•adeline• || o. grady

3~

As she drove, she dialed up her brother. "Did you give Owen Grady my address?"

"Which answer do you want to hear?"

"Lowery! He was at my door this morning! It was a terrible start to the day and now I have to go feed dinosaurs and talk to people."

"I'm sorry, he scares me! I didn't want to say no. Let's get lunch today, I'll pay."

She agreed, and hung up. At least she was on time. She unlocked everything and prepped for the day.

At nine she did the first feeding, then got more breakfast at, regrettably, Starbucks. She did the show again at 11, then left when Eliza showed up for the 1 o'clock. She met Lowery at Main Street and they headed to Yoshinoya for a fast lunch.

"Scared of Owen Grady?" She asked him. "He's not that intimidating, he likes to pretend he is though."

"He is very strong and large and I am not. Be wary of those trainers, I'm telling you. Especially ones that have such control over their animals. He's impressive with the dinosaurs, at least."

"He's impressive in other ways, too. He's very creati—"

"That is all I need to hear, thank you, my dear sister." Lowery cut her off before she could continue her sentence.

"What did you think I was suggesting, Lowery? Something inappropriate?" She smiled down at her food. He just shook his head and laughed.

It was past 1 o'clock when they were finished, so Adeline took the time to sit in the Triceratops field and watch them. Even after the couple months she'd been there, she was still in awe of the fact that she was so close to real, live dinosaurs. After the hour, she prepared for the next feeding. Only two dinosaurs showed up for the 3 o'clock, but that was still enough for all the cheering of the guests.

She delivered her usual basic routine. "We have a new girl in today, Bella. She's gotten too big for the petting zoo so she's moving in with the adults even though she's still pretty small. Don't worry about her, though. Our adult Triceratopses can reach 3 meters tall and 9 meters long, but don't let their size intimidate you, they're harmless. Mostly." She grinned. She ended the show when the animals walked away about fifteen minutes later with the usual "We'll be back at 5 o'clock!"

She went back inside, removed her microphone, and shut her locker. After exiting, she headed for her Jeep to get a quick dinner.

"Grady, if you're going to start showing up at my car every day, I'd like you to start paying the insurance." She sighed, pushing past him to open the driver's seat door. It was a good remark, even though both of them knew she didn't pay insurance on it.

"Don't let their size intimidate you, they're harmless. Mostly." He smirked, mocking her line from the feeding.

"Oh, fuck off. It's a fun little joke for a show. You'd understand if you actually had people come see your raptors."

"No, I love it! Maybe I'll use it next time you find yourself at my bungalow." He jumped into the passengers seat.

"There will not be a next time, Grady. But I'll drive you to your paddock."

"You didn't seem too disappointed about my performance Saturday night, I seem to remember quite the praise, spoken or otherwise. Nor this morning with that comment of yours."

"It's called a joke, you should learn one sometime." She turned on the car and started towards Sector Five. He put his hand on the back of her seat, having his arm nearly around her shoulder. She let him, just rolling her eyes. "I have an unfortunate habit of ending up in someone else's bed when I get drunk, so I typically try to avoid it. It doesn't always work. I'd appreciate it if you would drop the topic. Now, you scare my brother for some reason so I'm not sure if I should be concerned around you, but it would be best if we forgot about Saturday."