Page 8 of Coral Prince Conundrum
I take his—soft yet strong—hand and allow him to help me up. “Are you hurt?” he asks.
I wince. “Just my butt. But not to worry, that part of my body can take a beating, ha ha.” I laugh and try not to cringe.Why did I say that?
“Are you okay, man?” Justice is standing near me with a mop, and our other coworker Mateo is now at the counter taking orders.
“I’m good.” I dust off my shirt.
“That was alarming. I hope you are well,” Seero says.
“Thank you. I am,” I reply. The smallest hint of a smile breaks from his face.
“Do you need an extension of your break?” Justice asks.
“No, thanks, I can work. Someone’s gotta get to those orders.”
“If you are doing okay, I should get back to my job as well,” Seero says. He bows and adds, “Have a good day.”
“See you, Seero!” I frantically wave as he walks away. When he’s gone, I turn to see an unimpressed Justice.
“What?” I ask as my cheeks burn.
“Nothing.” He places acaution, wet floorsign where I’m standing. “I’m just…glad your butt can take a beating.” I huff andturn away. He snickers and adds, “I’m sure Seero was happy to hear that.”
“Shut up,” I mutter and dash away to the back room. I don’t need any more humiliation for one day.
Apparently, humiliation is not done with me today. I’ve been trying to get my mind off of this morning’s embarrassing incident with my crush by doing classwork at the zoo. It’s never too early to do extra credit work for summer courses. More importantly, taking pictures of the fish always puts me in a good mood. I get to lose myself in the azure hues of the dark aquatic exhibits.I wonder what it would be like to talk to the jellyfish or the manta rays.
But this evening’s solitary photo session work has been cut short. I stare down over the small fence into the outdoor sea lion exhibit where my shutter camera lies in the sand. I was so airheaded to forget to put the camera strap around my neck. And now my gear and my schoolwork are property of the exhibit’s sea lions. This is what I get for daydreaming about Seero.
I reach down, but it’s futile since my arm isn’t six feet long. Maybe I can get a staff member to help, but that’s assuming the sea lions don’t find my device and start breaking it apart. Or worse, I could be banned from the zoo. Or the worst of all, what if a sea lion chokes on my camera or something?
I reach down again, but no, I didn’t miraculously grow in the last five seconds. I whine and crane my head forward, as if that might summon the sea lions to assist me. The dread of defeat creeps up my spine. I’ll need to start all my summer schoolwork over again. This still isn’t nearly as embarrassing as my morning with…
“Good day, Daryl.” My head jolts to my right, and my eyebrows jump.
“Seero?” No, my eyes aren’t deceiving me; Seero is approaching me. He’s wearing a gray hoodie and dark jeans. He has the confident swagger of an emperor or something, and as usual, he’s sexy as hell.
“Why are you reaching your hand down? Are you trying to liberate the sea lions? Can we do that? How can I help?”
“I, uh, what?” I shake my head as he slides right next to me. That was a weird thing for him to suggest, but maybe where he’s from, they don’t have zoos.
I look back down at my camera. “No, I was doing schoolwork.”
He points down. “Is that your schoolwork device?”
I give a sad nod. “It’s my camera, yes.” I sigh. “Now, who knows if I can get it back? If the employees see it, I could get in a lot of trouble.”
“I never want you to get in trouble.”
I turn to my right. His face is so close to mine, all I would need to do is lean forward to place my mouth on his.Such soft lips…
“Let me help you, Daryl.”
I gulp and shake my head. “How?”
Seero looks around, then gazes down at the sea lion exhibit. Then, he purses his lips and…whistles? A strange set of musical sounds leaves his mouth. It’s not a song, but almost like a language. How is his ability to whistle supposed to help me?
“Um, that’s great, but…”
