of if he's creepy or not!”

Amy sighed and half-smiled. “I sure hope you're right!”

 

 

-

Give it to me straight how this was and how this story is going so far and please just tell me about the story and it's flow. Nothing nitty-gritty like I added one period too many to a set of 3 or something like that. Just an example. The punctuation will be dealt with too, but I already know about that =)

-Mel