Page 2 of Perfect Imperfections

She did trust Cam, but guys were always falling all over themselves around her friend. With her long legs, generous curves, beautiful copper red hair contrasted by her ice-blue eyes and her smooth, pale skin so flawless it looked photoshopped, the woman could have her pick of guys. Not that Ellie was hideous. Her five-foot two stature wouldn’t win her any modeling contracts any time soon. The brown spots scattered on her fair skin looked more like sunspots than cute freckles, and her brown eyes and hair were what one date called forgettable. But she could manage cute when she tried.

Trying was exhausting, which was why she so rarely put in the effort. Her bestie, however, was a romantic at heart. Always on the lookout for that happily ever after. She was always trying new dating apps and gimmicks to find “Mr. Right.” Meanwhile, all Ellie wanted was to have one date where the guy didn’t look at her like she was an alien from Neptune for tapping her straw three times before drinking.

“Just don’t do it, sweetie.”

Her mother’s words rang in her head like the clanging of a bell tower. A very loud and very wrong bell tower. If controlling her OCD was that simple, she would have stopped years ago and not spent thousands on therapy to get to where she was today.

Able to live with her OCD rather than letting it control her.

“Yeah, maybe,” she agreed with her friend. “But speed dating?”

“Well, you suck at Tinder, so I had to think of something else.”

“All the guys on that app just wanted to have sex.”

Cam’s mouth opened, an incredulous gleam filling her eyes. “Of course, they wanted sex! Most people do, not all, but the people on that app are looking for hookups.”

But she didn’t want a hookup. Ellie wanted someone to laugh with, to feel comfortable enough around to be herself and not worry about her compulsions. And, yeah, okay, some hot sex would be nice too, but that just wasn’t in the cards for her. As evidenced by her last few disastrous attempts at a relationship. She wasn’t meant for love, and she was fine with that. If only her friend would agree.

“Cam, I don’t know. I really don’t want to—”

“Look,” Cam cut her off with a wave of a hand. “I know this whole…opening up to people thing is hard for you. I get it. I mean, I don’t get it, but I understand it’s difficult, but I just want you to be happy. I know there’s some great guy out there who can make you happy and he would be so damn lucky to have you.”

And that was another reason they were friends. Cam accepted her. Sure, her bestie tried to push her boundaries every now and then, get Ellie to “live a little” as she said. Her friend only wanted what was best for her and that’s why she let Cam talk her into stepping out of her comfort zone.

“Just come to this one night and if it’s a bust, I promise to put the matchmaking on the backburner. Okay?”

She nodded with a sigh. “I’ll think about it, okay?”

“Yay!” Cam squealed, grabbing Ellie and pulling her in for a hug. A slightly awkward hug since her friend was significantly taller than her. She let out a small squeak as her face was smothered against her best friend’s very generous chest. This was not the first time Cam’s boobs had suffocated her face. Pretty much every enthusiastic hug was like this. Cam gave Ellie a lot of enthusiastic hugs. Because she was awesome like that.

“Enough mushy stuff. It’s time to feed the penguins.”

Cam released her, a huge grin gracing her beautiful face. “All right, let’s get out there and feed the high society.”

Ellie made her way through the back room to the door leading out into the penguin enclosure with Cam following close behind. The birds had an inside area closed off to the public, but they preferred the outside enclosure with the faux rock and large pool designed to replicate their natural habitat. As always, a sizeable crowd had gathered to watch penguin feeding time. Cam turned her mic on and welcomed the group, giving a brief explanation of the African Black-Footed penguins and their diets.

As her friend and coworker addressed the crowd, Ellie scanned the tiny aquatic birds. The two-foot tall, adorable animals waddled about. They hurried toward her as they realized they were about to be fed. Her gaze sought Bingo, brow furrowing until she spotted the older penguin at the back of the oncoming huddled mass. A smile turned up her lips as the slightly overweight bird waddled over to her, his gait much better than it had been a week ago.

“You’re still not getting any sympathy fish from me, Bingo,” she said under her breath.

Sometimes she thought animals could understand humans better than anyone realized because the moment she uttered the words, Bingo let out a loud, pitiful bray. The Black-Footed penguins had a distinct donkey-like bray call, which gave them the moniker “jackass penguin” in the animal sciences.

“Oh fine, but if you go over your goal weight this week, Dr. Killian is going to be mad.” She was just as big a pushover as Cam. Chuckling, she slipped Bingo an extra fish when he reached her outstretched hand.

The crowed ooed and ahhed over the little birds, calling out for the midday meal, but Ellie barely heard them. Feeding hungry animals was a laborious task. She had to keep the chum bucket out of reach. A challenge even when you considered the tiny stature of the penguins. They were extremely clever and motivated. Once, she had a couple team up on her. Sunny had lain down beside her, and his mate Daisy hopped up on him. The penguin tower made Daisy just tall enough to jump up and dive headfirst into the bucket. Since then, Ellie kept the sardines high above her head during feeding time. Hurt her arm, but it kept the cute creatures from eating too much and getting a bellyache.

As she mentally counted who had been fed, while also discreetly slipping the vitamins from her pocket into the fish and making sure the proper penguin received it, movement from outside the exhibit caught her eye.

A quick glance up revealed a large school group of what looked to be elementary students. Not uncommon. School groups visited the zoo all the time and feeding times were popular educational experiences. What disturbed Ellie was what she witnessed happening at the edge of the group.

Her chest tightened as she saw three large boys taunting and holding a notebook above the head of a small girl. Having been on the tiny side her entire life, she couldn’t help but flash back to some very similar experiences. The small girl with short blonde hair jumped in the air trying to grab the notebook, but the biggest kid held it high above her head, laughing.

Kids can be real jerks.

Temper flaring, Ellie wondered where the teacher and chaperones were. Why was no one helping the young girl? She looked so small, couldn’t be more than seven or eight.

One of the penguins, Apollo, brayed, demanding her attention. She reached into the bucket for the last sardine, passing it off to the cute but ornery bird. Mr. Impatient nipped her finger in return.

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