My Missing Puzzle Piece

Chapter 12

Summer was approaching, which meant it was almost the end of Claire's senior year. In just a couple of weeks, she'd be doing her last round of finals and be a college graduate. It was an overwhelming feeling: she had spent the past eighteen years of her life focusing on nothing but her grade, making sure she gave the best she could so she could reach this very moment.

Now that her relationship with Professor Grady was out in the open, they didn't shy from going out on dates. It had been almost four months since their infamous experience, and they had successfully kept their affair out of the public eye at campus.

To celebrate a successful semester and exciting senior year, Owen had taken Claire to the New England Aquarium, which was just about 5 miles away from campus.

The building stood tall as they walked around, admiring all the marine species, and Owen wondered why it had taken him so long to take her there.

Towards noon, he surprised her, letting Claire know that they could stay inside the small arena even after the sea lions show ended, so they could see the creatures up close. He had pulled some strings with a few acquaintances who worked at the aquarium, and the trainers were letting them spend some quality time with the friendly mammals.

Claire giggled, waving at the fat sea lion, who was mirroring her action with his fin, the trainer throwing Slumber the fish he had earned.

Owen was holding his girlfriend's hand, tightly both of them wearing fishing boots to be allowed on stage.

A little otter running out to greet them made Claire gasp and squeal. She looked down: the animal immediately started to roll on its tummy with no need for a command.

"Aren't you a precious boy!" Claire beamed. "Can I feed him?" She asked the trainer, who fetched the other bucket of fish and let her grab one that was size appropriate.

The squeaky sound that Travis the Otter released, made Claire laugh. She threw the little fish at him and he happily ate it.

The trainer offered the student a green ball, which Claire threw into the tank, and watched Travis dive in to get it. Travis was quick to catch it, and started swimming on his back, the ball on his tummy as he swam around, spinning his toy.

After a couple of minutes, the otter started to roll over along with the ball, coming in and out of the water as the toy floated around.

He quickly let go of the ball and swam over to the stage, where Claire had squatted down with the bucket of treats, so she could feed him up close.

Travis wiggled his little whiskers, and in a fast smooth move, he slid into the bucket and started stealing all the fish there.

"No! Bad Travis!" Claire scolded him, the otter merely looking up at her as he kept eating. "You'll get me in trouble!" She frowned. The trainer intervened and sent Travis back inside.

Owen had been recording the otter playing all this time, also getting on video how the animal had outsmarted Claire, and he was now uploading it to his Instagram, unable to stop laughing.

From there, Owen took her to visit his favorite animals. Claire was mesmerized as she reached out and felt the skin of the dolphin nosing into her wrist as she touched her.

She also managed to touch her tongue before feeding her a fish and kissing her snout. This time around, she was the one standing on the side, watching Owen try some of his tricks on Pacific. The teen dolphin happily played along with Owen, and quickly picked his pace.

Claire was in awe, watching him perform all those things they had talked about through the course of the year. She was also recording him and uploading the footage to her Instagram.