For the first time in her entire life, Ellis Grant awoke on the morning of her birthday, not to the fanfare her mother put on every year, not to the silly string her father would irritatingly spray all over her, and not to the out of tune rendition of 'Happy Birthday' by her extended family – the Sattler's and the Malcolm's. Instead, on the morning of her twenty second birthday, Ellis' chocolate brown orbs fluttered open and were greeted with absolutely nothing, an almost blissful silence that was interrupted only by the birds that chirped outside of her bungalow and the soothing sound of the water moving slowly in the river that flowed behind the small wooden hut she had come to call home. She had never been one to indulge in the somewhat selfish nature of ones birthday, and although she had grown to adore the traditions her family played out each and every year, they still made her feel incredibly awkward. Ellis Robyn Grant hated to be the centre of attention, and on her birthday she was always just that. Except for today that was.
She stretched as she climbed out of bed, raising her arms high above her head she twisted her torso this way and that, working out any kinks that had arouse whilst she slept the night before. Stifling a yawn she pushed open the shutters that covered her window, squinting for a second or two whilst her eyes adjusted to the sunlight that streamed into the small bedroom. The view from her bedroom window was nothing short of breath taking, and despite being on the island for a number of months now she was yet to grow tired of the sight of the herbivores grazing on the other side of the river.
Ellis showered, and got dressed into her usual shorts, tank top and plaid shirt combo, and pulled on her tattered old walking boots the same way she did every morning before heading out to work. She smiled to herself as she drove her Jeep Wrangler - a car she loved and would never have been able to afford nor upkeep back home in Montana - through the tropical paradise that was Isla Nublar. She took a scenic route this particular morning, treating herself on account of it being the anniversary of her birth, and she gave herself a mental pack on the back for doing just that. The dirt roads, off the beaten track, some of which ran through certain paddocks were of far more interest than the tarmacked maintenance roads she usually used. She drove slowly past a herd of Stegosaurus, winding her window down to get a better look as she did so. The animals had every right to be afraid of her and the mechanical beast she was rolling by in, and yet they continued to mind their own business, lifting their large heads only to watch her, their beady black eyes following the Jeep as it disappeared once again into the thick foliage.
Pulling up at the velociraptor paddock she half expected to see embarrassing pictures of a much younger version of herself blown up to obscene sizes and pinned up at various points, or something else typically Owen like but stepping out of the Jeep she saw absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. A feeling bubbled up in the pit of her stomach, was it disappointment? She shook her head, telling her inner monologue to pipe down, she hadn't told Owen it was her birthday today, she hadn't told anyone. She couldn't really expect them to know without having been told. With a soft sigh she retrieved her ID from her back pocket and pinned it to the pocket of her plaid shirt, scraped her mousy brown hair into a messy bun and readied herself to start the day's work. Other workers milled about the paddock, and other than the odd hello and a nod she didn't pay them very much attention, nor did they her.
Ellis went about the morning jobs the same as she would have any other day. She spent about an hour in the office, ensuring her own reports from the day before were accurate and filed accordingly, she then did the same with Owen's reports – most of which were nothing more than 'Charlie was a bitch today', 'Blue ate Delta's lunch' and 'The new guy needs to buy me a beer'. Ellis smiled as she read her co-worker's messy handwriting, before typing up fresh reports for him and filing them away under his name. Thankfully Barry was much more organised, his reports needed no extra fabrication and so she'd stopped checking them months ago. After ensuring all the paperwork was in order she left the office and headed over to the paddock to feed the girls. At the sight of her the four dinosaurs rushed towards the bars, not as a display of aggression, rather the opposite, they were happy to see her – and were seemingly the only ones to be so.
"Good morning ladies." Ellis cooed as she punched some keys on the keypad next to their paddock. Immediately a mechanical structure came to life, releasing food into the paddock which the dinosaurs tucked into ravenously. She rested against the workbench and watched the dinosaurs with the same level of interest as the first day she'd ever seen them, to her they were still beautiful and just as mysterious as they had been that first day she'd set foot on the island – the only difference now was that she could tell them apart, that and that Delta had a particular penchant for No Scrubs by TLC.
