Chapter 8 - B-day boy

Aah... Saturday... Finally being able to sleep in... And the best is that you get to sleep in tomorrow as well. And to make it more special, it’s Cody’s birthday. I didn’t forget about it, it’s just that I forgot his age… I didn’t know if he’s 14, 13, turned 15 or 13 or 14… It’s so confusing… And a bit embarrassing not to know your little brother’s age… I still need to get something for him, but I don’t really know what. I know he likes those miniature models, but they cost a lot. Back home, he had all sorts of models. Military gunships, tanks, cars and all that. The weird thing is that I never saw him playing with those models. He always stared at it like some zombie. But at least I know what to get for him.



We talked about Cody’s birthday before and we all agreed on having a little party. I know we said we’re not gonna give expansive gifts, but I don’t really know what to give. I could at least look around in town.



It was around 10:00 that I woke up. I checked on Cody and he was still asleep. So I sneaked out the door and went to Blain’s place. I wondered if he wanted to come along to town. Just to hang out and looking for a present for Cody.



But as I arrived at Blain’s place, he wasn’t home. I knocked on the door but there was no answer. Then I peeked through the windows, but still nothing. I didn’t see him. At that point, I saw Sonic walking. I guess he was on his way to my house, seeing as we were going to town. So I caught up to him, and we headed towards town. On the way, we saw Blain and I asked if he would tag along as well. And to my surprise, he came along. And after that, we were finally on our way.



Sonic: So how old is Cody supposed to be?
Nicole: To be honest… I have no idea…
Blain: He turned fifteen today.
Nicole: How’d you know?
Blain: Because he told me…
Nicole: Ooh…
Sonic: Any idea what you wanna get for him?
Nicole: No… I don’t know what he likes…

Then we both looked at Blain, thinking he might know the answer again. He shrugged and stared ahead. And after a while, we reached town. We looked around for shops, but there wasn’t really interesting things to mention… At some point, we entered some hobby shop and looked around. Everyone had their own opinions about everything, and at this rate, we would never come up with a gift…



Sonic: *sighs* How about colour pencils and a sketchbook or something?
Nicole: Naah…
Sonic: I give up…
Blain: What do you know that he likes for sure?
Nicole: Miniature models…

So we looked around and eventually found some models.



Sonic: Right. We found them. Now what?

Blain stared at all those miniature models… He wandered off while Sonic and I kept looking around… And after a while, Blain came back.



Blain: How about this one?

He showed a miniature model of a… Battlewalker…



Sonic/Nicole: …
Blain: What, I like it… The “M3A1 Centurion” Battlewalker… A classic…
Nicole: Well he had models like that in the past…
Sonic: … Ok…
Nicole: How much is it?
Blain: …
Nicole: … Well?
Blain: Ehm… 149 dinar…
Nicole: Whoa!! Holy shoot!!
Blain: And 99 cents…
Nicole: I don’t even remember how 149 dinar looks like…
Sonic: Well how much you got then?

So I took out my wallet and see how much I got left. As I opened it, I could clearly imagine a moth flying out of my wallet screaming “I’m free!!” Luckily, that wasn’t the case here. Not all the money we stole in Reventon was gone… But it wasn’t much either… I only had 16 dinar left… And some small change…



Nicole: Eh… 16 dinar…
Sonic: …
Nicole: You know what?
Sonic/Blain: What?
Nicole: We owe Cody something… Once we get our money, we’ll buy something for him.

Sonic: Okay…

And Blain just nods. I noticed the time at the town square, and it said 13:23. We’ve been looking all over town to get something for him, but nothing. So as soon as we saw a café, we stepped in… I was rather hungry, seeing as I didn’t eat all day… I ordered a coffee and a sandwich. As soon as a waitress brought me my order, Sonic and Blain stared at me…



Nicole: You want anything?
Sonic/Blain: No I’m good.

Then I started eating… But they kept staring…



Nicole: Look, if you guys want anything, just say it.
Sonic: Ehm… How about a chilidog…
Blain: Same as Sonic…
Nicole: …
Sonic/Blain: Please…

So as soon as those chilidogs were delivered…



Nicole: You know, I was wondering.
Sonic: What?
Nicole: They call you the fastest thing alive, but I’ve never seen you anywhere fast.

Blain: Well he shoves chilidogs down his throat without chewing. So that’s probably the reason why they call him the fastest thing alive.

Then Sonic frowned at us…



Sonic: Well… Shoving down chilidogs down my throat with the speed of light isn’t the only reason why I’m called the fastest thing alive.

