*Hey y'all! Happy New Year! I published another chapter for my version of Sing for the first time in the year 2022. This is published on January 1, 2022. If you guys like this chapter, don't be afraid to vote and comment! The song used is called "Could Have Been Me" by Halsey from Sing 2 soundtrack. Love you all! Enjoy!*

In the late afternoon that was slowly turning into evening, the three animals rented a silver car as Mizuki drove through the highway while Buster and Ash were sitting at the back to plan out how they're going to talk to Clay Calloway.

"Okay, Ash, what's the plan?" Buster questioned the porcupine girl.

"Alright, we're going to take this slow. Think of Clay as someone who would hide in bushes until you give him something he wants. There's gonna be something he wants."

"What does he want?"

Ash bit her lips. "That's the thing. What he wants was his wife back but I'm sure that we wouldn't be able to bring her back."

"Yeah, that's definitely not going to happen but...maybe there's a way we can help comfort him," Buster stated.

"Maybe," Ash said with a sigh.

"Guys, we're here," Mizuki informed as the silver car was parked into the hill with the bushes and the trees surrounding it.

The three animals got out of the car and headed through the bushes where they fought against the leaves just to part them and see a beautiful two-story house standing tall with a fence all around the property.

"There he is," Ash pointed at the lion fixing the motorcycle under the shade of the tree while the familiar mouse was sitting on the lion's shoulder to look over at what the lion was doing.

"Mike!" Buster called out, gaining the mouse's attention.

"Moonster!!" Mike shouted happily.

"Hold on, we're coming to you!" Buster yelled. "Mr. Calloway!"

"Go away!!" Clay barked back.

"At least, he's responsive," Ash muttered underneath her breath.

"Could you open the gate?!" Mizuki requested. "Please?!"

There was no answer as Mike glanced at Clay.

"Man, open the gate for them," Mike replied.

"No, you can go to them. Just squeeze through that fence," Clay stated with a sigh.

"Fine! We're coming to you!" Ash determined as the three animals walked over towards the fence since the iron gate was locked.

Clay glanced up while widening his eyes to find that the animals were inches away from touching the fence they were about to climb over as he stood up abruptly. "Wait! Don't touch that! That fence is an electric fence!"

"Wait, seriously?" Mike questioned with a brow raised.

Clay shrugged his shoulders. "Safety precaution."

Buster didn't hear what Clay said as he shrugged it off. "I'm sure he's just making it up."

"Buster, I don't think he—"

When Buster touched the fence, he's immediately electrocuted and pushed back from it with his hands burned.

"BUSTER!!!" Mizuki and Ash cried.

"MOONSTER!!" Mike shouted from Clay's shoulder.

Clay gave a deadpan stare at the three animals outside of his fence while turning to Mike slightly. "How dumb is your boss?"

"Buster, babe, are you alright?" Mizuki checked on Buster's pulse with her hooves. She breathed heavily when she couldn't feel his pulse. "I-I can't feel his pulse. He's not breathing. He's not breathing!!!"

Clay gasped as he immediately sprinted towards the gate, unlocked it, and opened it so that he could get to Buster with Mizuki trying to wake him up. "Get out of the way! You're crowding him!"

Mizuki swiftly moved out of the way as Clay slid on his knees and performed CPR by parting Buster's lips and breathing into his mouth and then only using his two fingers to press against Buster's chest so that his paws wouldn't crush his ribs in an attempt to help him.

Mizuki began tearing up while Ash and Mike were in complete fear.

Clay continued to give his breaths to Buster while trying to pump his heart so that the koala could live. And it worked as Buster was coughing and gasping for air.

The animals sighed in relief.

Clay grumbled and picked up Buster. He gave Mizuki and Ash a stern look. "Next time, if I say there's an electric fence, I mean it."

Mizuki looked up at the lion. "Thank you."

"Next time, if your boyfriend's doing something dumb, stop him before he gets himself hurt. I don't want to be responsible for his death since I put up an electric fence," Clay grumbled while entering back through his gate. "You guys stay here for the night. I expect you all to be gone by morning. Including you." Clay pointed at Mike.

