THE FINAL CHOOSE- Part 1

THE FINAL CHOOSE- Part 1

Setting: Dot's Igloo
Date: December 19th, 2012
Time: 10:02 AM PST
(Point of View: PH)

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I knocked on Dot's igloo door. She answered it after a second. She had on a blue hoodie and looked tired. Her short blond hair was tucked back in a blue headband, and she smiled when she saw me.

"G'day, Dot," I said.
"Hey, PH!" she cried. "C'mon in."

I stepped into her igloo and she closed the door. "How does it feel to be old?"
I laughed. "A little scary."
"Want some coffee?" she asked, leading me to the table.
I shrugged. "Sure, why not."

She gave me a mug of coffee, and we sat down.

"So what brings you to my place?" she asked, putting her chin in her flipper.
"I've got to talk to you about some boy trouble, mate," I said.
She smiled. "Boy trouble, hm?"
I nodded. "Boy trouble."
"Who is he?" she asked.
"Um...well, it's not that simple, Dot," I said uncomfortably.
"Talk to me."
"Well... There's a guy, but there's...another guy."
"There're two?"
I sighed. "I'm such a horrible penguin, Dot."
"Oh, no, PH, it sounds like you're really uncomfortable with it."
"I am. But I like them both, and..."
"Who are they? At least tell me."
I buried my face in my flippers. "You'll kill me, D. You'll hate me."
"No, I won't."
"No matter how bad it is?"
"PH, we're best friends. I'm not gonna judge you by the guy...uh, guys that you like."
I sighed. "I can't do this."
"Yes, you can, PH. I swear on the EPF I won't tell a soul."
"What EPF? There's no EPF, D. There's nothing left."
"Oh, yes there is, PH!! The agents have each other. We can build something off of that. Besides, that wasn't my point. My point was I promise you I won't tell anyone."
"...Dot..."
"Tell me one of them."
"Bob. Bob's one of them."
"Bob as in..."
"Stompin' Bob."
She grinned. "He's pretty cute."
"Are you kidding? He's gorgeous."
"Yeah," she said, laughing.

There was a pause.

"Okay, who's the other one?"
I sighed, twirling a strand of my long brown hair. "Take a guess."
"Petey K?"
"AH! NO! WHAT THE HECK?!"
"Okay, okay...geez... umm... Rookie?"
"EW, no."
She laughed. "Who is it, Gariwald?"
I stared at her. "You did not just say that."
"That one was a joke."
"I'm making you guess."
"Fine. Um, G-Billy?"
"No. He's weird."
"Umm... God, PH, it's not Franky, is it?"
"Oh, lord, no. Are you kidding me? He already has a girlfriend. Cadence would hate me for all eternity if I was dating Franky. Plus, he's kinda a little kiddish for me."
"Yeah." She nodded. "Umm... I really don't even wanna know this, but Jet?"
I laughed. "Jet's all yours."
"Good. Ummm...there's, like, nobody left. Polo Field?"
"No."
"Moose?"
"No. He's a moose."
"He's a penguin in a moose costume."
"Yeah, I know."
"Spike Hike?"
"No."
"Bambadee?"
"He's, like, 13!"
"Sensei?"
"EWWW! He's, like, 200 and he never talks!"
"Yeah... Okay, I'm out of mascots."
"No, you're not."
"Is it a GIRL, PH?"
"No!"
"For God's sakes, PH!"
I grinned. "Keep guessing."
"Why are you making me guess?"
"Because I can't bring myself to say it out loud, especially not to you."
"Okay. Rockhopper?"
"No," I said slowly.
"Fish, PH! Just tell me!"
"No."
"For the love of Pete... Are you going out with Klutzy or something?"
"No. But close."
She widened her eyes, realizing it. She stood up, gaping down at me. "Holy fish, PH."

I tried to keep a calm gaze.

"Oh, my God. You're going out with Herbert."
"And what's wrong with that?" I said, as if it wasn't the dumbest question in the world.
"PH, HE'S A VILLAIN! YOU'RE PART OF AN AGENCY THAT'S BEEN TRYING TO DESTROY HIM FOR YEARS! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW SERIOUS THIS IS?!?"
"You told me you wouldn't be mad."
"Yeah, but if he was a PENGUIN and somebody who ISN'T out to get every single penguin on this island, I wouldn't be mad!!"
I sighed. "Obviously I made the wrong choice of who to come to."
"PH, any penguin on this island would agree with me that this is BAD! You could go to somebody who has no idea what the EPF is, and they would still tell you it's a bad idea to go out with a POLAR BEAR!"
"D, I'm sorry." I realized I had a huge lump in my throat and I was about to cry.
"PH, don't cry. Please don't cry." She sat back down next to me and hugged me. "Just...listen. I gotta ask you a couple things."
"Okay."
"What went through you?"
"We were talking at Operation Blackout, and I don't know...we started meeting in secret... Honestly, I don't know why I like him so much, but I do."
She was actually smiling. "PH, I won't tell anyone this. Okay? But you're gonna have to pick one. If you pick Stompin' Bob, we can just forget this whole thing, but if you pick Herbert, you can't be in the EPF. Do you know that?"
I nodded. "I know that."
"Okay. You have to pick. I'm giving you 48 hours. At 10:16 on Friday, you gotta tell me. Okay?"
I nodded, but I was thinking:

Choose? What do you mean choose? Dot, I can't choose. I like them both. If you taught Klutzy puffle tricks or draw random pictures with Herbert yesterday, or danced around your living room with a really hot-looking Stompin' Bob, you wouldn't be able to choose.

"PH, this is crazy." She got up and started pacing. "Herbert! Why him?"
I shook my head, shrugging. "I have absolutely no idea."
"You're nuts, you hear me?"
I nodded. "I know that."

This is gonna be a really stressful two days...

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