The staff knew me by name and always had little fish waiting for me, so I could feed the seals. It was what I did on my day off, another one of my ways to remember the pain. Brady had loved seals. I always thought they were stupid. I mean, who claps when they eat food?
But one day, Brady pointed out to me that I did exactly that.
If I ate something that was really good or that made me happy, I’d clap my hands. He’d roll with laughter. Thus, my new nickname became Little Seal.
It was typical for us to visit the aquarium on the weekdays when it wasn’t that busy, and then a few months before the accident, he got a job there.
I was there every day.
Old habits die hard.
“Hey, Alyssa!” Sam was already standing by the seals, throwing them their morning meal. He graduated a few years before me and was close to Brady, like really close — they were brothers. He was one of the few people who stayed behind after graduation. Consequently, he healed just fine after the accident.
Apparently boys aren’t as emotional as girls. He put everything into his studies and sports, and after a while, we just stopped talking, unless I stopped by to feed the seals. Honestly, it was just too hard being near him. It reminded me of everything I lost that day. Recently we’d fallen into a sort of routine. I think he felt responsible for me somehow, which was ridiculous. He gave me the fish, I fed the fish to the seal, we made small talk, and he gave me a hug.
So, sadly we talked once a day about things that didn’t even matter, and never about Brady. Saying his name out loud was something I never did. It hurt too much.
“How’s work?” Sam threw another fish and politely handed me the bucket so I could join in.
I shrugged. “Well, I figure I’m a few taffy pieces away from curing world hunger, so that’s good.”
“Awesome.” He chuckled. “I know you’ve been working on that one like your whole life. Great accomplishment.”
“Yes, I hope to cure cancer next.”
“My, my, you’re driven.”
I laughed and threw another fish toward my favorite seal.
Sally swam up next to me and splashed water near my face.
“So, rumor has it that one of the famous AD2 members has kind of a thing for you.”
“Rumors suck,” I grumbled, patting the water next to Sally.
“He’s bad news, Alyssa.”
I froze for a minute then shook my head in denial.
“Nothing’s going on.”
“Okay.” Sam put up his hands. “I just wanted to warn you, that’s all. I know you probably don’t know what happened last year, since you were basically MIA all year and stuff…” He just waved his hand in the air. “But he was dating that girl Nat Murray for like a few months, then the brother started dating her. I still don’t know what happened, but he nearly overdosed on drugs and killed himself.”
Well, I wasn’t expecting that, but it gave me another good reason to reject Demetri’s friendship. Surrounding myself with a guy like that would do nothing but get me into trouble.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to people talking about me. I mean, I’m famous, but still…” a deep voice said from behind us.
I swallowed the dryness in my throat. My eyes flickered between Sam and Demetri. “What are you doing here?”
“I like fish.”
“They’re seals.”
“Damn, the pamphlet said aquarium. You understand my confusion.” He winked.
Sam stood in front of me.
“You must be Sally.” Demetri held out his hand.
Laughter bubbled out of me before I could stop it. I put my hand over my mouth; it smelled like fish, but I didn’t care. The look on Sam’s face was priceless.
“No.” Sam swallowed and stepped farther in front of me.
“That is Sally.” He pointed to the seal, which chose that exact time to splash all three of us.
Demetri’s clothes were drenched. His tank top was suddenly molded across his perfect abs. I fought to keep my jaw from dropping. No guy just out of high school should have that nice of body. Everything told me to avert my eyes, but like an idiot, I just kept staring.
“I think Sally’s upset,” Demetri finally said, wiping his face.
“Must be the company.” Sam sneered.
Demetri smirked. “I like your friends, Lyssa.”
“We’re not —” I stopped talking, because to say I wasn’t Sam’s friend would be hurtful. But friends didn’t give up on you, and Sam had. Sally, however, was a completely different story.
“To be clear, I meant the seal,” Demetri said, saving me.
“Can I feed her?”
“Sure.” I grabbed the bucket from Sam’s clenched fingers and handed it to Demetri. “Just don’t let her bite you.”
He grabbed a few fish and tossed them to Sally. Demetri’s rich laughter was like water to a marathon runner. It was intoxicating, beautiful, deep. I took a step away from him. “So, still stalking me I see.”
“Not at all.” He shook his head and grabbed another fish.
Sam stood on the other side of him, brooding. “I was bored, and since my friend wouldn’t come hang out with me, I decided to do the only touristy thing I could find in this town.”
“Taffy. Why don’t you check out the taffy?” Sam offered, obviously trying to get rid of him.
“Ah, now there’s a fun story. I work at Seaside Taffy.”