The rest of the day passed by very much the same, Ellis spoke very little to any other actual human beings and spent the majority of her time either down in the viewing area of the paddock or on the overhead catwalk. She studied the raptors the same way she did every other day, making notes in her small moleskin notebook – one that had been gifted to her by her father Alan on her last birthday, he had meant for her to use it as a means of recording dig site information, not the comings and goings of real life dinosaurs, unfortunately for him Ellis had been offered the job opportunity of a lifetime and jumped at the chance, Alan hadn't spoken to her since she boarded the plane to San Jose.
By two o'clock, Ellis was more than ready to take her lunch break. The onsite 'cafeteria' was nothing more than a gutted out storage container that had been fitted with power sockets, inside was a small plastic table with two white plastic chairs, a microwave, a mini fridge and a coffee machine. Ellis had long since forgone putting lunch items in the fridge, after one too many sandwiches and pre-prepared salads had mysteriously vanished. She sighed when she stepped into the dimly lit 'room', her gaze flickering towards the coffee machine and a frown furrowing her brow. Whomever had used it last hadn't even had the decency to put a fresh pot on for the next person, and so now it looked like her lunch time birthday beverage was going to be nothing more than tap water. She was just about to scream internally when a knock on the outside of the metal box she was stood in caught her attention. Ellis kinked a brow and turned around to look at the open door, there was no one there.
The knock came again and she rolled her eyes, someone was fucking with her, and it only served to increase her irritation. Grabbing her old rucksack from the table she slung it over one shoulder before bounding out the door, eyes ablaze and a frown set firmly upon her pretty features. She was all set to yell at whichever jackass worker it was when she stepped outside, but all and any words of anger disappeared the second she stepped out into the sunlight.
Owen, Barry, Vivian and Lowery stood in a row before her, a huge banner held between them that read 'Happy Birthday Ellis'. The faces of the four people she'd grown closest to in the past few months beamed at her and Ellis' felt her cheeks warm with a blush – she'd been about ready to jump down someones throat over not leaving her any god damn coffee and now these losers were stood here looking cute as ever.
She couldn't help but smile, and it was the kind of smile that lit up her entire face, making her already pretty features seem impossibly prettier. Rolling her dark eyes she ran her hands down her face and released a laugh.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLE!" They all chimed in unison and she groaned.
"How did you know?"
All heads turned to Lowery and he blushed ever so slightly before clearing his throat and answering her question. "I have access to the employee files, your birthday is on there."
"You read my file?" Ellis asked, a smirk causing the corner of her lips to curve upwards ever so slightly.
"Well…I mean…"
"Look let's not destroy the man's chances any more than his comic book obsession already does." Owen piped up, flashing Ellis a cheeky grin when she frowned at him. "The point is my beautiful work wife, it is your birthday and I'll be damned if you spend it working."
Ellis covered her face with her hands and smiled into her palms, the four of them laughed around her. "I can't just drop everything, whose going to feed the girls?"
"My god." Owen groaned, throwing his head back dramatically. "You've got the work ethic of the freaking Amish. You deserve this Elle, we'll get one of the guys to feed them. It's not hard."
"You really don't have a choice in the matter Ellis, I'm sorry if we made it seem like you did." Vivian's smile was one of sadistic excitement and Ellis raised her eyebrows, Vivian was so tiny and adorable and yet here she was, threatening her with a good time.
Holding her hands up in a signal of defeat Ellis laughed softly. "Fine, okay, yes. What have you idiots got planned then? Shots at Margaritaville?" She raised her eyebrows expectantly. Margaritaville was one of the bars on Main Street, popular with both park visitors and employees, there were one or two evenings spent at Margaritaville that Ellis' memories of were somewhat hazy.
Vivian glanced at her watch and smirked. "Actually I think you'll find…" Her sentence was cut off by the rhythmic sound of helicopter blades whirring above their heads. Dust flew up off the ground, caused by the air vortexes created by the whirring metal blades that kept the helicopter in it's hovering position. Ellis shielded her eyes from the dust and stared upwards in awe, she'd never been in a helicopter before, and she wasn't entirely sure whether the feeling in the pit of her stomach was one of nervousness or excitement.
