by Kendra Riley
“Ah, the ice bucket initiation,” Danny chuckled, standing by the door with Zac clapping and hollering beside him. “Welcome to the Met Zoo!”
She was aghast, and she forced a laugh, not wanting them to be offended of her reaction. Jesus, that was cold; it was cold, but she needed it in the end.
“Best be glad it wasn’t animal dung,” Zac said. “I asked them not to do that to you.”
Should I even thank you? “Thanks,” she said, trying not to sound so stiff. “Is that why you gave me the Met uniform right away?”
They nodded in unison. Zac threw her a towel. “Here, go get that shower you deserve.”
Chapter5
So Sara didn’t really like him; it was obvious the moment she saw his face. She didn’t like being taken around by him, but he didn’t mind. She would warm up to him, eventually. She was high-strung, and maybe she was pressured to do the best and be the best. She did win a scholarship that wasn’t easy to get, after all.
The moment he handed her a towel, he saw the expression on her face, and it was mortified. However, wanting to keep up with appearances, she laughed it off, thus earning the appreciation of the others in the zoo. That had been two hours ago, and he had taken a bus home, back to his fourth floor apartment on Railway Walk, with sweeping views of the bay framed by swathes of glass. It was a good four-minute walk to Hampton Station in the event that he wanted to take a train to work, and it was a good six-minute walk to Hampton beach in the event that he needed sunshine, which was almost every day.
He had chosen to live alone, upon graduating from high school, away from his sisters and away from his father. They all lived in the same city, and there were weekly visits to them, but he preferred a quiet life.
The apartment was a splurge, but he had been careful to invest on stocks (which his father did not know of until the deed of sale was delivered). For a brief moment, he saw the glimmer of pride in his father’s eyes. That brief moment was all he needed to ride on the next years of his life while having fun, exploring every coast in Australia possible, surfing, yachting with his closest friends, occasionally dating (with paparazzi in tow).
Zac briefly thought of his ex-girlfriend, and he was glad he didn’t ask her to live with him. Their families liked each other. She was the granddaughter of a former chancellor—prestigious family, educated, and beautiful. Sometimes she slept over, and he was glad it wasn’t heavily ingrained in his memory.
He had been thinking of proposing, only to be rebuffed with a break-up.
It was something unexpected. They had been having dinner at her apartment—she was an excellent cook.
“How was your day?” he asked her. He was happy, fresh from a trek to the Himalayas. He had wanted to invite her, but she was studying for barrister exams. She was on her way to a family legacy, a hundred years of attorneys-at-law.
“It was okay,” she said, biting down on her fork. “Yours?”
“Office stuff,” he shrugged, “boring stuff.”
“Will it always be boring to you? Proper work?”
He frowned a little. “It’s boring, but it doesn’t mean I won’t do what I’m supposed to do. And what’s with that tone?”
She shook her head, and she took a deep breath. “Zac… I’ve given it some thought. Actually, it took me months to come up to this decision—”
“You’re breaking up with me,” he said flatly.
“Believe me, this was hard to do—”
“And you waited till I came back from my trip?”
“Yes. See? It’s always going to be like this for you. We’ve been together for three years, three years, Zac, and yet, you never changed. You’re still immature, with no direction in life—you think everything is a game, you think everything’s just fun and games.”
“I don’t think you’re a game. In fact, I’ve never been more serious with anything or anyone.”
“It’s still going to end up that way,” she insisted. “You’ll end up wanting what I can’t give. You can’t stay put in one place.”
“I stayed with you. I’m still staying with you.”
“But I don’t want to stay with you anymore.”
It snowballed from there. It escalated into an argument, at least from her point of view it was. Zac had been silent the whole time, occasionally answering if need be or if she demanded an answer. He walked out the moment she wouldn’t stop crying. She had gone from angry girlfriend to victim and ex-girlfriend in less than twenty minutes of telling him how she really felt about their relationship, how she truly felt about him. They had been dating for three years, and in the last year, she had completely lost interest in him, only he didn’t know. He had been too distracted with fun to notice, according to her.
He had been used to her side comments, her occasional side remarks when she didn’t like what he was doing—and he mistook it as gestures of affection, of care. Apparently, that was it. How was he to know? He thought they were fine the whole time, he thought they were on the road to marriage. It stung his pride, it stung his very being. He loved her, and yet he didn’t see her.
I gave her everything she wanted, and she thought it wasn’t my money? She thought I was just living off my family’s hard work?
It insulted him, that she would say that about him. Miranda apparently didn’t know him well enough; in fact, he seemed like a complete stranger to her, from the way she described him. She tried to soothe the ache, but it didn’t work.
“Zac, you’re a nice guy, you’re a great guy, but this whole arrangement, when you shun responsibility… it won’t work for me.”
He had been carefree, fun-loving since youth, and he thought it was something he could share with her. Miranda was too uptight to convert into that. Sure, she enjoyed being photographed with him, smiling and all—but maybe, just maybe, it was because of his family name, and what his family did. They contributed to a majority of Australia’s economy.
