Do not trust alone to outward appearances. —Aesop

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"Well, look at you, Slick Nick!"

He straightened his tie. "You're just happy to see me out of overalls."

She smiled. "Yeah, that's it."

"So do I get a preview of your outfit? Or are you going like that? I mean, don't get me wrong. Pink plaid and blue jeans were good enough to woo me back."

"I wasn't wooing you. I was apologizing for being a stupid speciesist."

"Po-tay-to, po-tah-to."

She shook her head. "I'm going upstairs to change now."

"Now? Aren't we leaving in ten minutes?"

"Nick, I'm a bunny. I could be ready in five."

"Uh huh." He still took out his phone to play with while he waited.

It was less than ten minutes, if more than five. It would've been worth a much longer wait. Judy was always cute, and usually beautiful. But he realized that he'd never seen her in a skirt before, let alone a black dress that hugged her body like that. Inside, he felt like a cartoon wolf with eyes bugging out and his tongue on the floor. But since her sisters were standing next to her on the balcony, he tried to sound nonchalant with "It's an improvement."

"Oh, Nick, you flatterer!"

The flattery could wait till they were alone.

Her sisters— Gloria, Pammy, and Binky, but luckily not Margie— looked nice, too. But he had the feeling that they had spent at least as much time getting Judy ready as themselves. She was wearing makeup, which she didn't usually bother with, and the eyeshadow made her eyes look bigger and purpler than ever.

When they went outside, he expected her mother to leap up from the porch swing and cry, "Judith Marie, I forbid you to go out to a bar with a fox, especially dressed like a trollop!" And then Nick would say, "Does this suit make me look like a trollop?" Or maybe her father would start cleaning his shotgun.

Instead, her mother said, "Don't you all look nice?" and her father said, "Have fun, Kids."

Of course, when they walked towards the truck, Nick did overhear Mr. Hopps saying, "Bon, was Jude actually wearing a skirt?"

Lyle was in the driver's seat. He'd put on a clean shirt, but probably only because one of his babies had spat up on the one he wore to the fair.

Nick had missed his chance to be introduced to Judy's brothers who were in the fair band, but Gloria said they played every Saturday at the March Hare. And since she and Lyle hadn't been out dancing since their quints were born, and she hadn't gone dancing with Judy since before Judy left for the Police Academy, well, Binky thought the six of them should go to the MH. Pammy hesitated, but Binky talked her into it.

Nick got the feeling that Pammy was uncomfortable with him. Judy had explained to him about her being there, with Sharla and Gareth, when Gideon was being a jerk fifteen years ago. Well, Nick thought Gideon was still a jerk, so he could see why Pammy wasn't crazy about foxes. Nick wasn't sure if he could prove he was not only different from Gideon but worthy of Pammy's favorite sister in just one weekend. But at least he could start on it.

The bar was over in Haresburg, about fifteen minutes away. Nick and Judy rode in the back of the truck with her two younger sisters. Nick wanted to hold Judy's paw but he was feeling self-conscious again, especially considering how sexy she looked. He tried to make small talk about the fair and about what classes Binky and Pammy were taking. Binky of course did more of the talking than Pammy.

Nick had asked Judy if this would be a rabbit-only bar. Not that Nick had never been the only fox in the room before of course. At an earlier point in his life, he'd been a regular at Koslov's Palace, a polar bear hang-out in Tundratown. But he had the feeling that looking tough and surly would not be the best approach this time around. Anyway, Judy had said, "It's mostly but not only bunnies." That seemed to be the case around here. It had actually been a little strange to see so many moles and other burrowers at the fair, although bunnies were still well-represented of course.

When they got to the MH parking lot and out of the truck, Judy said, "Nick, you look really sharp in a white suit, but that may not have been the best thing to wear in the back of a truck."

"Please tell me I don't have fly dung down the back of my trousers."

"No, just grass stains," Binky said.

"I've got a little box of Hide detergent in my purse," Gloria said.

Nick thought that was weird, but then Gloria had brought her "mom purse," probably out of habit.

"Thanks."

"You just use a toothbrush—"

"You have one of those, too?"

"Of course."

"Do you need some help?" Lyle asked.

Nick could just imagine someone walking in on them in the restroom, maybe with Nick's pants down. "Uh, no thanks, I'll manage."

With the three Hopps sisters, even Pammy, offering him advice on how to remove the stains, they entered the bar. Not exactly the cool entrance Nick had been looking for. He excused himself and, with the Hide and a toothbrush in his paws, he quickly made his way over to and into the restroom. He hoped no one would walk in on him while he was alone either. Luckily, it was early in the evening, and the bar was pretty empty.

