Chapter 4:

Pauline

Mario's work at the hospital never slowed down. He started to feel like the constantly needed hero again. Of course, being the heroic personality that he was, he would be a doctor. Just in time for him to feel exhausted, he was granted a week for vacation.

He decided there was no better vacation spot than Delfino Island, where his last vacation had gone entirely wrong. There would be no princess to save… Just him and the sandy beaches, exciting coasters, and, of course, the endless food!

In no time, he was stretched out on the beach, sipping a fruity smoothie and wearing shades against the glow of the shine sprite. He had always loved the anonymity that Delfino Island had always granted him. Being the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom made it hard to walk around without people wanting to talk to you. At Delfino, besides the ones who arrested him, the citizens went about their normal lives without a second glance at him.

He gazed out toward the ocean. There were some vacationers surfing out there. Children were tossing a beach ball to each other. Teenagers were riding the surf into the shore. He remembered when he came here for spring break when attending college for the hope of a doctor's degree in a few years. He felt sick with his lost dreams. Then he remembered his second chance and smiled.

He was just about to close his eyes again, when a familiar figure caught his eye. He hadn't seen her in years, but that flowing brown hair and deep red lipstick was hard to mistake. Her red swimsuit was nothing but flattering as she stood on her surfboard, letting the strikingly contrasted blue wave take her up and around.

He lowered his sunglasses and stared. Wow.

She came back onto the shore and stuck her board in the sand. She ran her long, red fingernails through her hair and shook it back and forth. Mario noticed he was staring and quickly put his sunglasses back up.

I shouldn't be interested in her anyway. I broke it off with her for a reason. Now if he could just remember what that reason was.

He shook his head, but he stood and approached her. She was combing her fingers through her hair as he stood next to her. "You were amazing out there," he noted when they were side by side.

She turned to him with a start. "Thanks, hun. I've been surfing for awhile, and I think I finally got it."

"Oh, you've definitely got it." Mario scolded himself at such a line.

But she smiled and blinked flirtatiously, and she offered her hand to shake. "My name is Pauline."

He took it. "Can I get you a smoothie, Pauline?"

She flashed another smile and grabbed her board. "I'd be happy to accept that offer."

The two of them headed for the drink stand. Mario treated her to a fruit smoothie and sat with her as she enjoyed her drink. "So, what do you do for a living?" she asked him.

"I'm a doctor."

"Really?" Pauline was instantly interested. No surprise. She was interested those years ago, too.

"I'm on my vacation now. I was granted a week without worries."

"A week without germs and incompetent employees and angry patients?"

"Yeah. That too."

.

Mario enjoyed many more smoothies with Pauline in the next couple days. She even offered to help him learn to surf, though that ended poorly for him. He decided to quit for his health, and she laughed in agreement.

It was nothing like Mario remembered. Pauline was so easy to be with. What had held him back from this in the past? He suddenly remembered something:

Luigi stood quietly in the doorway as Mario closed the door behind Pauline. He looked like he had something on his mind. Mario was pretty sure he wouldn't say anything unless he got it out of him. "You okay, there Weeg?" he asked.

His brother stared at the floor, "Um… yeah…"

"Don't be like that, bro. You obviously have something on your mind. Spill."

Luigi looked up at him timidly. "I don't want to butt in… I don't want to get you mad either…"

"I promise I won't be mad. Just tell me what you want to say."

"It's Pauline…"

"You don't like her, huh?"

"I don't think she likes me any better… She always seems so annoyed at me. She wants you all to herself. But if you really… REALLY like her…"

"Aw, Weegie, don't worry your hat off." Mario grabbed his little brother's hat and tousled his hair. "I'll keep an eye out for how she treats you. If she can't get along with you, no sense dating me, right?"

Luigi grinned. "You're okay?"

"Of course."

Pauline was nasty toward Luigi. She saw him as a bother. Mario was beginning to think that she was his first sign that something was wrong with his life. And that was before he saved Pauline from the giant ape! Sure, he had a fuzzy memory that she was kinda mean to him after he rescued her. But could he blame her? She was frazzled!

It made Mario angry to think of what he missed with Pauline. Sure, almost immediately afterward, he had Peach, but what if he and Pauline had never broken it off?

Pauline leaned into him one day before she left for her hotel room, saying, "There's a movie playing at one of the beaches tonight… Some story of when their sprite stopped shining or something. Interested?" She was just like Mario remembered. He couldn't imagine not being with her, just like how she had hooked him in his teenage years.

"I'm in."

"Great! I'll see you there."

Mario couldn't help but watch her walk away.

.

The movie was about him. He nearly fell back in shock when he saw the first scene. There was his doppleganger making a mess of the place. Of course, it wasn't the story quite as he remembered it. The filmmakers made him out to look like a reckless hero. He didn't have a thought for the people of Delfino, and when the hero's girlfriend was captured, he was a jerk to anyone who may have even accidentally slowed him down. They also didn't get the bit about Bowser Jr. not actually being Peach's kid, but that was another story.

Mario was glad when it was over.

"Hm…" Pauline hummed in disdain beside him.

"Didn't like it?" he asked hopefully.

"Not at all." She turned to him. "I actually knew the man that was the hero in that film… Mario."

Mario was surprised to hear his name. It hadn't come up in someone's speech for quite awhile to him.

"He was actually my boyfriend for some time." She turned away in a sort of act of shyness. "Oh, there's no way you'll believe me, huh? But it's true. I dated Super Mario. That movie… It didn't do him justice. He was an extraordinary hero. Too bad he never got a chance to be anything else. I think that's why it ended between me and him."

Mario tried his best to analyze this woman. He had broken it off with her… but could it be he had indeed misread the whole situation? Could it be that Pauline would have given him the life he wanted… life as a doctor, not a superhero… life saving lives, not one princess…?

As if in answer to his thoughts, she fluttered her eyelashes at him. Suddenly, his phone rang.

Mario sighed and opened the device. "Hello?"

"Sorry to disturb you on your vacation and all," a woman's voice. It was a nurse from the hospital. "…but we lost a patient's file and it was one that you treated."

"Name?"

"Um…" The voice got smaller, as if she was calling to another nurse. "What did she say his name was?"

"Ruigi?"

"Luigi?" Mario asked into the phone. Pauline's eyes perked at the name, but it was easily cast aside. "The hero's brother?"

"Yeah, that's the one!" the nurse nearly shouted. "Anyway, we can't find his file."

"He's back in? Did he sustain further injury?"

"Um, no… it's nothing you need to worry about, sir… just a regular visit."

"A visit to a hospital is never regular. Did I do something wrong?"

"There's nothing we can see going on with him. We're starting some scans and x-rays, but there's nothing we're seeing physically right now." Mario remembered what Daisy had said when he saw her in the library. Luigi was fine, physically… but could there possibly be something that his emotions are doing to him? Medically, it was possible for heartbrokenness to cause some health issues.

As much as it irritated him, he decided he had to leave vacation early. "I'm going to check in on him. I know where his file is, and I have developed a rapport with his friends. I'll get to the bottom of it." He closed his phone.

Pauline sighed. "They can't function without you, hun?" she leaned into him, her lips almost touching his cheek.

"I guess they still need you," that voice was back.

Mario sighed.

"You can't even have a well-deserved vacation."

He turned to Pauline. "I'll call you," he said, and he stood up to leave.

"I'll be waiting," Pauline leaned over strategically to look up at him with the most longing eyes he'd ever seen on a woman.

Sighing again, he headed to the airport, where he would purchase an emergency ticket for an immediate flight home. His trip to Delfino was again cut short, for the third time in his life.