Owen, who had half a mind to start yelling about how the pilot shouldn't be hovering so low, so close to his babies, smiled at Ellis' reaction and chose to instead make the worst joke he could think of. "GET TO THE CHOPPER!" He yelled over the sound of the rotating blades, doing his very best Arnold Schwarzenegger impression and reciting a line from Ellis' favourite film Predator. At the sound of his, frankly terrible, impersonation Ellis threw her head back and laughed loudly. Her cheeks hurt from smiling, and she still couldn't believe that between them they'd commandeered InGen's helicopter – she loved this group of idiots.
When the helicopter finally touched ground they all piled in, on one side Vivian sat crushed in-between the two muscular figures of Owen and Barry, and on the other Lowery and Ellis sat beside one another, their shoulders brushing against one another. The take-off was shaky and in the moment Ellis threw her arms out to either side of her, one of them finding a handle to grip on to, the other grabbing hold of Lowery's hand. He gave her a reassuring squeeze and immediately she relaxed, letting go of the handle in her right hand, but leaving her left hand exactly where it was. Owen nodded subtly towards it, Barry and Vivian smiled between themselves. In between posing dramatically for photographs that she would no doubt later upload to Instagram to frighten the life out of her father, Ellis' gaze was set firmly out of the window. She watched the seemingly endless stretch of blue ocean with a mixture of wonder and fear, it was so beautiful, and it was also dauntingly big – she wondered for a moment how many wrecks must lie at the bottom of the ocean, but quickly turned her attention to something else as not to jinx the remainder of their flight.
They disembarked once they reached the mainland of Costa Rica, and before Ellis had a chance to get her bearings they were moving again. Vivian had a jam packed day full of alcohol and activities and she'd be damned if they missed out on anything. To begin they caught a chartered boat that took them a few miles out to sea, when the engines stopped the captain called down to them, turning their attention to where he was pointing. Bottle nose dolphins rode the surf the large boat had created and the five of them stared in silent wonder.
"They're amazing. This is amazing." Ellis breathed out. Everyone nodded in agreement.
They spent hours out at sea, putting on elaborate diving displays and marking one another out of ten. Ellis floated blissfully on the surface of the water, feeling thankful for somehow getting lumped with this group of miscreants, a sentiment that lasted all of two seconds until Owen and Lowery dunked her underwater.
Dried off an back on solid ground they ate dinner at a small restaurant that Barry swore was the very best on the mainland. After their meal the waiter emerged from the bar with a single shot of tequila and a cupcake with a candle in it. Around her, Owen, Barry, Vivian and Lowery sang an extremely enthusiastic rendition of 'happy birthday' and cheered when she blew the candle out at the end.
"Now." Owen announced, picking up the single tequila shot, holding it out towards her. Ellis grimaced, she'd had one or two experiences with tequila at college, and all of them had been less than pleasant. "Vivian, the timer if you will." He held out his palm and the petite blonde placed Owen's iphone into his waiting hand. He pressed a few buttons, bringing up the timer. "When the alarm sounds, you must consume a shot of our choosing, failure to do so will result in a forfeit."
Ellis groaned, letting her head fall into her hands. Vivian nudged her with a soft laugh. "I hate tequila."
"No one hates tequila Ellie." Owen explained as he passed the small shot glass to her. "They don't understand tequila, they're not on the same spiritual level as the ethereal being that is tequila." Four oblivious faces blinked back at Owen Grady and he laughed a low gruff laugh. "Shut up and do your shot."
Begrudgingly she obliged, first licking the salt from the back of her hand, then tossing back the positively vile tasting drink before launching herself forward and grabbing a handful of lemon slices from the plate in the centre of the table. Ellis' face scrunched up into one of pure disgust and around her Barry, Owen, Lowery and Vivian howled with laughter. It was the first shot of many and the beginning of what would become a truly unforgettable evening.
Over the course of the next hour or so they moved from place to place, doing shots every time Owen's timer went off – which at present was every five minutes – before settling finally at a small outdoor cocktail bar. Wicker tables and chairs were dotted about the small outdoor seating area and Las Gaviotas was played through the large black speakers, giving the small restaurant turned bar an ambient chilled out feel. To the right of them a small stage was set up and a number of locals milled about, some writing their names down and handing them to the waiter stationed on the stage.