At least she was no gold-digger, he thought. Money was not an issue between them both. While she was not worth billions, at least her family was worth a few million. That part soothed him. Miranda didn’t date him for his money, or rather, his family’s money.
He hadn’t seen her in a while now, almost a year to be exact, and while he tried dating, the dates never progressed past the first. His sisters tried to set him up, but he was busy exploring more of the country, exploring more of the world. Zac found no reason to pressure himself into proving he was a capable businessman. He would let time do that for him. He had all the time in the world anyway, more time at least because he was single. No pressure, he thought. He was not the perennial bachelor the press declared him to be; it had only been a year. Come on people, he thought.
The sight of Sara, no matter how serious she seemed, felt right. He didn’t have any inkling that the passenger sleeping on that plane would turn out to be their scholarship winner. Zac knew they needed to have good rapport together. They were spending a few days in Kakadu, after all.
He had to check on the mines surrounding the national park and meet with the new foremen they had hired after the others retired early on. His father needn’t ask for his presence; he had scheduled this willingly, in time for the zoo and foundation’s annual visit to check on the park. There would only be a few of them from the Met Zoo, just a good enough number for study, interns included. Sara was the last intern to win that scholarship as they only gave three slots away every year in different countries.
What were the odds that someone could be brainy and beautiful, and yet, tense? That negativity radiated out of her, no matter how much she tried to mask it. She wasn’t ideal for that reason alone, and yet, he couldn’t help but want to see her smile genuinely. Love at first sight did not exist for him; it may have worked for his parents, but it never did for him.
He opened the sliding glass doors for some fresh air. There was a fading sunset in front of him, and he paused for a moment, soaking it in, until the last rays disappeared from the horizon. His moth
er had died surrounded by loved ones just as the sunset began to fade. It was a part of his childhood memory, deeply ingrained, and he recalled his ten-year old self, staring outside the balcony, as his mother struggled with her last breaths. She had begged her husband to be taken home, when they realized there was nothing that could be done anymore, and she had died surrounded by family.
It was also the reason why his father had sold the home that they had grown up in. Clark Turner never married again, and if his father could manage with that, Zac told himself he could manage with more. He didn’t force himself to grow up too quickly, despite the expectations from family and friends. He wanted to have fun, lots of it, never forgetting what his mother said—she had said ‘I loved it all’, and he wanted to feel the same. It was that never ending quest for adrenalin and happiness, for shallow reasons or not.
He wished he could instill that mantra to Miranda or maybe to the newest zoo intern. It wasn’t his job to make people smile or laugh, but he felt that it was part of his life already. He almost smiled to himself. He was being silly, making it his personal mission to make Sara feel happier. It was up to people in the end, if they wanted to be happy or not, but sometimes they needed a little push. He found that he couldn’t wait to see her until tomorrow. Damn love at first sight.
*
There were others living in the building with her, most with the same working schedules, and she realized she wanted to move out after her second day. These transient and intern tenants had rapport, and she didn’t. She found it difficult to make friends. Five days had dragged on, and she sought comfort in messaging her family online, with the occasional video calls. Sure, she said hi and hello, but she couldn’t start small talk. They tried, and she would answer, as normally as she could, then she would excuse herself moments later, to do chores or to just stay in her apartment.
They had barbecue Fridays, she found out earlier. She didn’t want to join them, preferred not to, but when another Met Zoo intern asked her to do so, she couldn’t say no. Sara asked if she would be tasked to do something, but they declined and said that only her presence would be needed.
So she did the next best thing that guests could do, and that was to buy liquor. She was glad that she had a day off from work today. Her mind was filled with everything about the zoo, and it was only a minimal part of her studies. At least she could observe the creatures unique to Kakadu at the Met Zoo.
She found herself walking down a road that was now familiar, to a grocery chain that had become her best friend of sorts. She grabbed some provisions for herself before heading off for the liquor section. Was it too basic if she picked out Australian wine? Would they want beer? Closing her eyes for a moment, she visualized how the barbecue night would end up with beer. Wine made people sleepy, she decided. Wine it was. She grabbed three bottles of wine, not quite sure how many people attended barbecue nights.
“Barbecue nights, huh?” a voice interrupted her.
She looked around, and then she saw Zac standing in front of her, wearing a linen shirt, casual shorts that looked like board shorts, and slippers. He was leaning against his shopping cart, heavy with various cuts of meat and some condiments for the marinade.
“Don’t you have work?” she began, realizing that he had caught her red-handed with future attempts at socializing.
He grinned. “Is that how you greet coworkers? And I had work earlier, but barbecue night calls. It’s only every second Friday of the month, after all.”
“So it merits that you can leave earlier?” Well, if you can do that, I wanna do that too.
“I was assigned somewhere else,” he said, almost carefully.
She wanted to question him some more, but she nodded and shrugged. “Okay.”
“We can go together. I’m in charge of grilling,” he said. “Really nice of you to add some wine to the party.”
“Because no one else brings wine?” she said, walking beside him toward the line of counters.
