Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
Amber
A s she fastened the wristband, Amber giggled at the look on Reuben’s face and found her hands lingering on his a little longer than necessary. It felt…different than when she had reached out instinctually to calm her friend. Her author brain railed against the cliche of ‘stomach butterflies,’ but in this moment, she couldn’t think of a more fitting description.
Suddenly she began wondering about the proper timing of affectionate gestures. Was a second date too early to attempt holding hands? Had she already committed a faux pas with the pet name? And in a relationship like this...who took charge of those kinds of advances? In an attempt to break herself of the spiral of questions, Amber shook her head and looked at the double doors which led into the aquarium proper. “I, uh. Guess we should go in then, hm?”
The first room of the aquarium flickered in waves of blue and green, the only lights coming from within the floor-to-ceiling tanks adorning three walls where schools of tropical fish flitted back and forth. Water-filled pillars in the center of the room extended to the ceiling while jellyfish floated peacefully in their blue-lit water.
The silence of the room rested like feathers on Amber’s ears and beckoned her in to enjoy its peace, while the cool air tugged her arm hairs upward.
Amber attempted to hide her excitement as she went from tank to tank, staring at the fish and reminding herself not to press her forehead to the glass and leave smudges. “I did a little research on the aquarium last night, because I’ve never been to this one,” she said, her voice instinctively low in the quiet room. “Apparently it’s set up like a gradual spiral, each room deeper underground than the last.”
“I’ve never been here either, despite living here for an entire decade.” For the most part, Reuben followed Amber from tank to tank, figuring that that was the couple thing to do. He liked the tropical fish; they were cool.
However, Reuben loved the jellyfish. His eyes followed one from the middle of the column all the way to the top, where the soft current turned it around in a lazy arc to continue its cycle back down. By the time he looked up, Amber was standing in the doorway into the next room.
This one was much brighter and louder with a jungle theme, vines hanging from the fake trees that extended high into the air. Rather than fish, the displays contained land creatures such as boas, birds, and various lizards. Birdsong filled the air with cheerful colors.
Amber paused in front of an enclosure containing moderately-sized crocodiles and stared at them in wonder. “I sure wouldn’t want to meet one of those suckers outside a cage,” she murmured, turning back to look at Reuben. “Look at how big their teeth are!”
Reuben gave Amber a long stare. “Sure, their teeth might be long, but I would hardly call these guys suckers,” he remarked, tapping Amber on the shoulder with his fist.
It hadn’t occurred to Amber that her usual slang might not have been the wisest choice of words in this company. “Oh, crap,” she cried, slapping her forehead. “I’m so sorry...I didn’t mean anything by that. I’ll remember to use a different descriptor!”
The vampire’s solemn expression cracked into a soft grin. “It’s fine. Now you know.” Reuben patted the shoulder he’d rapped and moved along to the tank of red-bellied piranhas, then pointed to the little fish without touching the glass. “Now these guys? They are so cool. Look at their glittery bellies!”
Amber hung her head and followed Reuben over to the piranhas, crouching down to examine their belly scales. Reuben dropped to a knee next to her, his shoulder brushing hers as they stared into the tank.
Amber felt her chest tighten as if someone had placed a belt around it and squeezed. Her heart beat a little faster and her pupils dilated. She cleared her throat and attempted to reply normally, “They are much prettier than all the cartoons would have you believe. And much calmer.”
Amber managed to keep her voice calm, but Reuben could sense the biological response. He backed up a little bit and his fingers began to twitch, so he hid them in his pockets. He continued on the path with his hands stuffed to the bottom of his pockets where he picked at the lint.
But Amber didn’t notice the shift in mood. She simply followed Reuben, meandering down the sloping trail which curved around the other side of the snake cages and opened up into a large, well-lit room with a shallow pool in the center. Within the twelve inches or so of water were starfish, stingrays, and other touchable critters.
Her face erupted into pure joy as she sat on the stone edge of the water, peering down where the rays flapped and the horseshoe crabs slowly crawled along the sand. She reached out and stroked the smooth top of a ray as it swam by, fascinated by the texture of its skin. It felt...a little like Reuben might if he was wet, she supposed. Not at all slimy. More cold and rather soft.
Since it was early in the morning and the creatures hadn’t spent all day being poked and prodded by small hands, they were quite active and willing to swim up to her before flitting away.
Amber ran her finger across a few starfish and was interested to discover that they also didn’t feel anything like she’d expected. From the dried ones she sometimes found in beach-side gift shops, she would have thought they were rough, like sharks. However, they were quite squishy and her finger glided over their skin with little friction.
Reuben stood in the entryway of the room, watching as Amber played with the aquatic creatures. He couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away from the dazzling smile that crinkled the corners of Amber’s eyes and pulled one side of her mouth up farther than the other.
Her unbridled joy was infectious. “Come on! Come play with me!” she called, and when she waved Reuben to her side, the vampire’s bad mood evaporated like liquid nitrogen in the sun.
Reuben took a breath of Amber’s excitement and walked up to the pool, pushed his long sleeves up, and plunged his arm into the cold water. Each creature that zoomed by was fair game and his fingers explored their forms with great interest as he walked along the edge of the pool. Yet he was extra careful with them, not knowing how fragile they were.
From her vantage point sitting on the floor, Amber watched Reuben interact with the exhibit. He was handsome. And he hadn’t appeared to care when called a pet name before. Perhaps...she could continue using them, then?
If nothing else, perhaps it might net her another one of those wide-eyed looks that she’d gotten the first time. It had made her heart race to be looked at that way and she couldn’t help wanting it again. There still weren’t any other people in the room, so she allowed herself to be brave for a moment.
“Hey babe, you look pretty hot from this angle when you lean over to play with the stingrays,” she called from across the pool, accentuating it with a wink. She felt stupid right after, but dang if it didn’t feel good to openly flirt after so many years of being single. Even if it was in an empty room and with someone who was only pretending to be her boyfriend…Be that as it may, she followed her flirtatious comment with a wolf whistle.
Reuben’s focus was yanked away from the sea creatures. Suddenly, Amber felt like she was the most interesting thing in the room and had Reuben’s undivided attention. “If I’m giving too much time to the rays and not enough to you, let me know, darling. I’ll be right over,” he teased.
The response came out of the back forty and Amber couldn’t breathe. Rogue butterflies had gotten stuck in her throat, that was it. Instead of replying, she attempted to hide her blush and ran to another pool in the room which contained small sharks.
Signs all over this tank read “DO NOT PUT HANDS IN THE WATER,” but also had a small dispenser to the side which, when a quarter was inserted, would dispense some food that could be tossed in.
Amber fished a little change from her pocket and when she sprinkled the pellets over the water, the sharks began snapping them up. She began to laugh, somehow enchanted by how excited they were about the food. Perhaps because it reminded her of someone. That someone being herself.
Reuben followed Amber to the next exhibit, but remained a few feet away. Amber closed the gap and gave him a little handful of fish food. “Feeding time!” she exclaimed, waiting expectantly for her date to toss it in the water. She couldn’t help but find herself looking Reuben up and down, liking the casual style as much as she’d liked the suit. As far as arrangements like theirs went, she could have a worse partner.
He tossed his food near Amber’s and the sharks gobbled up the new pellets, their little fins slapping the surface of the water and splashing in their excitement. “These are quite fun. But there is no amount of money you could pay me to get in a little cage surrounded by full-grown sharks,” he said with a shiver.
“We’ll see about that,” Amber replied, giggling at Reuben’s sudden nerves.