Clay carried Buster towards his mansion with Mike on his shoulder. The girls followed after Clay Calloway into his mansion. 

~.~

Porscha climbed through her open bedroom window in the early evening. She began to check on everything in her room as she fiddled with her door and overheard her father talking with somebody. Were they having guests over?

Porscha clenched her teeth in fear as she realized that she couldn't just come downstairs from her room and just greet her father and his guests. If she knew her father, her father would think that she's the type of person who would be out and about all day rather than stay in her room. Porscha decided to change out of her theater clothes and into her pretty red blouse and skinny dark jeans with a couple of flowers imprinted on her hip. She unlocked the door in case she needed to run into her room. She climbed down from her bedroom window, bundle up the sheets at the bottom, and thrusted the bedsheets up into her bedroom. She'll worry about closing the window when she got time.

Porscha quickly approached the front door as she used the house key she had in her pocket and unlocked the door.

"Daddy, I'm home—" Porscha stopped in mid-sentence when she saw her father sitting near the silver-furred she-wolf with the younger male white wolf with a black spot over his left eye sitting next to her, who's supposed to be her fiance.

"Where have you been? Jerry's been looking all over for you," Jimmy interrogated his daughter. "Did you forget that we're supposed to have dinner with your future in-laws?"

"Oh, I went shopping," Porscha stated. She knew it was a white lie but one little white lie couldn't hurt, right? "The stores didn't have what I wanted anyway so...yeah."

Jimmy shrugged it over while waving her over to the table. "Come over here and sit with us."

A lump went down in Porscha's throat as she hesitantly joined in the gathering, sitting next to her father while trying to appear normal.

Jimmy turned to the other wolf, who happened to be Porscha's future mother-in-law. "So, you were saying, Karen?"

"Oh, right," Karen, Porscha's future mother-in-law, continued on while putting a hand on her son's shoulder. "Well, I've been talking with Ricardo and he couldn't wait to marry Porscha. So excited to marry her that he decided to move the wedding day to next week."

"What?!" Both Porscha and her fiance, Ricardo, said simultaneously.

Porscha widened her eyes in shock to see that Ricardo was just in much confusion as she was. Something was telling her that Ricardo had no plan or intention to want to marry Porscha.

"That's great!" Jimmy stated happily. "Perfect time too, because Porscha will have her wedding dress by then."

Porscha realized that her future wedding was going to be on the same day as the show. No, this couldn't be happening. Now, how was she supposed to do both at the same time? That she had to think of.

Porscha never wanted to marry Ricardo and now she's starting to realize that he didn't want to either. Just by the way they met in lunch, where he wouldn't pay attention to her. She wanted someone she could just talk to, who can listen to her. Like Eddie! Wait, why did she think of him?

Porscha shook off the thought as she noticed her father and Ricardo's mother getting up from the table.

"Let's give you two lovebirds some privacy," Jimmy stated with a wink at Porscha.

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll love each other in no time," Ricardo's mother, Karen, reassured mostly to her son.

Porscha shivered at those words as Karen and Jimmy exited out of the kitchen. The young she-wolf glanced over at Ricardo and scooted next to him.

"So...how was your day?"

"Fine, I guess," Ricardo answered, his eyes still glued to his phone.

"You never consented to this, have you?" Porscha questioned Ricardo.

"No, this whole thing was stupid from the very beginning," Ricardo responded.

"Right? I'm so glad I'm not the only one thinking of this," Porscha stated happily that at least she and her 'fiance' had something in common for once.

Ricardo smiled but it wasn't at her...it was on his phone. Porscha took one little sneak peek as she noticed a name on there.

Nick.

There were exactly three hearts next to the name. Porscha tilted her head in more questioning as she glanced up at Ricardo.

"Who's Nick?" Porscha asked Ricardo, trying her best to not sound like she's snooping around everything.

Ricardo glanced away from his phone and stared up at Porscha in shock. "Uh...he-he's nobody."

Ricardo immediately put his phone away and got up from his seat in a form of embarrassment. The wolf quickly headed out of the Crystal home while his mother noticed and followed after him in concern.

Porscha wasn't sure what was going on as Jimmy stepped out of the shadows.