“Because everyone just brings beer,” he said.
“Will this be enough, though?” Sara found herself asking him. She was asking him non-work related queries, good god.
He smiled. “I think it won’t be, but a lot of us still have work tomorrow, so better go easy on the wine.”
She nodded. “Alright.”
“So, who invited you? We usually have a bulletin in the common area.”
“I didn’t see it,” she quickly said. “Liu Chen invited me.”
“Ah, Liu Chen. Top of his game,” he said.
“I’m not sure what he’s researching on.”
“He’s more into marine conservation,” Zac replied, “That’s why you don’t see him much.”
“He gets to ride a yacht while I sweat my ass off at the zoo?”
“He gets sunburn and other unseen dangers in the deep, you know. The foundation’s provided you with insurance, if you forgot.”
“You seem to know about everything. Or you just remember everything.”
He shrugged. “I guess it’s what I do.”
“What do you do?”
He laughed. “Curious, huh? I’m the equivalent of everyone’s guy-to-go-to if you need something.”
“That doesn’t sound very reassuring, nor does it sound like it’s a real job.”
“Oh, believe me, it’s a real job.”
He paid for everything in his cart, as well as hers, despite her quick protests.
“Why are you doing this? You worked hard for this money,” Sara told him, confused.
“Think of this as my house warming gift for you,” he told her.
“I’ll pay you back,” she said, as soon as they exited the grocery.
“Think of it as a random act of kindness,” he said. “Shall we proceed to the apartments?”
She knew her cheeks had reddened, and she was glad her complexion wasn’t pale, lest she make that embarrassment far too obvious. Here she was, walking in the sunny streets of Melbourne, with a highly attractive coworker. She knew that women gawked at him, yet she wanted to resist him invading her emotional psyche.
Who could resist him, right? She would. This wasn’t the time or the place for some brief fling or a summer romance. Well, she told herself that as they walked. She told herself she wouldn’t even consider flirtation with him. It seemed like he flirted with everyone, male or female. Or maybe, just maybe, he was that nice and wholesome, and she was overthinking things.
“How are you liking it here so far?” he asked her as they walked past a coffee shop filled with people. “You want coffee?”
“There’s two questions I need to answer right away,” she replied. “Australia’s full of nice people. And no, I don’t want coffee. I avoid it after ten in the morning. I sometimes get insomnia.”
“Ah,” Zac said. “This insomnia doesn’t stem from jetlag?”
“Apart from being the go-to-guy, you’re a shrink too?”
He grinned. “Didn’t mean to pry if you take insomnia personally. It’s just that …I’d like to see you smile and laugh more often.”
“What do you mean?” she frowned, knowing where this was leading.
“Oh come on. You don’t have to pretend with me.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I barely know you,” he corrected. “Don’t take it the wrong way. You smile at us, you smile when need be, but sometimes, it seems forced, like you just have to do it out of pleasantry or so no one will dislike you.”
That stung, she realized, finding herself disliking him again. If he wasn’t some bronzed god—
“I used to be like that, you know,” he said in a far-off voice.
She bit her lower lip, knowing she wanted to ask him how he was like that, if it was born out of habit, or if something drastic happened that made him change.
He smiled at her, just as the sun caught his hair. She blinked, almost blinded by how striking the scene was. Sara wanted to commit it to her memory all of a sudden.
“I have my
reasons,” she said stiffly, as they crossed a pedestrian lane. He was the one who looked both ways for them, she noticed. “How long have you been with the zoo?”
“A long time. Since high school,” he said, “well, the interest started there.”
Oh, really? High school? Is that why no one cares that you come and go as you please? You’re like the employee of the month, every month of every year since when?
“How young are you anyway?”
“I like how you say young,” he said, “I’m actually twenty-six.”
“Well, you look like it,” Sara said, not realizing she’d said it aloud.
He laughed, not seeming to mind. “I’m glad I look like it.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean that.”
“You say a lot of things,” Sara said, as they walked into the apartment complex. “So, how does this barbecue thing work?”
“It’s my turn to grill tonight. If you want to help, you’re welcome.”
“What’ll the others do?”
“They clean the mess we make and set-up the tables and chairs in the courtyard.”
Sara heard the sound of footsteps, and she saw three people carrying things into the main courtyard.
“Hey Zac,” they greeted in near unison.
“Hey guys,” Zac said amiably. “Great the grill is here… and the inflatable pool.”
Inflatable pool? She didn’t know this was going to be a pool party… unless the pool was where the drinks were going to be. Zac quickly placed the different meats into different containers, and she figured there was going to be two kinds of marinade. The men moved quickly, clearly used to it all.
The pool wasn’t a kiddie pool or anything, she found out later on. It was a large one, enough for six grown adults to sit in and wade a bit. It took an hour to assemble, with all the frames needed, but she didn’t seem to notice the time. Instead, she found herself busy, mixing the marinade that her mom still used. She didn’t want to hold onto the meats.
“You’re vegetarian, right?”
“I eat eggs and dairy,” she replied.