Nicole: Then why do they call you the fastest thing alive?
Sonic: Because I used to run at the speed of sound.
Blain: … You could run at 770 miles an hour…?
Sonic: Well yeah…

Then Blain and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. He kept staring at us while Blain and I laughed our asses off… But after a moment, he kept having a serious face…



Nicole: You’re serious?
Sonic: Yeah…
Blain: Then how come you don’t run that fast…?
Sonic: It’s not only me who was affected by it…
Blain: Affected by what?
Sonic: The Chaos Emeralds.
Nicole: Who else then?
Sonic: Knuckles, and Shadow… Knuckles used to punch his way through solid concrete walls and Shadow could annihilate everything within a radius of 300 meters with a finger snap.

Blain: Well I’ve seen Shadow doing it… But Knuckles and you?
Sonic: The reason Shadow could use his powers is because of his Chaos Emerald. We got four others, but two are missing… Once we get those, we can restore our power…

Blain: But that doesn’t explain how you got those powers…
Sonic: Well Shadow is easy to explain. He was created, along with the power of Chaos. How I got mine, and why I can run that fast, I don’t know. I don’t complain though, I love it.

Blain: Hold on…
Sonic: What?
Blain: You said that once we find the 2 other Chaos Emeralds, you can restore your power right?

Sonic: Yeah?
Blain: … Does it work for me as well…?
Nicole: You? Powers!?
Blain: … Didn’t you know?
Nicole: What?
Blain: I was created as well. Shadow was created by Gerald Robotnik, and I was created by his grandson… The idea was to have 4 ultimate lifeforms. One of them perished in early stages, and the 3 of us made it. Except that the whole project backfired. We did however, had an improved nerve system. Like stamina, hearing, eye sight and all that…

Blain? Created? Well that was an interesting twist. Then again, that would explain a lot.



Sonic: Well I don’t know about you’re powers.
Blain: We can always try…
Sonic: That my friend, is true.

At some point, we had to go home. I asked for the bill and when the waitress brought the bill, I almost fell down my chair of the price…



Nicole: Oh no…
Sonic: What?
Nicole: Check it out…

So I showed the bill to the others…



Blain: “21 dinar and 31 cents”…?
Sonic: All that for 2 chilidogs, a coffee and a sandwich?
Nicole: Yeah…
Sonic: The nerve…

Then I realized I didn’t have enough money…


Sonic: You what?!!
Nicole: Sssh!! I don’t wanna do dishes…
Sonic: So now what?
Blain: Don’t worry… I’ve done this many times…
Sonic: What? Sneaking out a café and not paying?
Blain: No, getting away without being seen.
Nicole: Blain you cheeky bastard.
Blain: Hey, it’s either that or doing dishes, your choice.

Then we looked around the café to see if we could get away unnoticed… It wasn’t really busy and besides, if I left the 17 dinar I had left, that means only 4 dinar short right? I mean, it’s not that much… Then I decided that I could actually save up what I had left… I mean, its not like I stole before… And it’s not really stealing… The café wasn’t really crowded…


Blain: I’m going to the bathroom.
Nicole: Yeah sure, why wouldn’t you?

So he walked off to the back of the café, near the terrace that had opened doors so that visitors could also sit outside. He peeks around the corner and gestured to come along. He walked out on the terrace and jumped over a small hedge that separated the sidewalk from the terrace. Not long after that, we followed. We made sure we went one at a time… And as soon as we managed to jump over the hedge, Blain was kneeled behind it as well.



So we sneaked away…



On the way back home, we came across an electronic store. I stared in the windows and looked at all the TV’s, radios, cd players, computers, and game consoles they had… I wish I could afford a TV, and a cd player, because I really needed it… Earlier, I saw cd’s with drum and bass tracks. Very good for breakdancing and all that, but I suck at it. I once made an @$$ of myself thinking I actually could. And well, everyone was- Wait, why the hell am I telling you embarrassing stories of myself? That’s totally irrelevant and not worth to mention. As a matter of fact, I never said anything.



…



Ahem, moving on.



Sonic: Nicole!!

Then I got back to reality…



Sonic: You coming or what?
Nicole: Yeah sure.

Damn it… Did he have to break my day dream?



As soon as we got home, I went to my house with Blain and Sonic… Someone had been messing around with the lock, and the door was slightly open… Blain went in first, followed by Sonic and me… As soon as we got in the small living room…



Shadow: Surprise!!!!

