Spring

Fourteen

Whoop whoop I updated! I hope this makes up for the long wait :)

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They said that there was an animal on the loose. Bob the gorilla had allegedly escaped from its cage in the zoo, and was deemed extremely wild and dangerous.

It was splashed all over the newspapers, tabloids, magazines... Everything.

People were advised to stay indoors, all outdoor activities were discouraged, but of course, it wasn't going to discourage her from going to the park today. No, definitely not.

It probably wouldn't discourage him either, she thought, but fingers crossed. Just in case.

Apart from the two gardeners sweeping leaves and an elderly couple strolling down the path, there weren't anybody else in the park, and she was pleased. It was going to be peaceful and quiet, just her, him and his music. She settled under the tree, her tree, she liked to think, and closed her eyes, patiently awaiting his arrival.

And he did come. The news of a wild animal on the loose did not bother him either because one, he thought that the odds of coming face to face with the gorilla were rather ridiculous; and two, he loved animals, and an encounter with one outside its cage didn't sound so bad... Right?

She let his music wash over her, the twang of the guitar strings, his voice.

God, his voice.

She never knew how to describe his voice. It was soulful and slightly husky, and it was bare and yet full of something, something she couldn't quite name. Passion, feelings, emotions... it was like wine. Rough and rich at first, but as you savour it, it becomes smooth, velvety, the many layers of tart, sweet taste and delicate sensations.

And she loved it, savored every moment of it. She basked in it.

But then something broke her from the trance.

There was a rustling in the trees. A shower of leaves fell onto her, and when she looked up, the surprise and shock was like a bucket of ice, because right there, parked between two branches, a mere three meters from her head, was the furry primate everybody was looking for.

Whoops, she muttered.

The gorilla peered down at her in what seemed to be curiousity. It didn't look ferocious, it seemed harmless enough, so she took a step back.

Unfortunately, Bob the gorilla didn't seem to like the movement and bared its teeth and hissed, all of its yellowed pointy triangles on display. She gulped, crossing her fingers for the second time that day, silently screaming for somebody to save her.

Stupid, she scolded herself. Stupid, stupid.

So as she stood there, rooted to the spot, beads of sweat running down her pale face, her heart an erratic drumming most certainly not the doing of a certain dark-haired boy who was still singing, completely oblivious to the damsel in distress a mere five meters away from him.

Stupid, she thought again, but this time it wasn't directed at herself. Save me you idiot!

Sadly, he never did turn around.

When Bob the gorilla finally got bored of the frozen girl in front of him, he snorted and swung away. She heaved a sigh of relief and decided to just go home; she didn't fancy another encounter with Bob.

She glared at the back of the boy who, according to all the fiction she read, was supposed to save her and huffed before leaving. She told herself that she was never going to ever believe in fiction again, but we all know that that's not going to happen anytime soon.

He didn't know that a girl had been trying to telepathically scream at him to save her from a wild gorilla, or that she was near to shitting her pants, but it was okay, the gorilla didn't eat her at the end. And she was furious at him for being so unbelievably oblivious as well, but obviously he didn't know of that either.

However, she didn't know that if he had seen it, he would have had been her knight in shining armour, except, he probably would have wet his pants as well, but it was okay. After all, it's the thought that counts, right? And besides, it wasn't like she was missing a limb or an eye.

Later, when he ran his fingers over the strings of his guitar one last time, he stood up and stretched, ready to go home.

But then he heard a low growl behind him. He turned around and nearly fainted, because right there in front of him was Bob the gorilla, and boy was he huge.

He took a step back as she had did, but Bob hissed again and he was frozen at the spot in fear. He almost peed in his pants.

He stood there like that for a good two hours, not daring to move a single muscle before the authorities finally arrived and sedated Bob, who was later being loaded into a lorry and sent back to his enclosure.

He didn't know that it was a girl who had informed them of Bob's whereabouts, a girl who had blue eyes and whom he was supposed to be knight in shining armour to, not the other way round.

But it was okay, he made a rather pretty damsel in distress.