"What did you just say to him?" Jimmy interrogated Porscha.

"He-He was texting some guy named Nick and I just asked who he was," Porscha answered. "I think Ricardo's not consenting to this at all—"

"Ugh, you know what, go to your room. I'll fix your mess," Jimmy growled as he went out of the front door.

Porscha got up from her seat swiftly and headed up the stairs hurriedly. She opened the door and entered through. Immediately, she shut the door and locked it. She quickly strode on the other side of her bedroom and pulled the bedsheets into her bedroom fully. She closed her window and closed the curtains.

The wolf collapsed on her bed and curled up a little with lights glowing above her. She stared up at the ceiling with a deep exhausted sigh. She turned off her lamp to let the lights on her headboard glow more to give her comfort through the dark. For some reason, she couldn't wait to participate in the show. She also couldn't wait to see Eddie. He seemed like a chill animal to talk to even though he gets flustered around her for some reason. Maybe he could teach her more about acting...or probably something more.

Porscha groaned at the thought of the stagehand who, for some reason, had shown more compassion and was more encouraging than her own father and paid more attention to her than her own fiance. This made her feel special when she's around him that now she could just blush every time she's around him. But she didn't know whether to decide to cancel the wedding and just ask Eddie out on a date because apparently, she never loved her fiance. She got up from her bed and opened the curtains, with the moon shining on the city despite the city lights lighting up in protest of the darkness below.

The music began to play in the background while Porscha sang her heart out, knowing her father wasn't here to hear her.

https://youtu.be/ZJocdnMvTYs

"Don't wanna live as a generic story.

Rather go out in the blaze of glory.

I can't live like this, I'm not afraid now."

Porscha began to strut around her room while gathering her theater clothes as she came downstairs to do some laundry. She turned on the washer while sitting on it and sang more.

"I'll live now cause the bad die last.

Dodging the bullets from your discouraging words.

Well, I can't hear you, I won't fear the future anymore.

Trapped up in your tower.

What a waste of blood, sweat, and tears.

Oh, oh-oh."

Porscha hopped off the washer while the washer was washing her clothes as she sang to herself while dancing in the laundry room.

"I wanna taste love and pain.

I wanna feel pride and shame.

I don't wanna waste my time.

Don't wanna waste one line.

I wanna live better days

Never look back and say.

It could have been me.

It could have been me, yeah!"

Meanwhile, Ricardo was with his mother as his mother was talking with Porscha's father, who's profusely apologizing for the way Porscha was acting. However, Ricardo began to get a little sick and tired of being forced into a relationship that he was never interested in. With that, Ricardo snuck off while his mother was busy talking to Jimmy Crystal.

While walking through the streets, Ricardo sang his words out when his mother and Jimmy were not in earshot.

"Don't wanna wake up in a lousy morning.

The thought of the wedding got my skin crawling.

I won't adhere now, I'm gonna live my life now.

Trapped up in your tower.

What a waste of blood, sweat, and tears.

Oh, oh-oh."

Meanwhile, in the Crystal Residence, Porscha put her clothes in the dryer and turned on the dryer as the dryer began its cycle. Porscha sang while not fully aware of Ricardo singing in the background someplace else.

"I wanna taste love and pain(I wanna taste love)

I wanna feel pride and shame

I don't wanna waste my time(no)

Don't wanna waste one line(one line)

I wanna live better days(better days)

Never look back and say.

Could have been me(it could've been me)

It could have been me(Oh, it could have been me)."

Ricardo arrived at an apartment within the shadow of the city as he knocked on the door. The door opened, revealing it to be a brown-furred wolf with brown eyes staring into Ricardo's icy blue ones. Ricardo smiled at the wolf softly and entered his house as soon as he was invited in.

Porscha sang this while thinking up of Eddie with a blush on her face with Ricardo singing in the background again.

"I wanna taste love and pain (Oh, I wanna taste love and pain)

Wanna feel pride and shame (Oh, I do)

Don't wanna waste my time (Don't wanna waste my time)

Don't wanna waste one line (don't wanna waste one line)

I wanna live better days."

