A few weeks into the mess that we called getting a zoo ready to be re-opened, Fizz came down with an awful stomach bug and was forced to stay home (much to her dismay). Out of the four girls, Fizz was always the one to put on a brave face even if she was feeling a bit off. She loved school and basically had never missed a day in her life. With only two weeks to go with school anyway, she was devastated when I forced her to stay home for the day.

"But, Lou, I'm fine!" She protested, looker greener than Shrek himself.

I crossed my arms to show her who was really the boss of the situation; I wasn't going to be swayed by those adorable blue puppy dog eyes of hers again. "No, Fizz, you're staying home today. That's it."

"At least let me Skype into class." Fizz suggested, pulling out her Mac book pro onto her petite lap.

I snatched it away from her and shook my head 'no'. "Miss Felicitie Tomlinson, you are taking the day off and that's final. You will rest and you will watch tele and that's all you will do."

Fizz pouted for a moment but then her eyes brightened with interest. "May I watch through the animal cams?"

The animal cams was a system that was set up around a week ago to promote the re-opening of Alexander's Emporium; it had been Niall's idea and we had all thought it would be a great way to re-gather interest in the zoo. Basically within each enclosure there was a hidden camera that would capture the animals acting like themselves that people at home could watch through a live streaming feed on our website.

"I suppose." I caved, handing her back the laptop computer.

She smiled up at me, already looking as if she had more color in her face than before. Fizz seemed to be content with the situation so I quickly said in passing, "Harry will be coming up to check you out. He's the closest thing to a doctor we have here so behave for him, okay?"

"What? Harry? Like, the head zookeeper, Harry?" Fizz stammered, suddenly panic in her little eyes. "He can't see me looking like this, Lou! It's not fair!"

I bit my lip, trying to figure out what about Harry's presence could throw my little sister into such a tizzy but then I realized her blush was similar to the one that I got when Harry was around; Fizz had a crush on Harry.

"Oh my god… Fizz, do you like him?" I accused, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

"No! Shut up, Lou!" She protested, crossing her arms in frustration.

"Fizz has a crush on Harry." I taunted, jumping on the bed and attacking her with a tickling ambush. "You better admit it, Fizz, or the tickle monster will torture you until you do."

She fell into a fit of giggles and laughter until she finally screeched, "Mercy! Mercy!"

I backed off and beamed fondly down at her. "And…?"

"Fine! He's sort of cute and makes me get butterflies whenever I see him…" She grumbled as she made her confession. "Does that mean I like him?"

I could compare the way I felt about Harry to my eleven-year-old sister which was both hilarious and troubling to me; did I like Harry? Was that extremely unprofessional considering that I was practically his boss? Why did everything have to be so complicated when it involved his perfect curly hair and gorgeous green eyes?

"I would say so." I advised, ruffling her hair. "But, kiddo, he's quite a bit older than you, though I don't blame you for your interest…"

Fizz gave me a funny look before bursting out into another fit of laughter but this time she wasn't looking at me, she was looking beyond me. Realization hit me as I heard Harry's familiar chuckle sounding out from behind us.

"Whose interest in who?" Harry wondered, walking into my sister's room.

That was the one thing about Harry that could go under the 'cons' list if I were ever to make one (because I'm a fourteen year old girl like that): his uncanny ability to pop up unannounced at the worst possible time.

"Oh, nothing." I stammered, standing to my feet and facing the zookeeper. "We were just gossiping, you know how family's do and such…"

Harry and Fizz shared a perplexed look before Harry muttered, "Right… now what seems to be the matter young lady?"

"Well, er… I don't feel quite well." Fizz responded, her nerves getting in the way of her ability to form proper sentences. "My stomach feels as if it's in the completely wrong place, if that makes sense at all?"

Harry whipped out a thermometer from his pocket and leaned down to set it in my sister's mouth. He paused for a moment before the gadget beeped and he took it away to examine it.

"You've got a touch of the flu based on this temperature. We're just lucky that we caught it early." Harry explained. "Basically just stay in bed, sleep a lot, drink fluids and try and stay as stress-free as possible."

