The Indoraptor and A Girl ✔️

9 🦕

"Hey, Claire. I'm glad you could make it," I stand up from my seat to greet Claire once she enters the cafe. After I took care of Archer – making sure everything was okay, that he was asleep and not pretending – I left the Lockwood house.

"Hi, Bella. I'm glad you called," We hug each other briefly then take our seats.

"I ordered for both of us, if you don't mind," I give her a sheepish smile. My stomach had been humbling for the past half an hour, and I couldn't wait for Claire to order.

"Not at all. I'm actually hungry and love to have some food coming really fast," We both laugh.

"So, have you talked to Eli?" I change the topic to a serious one.

"Yes, I did. I was on my way to talk to Owen when you called to meet. Good thing I was just passing by," She says. "It's terrible, isn't it? The government decides they want to let them die instead of giving dinosaurs a second chance in life," She sighs.

"I agree with you if anyone, it is the both of us that are the most affected. Aside from Owen," She nods in agreement. "Food's here," I speak up when I saw our waiter come with our plates. "I ordered grilled ham and cheese and some dark coffee. Hope you like it," I don't even look at her as my eyes are already trained on the food.

"I do, I very much do," We thank the waiter and dig in. "I just so glad there's someone like Mr. Lockwood and Eli who are willing to help," Claire confesses in content.

"I'm glad too. So did you agree with him?" I ask with a mouthful.

"Of course, anything for the dinosaurs," I grabbed my mug and raised it for a lame toast.

"Anything for the dinosaurs," We touched mugs and drank the coffee, only to almost spit it back since it was so hot. "Oh God, I think I burned my tongue," We laughed. Now I won't be able to eat anything hot for the next twenty-four hours.

After eating our food, I got in the car with Claire and drove for a couple of hours – chatting about everything – into a pine forest, where we later found Owen building himself the wooden structure of a house.

We both step out of the car, but Claire got closer while I lean on it.

"Hey, Owen," She calls for him softly. Owen continues to hammer down on the nails on the wood, not hearing or simply ignoring her. "Owen!" She called louder. Owen stopped what he was doing and slowly turned his head to look at us.

"Back for more, huh," He says, a light smirk curves his lips.

"Can I buy you a beer?" Claire asks.

"Did you bring them, or do you want to go somewhere?" He picks his hammer on one of his hands, and the other was on his hips. "Hey there, Beast," He waves at me, and I wave back.

"I'm still not legal age, but I can drink water," I say loudly.

"Then I'm coming," He gets down the ladder, puts his stuff away, and walks to the car.

A couple of drinks later, once we arrived at a bar, Claire was laughing loudly while Owen and I stared blankly at her. She's never this boisterous, so we are a bit taken back.

"Seriously, I can't believe you think that you left me," She laughs.

"We play the conversation on your head alright; you said, "you want to go live in your van like a bum? Go ahead, Owen", and I said 'okay'" Owen explains in a bored tone.

"So, how's that you leaving me?" Claire slurs, clearly drunk.

"Because I left," I hold back a laugh at their conversation. "I left you," He points at himself, then at her.