Chapter 3: An Old Friend and a Talk

The morning after ZaQuinto discovered Lola's sexual trance at their first glance of each other, he woke up with an angry look on his face. Not because he had a bad dream, but because Mr. Warner didn't give him a chance to give away the personal details. He decided to let it slide anyway. As he sat up, he saw Daffy standing at the attic exit.

"Morning, ZthaQuinto." He greeted. "Did ya have a good night'sth restht?"

"Couldn't be better." ZaQuinto replied in a dull tone as he walked passed the black duck and down the attic ladder, avoiding eye contact. This puzzled Daffy as he climbed down, closing the door behind him.

"Are you alright, ZQ?" Daffy asked.

"Don't bother me."

As the black duck stopped to watch ZaQuinto walk off towards the living room in anger, he started to feel a little concerned. He decided to question Mr. Warner on what ZaQuinto's problem was before he woke Sylvester as usual. He walked over to Mr. Warner's door, which was guarded by two of his clients. They stopped the duck before he stepped any further.

"What do you need Mr. Warner for?" One of the clients asked him.

"I need to asthk Mr. Warner a questhtion… about ZthaQuinto'sth behavior." Daffy replied.

"Oh. Alright, you can proceed, but don't cause any trouble… NAH! I'm just messin' with you, Daffy. You can go on in."

"I'm about to sthay. You better not try to control me, Freddy." They both chuckled as Daffy walked in and saw Mr. Warner wide awake, typing on his laptop when he looked up at him.

"Hello, Mr. Dumas Duck." Mr. Warner greeted happily. "What brings you here?"

"I'm justht conctherned about ZthaQuinto. Ever sthincthe he woke up, he'sth been acting sthtrange. What could be histh problem?"

"Oh. He must be still pissed about last night."

"What did happen lastht night? I missthed it."

"He told me that he noticed that Lola was looking at his crotch while he was introducing himself to Lexi. It really made him upset when I told him that I didn't quite believe him."

"Oh. Why wasth Lola looking at histh dick anyway?"

"I have no idea, but maybe you should ask her, but remember this and this only: don't tell ZaQuinto whatever Lola told you. I'd like for him to find out for himself. Understand?"

"Yesth, sthir. I won't tell him."

"Good duck."

"Thank you." After that last statement, Daffy left to go upstairs and ask Lola his question before he woke Sylvester up. He walked past Sylvester's room and walked up to Bugs and Lola's bedroom door and knocked on it twice. 10 seconds later, Bugs opened the door and smiled.

"Hey, Daff." He greeted. "What's up, duck?"

"I wanna asthk Lola sthomethin'." Daffy replied.

"If it's about da 'starin' at ZQ's crotch' case, she ain't sayin' anyting to anybody right now. She's not in da mood, doc."

"But, it'sth important. I have to asthk her."

"Why? ZaQuinto told ya?"

"No. Mr. Warner did."

"Huh?"

"Yeah. He wantsth me to asthk her, but he told me not to tell ZthaQuinto whatever Lola tellsth me."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Mr. Warner wantsth him to find out for himsthelf."

"Oh. Okay, uh… come on in, den."

Bugs opened the door wider and allowed Daffy to enter before he closed the door.

"She's in da shower, doc. She'll be out in a while."

"How much of a while?"

"15 minutes."

"Oy."

Meanwhile, downstairs…

Stitch walked into the living room to look for Sylvester and ask him to cook breakfast, but he found ZaQuinto sitting on the sofa by himself in deep silence and in anger. He looked concerned about his dancing partner and decided to talk to him for a while.

"Hello, dancing partner." Stitch greeted. ZaQuinto just did a 5 second sideglance at the blue experiment before he turned back to his original position without saying a word. "Is partner okay?"

"Hell no! I'm pissed… extremely pissed." ZaQuinto replied in an angry deep tone. "First, I've got Tarrell to challenge, now I gotta figure out exactly why Lola was looking at my nutsack when we met."

"Is that a problem?"

"Of course it is! Can't you see that this has really taken over my good mood by far? I am not showing a single smile until I get to the bottom of this whole situation. So, don't question me again!"

"Soka."

After the apology from Stitch, ZaQuinto's cell phone rang, playing the Looney Tunes theme song in polyphonic. He took his cell phone from his pocket and pressed the green button to talk.

"Hello?" ZaQuinto started.

"Hey, old buddy. What's goin' down?" Asked a familiar normal male voice.

"Donatanyo Rábador? Is that you?"

"Yeah, man. You sound a little blue there. What's wrong?"

"Tarrell's back, first of all."

