Bonfire

Chapter Nine

Hazel's POV

    I was starting to regret tagging along on this trip to the zoo. I was invited to go to the Zoo with 2 other friends who texted me saying
"Ayyyy wanna come with us to the zoo? It'll be fun!"
And I thought "Why not? I haven't been to a zoo in years!"
Wrong choice.
The ride there was nice. We all talked about College and how that was going, new friends, and of course the question always asked when we meet up after a while.
"So, meet anyone special lately?" "Are you in a relationship?" "So, meet any cute boys?"
Usually the answer was no. I always wanna stay on top of my studies. Stay on the safe path of career. I can't afford to let feelings get in the way. Not like last time. Then, why did I go to the zoo? You may ask. I needed a "break" as what my lazy roommate explained and that I needed to get out more. Psshh, whatever. I needed fresh air anyways....but I don't know if the Zoo is the best place for "fresh air" but, oh well. I'm not spending the whole day studying minerals and such today. Nope, today is different. Or, at least I thought. I was looking forward to actually hanging out with a couple of old friends and hang out together. But you know what did happen? They abandoned me. I was reading a description in front of the giraffes and when I turn around, they are gone. Great. Guess I'm lost. I didn't exactly know where to go. I'm 23, I shouldn't have to ask for help to find the people I came with. No. I'm not a child. I started to get nervous, considering I haven't been to this zoo before, I don't know my way around. I checked my phone to see if I could call them.

Battery 0%

Wow. Great. I decided to just look around so at least I get to relax a little. I looked at the monkeys, the elephants, the ducks, etc. It was quite a sight to see. I was finally starting to feel more relaxed. I spotted the penguin ahead and walked over to take a look. The penguins hung out in this cool, icy area, sliding around, using the ice chunks as a slide. Some were just walking around and some were being fed by a man in a navy blue polo, jeans and was holding a bucket of fish. He had a military style hair cut and a softer build. He was really cute. He seems like the type who is very awkward and shy, but in a cute way. Why exactly am I thinking about this cute boy of all times you may ask? No clue. I usually know how to avoid thinking about these kinds of feelings in order to focus on my work. But everything is different today I guess. This was driving me crazy, so I decided to just go over to the penguins to take a look. No one else was looking at the penguins which was sad because to me, they seem so fascinating. The boy feeding the penguins glanced at me after feeding the last penguin. I read his name tag. Frank. I waved at him as a nice gesture. He started to wave back until when he tried to step forward...he slipped on the ice and fell. It looked like it hurt really bad. It didn't help that the penguins all started to surround him.
"Are you okay!?" I shouted. He slowly got up, his face was tinged red, but he was laughing.
"I'm ok, totally ok, perfectly fi-" As he was replying, he slipped on the ice again. "Ugh, not fine."
"Oh Gosh, oh gosh. Um, how can I help!?" I was panicking. He looked so hurt, I'm sure he broke something. He started to get back up, slowly.
"Ok, ok now I'm fine" He smiled. I couldn't help but giggle when he smiled reassuringly. He walked over towards me to talk.
"Sorry if I startled you and..well, made you fall"
"What? Oh no you didn't startle me, I just didn't expect it" His face turned a little pink as he said so. He must be embarrassed.
"Didn't expect me to say 'hi'?"
"Well, no one really waves at the penguin boy. Don't get me wrong, I find it wonderful that a beautiful lady made a nice gesture to even wave at me, no one ever really waves or smiles at me when I'm feeding the penguins" My face started to feel warm. Did he call me beautiful? I couldn't help but smile. His face suddenly lit up after he went over what he said. His face was completely red and he looked so nervous all of a sudden.
"Um, thank you, for the compliment. You deserve more appreciation for what you do. You seem great with the penguins, like you understand them almost" I laughed.
"Well, I have a way with animals I guess." We stared at each other, nothing but a fence between us.
"May I ask, what is your name?" He asked
"Hazel"
"Frank"