We almost got a heart attack seeing Shadow jumping up from behind a door. Then I noticed he decorated the house a bit… A bit of a messy decoration, but still, a nice gesture…



Nicole: Eh… We’re gonna celebrate Cody’s birthday at Sonic’s place…
Shadow: What?
Nicole: He has a bigger house, so, yeah…
Shadow: Then all of this was for nothing?
Nicole: Yeah… I’m sorry…
Shadow: frack… Well, I thought it was weird that no one was around…

Blain: Speaking of which, I gotta go see Tails.
Sonic: Why?
Blain: I made a gift for Cody and I need a drill to finish it.
Nicole: Oh? What is it?
Blain: You’ll see…

He smiled and went off… So Shadow, Sonic and I packed some stuff and went towards Sonic’s place, where everyone else was busy cleaning the place. To my surprise, Cody helped along. He seems very happy and I cuddled and hugged him and kissed him on the cheeks.



As evening starts to fall, we all settled down. Not everyone had a present, including me, but I still owe him one. Amy bought him colour pencils and a sketchbook… He seems thrilled by it and gave Amy a hug…



Sonic: See, I told you…
Nicole: Yeah, yeah…

Then Blain gave him a small box… As he opened it, it was a necklace… With a bullet hanging on it…



Blain: Here you go…
Cody: Whoa! Is that a real one…?
Blain: Yup… It’s a .50 calibre anti-material round.
Cody: Thanks!!

Then he placed it around his neck… Seriously, the bullet is bigger then his index finger… Then he gave Blain a hug as well. Blain seemed surprised at first that he got hugged, but he got a little smile on his face… It was actually cute to see that…



And well, to be honest, we didn’t have much. No tv, no radio, no music whatsoever. So it got a little boring to say the least… But Cody was very happy and he talked with everyone that evening. We passed drinks around, along with something to snack. All in all, everything seems to have succeeded…



At around 1:00 am, everyone started to leave. Blain, Rouge, Shadow and me stayed to help Sonic clean up the place. And after that was done, we all went home… I saw Blain walking home in the darkness while I walked with Cody towards my home. I wanted to talk to Blain for a moment alone, so I told Cody to go ahead. Then I caught up with Blain…



Nicole: Blain?
Blain: Hey, wassup?
Nicole: Well I just wanted to tell you that…
Blain: Hm?
Nicole: Well…

Damn it… I wanted to talk to him, but I don’t even know what to say…



Nicole: You see… Cody trusts you… And…
Blain: You think I’m gonna take advantage of that?
Nicole: No, no, it’s just that… Cody has a mental… Disadvantage…
Blain: Whadda ya mean?
Nicole: Well… He’s fifteen now, but he has the mind of a nine year old…
Blain: So… ?
Nicole: Whaddaya mean so?
Blain: Just like I said.
Nicole: Look, I just want Cody to be protected from anything that can harm him…

Blain: And that’s the exact problem…
Nicole: What?
Blain: Yeah… If you want to protect him all the time and you do all the things for him, how can he learn to be on his own?

Well he’s right about that… I haven’t really thought about that… It made perfect sense back then, but now…


Blain: My thoughts exactly…
Nicole: You know, what you did back there was really sweet…
Blain: What?
Nicole: He loved it… He kept on telling how much he loved all the presents he got and although it wasn’t much, he kept on mentioning yours. I saw he hugged you, which is a rare thing for him…

Blain: He hugged Amy as well…
Nicole: Yeah… But that just shows that he had a good time… So… Thanks… He really needed it after all the things that happened to him.

Blain: Don’t mention it…
Nicole: What brought you to that idea in the first place?
Blain: I used to have one… But… It got lost a long time ago.
Nicole: Ooh…
Blain: And it’s because out of sentimental reasons…
Nicole: Why is that…?
Blain: Because I got you now right?

I didn’t really know what to say to that… Then all of a sudden, I gave him a hug…. I don’t really know what got into me, but I did anyway. I mean, it was rare for him to say something sweet, let alone something towards me… He looked a little surprised after I let him go, but he got a smile on his face none the less…



Blain: Awkwaaard…
Nicole: Hehehe…

Oh man… I had a feeling my head could explode any second… I was so embarrassed by that… Then he looked at me and then I realized I was blushing… Damn it, make it worse why don’t you… At that point, I didn’t really know what to do…



Blain: Well, it’s getting late. I should be going…
Nicole: Ok… Goodnight then.
Blain: G’night…

Then he walked off, into the darkness to his home… Then I got back to my home and noticed Cody sitting on the couch… He looks a little depressed…



Nicole: Cody…? What’s wrong…?
Cody: I don’t know… Well…
Nicole: Hmm…?
Cody: I was wondering if mom and dad would realize it’s my birthday today… And if they even thought about it…

I didn’t really know what to say. I guess he’s a little home sick, and to be honest, I got that too… So I sat next to him, and held him close… At some point, he fell asleep… After a while, I fell asleep as well while lots of thoughts ran through my head… And I was wondering about the same thing…

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