The Know-It-All

Ch. 11

The first exhibit Nini spotted was of jellyfish. She wasn't going to lie, thinking too hard about jellyfish made her squeamish. With the way their tentacles bob around in the water and they way they look so flimsy and slimy. Nini shuddered, looking a little distressed at her reflection in the glass.

"Jellyfish are so cool!" Elliot said, coming to stand beside her. Nini tipped her head to the side, nodding even though she disagreed completely. She just smiled at him, gritting her teeth.

"Totally." she said, but then something caught her eye. The next tank beside it was full of stingrays and assortments of other exotic and colorful fish.

As Nini approached it, she saw Ricky already standing there, glancing at the aquatic animals. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, his eyes capturing every slight movement of the big stingray. Nini cleared her throat as she approached.

She wanted to talk to him. She wanted to... ask him a few quick questions.

Just a few.

Hey Ricky, what's up? Great weather, right? Um.... so... about yesterday. What was that? What the fuck was that? Why-why'd you.. why'd you kiss me? Why'd you kiss me and make me feel like I was going to melt on the spot in front of your cousins and—oh wait. Right, right! Because I was supposed to act as your girlfriend. Then can you explain what happened right after you dropped me off at my suite and leaned in and, well- you know the rest. And now you're acting like nothing even happened, making me feel like I want to explode and punch a few people in the face starting with—

"Nini?" It was Elliot, waving his hand in front of her face. She blinked, snapping her heading quickly to look at him. She blinked the haze out of her eyes and looked at him and suddenly Ricky Bowen was nowhere in sight.

"Sorry! Just... stingrays!" She said, trying to cover up her little slip. Elliot laughed and suddenly dropped his hand linking it with hers. It was so spontaneous that Nini nearly squealed. Her heartbeat increased rapidly.

They were holding hands.

She could run and scream and cry at the same time right now. Nini seized the opportunity to run her arm up and down Elliot's bicep.

Hell yeah.

Elliot led her to another tank. It displayed a variety of fish, all different shapes, sizes and colors, along with a bunch of sea turtles. It was fascinating. Nini grinned at Elliot as he went on to explain why the clownfish was his favorite.

"And no, it's not because of Nemo," Elliot said. Nini laughed, covering her mouth with her hand.

"And then—"

"Hey guys, you gotta check this ou—" Ricky appeared around the corner of the tank, grinning while he looked at a tank of dolphins. The tank was connected to the inside and revealed an opening at the top where the dolphins did regular shows.

However, Ricky stopped dead when he saw that their hands were linked. Nini felt the urge to yank her hand back, but Elliot's grip was tight on hers. She felt a little guilty, but just smiled at Elliot instead.

Ricky never finished his sentence. He just turned back around the corner and disappeared.

"Let's go check out the activities!" Elliot said, walking in the opposite direction from Ricky. Nini wrinkled her nose, though she looked over Elliot's shoulder for Ricky. He was, after all, her responsibility still.

"Aren't those for the little kids?" Nini asked as Elliot walked her over there. He was about to reply when the answer just came to her.

Apparently the answer was yes, as Ricky was sitting and coloring a picture of a whale with half a blue crayon. Another little kid was trying to grab the crayon from him but he told the kid to buzz off. "Patience is a virtue, kid. I'm almost done." Ricky said to the little boy who rolled his eyes and colored his fish red instead.