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Rouge came out of the changing room with a pink fuzzy sweater and a black pleated skirt. Shadow was waiting for her on a fluffy pink chair outside the waiting room. She turned around, showing off her outfit. “What do you think, Shadow? Should I go with the skirt or the pants?”
“Hmm.” Shadow took some time to consider. “You look great in both, Rouge. But I think that sweater goes better with the pants.”
Rouge picked up the edges of the skirt in the hands and swished it from side to side. “I think so too. I wanted to try something different since I don’t wear skirts often. But I think pants are more my style. This would look great on Amy though. Oh, I need to bring her here soon, they have such a good selection of clothes. How about you Shadow, did you find anything you like?”
Shadow looked around the store, there were lots of clothes in bright colors which wasn’t typically his preferred choice of clothing. They were at a new store that had opened up not too long ago. Rouge had been begging him all week to check it out with her.
——
“Come on Shadow. You have to go with me.” Rouge had said a few nights ago.
“I’m not interested in that store. Why can’t you go on your own?” Shadow had scrolled through the stores website previously when Rouge had excitedly pushed her phone into his face with the website pulled up and he knew he probably wasn’t going to like anything there. Although he didn’t mind shopping with Rouge, he found it a bit bothersome when they went to a store that didn’t also have something with his tastes.
“Because shopping alone is no fun! I want you to go with me, please” Rouge pulled out her trump card and started giving him her puppy eyes.
Shadow absolutely hated how effective Rouge’s puppy eyes expression was on him. It also wasn’t fair how aware Rouge was of its effectiveness. Shadow rolled his eyes. Well, he could put up with shopping at a store he didn’t like if it made Rouge happy. He sighed, “Alright, fine. I’ll go shopping with you on Friday.”
Rouge cheered, “promise?”
“Promise.”
——
Shadow spotted a section of darker clothing in the corner of the store and motioned to it. “Maybe over there.”
Rouge followed him over to the small section when he went over to go look through the clothes.
“Hey,” she said. “I really appreciate you coming along with me today. Thanks for being such a good friend.”
She wrapped her arms around Shadow and pulled him into a hug. Shadow stiffened, but didn’t resist. He raised an arm and patted her back, “it’s no problem.”
She pulled away and he resumed looking through the clothes. So far nothing was catching his eye. Then he saw a black leather jacket with silver spikes along the sleeve cuffs and collar. On the back was a skull and crossbones outlined by pink rhinestones. He pulled it off the hanger and put it on. He swung his arms around and was pleased by the flexibility of the sleeves. He looked over at Rouge. “I like this one. What do you think?”
Rouge clapped her hands. “That looks amazing on you. You should get it! Are you gonna wear it to your race tomorrow?”
Shadow raised his eyebrow. “How’d you know about that?”
“You think I didn’t notice you using our shopping trip to get out of hanging out with Sonic and the others?”
Shadow took offense to the idea that he was avoiding being social as if he were afraid of it or something. He wasn’t afraid of anything! He also resented the idea that Rouge thought he was using her in such a way. “I didn’t use you. I already promised you that we’d go shopping today.”
Rouge patted his arm in a placating way. “I know. I know. I didn’t mean to say that I thought you were using me. I only meant that we could’ve gone another day if you’d wanted to hang out with them.”
Shadow scoffed. “I didn’t want to hang out with them.”
Rouge gave him a sceptical look. “I know you don’t like to admit that they are, but I know that deep down you really do consider the others your friends and that you want to get closer to them, especially Sonic. Hanging out with them is probably going to be the first step towards that.”
“What makes you think that I want to get closer to them?”
“You told me so yourself only a couple of weeks ago.”
Shadow’s face flushed with embarrassment as he recalled the night he had confided in Rouge about some of his thoughts and emotions he’d been pushing aside for a while about his self proclaimed rival. “That doesn’t count! I was sleep deprived and running on two bags of coffee beans when I said that. I wasn’t in my right mind.”
Rouge crossed her arms. “So it’s not true?”
Shadow’s ear twitched and he turned away from Rouge’s searching stare. “I… well… it’s not… untrue.” Shadow sighed. “Can we not talk about this, right now? I know I should be trying more, but I just… I’ve already got you and Omega. Adding more people on top of that, it just feels overwhelming. I’m not sure if I’m ready for that yet.”
“Sorry, hun. I didn’t mean to push you. I just care about you and I want you to be happy.”
Shadow gave her a small smile. “I know.”
Rouge returned Shadow’s smile and tugged him over to the shoe section. “Good. Now let’s get back to shopping.”
They continued exploring the store and when they were done they headed to the check out. Shadow bought the jacket he found as well as some matching sunglasses. Rouge bought the pink sweater and pants as well as some other outfits and a pair of boots. By the time they left the store the sun had almost set. Rouge looked at the sky in surprise. “Wow! We spent more time in there than I thought. I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun. Let’s head home. I’m starving!”
Shadow nodded and followed Rouge down the street. But they didn’t make it back to their house before the sun set and the time loop they were unknowingly caught in restarted. The world went white and time rewound to the start, no one but one remembering what had been, but now would never be.