Raindrop wheeled his way down the hallway after the final bell rung for the day. He had contemplated not coming to school today, but he figured sitting at home sulking would just make things worse. He had stayed away from everybody, sitting in the back of the class and keeping headphones in between classes. He was reminded of the events of the previous night when the same song had come on. Tearing out his headphones, he shoved them in his backpack. Behind him he could hear the familiar yelling of his long-time friend behind him. "Raindrop. Raindrop!" stopping his movement, the dark blue dog sighed and turned himself around to see a perplexed brown dog standing in front of him. "Hey what happened to you last night, man? I came over to talk to you and you were gone. Didn't answer your whispers. You sat in the back and kind of took off after class. Everything okay?"
Shaking his head, Raindrop exhaled frustrated. How was he supposed to tell how he felt without feeling a bit pathetic? After all, Pippy wasn't his girlfriend. She could kiss anybody she wanted to. But still, seeing her being swept off her feet, literally, by Charles had hit him hard. "Um, you know, just haven't been feeling very good. Didn't wanna risk passing it to anybody. How were things?" Before Cookie could answer, the pair were interrupted by a quacking purple duck.
"Raindrop. Finally found you! What is going on?" Mandy seemed a bit panicked. "Did you start the rumor?"
Both dogs looked at each other confused. "What are you talking about?" Raindrop defensively requested an answer from his classmate.
"Pippy and Charles are SLEEPING together? What is that all about?" the purple duck stomped her feet angrily.
"Wait. WHAT?" Cookie nearly fainted when he heard about that, knowing how much his friend was infatuated with the cream mouse. "Why would he do something like that? It was probably just someone being an idiot and messing around!"
Mandy shrugged. "Well whoever it was, it's spreading around and it seems like everybody know. Someone just came up and asked Pippy if was open this Friday Night! After I planted them against the wall they told me that they heard that her and Charles hooked up at the dance! She is freaking out!"
"Well I did see them kiss last night.." Raindrop added. "But I would never say anything like that.."
"THEY kissed?" Mandy demanded. "More like he kissed her! I thought you were there! Like in the middle of the dance, he just decided to go for it! She pushed herself off and told him that she wasn't interested and then she left!"
Cookie interjected. "So why did you think it was Rain? If anything it sounds like Charles started the rumor? Stupid pretty boy probably got mad he couldn't have something and threw a fit!"
"Where did she go?" Raindrop ignored his friend and softly asked the duck.
"I'm not sure. We were near the cafeteria and then she ran off. I assume she probably went behind the math building. It's where she goes whenever she is frustrated." the pair watched as Raindrop hastily pushed his way towards the front doors to the building leaving them behind. The school did not have a ramp which made getting into and out of the building difficult. Slowly bumping as he made his way down the stairs, he held the railing until he was safely on that ground. The math building was only a short distance away. Zigzagging through slow walking Toons, he wheeled harder than he ever thought possible. His mind was racing a million miles a minute, most of his thoughts on how he wanted to roll over Charles's stupid face. Now behind the building, it appeared Mandy's intuition was incorrect. A quiet sobbing could be heard from behind some large metal trash cans. Feeling his confidence wane again, he slowly pulled himself along until he was face to face with his crush.
Wiping her face, the young mouse looked up and glared at Raindrop. "What, come to try and get lucky too? Can't you just leave me alone?" Raindrop had never seen her this way, usually she was so energetic and happy. Seeing her frustrated and crying made his heart hurt.
"Pippy. I heard what happened and just came to see if you were okay.." Raindrop's words drifted off as he watched the toon get angrier.
"Of course! Guess everybody has heard! I'm sure you probably believe the rumors too! I mean why wouldn't you! It's Charles. Mr. Perfect!" Pippy pounded her fist into the soft grass beneath her.
Raindrop closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Using all of the strength in his arms, he used the metal container to lift himself up and plop himself down on the ground next to Pippy, which got a wondrous look from her. "I believe you Pippy. I'm really sorry that people are saying those things. I can't pretend to understand how it feels to be in your position, but I do know what it is to have everybody talking about you." pointing to his lack of legs, he put on an awkward smile. "But I've found that none of that matters. What others think of you? It doesn't change who you are. There will always be stupid Toons who will make up their mind without ever getting to know you, but it doesn't matter. It's your friends, your family. They are the ones who know and truly care about you." With an unusual boldness, Raindrop grabbed Pippy's hands and stared in her eyes. "Um, anyways. I probably sound stupid. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, you know?"
Raindrop.." Pippy placed her hand on his cheek and smiled. "I really wish we had gone together last night." leaning over she planted her lips on Raindrop's. His first kiss! His heart begun racing, but eventually he settled in and went along with it. He wasn't sure if he was doing things right, but he didn't care. Because he finally had the one thing he had ever truly wanted..
Bloople slid under the purple Roadster, investigating a thin line of pain that had been stripped away. "That's weird." he muttered to himself. Grabbing the edge, he pulled himself out and stared up at the short yellow monkey who was smiling down at him.
