Strings Of Harmony

♫43♫ Can We Please Pretend For A Moment That You're An Aye-Aye?

Chapter Forty-Three

Can We Please Pretend For A Moment That You’re An Aye-Aye?

 

“You seem awfully excited.”

“Of course! I mean, come on, we get to see aye-ayes today!” I practically dragged him towards the entrance as the ticket people approved our tickets. Once inside the zoo, we started to look for the lemur exhibit.

“You know, while most girls would prefer their first dates to be at a fancy restaurant or you know, some place more romantic, you prefer zoos.”

“Of course. I don’t go for those fancy-schmancy stuff,” I said, shrugging, as we stopped in front of a directory.

“We’re apparently outside the elephant exhibit,” said Carson, as he scrutinized the map. “How about we slowly make our way through the exhibit?”

“But I really want to see your relatives!” I whined.

“My what?” He glared at me.

“Oh liven up a little, Carrie.” I smirked at him.

“Carrie?”

“Hey, if you get to call me Julie, then I can at least choose a nickname for you too.”

“But I’m not even a girl!” Carson slapped his forehead. “You are unbelievable.”

“Well too bad, you’re stuck with me now, so you’ll have to live with it.”

I practically bounced my way towards the lemur exhibit. “When’s your birthday?” I asked, nonchalantly, on our walk over.

“August twenty-first.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “Really? Isn’t that like three days away from today?”

He shrugged and smirked. “Why are you asking me this? Are you going to give me a present? ‘Cause if you are, I’d really like a—”

I lightly smacked the back of his head.

“Hey! What was that for?”

“Greedy jerk,” I muttered. “What are you, twelve?”

“Twelve? Not even. I’ll be nineteen.”

“I thought you were seventeen!” I said, surprised.

“Well, I guess that makes sense. After all, I am pretty sexy and young-looking and—”

I stomped on his foot.

He flinched and then glared at me. “What the hell?”

“That’s what you get for having such a big ego!”

“Okay, that’s it.” He made a lunge for me, but I quickly got out of his way and sprinted down the path.

“Eek!” I shrieked, as I tried to get away from him. “Sorry, sorry,” I said, as I pushed my way past some people. I tried my best to not run over any children, but that was hard to do, seeing as how I was running as fast as a cheetah.

After a few minutes, I realized I wasn’t outside anymore. Rather, I was inside a building—a reptile exhibit to be exact. Looking behind me, I realized Carson was nowhere to be found, so I leaned my back against the wall and tried to catch my breath. I couldn’t help but smile a little. I guess I was a fast runner after all.

Suddenly, I noticed something furry and big moving in the cage in front of me. I leaned forward a little to see what it was and when my eyes adjusted to the dimness of the cage, I shrieked in fright when I realized I was staring straight into the eyes of a tarantula.