"Oh, no. Not him again. I remember, back in college, we were just studyin' as usual, right? Then, he just comes in the library we were in and just pushed us to the floor at the same damn time! Are you still wonderin' why he did that?"

"Yeah, but that's not why I'm saying he's back. He's back because of that dance competition we had in Sydney."

"Oh. I remember that. You were off the hook, but……… shit! He had to beat you at very last minute. What the hell was that for?"

"That's what I was thinking when the judges proclaimed him as the winner. I was pissed from that day on, man. You don't know how I feel right now."

"Amen on that one, man. A-men!"

"Yeah. Second thing: you know Lola Bunny, right?"

"Who?"

"You know, Lola Bunny from Space Jam?"

"Oh, yeah. She was hot. Anyway, what about her?"

"When I introduced myself to her friend, Lexi, she was looking at my crotch the whole time."

"Really? She wanted to screw with you already?"

"I don't know. That could be the reason, but I'm not sure. All I know is that made just as pissed off as I am about Tarrell. All this bullshit is drivin' me crazy!"

"Hey, calm down, man. Maybe she has feelings for ya."

"Yeah… sexual feelings."

"C'mon, man. Don't disrespect my girl like that."

"Then, what am I supposed to do? I gotta deal with one problem at a time, but I don't know which problem to deal with first."

"Deal with Tarrell first. That's what I would do if I was in your shoes."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah… hey! How about this? I'll come over to the studio. I know that's where you're at right now."

"Yeah."

"Well, I'll meet you there and we'll talk more about it, okay?"

"A'ight. Thanks, man."

"No problemo. I'll be over soon. Bye."

"See ya." After that last statement, ZaQuinto put away his phone and remained silent and in thought while Stitch just sat there next to him, sliently playing with his yo-yo.

Back upstairs, in Bugs and Lola's room…

Daffy was watching tv with Bugs until Lola came out in her casual clothes, which consisted of a purple tank top and denim jean shorts with a jean design scruchie. She saw Daffy and smiled a little.

"Hey, Daffy." She greeted solemnly.

"I'm guessthing you already know what I'm about to asthk you." Daffy started as he looked up at her.

"Yeah. Why I was looking at ZQ's crotch eariler ago, right?"

"Yep."

"Bugs, can you leave us and wake up Sylvester? We need to have this talk in private."

"Sure ting, baby goil." Bugs replied sweetly before he planted a small kiss on her cheek. "If ya need me, I'll be downstairs."

"Okay." After that, Bugs walked towards the door, locked it, and left, closing the door behind him, leaving Daffy and Lola alone. "Now, Mr. Warner told you to ask me, right?"

"Yeah. He did tell me not to tell ZQ about what you sthaid until he findsth out for himsthelf."

"Good. Now, there is a good reason why I did that."

"Why?"

"Because… because he looked pretty… um… sexy in a way."

"In what way?"

"Somehow, I just sensed that ZaQuinto loves sexual stuff and I did, too. So, I figured he wouldn't notice me staring at his 'you know what' the moment he started talking to Lexi."

"Stho, why did you do it?"

"I was in the mood that quick."

"No wonder. Stho, all thisth isth happening becausthe of your 'mood'?"

"Exactly. I didn't mean for him to get pissed off at it, though. Honest."

"Okay, then. Let'sth learn from that, shall we?"

"By doing wha…?"

"By not doing it again."

"……………"

"I know you're showing a sthtunned look, but I'm being damn stheriousth here. If you know that sthtaring at anything or anyone isth disthresthtpectful, don't do it again. Maybe that'sth why he'sth mad. He felt disthresthpect coming from that. Now, like Mr. Warner sthaid, I'm not gonna tell ZthaQuinto about thisth until he finds out himsthelf. That's meansth you shouldn't tell him either. Understhtand?"

"…………"

"Understhtand?"

"…………ye…"

"UNDERSTHTAND!"

"Y… yeah."

"Good. Now that you heard from me, promisthe me you won't mention thisth to your girlfriendsth either. Now, let'sth eat." After that, he left for the kitchen. Lola sat there; stunned, shocked, and speechless. She didn't know what to say after the determined black duck left. She remained silent on her way down the stairs towards the kitchen, thinking about what Daffy just said.

Later…

All of the Looneys, Loonatics, Stitch, Mr. Warner, and ZaQuinto were at the breakfast table, eating Sylvester's famous fried carrots with grits for the bunnies and bacon, pancakes, toast, biscuits, and sauage for the rest of them. Among the table, Lola, ZaQuinto, Daffy, and Stitch remained silent and avoided eye contact from each other, since they were all sitting together. This made all of the other Looneys and the Loonatics confused.