"Hey man, you're back!" helping Bloople to his feet, Griese slapped his back and chuckled. "You really know how to stay quiet. It feels like you've been for for the last week or so!"
"Um.. I have been gone for a week. I just got back today, remember?" Bloople looked on confused at his simple friend. "Anyways, how have things been?"
Griese took no time jumping at an opportunity to talk about himself. "Well it's been crazy. So the other day.." Bloople did his best to pay attention, but his eyes were too focused on the beautiful green cat, wearing a oil stained jumpsuit and cursing at a wrench. "Hey Bloople. You there?" knocking on Bloople's forehead the monkey eventually turned around. "Ah, Clover. You guys have been dating for a while, right?"
"Yeah it's going to be five months next week. Can't believe it's already been that long. Feel like just the other day I was awkwardly asking her over to dinner." Bloople daydreamed nostalgically.
"Hmm. I guess even she makes mistakes sometimes!" guffawing at his joke, Griese almost toppled over. "I'm just kidding bud. Seriously, how was your time off?"
Rubbing his arm, Bloople choked up a bit thinking about it. "It was amazing, man. We went to Silly World. The girls had such a blast. It was just three straight days of non-stop fun. I can't remember the last time I've had that much fun. It was so hard to come back. Honestly, I'm still kind of wondering if coming back was the right decision."
"Right decision? Definitely not! I would never leave if I got to go to Silly World? I'd be there every morning, stuffing my face with churros and popcorn. But I know you love me and you wouldn't be able to get by without me.. so did anything special happen while you were there?" Griese danced around jokingly.
"What do you mean?" Bloople responded.
Griese shrugged. "You don't know? Silly World is super well known for being romantic right? Get on that Ferris Wheel during sunset? Maybe sharing some popcorn and your hands meeting? You could have proposed! It would have been amazing! Plus you know.. we need some juicy drama around here!"
"You want some drama? Maybe you wanna tell us about that orange duck that you were with in Daisy Gardens picking flowers with?" Griese dodged off, rubbing his arm. Bloople chuckled as that monkey was finally off of his back. Literally and figuratively. Bloople decided that he was going to do it. He was gonna spring it on her tonight. The "L" word.
For the first time in a week, Rudy entered Romeo's Delights. Even the idea of going in had caused her to break down into a nervous mess. But she knew that she was going to face the truth eventually. Those last words were burned into her brain. Even though she was the one who had wronged Romeo, he still apologized. She had sat there sobbing in the courthouse for an hour before the Rangers were finally able to escort her out. Clara.. As bad as Rudy felt, she knew the pain that Clara must be feeling was immense. The guilt Rudy was feeling was destroying her. She had not slept in four days. When she wasn't crying, she was running scenarios through her mind where she was the one who had died instead, which only made things worse. The case was quickly settled afterwards and Allen had been convicted to six months in prison, which seemed like a huge win, but the jury had witnessed everything. Any punishment that Allen would receive would pale in comparison to the pain he was going through.
The kitchen was still a mess from the previous week. The kitchen was notified of Romeo's death shortly after lunch time and many were unable to continue working. Romeo was beloved by all of his staff, and everybody else who had known him. Honestly, nobody knew what was next. Romeo had run the business side of things and was the one who understood financing and stuff like that. Walking into the office, the scene of Romeo's cologne still lingered in the air. Smiling sadly she sat down in his chair and spun around. Surprising Rudy, the computer monitor flashed on. Stopping suddenly, she stared at the screen. She had used the computer a few times, but generally it was Allen who handled everything. Looking around, she slowly scooched forward and grabbed the mouse. On the screen was a bunch of folders. Many were titled things like expense reports or recipes, but one thing stuck out to and that was the one labeled family. In it was a small icon that had a picture of Allen and Romeo when they were younger. Inhaling, she felt her hand shaking as she slowly manipulated the mouse over the brown folder and double clicked.
"Oh my cog..." Rudy exhaled as she was plastered with hundreds of pictures. Many were of Romeo and Allen, but there were also many of Romeo and Clara and then.. Romeo and Rudy. There was pictures of when they went on their second date and he had spilled spaghetti on her white blouse and he tried to make up for it by spilling spaghetti sauce on himself so she wouldn't feel bad, a picture of them at their old job sitting on a crate making funny faces. Hundreds and hundreds of portraits scrolled by as Rudy's face filled with salty droplets. At the very bottom of the of the page there was one last folder. "Rudy." she was now a complete wreck as she clicked on it and one singular text document appeared. Reading over it.. it was.. a recipe?
"Thank you Mr. Duckowitz for your patent request. Your request has been approved. To complete processing we will need an official name for your cupcake recipe. Thank you!" reading down, Rudy scrolled over the ingredients. It was something she'd never seen before. "Designed to be incredibly sweet with a strong twist, this unique blend of flavors and a little surprise will surely be the best cupcake you have ever eaten." this was the straw that broke the camel's back as Rudy went full on meltdown. Falling back in the chair, she could hardly breathe as she gasped for air between cries and moans of pain. He had created a new cupcake recipe and had planned to name it after her! Romeo was truly too good for this world..