Chapter 3

“Unacceptable.” Skipper’s firm words crawled around the habitat like a monster searching for their deepest secrets. Skipper flippers where crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face, pointing towards Rico.

Rico sat with a deep frown on his face, his head lowered and his feet dangling while he sat on juu of the concrete block. Skipper’s shadow seemed to tower over his own body, and made him feel quite small, compared to his leader, even if it was the other way around.

“But, Skippa. What did Rico do? He was just painting with Marlene, is all.” Private began defending his friend. He waddled close to Rico and placed a flipper over his back. Private had never seen Skipper yell at Rico before. He usually always did something pleasing towards Skipper.

“He spent too much time with Marlene. There had to be something zaidi than just “painting”. It’s impossible for him to have been gone 1 saa and just painted that whole time.” Skipper hoped that his thoughts were wrong. He would never see Rico the same.

“Skippa, I don’t understand what wewe mean.” Private looked up at Skipper, tears welling up in his eyes. He hated being confused, and he hated seeing his Marafiki feeling down.

Skipper immediately shook his head and remembered who he was talking too. Private was much too naïve to know these things yet. Cute and naïve. Just like Marlene. But no one ever alisema it was a good thing.

“Private. I need to wewe to go outside for a moment. I need to have a little momento with Rico here.” Skipper flashed his icy eyes at Private, signaling him that this was really serious business.

“Right away, Skippa.” Private saluted, and he waddled out of the HQ, quickly. He was a little frightened of leaving Rico alone during his time of need, but he was terrified of Skipper ever getting mad at him, since he was the weak one.

“So, Rico. What REALLY happened?” Skipper got his face closer to Rico and flashed a black velvet flashlight in his face, trying to bubble up his guilt, which would make him confess. Skipper knew that there had to be zaidi than painting. There just had to be.

Rico shook his head. He knew what Skipper intended to find out, but there was none of that. Marlene didn’t care for him, and he didn’t care for Marlene. But was that entirely true?

“Paint.” Rico babbled. His voice had gone rough again since his nerves had been worked up after Skipper had pulled him out of Marlene’s house. He felt sweat beading on his forehead, and soon enough, it would begin gliding down his face.

“Now, we both know that’s not true, Rico. Did Marlene hug you? Or…anything more?” Skipper began making his voice zaidi mysterious. Rico shook his head again. Why was Skipper doing this? Did he really think that Marlene would do something like that?

“Well, if wewe won’t tell me, I’ll have to go ask her myself. And wewe know Marlene is not one to lie. So, will wewe admit, au should I go ask her. Your choice.” Skipper felt frustration filling him inside. He knew Rico was stubborn, but not when dealing with him.

“Ask Marlene.” Rico’s voice had cooled down when Skipper had mentioned Marlene, so Rico had felt a little better, remembering the otter that was always nice to him, no matter the situation.

“OK, I will. And if she tells me something I didn’t want to hear, then wewe don’t know what to expect, my dear Rico.” Skipper threatened as he flicked the flashlight off and made his way to Marlene’s.

Marlene was merrily humming as she laid in her bed, staring at the new mural that she had drawn. She was really proud of her work, especially since she noted how long it had taken her and how beautiful it turned out. But what made her smile the most was when she glanced over at Rico’s, which was like a history book.

It had many times in their lives marked on it. She really enjoyed remembering the times that Rico and her had enjoyed. Wait. Rico and her? She shook her head. It was Rico, Kowalski, Skipper, Private, Julian, Mort, Maurice, and her. Not just Rico and her. She sighed a little and jumped when Skipper entered her house, unannounced, of course.

“Uh…Skipper. Haven’t wewe heard of knocking?” Marlene’s voice sounded shallow as she crossed her arms and placed a scowl on her face. She really thought it was annoying when Skipper entered without warning. It was just rude, and unnecessary.

“That’s not important at the moment, Ms. Marlene. I just need wewe to answer this question. WHAT IS GOING ON BETWEEN wewe AND RICO?” Skipper flicked the flashlight on in her face and had his blue stare towards her hazel eyes.

“Uh…what in the world are wewe talking about?” She felt her voice breaking a little. She felt really nervous. She knew what Skipper meant, she just didn’t know what was really going on.

“Oh, I think wewe now, wewe interspecies flirt!” Skipper got closer to her face. Marlene felt her face turning hot and her lungs begging her to gasp for air, but she wouldn’t because she knew that Skipper would notice how nervous she was.

“Oh, No. I don’t.” Marlene tried to regain her confident voice back, and she thought it was working. au was it?

“You know. I mean, Rico couldn’t be here for 1 hour, just painting. What else happened, Marlene. I know that there was more. QUIT LYING!” Skipper felt defeated. The otter wasn’t going to speak.

“Excuse you? Rico was here just painting for 1 hour. There was nothing going on, OK? Happy?” Marlene stood up and went to get a cup of water from the table. She felt her throat go dry as the anger oozed inside of her stomach.

“No, I am not happy. I am not getting the information that I require, Marlene. Therefore, I am not satisfied.” Skipper glared at her, his eyes narrowing till they were shut.

“I DON’T CARE IF wewe AREN’T GETTING YOUR INFORMATION! THAT IS ALL THAT HAPPENED!” Marlene raised her voice as she tried to push Skipper out of her house, and he made it really hard because his feet were stiffly planted on the floor.

“Marlene, I’ll be back soon enough. And when I do, Kowalski will be kwa my side tomorrow. Just so wewe know, expect a visit.” Skipper winked. He knew that his words would bug her, and he thought it was funny.

“OK, great, now BUH-BYE!” Marlene finally shoved Skipper out the door, and he left back to his habitat.

What is he talking about? What could be going on between me and Rico? She thought. We are just friends, that’s all. His pretty blue eyes have nothing zaidi to offer. And neither does his ruffled Mohawk that makes me laugh. Marlene mentally slapped herself. Could I be falling for Skipper’s words? WHY MUST I LISTEN TO EVERYTHING THEY TELL ME? Marlene frantically yelled in her head.

She knew that she liked Rico, just not in that way. But now after the talk that Skipper had aliyopewa her, she didn’t feel so sure. She really hoped that she could soon enough get that thought out of her head. She knew it would be hard, because Skipper’s words always sounded wise and meaningful because of his loud military voice.

Rico and I. Marlene thought for a sekunde and chuckled. I don’t think so.