He tried to remove the stains without taking off his trousers, but it was unavoidable. He sighed and unzipped them then stepped out of them. He cleaned them at the sink until the stains were very faint. It would probably be too dark in the bar to see them. But now he had wet trousers. He sighed and took them over to the air-dryer.

A non-Hopps rabbit came in, saw Nick, said, "Excuse me," and backed out.

Nick sighed and put his trousers back on.

He found Lyle and the Hopps girls over at a front table. The band was setting up.

"I'll introduce you at their break," Judy promised.

"Did you get out the—?" Binky started to ask, peering around at his rear.

"Yeah, it's fine." He quickly sat down next to Judy.

"You guys want anything from the bar?" Lyle offered.

"They're underage!" Judy snapped.

"Uh, Dude, this is 18 and over night," Gloria said.

"And we drink at college," Binky said. "Ouch!"

Pammy had apparently just kicked Binky under the table, although she looked innocent. Nick smiled to himself.

"I'm sorry, Guys," Judy said. "I keep thinking of you as little girls. I forget that you're grown up now."

"It's OK, Judy. And I just want a Yoke anyway," Binky said.

"A Shirley Bengal," Pammy said demurely. Nick was starting to see the resemblance to Judy more now.

Judy ordered carrot juice, so Nick chose strawberry soda.

"Cheese and crackers," Gloria said, which Nick thought at first was her pseudo-swearing like Judy, until Lyle came back with a drink indeed made from cheese and crackers. It looked disgusting to Nick, but then he wasn't heavily pregnant.

"OK, Haresburg, are you ready to rock?" asked the lead singer/guitarist.

"Yeah, like we are every week," said a bored-looking bunny at the bar.

"Thank you, loyal fans!" said the keyboardist.

"One, two, three, four!" cried the drummer, tapping his sticks against each other.

And then they launched into much harder rock than they'd played at the fair. It was still catchy, so Judy and her sisters started dancing in their chairs, Judy second most after Binky.

The bunny who had walked in on Nick came over and Nick expected to be hassled, but instead the guy said, "Hey, Binks, wanna dance?"

"Sure, Skip!" She leapt to her feet and they moved out to the tiny dance floor.

Nick knew he should ask Judy to dance, but he felt self-conscious about it. It was so easy at the concert. They were standing right next to each other, and they didn't technically dance together. She just sort of ricocheted off him till he started dancing.

And then the guy from the bar came over. "Hey, Judy, I didn't know you were back."

"Oh, hi, Steve. Yeah, I'm just here for the weekend. This is—" She turned towards Nick.

"So you wanna dance?"

"Well, actually I'm here with someone."

"Isn't that Lyle, your brother-in-law?"

"No, I mean, yes, it is. And I'm here with him and my sisters, but—"

Nick knew what was going to happen next. Steve would realize that Nick was Judy's date and then he would pick a fight with Nick. And Lyle would either try to make peace or he would offer to hold Nick's jacket. Or maybe the band would try to calm things down with louder music. In any case, Nick had definitely picked the wrong night to wear a white suit.

Then Steve stared at Nick and said, "Is this the fox you were on the news with?"

"Uh, yes, this is Nick Wilde. Nick, this is Steve Blaze."

"Nice to meet you." Nick took a chance on holding out his paw to shake.

"Wow, you guys are total heroes!" Steve exclaimed, pumping Nick's paw.

Nick almost joked, "No autographs please," but he wasn't sure how that would go over.

"We were just lucky," Judy said modestly.

Steve chuckled. "You haven't changed. So, Pammy, do you wanna dance?"

"Uh, sure."

She got up and followed Steve to the dance floor.

"Jude, remember when she had a crush on Steve when you guys were dating?"

"Hey, Gloria, wanna dance?" Lyle said.

"Let's wait for a slow number," she said, patting her stomach.

"So Steve is your ex?" Nick asked Judy.

"We weren't that serious."

"Just paw-holding at the malt shop?"

"OK, on your feet, Wilde. You need to dance with me."

"You don't want to wait for a slow number?"

"Oh, you're dancing those with me, too."

Nick shook his head. "Are all the Hopps girls this bossy?"

"Yes," Gloria and Judy said together.

"Run while you can, Bro," Lyle said.

"I would but she's faster than I am."

Judy put her paws on her hips and tapped one foot.

"I don't know, the floor is getting kind of crowded, don't you think?"

She removed a paw from her hip and used it to pull him by his tie towards the dance floor.