"What's that?" Vivian asked, nodding towards the stage. Ellis didn't bother turning to look at what it was her blonde friend was nodding towards, she was far too enthralled by the way Vivian's blue eyes had glazed over ever so slightly. Ellis was quite certain there was a scientific explanation for this, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it, and so rather than look away, or speak, she merely stared.
Lowery raised a heavy eyebrow as Ellis leaned her head on her hand and stared intently at Vivian before glancing over his shoulder towards the stage. "It's uh..karaoke I think."
"KARAOKE!?" That was enough to bring Ellis from her scientific day dream and she whipped her head around. "You have to do it." Her arm was raised, index finger pointing directly at Barry. At this point Ellis was more than a little intoxicated, but that by no means meant she didn't clearly remember Barry's velvety singing voice – she'd heard it on more than one occasion down at the paddock.
"Me?" Barry asked, his usually deep voice an octave higher than usual.
"You…and Owen." Ellis ordered, a mischievous grin spreading across her blossom pink lips and lighting up her entire face.
"Well you don't have to tell me twice." Owen announced, knocking back another shot, chasing it with a swig of beer to rid his mouth of the taste before standing up and placing his hands on his hips. "Come on bud, live a little."
Barry took some persuading and another couple of shots but within five minutes, him and Owen were up on stage, each one gripping tightly to a microphone and smiling out at the ever growing crowd. Owen stepped forward and held up a hand to wave over at Ellis, Lowery and Vivian, all of whom laughed and waved back.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Owen, this is Barry." He gestured to Barry behind him, who gave an awkward courtesy. Ellis scoffed into her hand. "Together we are Bowen, or Owarry…I'm yet to settle on a stage name but it's like I always say-" Owen was cut off when the song that they'd selected began playing. Once the beat kicked in, both men visibly relaxed, Barry tapped his foot against the floor of the makeshift stage in time with the music, and Owen swayed his hips this way and that whilst he waited for the first course. It took a while for Lowery, Vivian and Ellis to realise what song it was that they were about to sing, but the moment they did a number of things happened. Lowery laughed so hard that he fell off his chair, which in turn led to Ellis diving over to him to ensure he was okay knocking every glass off their table in the process – all of which poured onto Vivian who couldn't breathe for laughing.
"Wake up, wake up, wake up." Barry's deep voice was nothing more than a whisper as he danced around behind Owen who had taken front and centre of the stage.
"Oh baby, lets get down tonight." Owen sang, doing his very best to sound sultry and seductive. Ellis watched from the heap on the floor her and Lowery currently lay in, a bemused expression set firmly upon her features.
"Baaaaaaaby, I'm hot just like an oven. I need some lovin'." Barry sang now, words Ellis never thought she'd hear the Frenchman say.
"When I get that feeling I want sexual healing." Owen took over.
"Sex-u-al, heaaaaaaaling." Barry was very much getting into his harmonies at the back of the stage.
The rest of song turned into a heartfelt duet, Owen spun Barry around enthusiastically and to finish they did their very best to re-enact the infamous scene from Dirty Dancing. Barry planted his feet and bent his knees, holding out his hands ready to catch Owen who ran at him before jumping into his friends waiting arms. The re-enactment didn't go exactly to plan and the two fully grown men did both end up on the floor, but Ellis, Lowery, Vivian and the rest of the people watching all stood to give them a standing ovation for their efforts.
Truth or dare followed after that, in between shots and passionate sing alongs to the well-known songs other people were singing on the karaoke stage behind them.
"Okay your turn Vivalicious." Owen announced with a grin, taking a swig of beer from the glass bottle in his hand whilst he thought of an appropriate dare. "You have to make out with Bazza."
Vivian frowned and Barry feigned offence. "No, no. It's not that, Barry you're a very attractive…very large…very French man." Everyone laughed and Vivian's cheeks burnt pink but she continued. "It's just, I have a boyfriend."
"Not to worry chère, I understand." Barry bowed his head, a small smile dancing upon his full lips.
"Fine fine, but just so you know monogamy is not the way of the animal kingdom. Blue would be disappointed." Owen piped up, turning his attention now to Ellis.
"Okay then birthday girl you're up."
"Hit me with your best shot Grady."
