Picture This: Book 2 [GirlxGirl]

Chapter 2

The ride to the zoo had been unbearable. It was bad enough that Alex and Rose had to put up with Amy's crying over God knows what, but then when they picked up Lance and Caesar, things only went downhill. Whatever had been going on with them only appeared to be getting worse, and the tension between the couple was thick - tangible even. Rose tried, on several occasions, to strike up a casual conversation with her friends, but to no avail. When her latest attempt fell flat she gave up altogether.

After parking the car, not a single one of them hesitated to unbuckle and scramble out. Big though the vehicle was, it was difficult not to feel claustrophobic with an atmosphere like that. Thankfully, Amy seemed unfazed, and her tantrum was over. For now. 

"Jaffs." She giggled, holding on to Rose's sleeve with one tiny hand. Rose and Alex looked on at her lovingly, still in awe of this child. Their child. "Jaffs!" Rose laughed.

"You want to see the Giraffes, Amy?" The toddler's eyes lit up and she bounced on her heels excitedly, pulling them towards the entrance of the Zoo. 

***

Alex had never been to the zoo before. In all honesty she had never seen the point in wasting a day of her life pointing at dirty, pent up animals she could look at just as easily on many of her expensive travels abroad - without all the disease addled screaming children around. Besides, even if she had ever wanted to go to one, her father never would have had the time to take her there.

And, for the brief period in her life in which her mother was around, she sure as hell wouldn't have dreamed of going out of her way for Alex either. So no, she had never been to a zoo before, and she'd never really been too upset about it. But with Amy and Rose by her side, the zoo seemed ike the most wonderful place in the world at that moment in time. Especially since she got to hear Amy laughing every time one of the animals did something vaguely amusing. 

They had gone to see the giraffes first, per a certain toddler's demand, but after a brief moment in which Amy watched them with awe, she soon grew bored. They saw the monkeys and the lions, the elephants and the snakes. Wherever they went, Amy's attention was soon redirected to something else. Alex and Rose didn't mind, of course.

What they did mind, however, was the childish manner in which Lance and Caesar were behaving towards one another. They weren't even bothering to cover up whatever it was that was going on with them now, as they had been refusing to speak directly to each other and stood the furthest possible distance away. The scowls on their faces didn't go amiss either. When they finally took a break for lunch at a small shack called the Lion's Den, Alex decided she'd had enough. So, while Amy was distracted with her colouring, she spoke up. 

"Guys, seriously, what the hell is going on with you two?"

Lance and Caesar shared a look, before remembering that they were mad at each other and hastily looking down at the food on the table as though it were the most interesting thing in the room. Rose rolled her eyes.

 "Well?"

"Nothing." Lance murmured quietly, picking at his sandwich. "Just drop it."

"I might be able to if you weren't putting a damper on our first day out with-" Alex glanced at Amy, but she was still intensely focused on colouring within the lines. "Just tell us what's going on, you know you're our favourite couple. Save for ourselves."

Caesar sighed. "We didn't want to tell you today but, since you're pressing the matter... Lance and I are going on a break for a while."

Rose looked between them with confusion clear on her face. "A break? Apart from each other?" The silence that followed seemed to be a confirmation. The women couldn't believe it. Lance and Caesar were, well, Lance and Caesar. This could not be happening. Alex was the one to break the awkward silence that followed.