The penguins had taken the subway, slipped through the city undetected, and they were now waddling through the Central Park Zoo after a days worth of travel without a single break. They were very exhausted at this point but it was harder for some to stay awake.
"Can we rest? I'm so tired," Sara whined.
Amber looked back at her and glared slightly. "You're acting like a hatchling," she scolded.
"Actually Amber, I'm exhausted too," Flora admitted. "Can we rest? Madison is about ready to fall asleep on her feet," she added.
Amber looked over and, sure enough, Madison was stumbling around on her feet clumsily. It was something you'd expect from Flora rather then her. "Madison, just play some loud music to wake everyone up," she ordered.
Madison lazily pulled her tape recorder from thin air and pushed the 'play' button, not bothering to look at the track. "You would not believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep…" That only made the penguin's tired state even worse. "Cause they fill the open air and leave tear drops everywhere. You'd think me rude, but I just stand and stare…"
"Turn that off!" Amber barked. Madison did so but continued to hold her recorder to her chest protectively.
Kowalski stumbled on his feet and raised a flipper to say something. "Skipper, permission to-" He cut himself off and fell onto the ground, snoring.
"Permission granted," Skipper yawned as he finally stopped. "I think we can all use some…sleep." Then he fell over on his back, along with Private, Sara, Flora, Rico and Madison.
"We're almost there," Amber whined. She changed her mind when she yawned ever so loudly. "Then again, maybe I could use a few winks and…stuff." She then fell over as well and landed next to Skipper.
"I'll wake them up later. We don't have to wait long," Skipper murmured to her.
Amber felt faintly surprised that he was still awake but didn't care much about it. "Good. When we're this close to the zoo, it seems pointless to just stop right here," she told him quietly. Skipper hummed in agreement, keeping his eyes closed. Amber looked at him. She watched his chest rise and then lower again slowly. She sighed inwardly.
They weren't an item at all. Never would be. They never flirted, so what would make people think that? Do we flirt? Amber thought. She opened her beak, about to speak her thoughts, but she thought better of it and closed it again. Nothing good would come from it, and it would just make things awkward and tense between them. She didn't want that. So instead she asked, "Want to at least hear some music?"
Skipper shrugged on the ground. "Sure."
Amber sat up and went to Madison, who was a three feet away and was holding her tape recorder like it was a teddy bear. She yanked it from her grip, and the silent penguin momentarily had a fitful sleep before laying down calm again. Amber moved through the tracks and picked a random one. She couldn't read, so she had no idea how Madison knew which song from which. She sat down and waited for music to come out.
A few moments later, music started flowing through the recorder, before the lyrics started to echo throughout the park. "So she said 'what's the problem baby?' What's the problem? I don't know. Well maybe I'm in love!"
Amber's eyes widened in surprise. What was this song doing in there?
Skipper heard the song and opened his eyes. He watched Amber staring at the recorder with a confused and shocked expression. He chuckled to himself and sat up. He had an idea and smirked, willing to give it a shot.
"Think about it every time I think about it, can't stop thinking 'bout it."
Skipper made up his mind and got up. He waddled to Amber until he was a foot away from her and held a flipper out to her. "You don't mind dancing do you?" he asked. Amber looked at him skeptically, but she accepted his flipper anyway. He gently pulled her up and twirled her around until she was as close as she could be to his body, which was what he had been craving.
Amber was surprised at this and had her beak slightly agape but this didn't discourage Skipper's actions. He started to dance around her, and she slowly joined him, slowly smiling at his confidence. She admired that.
"How much longer will it take to cure this? Just to cure it 'cause I can't ignore it if it's love. Makes me wanna turn around and face me, but I don't know nothing about love."
Amber thought that it was relating to her as she was gently dancing next to Skipper. She didn't want love and wanted that love sickness cured forever so there never would be pain again. She never really did know anything about love. It was always fake, so she never experienced the real thing. It was always like that but with Skipper…it felt different. It felt real but…was it love? Was that what she was feeling towards Skipper? It couldn't be…
"Come on, come on! Turn a little faster."
Skipper spun her around, which made her laugh, much to their own surprise. But her laugh caused Skipper to grin anyway, and he twirled her around again just to hear it again. He's heard her laugh before but this time was different. It was softer, like she was enjoying herself. Not like when she would laugh at a joke or a prank. It was a nice change.
"Come on, come on! The world will follow after. Come on, come on! Because everybody's after love..."
Both penguins swallowed. They weren't after love but here they were. Dancing together, enjoying each others company and bringing warm feelings to each others hearts. But neither was aware of how each other felt to the other penguin.