Owen nodded towards Lowery, who nodded in response before disappearing from the table. Ellis watched him go and raised an eyebrow. Although it became apparent fairly quickly what he'd been sent to do. Over the speakers, and much louder than any of the other songs that evening, Taylor Swift's 22 played, and Ellis grinned – the singer was her guilty pleasure, and you did only turn 22 once after all.
"I dare you." Owen began, his gaze following Lowery who gave Ellis a soft squeeze on the shoulder before taking his seat beside her once again. "To dance. On this table. Right now."
"Ell…lis…Ell..lis." Around her people began chanting her name, egging her on, encouraging her to go through with her dare. Strangers joined in, people she'd never seen nor spoken to in her life chanted her name as though it were some kind of cult ritual, urging her to make a fool of herself.
She faked a moment of bashfulness, before the alcohol well and truly set in. With a helping hand from Lowery she climbed up onto the unsteady surface of the wooden table. Ellis sang along to the words she knew off by heart with such enthusiasm that she almost for a second believed that she actually had a decent singing voice – which she most definitely did not. Her dance moves were tentative at fist, two stepping gently on the wooden surface which wobbled as she moved. A few seconds in she relaxed and her dancing became just as enthusiastic as her singing had. Sat around her they all laughed, clapping along to the beat of the song. Lowery smiled, and Ellis smiled back at him as she swayed her hips, eventually tearing her gaze away and looking up at the starry night sky.
"I don't know about you, but I'M FEELING TWENTY TWO…OOOOH." Tilting her head back to far, her drunk body lost all sense of balance and Ellis toppled down backwards off the table. The only person who moved to help her was Lowery, the other three merely laughed, tears streaming down their faces as they did so.
Lowery scooped her up, his eyes wild with worry and his voice soft. "Ellis, are you alright are you hurt?" He cooed. Ellis, whose ankle was throbbing, cuddled into his chest sleepily.
"It's chaos theory Cruthers, a butterfly must have flapped its wings in Peking. Damn that butterfly knocking me off my game."
Lowery shook his head as Ellis spewed nonsense into his chest, a small smile causing the corners of his lips to curve upwards at the feeling of her pressed against his chest.
"M'ankle." She muttered.
"What?"
"My ankle." His gaze travelled down the length of Ellis' exposed legs and his eyes widened at the sight of her right ankle – it had at least tripled in size in no more than a few minutes.
"Shit." He laughed, unable to supress the chuckles that fell from his lips. He only laughed harder when she grumbled into his chest in protest. "Guys, I think Ellis has to go to the medical centre."
Owen sat up, peering over the table to where Lowery held Ellis on the ground. "You're kidding me." The raptor handler asked in disbelief. Lowery nodded towards her injury and Owen lost himself to a fit of laughter once again. "Ellis Grant you are anything if not elegant." He teased.
Ellis didn't remember the trip from the bar to the medical centre, she didn't remember the on call medical examiner laughing at her as she recalled how she'd had her accident, she didn't remember saying goodbye to Vivian, Owen and Barry when they disappeared back out into the night to continue the festivities without her. What Ellis did remember was Lowery Cruthers, sat at her bedside as she slept off the alcohol. She remembered the way his thumb stroked absentmindedly over the back of her hand as he spoke nonsensical computer talk to her as she drifted in and out of sleep. She remembered waking in the middle of the night and watching him whilst he slept, his head lolled at a jaunty angle that would no doubt see his neck in agony the next day. She had wanted to wake him then, to thank him for looking after her whilst the others left. What she'd really wanted was to kiss him. But she thought better of it, not now, not when her sobriety could be questioned.
Her head felt like someone was stood on it the next morning when she woke up, and the bright lights of the medical centre made her eyes hurt. She groaned, closing them almost immediately after opening them, and turning to bury her face in her pillow.
"Well good morning to you to." Lowery breathed out, surprisingly chipper for someone who should technically be nursing a hangover as bad as her own.
"You're here?" Ellis asked in disbelief, opening one eye and watching him carefully. He grinned at her and she couldn't help but smile back.
"Where else would I be? Did you have a good night?"
"Oh yeah. Best birthday ever."
A/N: Just a fun little one shot to celebrate my babs birthday! If you've read Insatiable you'll hopefully remember that there was a brief mention of this night in Chapter 5. I just wanted to play about a bit, do something fun alongside writing the total soul destruction that is my Insatiable story. I hope you enjoyed this!