In the final verse, Ricardo and Porscha sang together while singing from two different places.

"Never look back and say

It could have been me

Oh, it could have been me."

Porscha sang her final line with a passion in her voice in the laundry room.

"It could have been me!!!"

The song ended instantly as the dryer beeped as if it's done with its cycle. Porscha took out her clothes and carried them back upstairs to get ready for the day.

~.~

In the early morning, Eddie checked backstage of the Crystal Theater. It's unusual for him to get up in the early morning but he wanted to mess with the buttons to see which work and which won't. He smiled fondly in remembering times where he's the only stagehand to jump the cues and make sure that the lighting and everything were working properly. Eddie entered the room with all the controls on the panels, not having to go everywhere on stage to check on stuff. It's all in one place.

That just made it easier for Eddie since he didn't have to run around the huge stage to control it. There's just one place to go and a billion buttons to play with.

Eddie smiled while pressing one of the buttons. The screech came on from the speakers, almost startling Eddie out of his seat. The sheep arched a brow as he pressed the button again and the screeching sound was summoned from the speakers. He pressed other buttons, making different sounds that could be turned into music if he wanted to. Eddie giggled and pressed the buttons to make some kind of remix music just to play with the buttons.

He wasn't aware that Porscha entered the theater quite earlier than usual as she noticed Eddie in the backstage controls and leaned against the doorway just to watch him play with the buttons. She smiled fondly at the sheep playing with the buttons before his hoof was about to press the button that she recognized as the one that shouldn't be pressed.

"Don't press that!" Porscha shouted, interrupting Eddie's moment.

Eddie stopped himself from pressing the new forbidden button as he turned to Porscha with eyes widened in shock.

"Uh...it would set the theater on fire if you press it hard enough," Porscha stated. "I-uh-have been to backstage tours in the musicals I went to before and they say to never press that button...um...sorry, your new remix song sounds good so far."

Eddie blushed as he moved his hoof away from the forbidden button. "What other buttons do I not push?"

Porscha was shocked for a moment that Eddie would ask her for her help since she would be the one that asked him for help. However, her tail wagged a tiny bit while she smiled a little. She stepped into the control room while looking over all the buttons. So many to press and so many to show Eddie.

"Well, this button is fun to press," Porscha stated with a simple smug smile while pressing it to inflate the balloon aliens up on stage, earning a fascinated gasp from Eddie. Porscha smiled to see Eddie gazing at the balloons in an awed expression. She pressed the button to deflate the balloon safely.

"Whoa!" Eddie yelped in surprise as he glanced at Porscha with a nervous chuckle. "You would think as a stagehand, I should know this stuff."

"Local theaters are small, right?" Porscha asked in curiosity.

"Yeah, mostly. I'm used to be the only stagehand on a small stage where you only get help from a couple of people who were not performers. You know? But this...this is so cool," Eddie marveled while looking out into the grand theater. "This is a lot bigger than what I'm used to."

Porscha grinned excitedly. "There's so much to show you then!" Porscha began to blush as she tried to hold her wagging tail to contain her excitement. "I mean, I know that I can come off as a theater nerd and you might not want to hear—"

"Oh, that's okay, we're all theater nerds here. Welcome aboard," Eddie stated with a chuckle. "My grandmother was an actress for theater performers so my family usually gets free tickets to go see her performance."

"No kidding! My mother was an actress as well and we were able to see her shows for free since she's my mother and my father was rising up towards fame at the time. But, that all ended when I was eight."

"Why at eight?" Eddie asked with a brow raised. "Did she retire or—?"

Porscha frowned at the thought of her mother. "Um, well, not exactly. She died in a stage accident when I was eight. I thought her falling was part of the play until she had to be taken to the hospital."

Eddie gasped quietly while lowering his gaze at the buttons with a frown. "I'm sorry to hear about that."

"Well, it's fine. I mean, she's more of an inspiration to be part of the show. You know, for every Broadway musical, I would ask my dad to take me to them. There are some he would take me and some he wouldn't take me since he either didn't have enough money or didn't have time for me. Either way, I still didn't see some of them," Porscha stated. "And then...I grew up and tried to find ways to get into the theater through school but Dad wouldn't let me take any theater classes. Instead, he had me take boring classes on business and—and he had me engaged with someone with a ton of money after that."

