Opposites Attract

Chapter 2~Tension

~Nick's POV~

We sat there tediously waiting for Chief Buffalo Butt to enter the room and give us our assignments. We've finished our coffees a while ago, and the room had already been filled up with the noisy animals rough-housing and causing a riot. Normally by now, me and Judy would be joking around, rolling our eyes and mocking their behaviour. However today, things are different.

Both of us start to fidget around in our seat as we look awkwardly at our laps. The tension between us is definitely there today, but I can't seem to work out why.

~.~.~

Ten minutes had gone past and I get restless.

I've been looking forward to seeing Judy ever since the second I woke up this morning-which was an hour earlier than usual. So what? I only wanted extra time to buy her coffee and arrive sooner, to have a chat and a laugh before Chief arrives.

I don't know why I'm making such an effort. We're just friendly partners in crime; nothing special. I've been contemplating our relationship for a while now. I've even been deep in thought about it before she walked through that door. I knew being more than friends was out of the question; it's illegal.

But she can't get out of my head.

The more I bond with her while doing our job, the more I start to notice her qualities.

Her optimistic personality, that determination to work hard during our cases, always seeing the good in everyone, that face she always makes whenever someone litters on the streets; I find it attractive. I don't know when, but these things I've brushed off in the past are now getting me more captivated than ever before. The process of how these feelings came to be was something similar to constantly tripping over a mysterious bump under your rug, then deciding to face the problem by pulling the rug back to reveal that the predicament was a misplaced object. I always knew things were different when it came to Judy, things felt different, but I never stopped to think why that was the case. I ignored it and never acknowledged it. Until I finally decided to look under the rug... What I found was alarming, and this new attention she's now pulled me into is starting to drive me up the walls.

Fidgeting in my seat, I feel more uneasy in the silence. The fur on the back of my neck started pricking up. I want to talk to her. I need to say something, anything!

"Chief Bogo's late."

I cringe. Good one, Nick.

"What?" She replies. Her ears perk up, at least. She tilts her head towards me but her eyes don't quite meet mine. "Oh...yeah, he is." She slowly trails her answer and returns to looking back at her lap.

Nothing changed. I felt the tension grow as we felt more and more uncomfortable from my failed attempt of breaking the thick ice between us. Her arm brushes against mine, making me slightly turn my head to look at her direction, she does the same. Once our eyes lock, we sharply turn away again, and I feel my chest tighten as I cringe a second time. Well, this is awkward.

"Atten-HUT!"

"Alright, alright, everybody calm down!"

Chief Bogo bursts through the door and scares the living day lights out of all of us, but best of all, killing the tension. The chaos of animals banging on tables quietened in seconds while we all sat down. Me and Judy stayed standing in our seat of course; considering our height.

"We've got a big case on our hands and we have no time left to spare," he said gruffly. "There's crimes going on as we speak, so timing is important!"

"Says the buffalo who came in late this morning..." I mumble.

One of his ear twitches as he growls. "SHUT IT, WILDE!" His eyes shot to mine like daggers.

I heard Judy quietly giggling next to me. It made me feel satisfied to finally hear her laugh.

"As I was saying," he continues, adjusting his glasses. "There's been reported to be a gang in Sahara Square stealing valuables from buildings around the area. Find them, shut them down. They're known to be hard to catch so we need all the help we can get. That means all of you need to work together; no teams. I've got the case files with me. I'm counting on all of you to make the mission a success. Dismissed." His monotone voice was far from motivating.

He hands the case files to the rhino next to us as they all start to leave. Me and Judy were about to follow before we get stopped.

"Not too fast! Wilde, Hopps, you'll be doing paperwork. For the rest of the day," said Chief Bogo.

"What! Why?" Demanded Judy. "Don't we need all the help we can get?" Judy raised her voice and thumped her foot on the ground. I just loved it when she does that.

"You do not talk back to your Chief! Especially you, Wilde. Your behaviour today was disrespectful. You have the nerve to think it's appropriate to confront me of 'being late' to work today! Tch, I'm holding both of you back because of this." He snarled, glaring down at me.

"Come on Chief, if you just lighten up now and then-"

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR BACK-TALKING WILDE! You may think you're being funny, but you're wrong! Consider this your first warning." And with that, he leaves the room and slams the door behind him.

I roll my eyes. "Yikes, who spat in his breakfast this morning?" I earned a cold side-glare from Judy. Looks like I'm not on her 'good side' at the moment.

"Look, I'm sorry, Carrots! I don't know why we're both stuck here, since it was all...kinda...my fault," I say, rubbing the back of my neck sheepishly. Normally, I found it pretty funny when Judy got mad at my behaviour. Today it made me feel uneasy.

"It's because we're partners," she says miserably. "No matter what happens, we always go down together."

She exits the room with me following slowly behind, dragging my feet. I knew how much she hated doing that repetitive paperwork. Why was Chief so cheesed off? Prejudiced... of course. I could care less if he made me stay back. It's the fact that Judy has to deal with this too. I just hope she's not going to stay mad at me for so long...

This is going to be a long day.

~I really enjoyed writing this actually, I'm going to make the chapters longer from now on. (Probably just over 1000 words) Tell me what you think of my story so far in the comments! I'll update soon xxx~