"I won't let you die"
"I don't think that's how it works"
Natalie Parker and Zachary Mitchell were best friends. Upon first meeting them, you would think they hated each other with how much they argued. And they did hate each other at first but now...
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"I feel bad. I shouldn't feel bad, but I do," Natalie's fingers twisted and bunched the material of her vest. Her lips were tightly pursed as she tried to push away the feeling of guilt brewing in her stomach. "Should I feel bad?"
"No," Zach simply answered, letting his head flop lazily to face Natalie. After the T-Rex feeding, Gray had dragged them towards the VIP entrance to the Mosasaurus Arena. Thankfully, with their passes, it had not taken them long to find seats amongst the thousand visitors gathered in the audience. "Claire's supposed to be with us. Not our fault, she can't keep her word." he shrugged.
"But I tattled! You know me, Zach, I've never tattled in my life. It's like, the only code I go by," Natalie shook her head in agitation. "You know what they call tattlers in prison? Rats, moles, snakes... other vermin names. And you know what they do to those low-lives? They corner them in the bathroom, Zach! When they're naked and vulnerable and... naked! Then they pull shives out their assholes and cut off you're fingers and toes and make you eat them. Then they use you as a human suitcase and shove their drugs up your ass. It's called 'keistering' and I don't know if you've noticed, Zach, but I'm little. There is no way my ass could hold twelve pounds of cocaine."
By the end of her rant, Natalie was almost hyperventilating. Her hectic thought process had almost worked her into a panic attack. Still nervous about the idea of anything like that happening to her, Natalie met Zach's wide eyes. "... You're so fucking weird, you know that?" he finally managed to say.
"Oh, believe me, I know," Natalie nodded in agreement, her eyes looked almost exhausted as she rubbed at her eyes, "It's a blessing and a curse,"
The crowd's loud chatter fell to quiet muttering as the voice of the Mosasaurus trainer sounded through the speakers. "The Mosasaurus was thought to have hunted near the surface of the water where it could prey on anything it could sink its teeth into."
Above the trainer, a great white shark was dangling from a mechanical hook as the fresh carcass was manoeuvred to hang over the large lagoon.
"Okay folks, let's see if she's still hungry after already eating today. She's a little shy so be nice and give her a hand when she comes out."
"Zach!" Gray shoved Zach in excitement, gaining Zach's attention who had been whispering to Natalie. Somehow she had gone from talking about tattling on Claire, to prison crime, to drugs, to chocolate fudge cake. To Zach, it was much more entertaining to watch than a dinosaur eating a shark. "Zach! The Mosasaurus!"
The seats seem to shake beneath them as the big fierce reptile of the sea sprang out of the water, her roar like thunder as she snapped her jaw onto the Great-White. Natalie couldn't help but let out a squeal as the cold water of the lagoon came crashing down on her like a tsunami as the Mosasaurus dragged the shark under the water.
Despite being completely saturated, Natalie cheered and clapped along with Gray and the rest of the audience, in total wonder and awe. Even Zach grinning wider than Natalie had seen in a long time, letting out a laugh of disbelief. "Holy shit," he gasped, shaking Natalie's arm just how Gray had down to him earlier. Gray was too happy to scold him.
"Okay, hold on tight. We're going to give an even closer look at our Mosasaurus." The trainer told the audience as the bleachers began to move downwards, taking them down to the Underwater Observatory to watch the Mosasaurus swimming gracefully as she grabbed the last of the Great-White shark in her mouth, eating it whole.
"Hey," Zach started, the excitement in his voice pulling Natalie's and Gray's attention away from the dinosaur, "You wanna see something else cool?"
As soon as the bleacher rose back up to above the lagoon, Zach made his way towards the exit with Natalie and Gray close behind him. They all made sure to stay close to each other, Gray's hand gripping Natalie's so they didn't lose each other in the crowd.
"Zach, where are we going? Where are you taking us?" Natalie couldn't hold back her grin at the sight of Zach's excitement as he eagerly led them down Main Street, towards the Monorail.
"When we were on the train earlier, I remember seeing--" Zach was interrupted by his ringtone chiming from the pocket of his jeans. Zach frowned as he pulled out his phone from his pocket and looked down at the caller ID.
Makayla Cogan's name was lit up on the screen, a picture of her kissing Zach's cheek appearing behind it. Natalie couldn't stop her eyes rolling as she looked down at the name, the sight of her lips on Zach making her stomach churn. "Don't answer it, Zach," Natalie said, shaking her head in agitation.
Gray looked up at Natalie, his face twisting in a frown of concern. Zach, however, paid no attention to his brother as he looked down at Natalie. "Why not?"
"Why not? Unless you haven't noticed, Zach, you're here. Here with us. You know how much Gray has been looking forward to this and you don't even give a shit. In fact, you have taken every opportunity you can to bully him!" Natalie's face was nearly flushed red in anger, all of her emotion boiling inside her to the point of explosion. "The only time you're not picking on him is when some random girl bats her eyelashes at you. Seriously, Zach, we haven't even been gone for a day and God knows how many tongues have been shoved down your throat."
The call had long since rung silent but neither of them cared. They both knew they weren't arguing about the call anymore. "Nat, it was just one girl. And she kissed me!"
"I'm sure you welcomed it with open arms!"
"What? God, Nat, you were fine a second ago!" Zach snapped, his arms thrown out in exasperation. The two were beginning to get a few odd looks from people passing by, parents guided their children away from the scene while nosy couples watched from the edge. Gray stood awkwardly next to them, not knowing what to do.
"Maybe you should have invited Makayla Cogan with you, instead of me." Natalie said sarcastically, "Why did you even bring me with you in the first place?"
"You're my best friend, why wouldn't I?"
Natalie scoffed at the question. "Because you have a girlfriend! A girlfriend who apparently loves you, but you obviously don't love her."
"Jesus, Nat!"
"What, Zach? What? I'm sorry I think you're 'relationship' with Makayla Cogan is complete and utter bullshit!"
"Natalie! What's your problem? Where has this all come from?" Zach's confusion had been replaced with anger at this point as he glared down at Natalie, "Ever since you got in the car this morning, you've been on my ass. I know you don't like Kay, you never have but, what the fuck, Nat?"
"Don't like her? Has it ever crossed your mind that maybe I--" Natalie's words caught in her throat when she realised what she about to say. Her secret that she had kept hidden for so long had almost been blurted out, shared with the one person in the world she didn't want to tell.
"What, Nat?" Zach snapped, not noticing how Natalie's eyes had widened and her mouth dropped slightly in shock. "Maybe you, what?"
Natalie didn't say anything for a while, unable to form words. Gray looked up at her, worried. Gray was a smart kid, smarter than Zach most of the time - he knew what had stunned Natalie. Finally, she managed to gather her jumbled thoughts with a clearing of her throat. "Nothing," she answered, her voice much softer and quieter than before.
"No, no. Not nothing. What is it?" Zach pressed. Natalie wouldn't meet his gaze but he caught the way the sun made her eyes glisten as she turned away. Taking a small step forward, closer to Natalie, his glare had softened into a frown of concern. "Are you crying?" he asked quietly as if he didn't want to set her off again.
"I said it's nothing." Natalie shook her head, quickly wiping her hand under her eyes to brush away any evidence of how she felt. "Just forget about it." Without another word, Natalie turned away, leaving the two brothers behind as she continued their path to the monorail.