Eddie blushed when she brought up her fiance while scratching his head. "You...like this guy?"

Porscha rolled her eyes. "I don't even know him. I mean, I got to know him last night a bit more and I found out that he didn't want to be at this wedding and he found someone else to fall in love with, I guess. Either way, I'm not into this guy and this guy isn't into me. So, at least we have that in common."

Eddie chuckled a little bit. "Yeah, I understand. Um..." Eddie felt his heart pounding in his chest while trying not to focus on Porscha but he couldn't help it. "So...uh, how much did your father shut you away from this city?"

"Oh, he lets me go into the city," Porscha answered with an innocent smile. "Why?"

Eddie rubbed his arm. "Well, I'm not sure where the best places to go in the city."

"Oh, there are a bunch of places to go in this city. There are malls, restaurants with good food, and fun entertainment stuff we could go see," Porscha said excitedly.

Eddie felt nervous while fiddling with his hooves. "Uh...Porscha."

"Yeah." Porscha's tail began to wag as she stopped it immediately, trying to not get excited about seeing Eddie in front of him.

Eddie blushed more to see Porscha's tail wagging excitedly while rubbing his arm. "Um, since you know everything about this city...I was wondering if you-you would like to give me a tour around it tonight after work?"

Porscha smiled brightly while letting go of her tail. "Yeah, definitely. There's an ice skate rink right nearby the theater. Meet me there after work."

"Oh. Okay," Eddie said with a goofy grin and a blush.

Porscha exited out of the control room while Eddie watched her walk away from him.

Eddie's heart pounded faster than normal while he tried not to think too deep into this. It's just a tour...not a date...or maybe she thought it was a date. He couldn't read her mind even though he wanted to. Ice skate rink? Eddie's going to have to figure out when work was done. 

~.~

Eddie had been eager all day throughout work. He couldn't wait for the day to turn into night. Why would he be so excited about a tour around the city? Maybe it was because Porscha's the one touring him around the city? Eddie still tried to wrap his head around the fact that he had that weird feeling about Porscha. Was it love? Was it meant to be? Was this a forbidden love story like the Romeo and Juliet story—minus the poison and death? No, there's no way. Eddie blushed at the thought of being with Porscha while exploring this huge city of Redshore City.

It's night finally. Eddie excitedly wrapped up work and headed out of the theater in the early evening. Eddie searched for the ice rink...which was actually right near the theater. Eddie stood by the black iron fence shorter than him as he noticed all the animals ice-skating with smiles on their faces. Eddie shivered as he realized that the night was getting cold. He felt a presence behind him as a jacket all of the sudden wrapped itself around Eddie's shoulder. Eddie jumped as he turned to find Porscha with a coat to keep her warm.

"I went to get jackets for both of us. I figured you need it...I didn't mean to scare you," Porscha stated.

Eddie shrugged as he slipped into his new jacket now. "It's fine. I get scared easily. Thanks."

"No problem." Porscha smiled sweetly while looking around the ice rink. "Have you ever ice-skated before?"

"Not since I was younger. I kinda forgot how to do it."

"Do you want to do it?" Porscha asked with her tail wagging.

"Sure, why not," Eddie said with a smile.

Porscha wagged her tail excitedly. "Let's go!" She took Eddie by the hoof and gently guided him towards a stand where they rented ice skates. Eddie took it upon himself to rent them since he's getting paid more than usual for temporary be in the Crystal Theater.

He bought both of them ice skates since Porscha bought both of them jackets. Porscha smiled at the gesture as she put on her ice skates with Eddie following suit except he struggled a little.

Porscha nudged on his arm to get his attention as he looked over to see her tying her shoes in a way that was tight and secure. Eddie darted his gaze back and forth between her and his feet as he tied his shoelaces as Porscha did with hers. It's tight and secure but it's a little lopsided.

Porscha grinned brightly at Eddie while standing up on her ice skates and made her way towards the ice rink. Eddie was a bit wobbly with his balance but he's able to make his way towards the ice rink to find Porscha ice-skating on ice elegantly, dodging the other animals to not bump into them.

