Zootopia: Undercover Pursuit

Chapter 9: Telephone

Chapter 9: Telephone

"Hm? Who could it be..." thought a curious Nick. He set his cup of coffee down, then with a lazy flick of his wrist reached for his phone, which was lying and vibrating on the other side of the table. When he finally reached for it, he saw a number that was all too familiar to him.
"Ah, a good old friend." Nick laughed. It was Finnick, a good old colleague (or rather friend) of Nick's. They had known each other since kindergarten, when they went to the same school together until high school. Even though they studied in two different schools, which were several kilometres apart, their contact had not changed. They met practically every day to have a chat or just to hang out. They had a lot of common traits and interests. They were clever, brave, had a very developed imagination, loved cars, but above all, they both had a good head for business. Thanks to their creativity and their head for business, they came up together with the idea of selling ice-cream trucks as a side business until eventually this modest little illegal business turned into their livelihood when they fled the foxy quarter together. They did this every day, it was an investment that was enough to live comfortably in Zootopia while living in cheap flats. Everything has changed since Nick became a police officer. As a police officer, Nick could no longer take on this partnership, although he didn't want to leave his friend he asked him for an urgent meeting the day after he was hired as a police officer. It was then that he explained that he could no longer do it. Finnick felt bitter about it, but accepted it. He knew it was what he had to do. Since that meeting, their contact had been virtually nonexistent. They only had each other's phone numbers. Nick picked up the phone, then put it to his left ear without taking the panorama of snowy Zootopia out of his eyes.
"Howdy Nicki, how's it going?" asked Finnick, to which Nick laughed. He was glad his friend had called him. He didn't have time to do it himself, he worked all day and when he had free time he spent it with Judy. They'd go out for a walk or go to the cinema or shopping at the mall or something else.
"Everything's fine. It's been a long time since we last talked," Nick replied taking a sip of coffee.
"Yeah, you know...it's been a while since you started being a dog...it's put us a bit too far apart..."
"Are you still peddling icebreakers?"
"Huh...no...that's why I'm calling you," Finnick replied which made Nick curious.
"Oh that's interesting, and I already thought you were going to be a trader forever hehe...so where do you work?" asked Nick.
"As a pizza delivery man...I know it's not a challenging job like yours, but in the end I wanted to get out of the illegal business, I wanted to be like you" replied Finnick.
"Like me?" Nick repeated.
"Yeah ..well, you know, if you got away with that kind of business, then I could too. And you know, I made it! I thought it was harder to find legitimate work" Finnick replied to which both of the men laughed. They both had their similar, specific sense of humour. Not many people understood them, but so what. The important thing was that their jokes made each other laugh.
"You know, you've done more work than me, I'm a police officer thanks to Judy..."
"You still in touch with her?" interrupted Finnick for Nick. Nick didn't answer right away. He had to think about the question. Saying he was in touch with her wasn't a bad thing, but that he was in a relationship with her...no one knew that yet, he was afraid of how his friend would react. What if she laughed at him? He didn't want to come off as a fool in his friend's eyes, but he loved Judy and he himself also wanted to stop hiding the fact that they were in a relationship. He wanted to end it someday.
"Nick?" asked Fenek, interrupting Nick's thoughts.
"Well, yes, I'm in touch with her...you're not going to tell anyone the truth now are you?" asked Nick.
"Of course not! Come on, I'm your friend aren't I?" asked Nick rhetorically.
"Well yes, you know...I have a connection with Judy, even stronger than you think"
"Meaning?"
"We're in a relationship. She's my girlfriend" replied Nick trying to sound as serious as he could. Finnick didn't answer for a moment. Nick was already prepared for some kind of laugh at him or something. When it came to love affairs, Finnick was unfortunately a poor friend in such matters. On more than one occasion he'd made fun of Nick when he talked about a girl who caught his eye. When they were in high school, Nick took a liking to Sara, a classmate of his who was terribly nice, smart and beautiful. When he talked about her to Finnick, he was so put off by her that he gave up trying to approach her to talk to her.
"Wow...that's pretty...strong news. Did you know that such pairs are quite rare?" asked Finnick. Pairs of different species were rare, but they already existed. Not everyone liked it, but no one could forbid it.
"I love Judy and I want to be with her," replied Nick seriously.
"I see...if you love her then congratulations! Hehe, that's how I thought you were attracted to her, you were too smart to look at her" laughed Finnick.
"Well...you've seen her, you probably won't deny that her waistline is distinct" laughed Nick. And it was true. Judy's waist was strongly accentuated by her breasts as well as her hips. He never said it for Judy, he was too shy, but when he followed the rabbit he liked to watch the hips swaying from side to side.
"It's not for me to judge. Are you home alone? I don't think you would say that if Judy was with you," Finnick asked.
"Yeah...I'm alone, Judy's away at her parents for the week" replied Nick.
"Oh, how great it worked out! How about some time together?"
"What do you have in mind more specifically?"
"Remember the bar we used to go to in the evenings in downtown Zootopia?" asked Finnick.
"Mhm, yes I remember," replied Nick.
"We could go there. We'll have a drink and talk like old times" suggested Fenek. It wasn't actually a stupid idea. Now that Nick was alone he had nothing interesting to do. Judy would probably call late in the evening, or not call at all. Depends on how her day goes. Nick didn't mind popping out somewhere on the town with his old friend.
"Well, actually it's not such a bad idea. We can meet there, I'll be there in about 30 minutes" Nick replied accepting the proposal.
"Well then we're set. I'll see you in half an hour, ciao" replied Finnick, then hung up.