"What-what-what's goin' on?" Danger Duck asked in wonder.

"It seems that these four have problems between each other. I'm surprised that Stitch is feeling the same way. Stitch, can you tell me why you're feeling like this as well?" Mr. Warner replied, looking at Stitch.

"ZQ yelled at me." Stitch replied, still avoiding eye contact.

"He did? Why?"

"He was upset about Lola and Tarrell."

"We know that, but why did he yell at you?"

"Meega don't know."

"ZaQuinto?"

"What!" The pissed off dragon blurted out in anger.

"Why did you yell at Stitch like that? You know you two are partners."

"He just had the nerve to just come in and disturb my moment of peace."

"That's it?" Rev Runner asked.

"Don't make me hurt you!"

"ZQ! Don't push it!" Mr. Warner protested.

"Just leave me the hell alone, then!" After that, he walked off, taking his plate with him. Stitch was about to go after him, but Daffy stopped him by grabbing his shoulder.

"Let him go. When he sthaysth leave him alone, he meansth it." He said to the experiment. Stitch just sat back down in his seat and resumed eating.

As ZaQuinto was walking upstairs, he saw Donatanyo standing at the very top of the steps with a concerned look on his face and his arms crossed on his chest.

"What happened down there, man?" Donatanyo asked as ZaQuinto got to the very top of the stairs and allowed him to put an arm around his shoulders.

"It's Tarrell. That's why I'm actin' like this." ZaQuinto replied, walking along with the big black eyed brown rabbit. "When I meet him again, then I'll feel better."

"Lighten up. You're acting like a bitch because of that motherfucker? You must be paranoid."

"What?"

"I can feel it. I can tell when somebody is paranoid. They just yell at whoever for nothin'. You did do that before I called, did you?"

"I accidently yelled at Stitch and he's my dancing partner."

"There you go. It really hurts to be paranoid, but then it really hurts somebody else, who you happened to yell at, happens to be your best friend or, in this case, your street dancing partner. You need to go to a professional anger management clinic or somethin'."

"Donatanyo…"

"I'm serious. That's what you need to be happy. Not facing Tarrell. If he does happen to come here anyway, keep yourself calm and don't do anything aggressive."

"It's hard, alright?" They both arrived in Stitch and ZaQuinto's room and Donatanyo remained standing while ZaQuinto sat down in a chair. "I try and I try and I try, but I just can't control myself."

"That's your problem. Remember, back in college, you just blew up and started cursin' at the teachers for no reason and you almost got suspended for it. Luckily, you only got detention… in school of course. Then, when you finally calm down, you remained calm until now. What the fuck's wrong with you, man? You're doin' nothin' but acting like a total bastard for absoultely nothin'!"

"………………" ZaQuinto lowered his head as he remained silent while he allowed Donatanyo's words to enter his mind.

"You get this close to beatin' up somebody and what happens? You lose you mind anyway. I like you and you're my best friend, but did that mean that you had to swing at me, too?"

"Huh?"

"Think about it. Of all the people you would yell at, you would yell at the only dance partner you got: Stitch. Then, just a few minutes ago, you yelled at Rev Runner first, then everybody else… all for no reason. You really need to go to anger management for this instead of trying to fix it yourself. Do you know the phrase: 'One bad apple spoils the bunch.'?"

"Yeah."

"You're the bad apple… and everyone you just yelled at is the bunch. Once you yell at one person, it seems like you're yelling at everybody else around you. I don't want you to be the rotten apple, man! Get… it… TOGETHER!"

ZaQuinto remained silent throughout the whole speech. He really did feel bad for acting like one insane bitch and he listened carefully to Donatanyo as he finished.

"So, I'm makin' it clear to you right now…" He continued before he walked up to silent dragon and nearly slapped his hands on both of his shoulders. "…things will turn out better for you and everybody else around you if you take my advice. How about this? Tomorrow, I'll take you to the ACME Anger Management Clinic and get this out of your system once and for all. Okay?"

ZaQuinto just nodded in response, then started to cry. He felt extremely bad for what he did and started to embrace his best friend for as a thanks for talking it out. Donatanyo held back his tears as he embraced back. At this moment, ZaQuinto was crying immensely on the brown rabbit's shoulders, drenching his shirt in the process. What they didn't know was that the Looneys, Loonatics, Mr. Warner, and Stitch overheard the whole conversation and were standing in the doorway, having half of them crying and sniffling. Mr. Warner was carrying Stitch in his arms as he cried as well, patting him on the back in the embrace as he spoke.

"Thank goodness for an old friend of ZQ." He said to himself as he held back his tears and watched the two best friends cry in each other's arms.

To be continued…