Eddie stayed up against the wall while taking baby steps on his ice skates to watch Porscha enjoying the wind on her face like a free spirit over the ice. Eddie gazed at her in awe as he wanted to prove that he could skate out there just as much as her while pushing himself away from the wall. However, the sheep lost his balance and almost fell until Porscha caught him swiftly and held his hooves to keep him in balance.

"Baby steps, Eddie, baby steps," She said with a giggle.

Eddie gave her a goofy smile. "Sorry, I thought I could pull it off."

Porscha swerved in front of the sheep. "That's okay. You said you hadn't done this since you're a little kid. Just take baby steps."

Eddie smiled softly at her until they both bumped into the wall. "Oh, uh...sorry."

"Don't be...I'm the one guiding you. Sorry. Just be careful with—"

Eddie slipped and fell backward, pulling Porscha with him. Porscha fell on top of him with a yelp. They slid in the ice with Porscha laying on top of him by pure accident.

"Are you okay?" Porscha asked Eddie in concern.

Eddie giggled for a moment. "Yeah, I—" Eddie lifted his face to look at Porscha to realize that his face was inches away from the wolf's as he widened his eyes comically and then laid his head back down on the ice awkwardly. "We better get up."

"Yeah," Porscha stated while helping Eddie up and helped him lean against the wall so that he wouldn't slip again.

Eddie leaned against the tiny wall. "Any other suggestions?"

Porscha swiftly slid into the wall and leaned against it casually. "Where do you want to go? The city is big enough to go wherever you want to go."

Eddie looked around the city with a hum and noticed a bowling alley. "We could go there."

"Yeah! Let's go!"

Porscha swiftly took Eddie's hooves and helped him skate out of the ice rink. After they both took off their ice skates and returned them, the sheep and the wolf walked through the streets to get to the bowling alley right near them.

Together, both of them rented shoes for bowling and were given a lane to bowl in. Porscha and Eddie started up the game where Porscha wasn't as good at bowling as Eddie was. But she didn't mind losing if it meant that they're both having a laugh over how many gutter balls Porscha would throw accidentally. Eddie felt bad for winning so he gestured for her to come beside him as he guided her on how to get the ball to hit the pins ahead of them by showing her how to aim.

Porscha got the jest of it as she practiced more on her aim. However, by the end of the game, she was able to knock down a couple of pins instead of landing gutter balls, to which she celebrated for finally knocking over a couple of pins with Eddie giving her a high-five.

Porscha wagged her tail in excitement. "Could we play the next round?!"

Eddie smiled and nodded his head as they played another round. 

~.~

After a few games, Eddie and Porscha went into the bar area of the bowling alley. They shared laughter as Porscha was telling her story about when she was young.

"—so, both my mother and I have this inside joke about how Dad would be stoned face at times. Like he always gives this angry look—" Porscha made a stoned angry face with her brows furrowed, causing Eddie to giggle more.

"Sounds like you and your mother have a lot of jokes," Eddie stated with a giggle.

Porscha smiled, breaking her stoned angry face. "Yeah." Then, she frowned while gazing down at her margarita. "I miss her."

Eddie frowned with her. "I don't blame you. How did your father feel when your mother...you know—?"

"He never really cried. I mean, he held me and comforted me on the day she died but...he grew cold and distant—" Porscha paused herself while looking up at Eddie, a little bit drunk but not to the point where she couldn't focus on Eddie. "Actually, he's been cold and distant even before my mother died."

"Really?" Eddie questioned while tilting his head.

"Yeah...I mean, I think there's this one time Dad and Mom got into a fight. I don't have an idea what it's about because I was just either playing with toys or listening to music on my little pink radio that Dad gave away after Mom died. And then glass broke and the fight just ended after that. I don't know if Mom and Dad ever got along."

Eddie bit his lip. "Have they ever got into a physical fight?"

"No. Nothing like that." Porscha took a sip of her margarita. "Just a good old-fashion screaming fight to see who can scream the loudest."

Eddie clenched his teeth. "Geez, it does sound like it."

