Chapter 6
(Brian's point of view)
"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my.." If he didn't stop singing that stupid song..
"Nick!" I yelled, "shut up."
He grinned at me, "Sorry Bri, but I love the zoo, it's so much fun!" He began to run towards the entrance at full speed. I really should think about buying him one of those child leashes next time I take him out in public.
"Nick, slow down." I tried to keep up with him, but I was still a little queasy from my 'situation' at the carnival. "We will look at everything, you don't have to rush."
"Ok! What animals do you wanna see first? there's every kind here, it's a huge zoo!" he exclaimed, looking at the map.
"Whatever Frack, you pick." I said. "And watch where you are going." I said as he walked with his nose in the map. All I needed was for him to knock someone over and get recognized, that had been a close call at the magic show.
"Lets go see the monkeys!" he said as the cage came into view. Typical, I thought as he ran over to talk to them, Nick can probably relate to a monkey's energy better than any other human I know. I stopped and stared at the cute animals as they jumped from tree to tree, how would you like a blonde haired companion monkeys? "Brian?" Nick said tugging on my arm.
"What is it Nick?" I asked exasperated.
"I have to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back, I saw them as we walked in."
I sighed. "All right Nick, I'll be right here on this bench waiting for you, come RIGHT back, you hear me?"
"Uh huh." He replied running off. Where did he get the energy, I was drained and it wasn't even lunch time yet. I leaned back against my bench, it was cold here, I wish I would have brought a heavier coat, I thought. I sincerely hoped Kevin wasn't calling the hotel to check on us. We were going back after the zoo, that was it, I don't care if Nick liked it or not, speaking of Nick, what the hell was he doing in there? It had been 10 minutes since he went in.
I got my answer as he came slowly walking back to me holding the side of his face. Oh God, what now?
"Nick, what the hell happened to you?" I said as I got a look at his face, the left side around his eye was turning a nice purplish color. "Here, sit down here, did you get in a fight in the bathroom?" I asked, pushing him down on the bench.
"Not exactly," he replied wincing as I pulled his hand away from his face. "Ow!"
"Let me see." I said, feeling the bone around his eye to make sure he hadn't fractured anything. All we needed was to go to the hospital, that would highlight the day. "What do you mean 'not exactly'?" I said looking at him.
"Well, I kinda walkedintoadoor." he said in a big rush.
"You what? Slow down I couldn't understand that."
"I walked into a door." He said more clearer, blushing.
It took everything I had in me to not burst out laughing at him. Only Nick.
"Oh Nick." I said smiling at him. I pulled my hands away from his face, satisfied with my examination. It was nothing but a black eye, but we were never gonna be able to hide it from Kevin. "How on earth did you do that?"
"Well, I was coming around the corner, and I was reading the map, and I looked up and there was this lady about to walk into me, so I swerved out of the way and right into a door that was opening." He told me. Did I not tell him only a few minutes ago to watch where he was going? I swear he tunes me out.
"Did whoever hit you apologize?" I asked.
"No, they had this really thick accent and I think they cursed at me in another language."
I sighed. "Well, Nick, how are you gonna explain this to Kevin?"
"Is it that bad?" He asked me.
"Yeah buddy, it's pretty noticeable." I told him.
"I'll tell him I was dizzy and ran into the bathroom door." Hmm not a bad idea.
"Ok, I hope he believes it." I said, standing.
"Me too." He replied. "Can we get me some ice or something?"
"Sure, lets go to the food area, I'll get you some there, I could use a soda." I told him walking in the direction of the vendors. I stood on the line and pulled my cap down lower over my eyes. I looked at Nick, he looked like a gangster in that outfit with that shiner on his face. I shook my head, this day was turning into an experience.
"Can we get something to eat Frick?" Nick asked. To tell you the truth, the thought of food was making me queasy all over again, but Nick hadn't had anything since breakfast early this morning.
"Sure, you can, I'm not that hungry, what do you want?" I asked him as I stepped to the front of the line.
"A hot dog and a soda."
I ordered the food and drinks and paid. "Lets go sit down."
"No, I wanna see the other animals!" Nick pouted. He gave me the puppy eyes and I couldn't resist.
"All right." I replied walking back towards the cages where the other animals were.
"Oh look Bri, goats!" He exclaimed. Yippee, more smelly creatures. I stepped up to the cage peering at them.
"Nick it really smells here, we are going to get going soon, OK!.." I was cut off as the goat grabbed the back of my jacket and began to eat it. "Get off me you stupid thing!!" I began to scream at it. "Dammit Nick get it off of me!!"
"Don't worry Bri! I'll save you!" he said coming to me. I don't know why those words didn't scare me, but they should have. It may have had something to do with the fact that there was a goat on my ass, but I don't know for sure. What I do know is that sometimes Nick didn't think things through all the way. He started throwing pieces of his hot dog at the goat in order to get it off me. Neither of us noticing the 'Don't feed the animals' sign.
"What are you doing!' I jumped at the voice behind me, finally detaching myself from the stupid animal. "You can't feed the animals that!" he was yelling at Nick. Ok, now Nick made a mistake, but he was just trying to help me out and NO ONE yells at my best friend like that.
"Don't yell at him, he didn't know!" I yelled back at the man.
"Are you blind?" He snapped with his accent.
"Well, if it wasn't pulling me into it's cage, he wouldn't have had to feed
it!" I said back. Nick looked on with a surprised expression on his face. I rarely raised my voice in front of him, if ever. But this day was getting to be to much for me, what else could go wrong.
"That's it!" He said. "Get out of the zoo before I have you escorted out!"
"Fine, we don't want to stay in your smelly zoo anyway!" I yelled back. We must have looked strange standing there in our disguises, with those tattoos and Nick and his black eye, but I didn't care, I just wanted to go back. "C'mon Nicky." I said.
"Wow, thanks Bri! You didn't have to do that for me." He said.
"Yes I did, he was being a prick." I sighed. "We are gonna go back now ok Nick? I'm tired."
"Ok I guess." He said.
"Where's the paper with the street we need to go to where the bus is?" I asked him.
"I thought you had it."
"No, I told you to write it down and keep it."
"Oops." He replied.
"What do you mean 'oops'?"
"I lost it."
Oh wonderful, now what?