Author's Note:

If SpongeBob can light fires underwater, then I can randomly have a Starbucks on the River Walk that sells coffee to both humans and sea creatures... right?

Also, thanks you guys for the continued support. I didn't expect so many people to still be interested in this story. Thank you so much.

Chapter 18:

Caffeinated Confessions

Dinner went by quickly yet silently. Randy continued to give the "couple" questioning stares. Patrick finished SpongeBob's untouched quesadilla slices after the starfish ate his own meal. The Cheeks parents acted as if nothing had happened before. Sandy picked at her food.

When the server came back to the table to ask if anyone wanted any desert, Mr. Cheeks quickly silenced the waitress before Patrick could order something else. "I think we're ready for the ticket."

She nodded and pulled the small black checkbook out of her pocket. When she saw Sandy's plate she asked, "Any to-go cups or boxes?"

"I'll take a sweet tea to-go and so will my daughter, I think." Mrs. Cheeks smiled. Sandy looked up without saying anything. "And if you could bring a to-go box for those tacos too that would be wonderful."

The server smiled and walked away from the table.

Mrs. Cheeks stared at her daughter. Sandy was slumped in her chair. She had barley touched her food. SpongeBob looked like whatever had caused to Sandy feel down had happened to him as well. The older squirrel sighed, "Well, thanks for coming out and eating with us."

SpongeBob brightened up and the waitress dropped off their to-go containers. "Of course, Mrs. Cheeks! Thank you guys for dinner."

The party was split in two groups on the way home. Patrick had seen a coffee shop sign and decided to look for princess mermaids—despite Randy's and the Cheek parents' continuous "there's no such thing as mermaids" warnings.

And SpongeBob and Sandy got stuck with the starfish. Patrick had Sandy's to-go box in one hand and SpongeBob's arm in the other. Sandy walked a few feet behind them.

"It's a sign!" Patrick finally said, tugging on SpongeBob's arm.

"What is?"

"The green mermaid sign! It stays STAR. S-T-A-R. Patrick Star!"

"It's a sign for a coffee shop." Sandy said, frowning at the starfish in front of her.

"It's huge." SpongeBob whispered.

"Yeah, it's for humans. Not critters like us."

Patrick shook his head, determined to find a princess in a building he really shouldn't be in. "Well I'm going inside."

So Sandy and SpongeBob waited outside.

The store lights and lampposts brightened the pavement and the buildings beside them, but the night felt darker and colder than it had before Patrick interrupted them on the bridge.

SpongeBob stared at his shoes; sliding them back and forth on the stones the path was made out of. "Do you think that Patrick will find any mermaids?"

"The only thing he'll find in that shop is a human screamin' about a walking starfish."

"Oh..."

Sandy looked at her friend. This probably wasn't the right place to talk about what had just happened. Patrick could come out any minute. Besides, what if what SpongeBob said wasn't "I love you". What if it was something completely different? What if Patrick's interruption had saved her from a terrible unwanted heartache?

Sandy shook her head. SpongeBob wasn't the type to hand out unwanted heartaches. He wasn't the type to tell her something that would shatter her emotionally. SpongeBob's words were uplifting, encouraging, the opposite of hurtful.

Besides, he had just told her that he liked her more than a friend. That's a good sign.

The sea sponge on the other hand, wasn't so sure. His hands dug deep inside his pockets, trembling. The stone pathway beneath him didn't seem strong enough to carry the worry on his shoulders.

He glanced up at Sandy.

"Sandra Cheeks, I am terribly, utterly, absolutely in love with you."

"What?!" Sandy jumped back. "We're a different species! That wouldn't ever work out!"

"I…I'm sorry… I just thought…"

"Now I'm stuck with you for this entire trip and you know what? When you leave for Bikini Bottom, I'm stayin' here!"

SpongeBob winced at the scene that played in his head.

"You okay?" Sandy placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh! Of course I am Sandy! I'm doing wonderful! Just, y'know, thinking about… Gary!"

"You miss him?"

"I really do. I'm glad Patrick's with us though."

