Free Bird

Chapter 22

Danny's POV

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" I chant excitedly, hoping to see some action.

"Stop it. That's not going to work. Plus, people are starting to look," Cal says, shaking his head and tugging on my hand.

"Let's give em something to talk about..." I sing randomly.

"Really? Bonnie Raitt? You go from Marilyn Manson to Bonnie Raitt?"

"I like all kinds of music," I say, shrugging as I eyeball the giraffes who are remaining stubbornly serene, refusing to fight. Pretending to be docile.

I know your secret, you vicious, blood thirsty beasts.

"C'mon," Cal tugs on my hand again. "You've been staring at them for twenty minutes. They're not gonna do it. Let's head out so we can get another driving lesson in."

"Okay..." I can't help but pout a little bit, making Cal chuckle and reach out to tug on one of my curls again. He does that a lot.

It's been a really great day so far. True to his word, Cal took me to eat, again insisting that he pay. That's actually starting to make me feel bad. At first I was fine with it, but now I feel like I'm taking advantage. This is a foreign feeling to me. I like free stuff.

It's not like I'm poor. I make decent enough money to buy my own food. It's just there's no kitchen in my apartment. Only a microwave, a mini fridge, and a coffee machine. I eat a lot of noodles.

I don't even know what Cal does for a living. Maybe he's a contractor or something. He says he fixes stuff. Whatever it is, it apparently pays well considering he has a house and he's paying for everything.

After we ate he brought me to the zoo. I've never been to the zoo before. It was freaking awesome. Cal brought me around the whole place, showing me all the animals and even giving me random facts about some of them. There was a petting zoo where I got to feed the goats, but Cal had to help me get out when too many surrounded me and I got a little uncomfortable. When we got to the lemurs he surprised me by making a weird screechy noise, causing all of the lemurs to screech back and kind of freak out.

I think he purposely saved the giraffes for last. Thankfully there was a bench by their exhibit because my feet felt like they were about to fall off from all the walking we've been doing. But it's a good kind of ache. It's the ache of someone who just had one of the best days of her life.

"My feet hurt..." I whine as we trudge off towards the exit. Cal immediately stops and steps in front of me, crouching down and offering his back to me.

"Get on," he says.

"Um. No. I'm not going to do that. I'm too heavy and you've been walking just as much as me."

"I'm fine. You can't weigh more than a child. Get on or I'll just pick you up and carry you. That would give people something to talk about."

I hesitate for a moment longer, looking around at the groups of people who I definitely don't want to see me hauled off like luggage.

Fine. I'm tired anyway.

I carefully climb up onto his back, suddenly reminded of the baby sloth I saw clinging to his mama's belly not too long before this. Cal tucks his arms under my legs and hoists me up before standing up and walking forward like I really don't weigh much more than a child.

If I thought walking into Sammy was like walking into a metal door, riding on Cal's back is like bear hugging a stone pillar. A really warm stone pillar. That smells delicious.