For The Love of Speed

Chapter 28: A New Love

POV: Sonic

I storm out of the house, leaving the others behind in confusion. I take deep breaths, feeling myself getting worked up and Dark pushing his way towards the surface. 'Stop, just fucking stop. There's no reason to be getting this angry. Just. Just breathe' I continue taking deep breaths as I walk, slowly calming down. After several minutes I no longer feel Dark trying to take over and walk around without a destination in mind. I soon come across the park from before and find the bench, sitting down to think.

I sigh. Resting my head on my hand that is propped on my knee. 'Why do I feel this way? Why am I acting so different? Is it really just because Shadow and I are friends now? I mean, I'm normally defensive of my friends, this just feels... different?... somehow, maybe it has something to do with what happened at the movie? Ugh. This is so complicated.' I grunt in frustration, not feeling like I'm getting anywhere with my inner turmoil and look around.

As I finally feel peaceful due to the serene environment, my vision gets blocked by a sudden darkness. Without realising I zoned out, I come back to reality. I quickly realise why my vision got darker as I see Shadow standing in front of me. "I thought I'd find you here." He says with a chuckle. I pout and sit up, looking up at him "What's that supposed to mean?" He shrugs his shoulders "You like the serenity of parks, it's an undeniable fact. And I know you knew about this one, so, case solved." I finally glance around and notice he had his bike parked near us. I also notice people pointing and staring, some giving the 'awwww' face at us. I shrug it off, not wanting to feel embarrassed right now and stand up. "Why'd you come find me anyway? Not that I'm complaining, I'm just curious." He chuckles lightly and rolls his eyes "Well, I have to pay you back for what you did for me last night. Also I have a promise to keep. Let's go to the dealership, kay?" He extends his hand out to me. I look up and he's giving a genuine smile. I smile back and place my hand in his, getting up, heading to his bike. We both get on and I wrap my arms around him. I lean into his back, giving him a hug not caring what the public thinks for the first time.

We finally make it to the dealership and he pulls up in front, parking and we both hop off. 'Wait, is this really going to happen? Will I actually get a bike today?' I start getting excited, wagging my tail without even knowing until Shadow points at it with a chuckle "Well, someone's sure excited." I look at him and cross my arms "So?" He shakes his head lightly "It's cute" he seems to jump, not meaning to say that before adding on "In a 'new rider' jitters kind of way." I watch as he rubs the back of his head and I chuckle, rolling my eyes, not feeling like teasing him. For now. We walk in the building and I see rows of bikes everywhere. All sorts of different kinds. "Soooo. Which ones are the sports bikes? What kind is yours?" He smiles. Proud to be sharing his knowledge with me. "Well, mine is called a cruiser, which are all right here." He gestures in front of us to one of the larger sections of bikes. "Cruisers and sports bikes are the most common. The sports bikes are over there." He points to a large section of bikes. "There's other kinds of bikes too, I'll tell you what they are if you seem interested."

I smile, looking around at the cruisers first. 'Might as well look at these. After all. Shads' bike is pretty fast and awesome looking.' I look around, quite a few look very nice but Shadow says they don't go very fast. Something about a car berated (carburated) or something. I wasn't paying much attention. After shrugging, not finding anything that really pops, I walk over to the sports bikes, getting more and more excited as Shadow says how fast these ones can go. I eventually spot a gorgeous blue and green bike and smile, walking towards it with Shadow in tow. I look back at him as he's standing there like he normally does, crossing his arms. "You like the Yamaha R1, huh? I kind of figured you would. That is a really fast bike. Rated one of the fastest stock bikes. How much is it?" I smile widely and look at the price tag, dropping my ears "N-nevermind, let's go look at the used section instead.." I start to turn and walk away when shadow grabs my hand, stopping me and turning me around. "I came here to buy you a new bike. Not one I'll have to work on soon. Just tell me how much it is. Don't worry about it. You will owe me big time no matter the cost." He smirks. Sending shivers down my spine. I sigh. Looking away "It... it said sixteen thousand... I'll never be able to pay you back. Please let me look at some others." I feel his hand on my chin, turning me towards him. "Look, I said I didn't care about the price. I brought enough. You don't have to just pay me back with money. You can repay your debt in other ways, hedgehog." A blush is now prominent on my face as I stutter. "I- uh.. w-what?" He drops his hand and cocks his head. Confused "What's with that face? What's wrong?" I face palm "Shads... do you not realise that what you just did was intimate?" 'This is the second time he's done this, maybe he doesn't know? Or maybe-' he takes a minute, processing what I said before a bright red blush appears on his face "N-No, I didn't know that. When I read it in my books I assumed that it was a normal thing during a conversation where one is being shy..." I burst out in laughter "It's ok Shads, it just threw me off guard. Also. It didn't help how vague you were with your payback explanation." He cocks his head one more time "What do you mean?" 'Oh my poor heart. This hedgie is innocent minded... that explains so much.' I chuckle "Nevermind Shads, just forget it."

I hear a throat clear beside us and I turn towards the sound, seeing a cheeta mobian standing there "So. Did you bring your boyfriend back to also get a bike?" I blush and cross my arms, and Shads just replies "Actually, yeah, we're interested in this Yamaha R1. How many miles is on it and how recently has it been serviced and topped off?" 'What? He didn't even correct or snap at her? Maybe he just doesn't want to piss her off while we're trying to buy something from her?' The two talk back and forth, Shadow asking boring bike questions, and I just stand there, kicking at the ground, waiting for something to do. After what feels like forever, the cheeta mobian walks off and I walk back up to Shads "So what happened?" He chuckles "I negotiated a deal, she's going to give us a discount on this bike. They dropped it all the way down to twelve thousand. She's getting a key so you can test it out, if you want." I smile "Yes, please!" He smiles at me and we wait for her to come back. She finally returns and hands me the keys. I smile and get on it, remembering what shads said about ignitions. I finally find the key hole and start the bike up. 'This engine sounds so nice' I smile and look around, getting the feel of it before taking off, taking it on a test drive. When I return, Shadow is still talking to the lady, but turns and smiles genuinely at me as I come up to them. That smile makes my heart skip a beat and my chest feel tight. I park the bike and get off, heading up to Shads, smiling, portraying 'I DEFINITELY love it.' He smiles and turns to the lady. "We'll take it." She turns to me then back to him "Wow, you got that from a smile?~ I wish my boyfriend would learn my body language like that. Anyway, I'll go get your paperwork started."

After she leaves I turn to Shadow, rasing my eyebrow. He rolls his eyes and walks closer to me, placing a hand on my shoulder and whispering "If I corrected her, I wouldn't have been able to convince her to let me buy the bike at such a cheap price. I told her it was our anniversary and I was buying this for you as your anniversary present, but only had 13 thousand and didn't want to spend it all. I saw an opportunity and I took it. Is it really that wrong of me?" He leans back and smirks as I blush, thinking of what that lady must be thinking before chuckling quietly "Ah~ So you're still the same old Shads I used to know. That makes much more sense. I was getting confused and worried there for a minute." He chuckles lightly, us finishing our convo just before she heads back to get us. After Shads and I finish signing the paperwork and getting the keys back, I smile and we both head out front, getting on our bikes and heading off. (they moved it out front, since they washed it) We rode around town, playfully challenging each other to a couple races. Unfortunately for me, Shads won both of the races since he's much more skilled and comfortable on a bike. I got nervous a couple times and slowed down, nearly hitting a few cars. We eventually decide to head back home, parking our bikes next to each other by the garage and walking in the house. Shadow chaos controls once we close the front door, probably to his room and I decide to go help Amy out with dinner.