Sandy nodded, beckoning towards the coffee shop. "I reckon he'll be in there for a while."

"Probably."

"So… " Sandy swung her left arm back and forth, holding her cup of sweet tea in the other. "Should we talk about what happened?"

The sea sponge winced again. "Do we have to?"

"Spongy, you never got to finish yer sentence."

"But you now know I like you more than I should. What else do you need to know?"

Sandy sighed. "Just tell me what you were going to say before Patrick cut you off. Please. I'd like to hear it."

SpongeBob sighed, looked to his left and then his right. Sandy took his hand in hers again, gently squeezing it rather than lacing her fingers with his.

SpongeBob cleared his throat, hesitated, and then let out a small sigh. "So, I was thinking about everything we talked about, at your house, and on the pier, and that night you told me you didn't believe in love."

"Yes?"

"And I realized that, well, I believe in love."

"Yes, SpongeBob. I know that." Her grip on his hand tightened.

"Yeah, so um… but Sandy, you said that nothing will ruin our friendship so I hope that this doesn't mess us up… but I do need to say it and so, Sandy, please don't get mad at me but…" SpongeBob took in a deep breath.

"Yes Spongy?"

His trembling hands started sweating. SpongeBob pulled them out of Sandy's grasp. Then grabbed them once again. "Oh Sandy! I just can't say it! I wish Patrick didn't interrupt me. I don't know how tell you that whenever I see your smile I feel like that one time I got my driver's license. Or how when I'm around you there's an ocean of jellyfish inside of me—like I'm a burger that's missing the secret ingredient and you're the only person that could somehow complete my recipe. Metaphorically. I mean. You're like condiments on patties like the spatula to my…"

His words came out jumbled up and in metaphors perhaps only the jelly-fishing fry cook would understand.

"SpongeBob, all that sounds awful sweet but I don't get all these sea-critter sayings."

SpongeBob sighed. Her southern slang made him feel the same way.

"What I mean to say is… I'm in love with you, Sandy."

Sandy's eyes widened. Her grip on the cup of sweet tea tightened and broke the Styrofoam. The cold, sugary substance splattered all over her dress, sandals, the pavement they were standing on. SpongeBob jumped and then grabbed a napkin out of the to-go bag to clean it up. Sandy stopped him before he could do anything.

"You love me?"

"Please Sandy! Forgive me! I'm so sorry I ruined our friendship! Please don't be mad at me. Please still be my friend. Please Sandy, oh please!"

"Why would I be mad at you?"

"Well… you got all red and then you broke your cup…" He then realized she was nervous. Sandy took her hands in his and smiled. SpongeBob's eyes widened. "Oh…"

"SpongeBob, silly, I love you too."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I really do."

"Can we kiss now?"

Sandy clenched the broken cup in her hands, dumbfounded. "Right now?"

"We don't have to if you don't want—"

A gust of cold air interrupted the two. Patrick had just swung open the doors to the air-conditioned coffee shop.

"Hello fellow Bikini Bottom dwellers!" The starfish said as he made his way towards the two lovebirds. "I might not have found my Princess Mindy, but my true love Vanilla-Bean Frappuchino sits right in the palm of my hands!" Patrick held up the Starbucks drink with a huge, dumb, whipped-cream covered smile plastered over his face.

SpongeBob smiled. "Can I try some? I love vanilla."

"Get your own, SquarePants."

Sandy cut in before her best friend could disappear into the shop as well. "We have to head back to the hotel. My Ma's probably worried sick."

SpongeBob sighed, then nodded in agreement and the three friends continued their walk to the hotel.

The area was still lit up with lights that wrapped around swaying tree branches. Flashing restaurant signs and colorful tourists' clothes reflected onto the water surface. Summer soundtracks played in the shops along the path.

Sandy tossed away her empty to-go cup and SpongeBob skipped lightly. Both of them couldn't stop smiling.

Patrick walked next to them, slurping the sugary liquid out of his straw. He was too focused on his drink to notice that the squirrel and the sea sponge had held hands all the way home.