"So I knew this guy who'd get em' for cheap," she prattled on. "And I'd run them across town and sell em' to the foreman for three times as much!
They sat in the patio area. It was relatively slow, given that it was almost sunset, and "Mary" hadn't stopped talking once since they'd got there. Nick propped up his head with his hand and slumped off to the side of his chair, impatiently tapping his ceramic coffee mug with his claw.
"I'd rake in at least a hundred bucks a day. Not too bad." She sat back in her seat and crossed her arms with a self-satisfied grin. "What about you, Nick?"
"Hmm?" His ears pricked, and his eyes lazily found her to his left.
"How much did you make way back when? Judy tells me you used to "play the game" too." She grinned.
Nick lethargically returned to his original position, staring down the road leading away from the cafe. "Two hundred."
"Pfff!" She scoffed. "You wish, I've been doin' this my whole life and even I only make a hundred… good try, though." She reached for her cup, "Judy, hunny, you wanna pass me that cream right there?" She motioned for the little off white jar at the center of the table.
Nick shot her a dirty look while she was distracted. Then he glanced at Judy, who was sitting directly across from him. He raised his eyebrow and nodded towards Mary as if to say "is she serious?" Judy only pursed her lips and finished pouring some cream into Mary's coffee.
"I mean-" she took a sip. "You can't make much more than a hundred selling finishing nails and staples to a dirty foreman." She wiped the coffee off of her lip. "He can buy em' at frickin' Home Depot for that much, then what's the point? Right?" She looked towards Nick again.
"Mmmm… right," he replied.
Mary stretched out in her seat and played with one of her ears for a moment. As she did, he saw her bite her lip with a mischevious grin.
Nick looked towards Judy to see her face was twitching. It took him a moment of wondering what was happening until he ducked under the table, and saw that they were playing "footsies."
He slumped back into his seat with his arms aggressively crossed. He averted his gaze in a huff and heaved a disgruntled sigh.
"What's wrong Nick?" Mary shot him a sidelong glance. "You wanna' play too?"
"Absolutely not…" he glared down the street. "You keep your feet to yourself."
"Meh," she shrugged. "More for me." She returned to jabbing around under the table.
"Alright!" Judy shouted in whispers. "Enough!"
As Judy proceeded to kick her feet away, Mary relaxed back into her seat. None of them said anything for a few minutes. It'd been the longest Mary'd gone without talking since they'd arrived, and it seemed she wasn't a fan of long and awkward silences.
"Anyways," she took another sip from her coffee. Then straightened the saucer as she set it back down. "Good on ya' for gettin' out. They call it a hustle, but not because it's always pretty, don't they?" She nudged Nick with her elbow, to which he finally started enjoying his coffee.
"They sure do," he locked eyes with Judy. "Don't they… sweetheart?"
She gave him a quick, and bitter glare before Mary looked her way. Soon, though, Mary turned back towards Nick with a glare. "Ey slick, just cuz' I'm cool with you havin' the hots for my lady don't mean you can call her "sweetheart."
It tasted like the cream in Nick's coffee had curdled as he was drinking it. His eyes were locked on Judy, he didn't care about Mary's threats, the real problem was Judy…
"You told her?" he growled.
"Yea she told me," Mary leaned forward in her seat to try and obstruct his view of Judy. "It's called open and honest communica-"
"Ah da-da-da-da," he motioned for her to keep her mouth shut as he leaned in towards Judy. "Who else did you tell?"
"N-no one Nick!" She held her hands up. "I swear, it was only Mary… because well, she kind of has to know… doesn't she?" She said with an upward inflection.
"No carrots, she kind of didn't!" he barked.
"Hey, pal!" Mary reached out and snatched Nick's tie. With a threatening glare, she yanked on it to punctuate her statement. "Don't you talk to her like that. It ain't her fault she's gay, and I figured you were man enough to understand that…"
Nick had finally turned his glare away from Judy, only to wield it against Mary. He could hear the fur on his tail bristle against the iron grate chair he'd half risen from, and he didn't care. "Why don't you mind your own business…" he growled.
"Stop it!" Judy had risen from her seat and was pulling on Mary to try and get her back into her chair. "I mean it, sit down!"
Mary ignored her, and instead, narrowed her piercing glare at Nick. "You don't always get what you want crybaby… get- over- it…"
"Fuck this!" He reached into his pocket and slammed a wad of bills onto the table, before storming off down the street he'd been glaring at all evening.
"Nick!" Judy took a few quick steps after him, before turning on Mary. "What is wrong with you!?"
"Hey, don't look at me like that!" Mary threw her arms out in an exasperated shrug. "He was being an ass, so I told him off-"
Judy wasted no time in chasing after Nick. By the time Mary had finished what she was saying Judy was already through the intersection.
Nick was focused and aggressive in the way he walked, even bumping into a bobcat and not even stopping to look over his shoulder. "Hey, man!" He ignored him and stared cracks in the sidewalk as he powered on. Soon enough, Judy had caught up to him, and ran around in front of him to block his path.
"Nick stop!" She held her arms out to keep him from blowing past her. "She didn't really mean any of that, and I'm sorry I told her about how you feel… it was wrong of me to do that…" She looked discouraged.
Nick, on the other hand, was still fuming. "I didn't tell anyone we know about your secret when I found out. You think this is a joke for me, some kind of game or something?"
"No Nick!" She pleaded. "Of course not, I just want you to be ok with this!"
"Ok with it!?" He pressed his temples, and then brought his hands down expressively in front of him to punctuate his follow-up inquiry. "You clearly don't understand fluff, this is serious business for me. I'm gonna spend the rest of my life alone because of… her!" He turned on his heels to motion back towards the cafe.
"Well, you've got a pretty high opinion of yourself then Nick," she planted her hands on her hips. "To think that I would fall right into your arms if I was straight… where does your ego end!?"
He prepared for more rage, but none of it came. Instead, he felt heavy and empty.
"This isn't her fault Nick, it's no one's fault," she brought her hands off of her hips and crossed them over her chest. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself… this city needs both of us. It's bigger than you and me."
He could hear his teeth grinding, and his lip twitching as he clenched his jaw as hard as he could. Then as quickly as his anger came back it was gone again. His whole body relaxed, and there was only a dull sorrow left behind. "… I can't do this anymore."
"What?" She had a look of concern, and regret takes over her expression. Perhaps she was regretting her decision to be tough with him.
"I'm ok with it," he said.
"Oh Nick…" she sighed, holding her hand to her chest as a look of overwhelming relief took over.
"But I can't be your friend anymore." His eyes were only half open in a catatonic state of defeat. He'd finally given up his hope and accepted it.
"N-no…" she faintly stammered. "No Nick! That's not what I meant!"
"It's fine Hopps." He was instinctively looking at the ground as he spoke. "I won't leave the force, the city needs us right?" He gave a half-hearted and forced smile before it disappeared again. "Let's just keep all this professional from here on, ok? It's probably been for the best from the start anyways… don't you think? I mean, we're co-workers."
Her eyes fluttered around, her mouth hung open and her breathing was getting progressively heavier. "No… no Nick!"
"I'll see you at work on Monday Hopps," he placed his hands in his pockets and easily brushed past her. "Let's try to keep the small talk to a minimum… it's better for productivity."