"So I said, 'I'm a snowball running'. Running down into the spring that's coming all this love, melting under blue skies belting out sunlight, shimmering love."
Skipper watched sunlight light up and shimmer on Amber's silver feathers that never seemed to be out of place. He couldn't help but think that she looked beautiful in the light. But he shook those thoughts away. He was macho penguin. Not something that a girl could bend and make him do her every whim. Monster trucks Skipper, monster trucks, he thought.
"Well baby I surrender to the strawberry ice cream. Never ever ever end of all this love. Well I didn't mean to do it but there's no escaping your love."
Both of them felt like that song was tying into what they were feeling to one another. If there was love, there was no escaping it. And they both knew that but couldn't find it in their hearts to accept it. They were stubborn like that, nothing else to it.
"These lines of lightning mean we're never alone, never alone, no, no! Come on, come on! Move a little closer."
Skipper pulled her in, and they both briefly froze at the spot. Amber then moved out of his grip and started to dance next to his side again, trying to forget about what had happened just moments ago.
"Come on, come on! I want to hear you whisper. Come on, come on! Settle down inside my love..."
Skipper pulled Amber to his chest again and for a second, he wanted to stroke her face, but he fought that urge and continued to dance with her.
"Come on, come on! Jump a little higher. Come on, come on! If you feel a little lighter."
Skipper actually lifted her up and spun around, both laughing the whole time. It might have been weird to anyone watching but, for them, they were having a load of fun with it.
"Come on, come on! We were once upon a time in love..."
Skipper couldn't help but smile. If only things weren't so complicated, maybe there could be something more between them. But he didn't really want to risk anything with Amber. He cared deeply for her that was a fact. He was afraid of loosing that special bond they had developed.
For now though, he would enjoy being with her, and he hoped that it wouldn't end for a while longer.
"We're accidentally in love. Accidentally in love, accidentally in love, accidentally in love, accidentally in love, accidentally in love, accidentally in love, accidentally in love."
Amber felt her heart rate going faster from the adrenaline and being close to a penguin she cared deeply about. She was not in love, she was not in love. But no matter how many times she thought of it, part of her did think she might just be. And she hated that part of her with a passion.
"Accidentally. I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love! Accidentally. I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love! Accidentally."
Amber felt like the lyrics were now trying to convince her that she was in love. But she refused to accept such a belief. She gave up those feelings a long time ago when all that pain was too much for her fragile emotions to handle. She thought her heart had learned its lesson.
The music got louder, making them put more energy, gusto and feeling into their dancing as they twirled, kicked and jumped into each others flippers. Some battle moves they knew were also used to make the dance even more powerful as they came in sync with each other.
"Come on, come on! Spin a little tighter!"
Skipper spun Amber once again, only faster then all the other times. Although neither would admit it, they were having a lot of fun. Skipper released her when she stopped spinning, and they both danced next to each other again, moving in a circular motion.
"Come on, come on! And the world's a little brighter."
When Skipper looked at Amber, he knew that part of the song was true. The world did seem a little brighter with her around in his opinion. He felt the song coming to a close, so he grabbed Amber and brought her as close as he could to his own body. They stayed in that position until the last lyric of the song came to an end. They longed to have continued dancing for just a little longer.
"Come on, come on! Just get yourself inside her love. I'm in love…"
Skipper then dipped Amber and it was like time froze for them. They stared at each others eyes with their heart rates quickening by the seconds that counted by. They were slowly leaning into each other with their breaths a bit husky from their dancing. Skipper was slowly pulling her up, and she allowed him to just that. Their eyelids dropped halfway, and their beaks were only inches away before they would connect.
But before it happened, both penguins realized what was happening and snapped their heads away. They jumped away from each other and glanced around awkwardly and nervously, trying to look at anything else that wasn't the other penguin.
"We should probably wake up the others," Amber coughed awkwardly. "They've slept long enough."
Skipper nodded stiffly and dragged his webbed feet to their soldiers, a bit crestfallen.
What had that almost happened? Amber thought in shock and stared off. And is it…love?
Song is called Accidentally in Love by Counting Crows. I'm raising awareness to this song!
I pretty much killed the love dream. I dangled chocolate in your faces and took it away. But I'll do what I want for now. Alright, now I know this is a cheesy chapter, but I had an urge to type it up. Now review or else…
Rico: *Pulls out flamethrower* Burn baby!
Me: That actually reminds me of a song. Anyway, you get the point. Review or be burned to death. Later, peace out, and all that stupid hippie crud!