Porscha sighed deeply while shifting her focus on Eddie with a flirty smile. "So, Eddie, tell me more about yourself besides being a stagehand and getting free tickets because your nana was a famous actress performing in theaters."

Eddie giggled while shrugging. "There's not really much about me except my parents are rich because of Nana."

"No kidding. You're a rich kid too?"

"Well, I live with a rich family for a while until I moved out and made my own living without having to rely on my parent's money," Eddie stated with a small smile. "So, I'm not the richest person alive but I'm content with where I am right now."

"Did they ever force you to marry someone?"

Eddie giggled a bit. "No, but they did force me to date in the hopes I would be in love with her. It was a rich sheep girl who...well, was not very nice. To anyone at least. She wanted to be in love with me and I had to date her when I was a teen because her father would kill if I just straight up dump her. She's a spoiled brat. Gets mad at the waiters and waitresses for not getting the right food, uh, she yells at her father whenever things don't go her way—"

Porscha chuckled a bit. "She sounds horrible."

"I was trying to be patient with her but she just gets on my nerves that I just dump her. At first, my parents didn't understand why until they saw her...and they just cheered for me later on. You know, that girl scarred me—not because she did anything hurtful towards me but because she just makes me not...into rich daughters. Well, that's kind of a stereotype for most rich girls but...you're different for some reason."

Eddie blurted out the last part with a small blush on his face.

Porscha noticed this with a playful smirk. "Really? What makes me different than most of the rich girls?"

Eddie giggled. "Well, for one, you're not a spoiled brat. In fact, you're adventurous, determined, always ready to learn, and hard-working. You're also brave and bold in taking risks. You're not afraid of speaking your mind and...gosh, you're beautiful...I mean, rich girls are beautiful but you're beautiful inside and out. And...I guess that's what I like about you."

Porscha blushed madly while not expecting that answer from Eddie.

Eddie's face grew red while trying to stare at his drink. "Sorry...that's too forward."

Porscha smiled softly at Eddie and then frowned. "It's fine. Honestly, I want to take risks like my mother...even though it cost her life."

"Again, I'm sorry for your loss," Eddie said sympathetically as he turned to find Porscha's tears streaming down on her cheeks. Eddie put a hoof on her shoulder to comfort her. "Is everything okay?"

Porscha wiped her tears. "Sorry...I...I didn't think of myself like that at all. My father thinks that I don't fit in the mold since I won't spend time with rich girls...let alone marry a rich guy who might be in love with someone else. I was repulsive and rebellious but...I thought that's all I could be. I just...don't fit in."

Eddie scooted closer to her while putting both hooves on her shoulders. "Look at me."

Porscha glanced up at Eddie with teary yellow eyes.

Eddie softly smiled while helping to wipe away the tears from her cheek with his hoof. "You know, I guess that's something we have in common. Not just in common with me but with the theater gang."

"I thought they don't like me."

"Well, you haven't gotten to know them yet. It takes a little time. But I'm sure that they don't dislike you."

Porscha smiled softly. "Thank you, Eddie."

"For what?"

Porscha scooted closer. "For everything."

"No problem."

They both stared at each other softly while everything around them faded into a blur and it was just them. Porscha gently grabbed his face and pulled him to kiss him softly on the lips.

Eddie's eyes broadened in shock while he was debating to embrace her or push her away. Porscha's soft lips tasted like cherry while her perfume infiltrated his nose with the sweet scent that he couldn't ignore. He didn't expect a kiss from her but he welcomed it. When he was about to melt into the kiss and hold her a little longer, a flash came out of nowhere at the corner of his eyes. Porscha heard the flash and broke away from Eddie.

Both of the animals whipped a glance at a photographer, who was a tabby cat. Before they could identify the photographer, he went away from the bowling alley.

Eddie and Porscha exchanged glances at each other as Porscha blushed even more from the fact that she kissed Eddie without even thinking.

"Sorry," she squeaked out an apology as she drank more of her margarita.

Eddie touched his lips softly and discreetly with the tip of his hoof. His heart raced the more he thought about that kiss. That beautiful sweet drunken kiss that he would never want to forget. 

To Be Continued...