I could tell that having Harry in the room probably wasn't helping with the stress situation so after his diagnosis I said, "Well, Fizz, why don't you thank Harry here and then get some rest, darling?"

She nodded anxiously before mumbling, "Thank you, Harry."

It almost seemed as if it pained her to even say his name, let alone be in the same room as him. Unrequited love, how painful and confusing it could be, especially at such a young age; I'd had my fair share of it considering I wasn't exactly of the heterosexual persuasion.

I'd known from a young age that I was gay, although I didn't have a label for it then. I knew I liked boys when other boys my age were fawning over girls, which I just didn't understand. I didn't really want to be different, so, for a long while I pretended that I was into those of the female type but after a while it was torturous to hide who I really was.

I came out to my parents and family over the dinner table when I was eighteen years old and have never looked back. My sexuality doesn't define me nor does it set me apart from people asides from the love factor. I've never really gone out and looked for it, it always just sort of slaps me in the face and takes me awhile to process. Unfortunately nine times out of ten the person I've fallen for is either straight or they are taken. Hence the term and poison of my existence: unrequited love.

Now, when I say love I don't mean I've necessarily fallen in love with everyone I've ever been interested in, that'd be utterly daft and I think I'd be quite insane at this point. I guess a better term for my curse is unrequited like.

I was in unrequited like with Harry Styles, the zookeeper of my dreams.

Wow, I really am a fourteen-year-old girl at heart… well, that's a bit depressing. But I digress…

After we left poor, sickly Fizz to her own defenses, Harry had an update on Ringo and his rather expensive medicine: "We started administering it last week and it might just be doing the trick. Thank you so much."

Harry wrapped his arms around my waist it was felt like an intimate more than friendly embrace but that was probably me just reading too much into things because I am in 'like'. He was probably just feeling passionate about his work with the animals and that was what was translating as intimacy to me.

I pulled away, not wanting to torture myself any further and gave him a goofy smile. He cocked his head in a puppy dog fashion and my heart just about melted.

"What?" I demanded of the look.

"I don't know, you just… give me so much hope." Harry admitted. "Ever since you arrived her it feels like we aren't drowning so much anymore but instead we're slowly floating our way back up to the top. It's totally inspiring and refreshing."

"Um…. Well, thank you?" I muttered, unsure of how to answer such a blatant compliment.

Harry chuckled at my awkward response and proceeded to be beam at me with his stunning green eyes. "I think we both deserve a night away from the emporium, do you want to come out with me and the gang tonight? As much fun as the critter café is, we need some distance from this place, just for one night."

I bit my lip, considering the invitation of a guy's night. I could really use the de-stressing but based on Lottie's previous reaction to my attempt at fun, I wasn't sure if it was a great idea.

"I'll have to think about it, okay?" I responded wearily. "My sisters need me around, so, I'm just not sure if I can swing it."

"Oh, yes you can! We can manage quite functionally without you!" Fizz called through her closed bedroom door.

I rolled my eyes and blushed with embarrassment at her eavesdropping. But, thankfully, Harry just seemed entertained by it.

"Then it's a date." Harry confirmed before trotting off so I didn't even have the chance to make a second objection to the night out.

And just like that, I was going out on the town with a bunch of zookeepers, and one that I was particularly fond of.

"Did you know that parrots actually have better memory than elephants do?" Niall slurred, his accent even more resonant than usual. "I mean, I think the saying should be 'parrots never forget' instead of 'an elephant never forgets'. Do you get what I'm saying?"

We were in our sixth round of drinks so almost anything anyone said at this point, I found quite hilarious. Liam had decided not to drink that evening so he was serving as the designated driver (which I thoroughly appreciated so that I could drink my face off).

"Lou! Lou! Lou!" Harry yelled at me from across the table.

I lazily looked his way and he winked at me.

"Made yah look." He teased before falling into a fit of laughter at his own joke. His laugh was so infectious that I even couldn't resist joining in.

Liam gave Harry a disapproving look and Harry just shrugged in response before sticking his tongue out at the enclosure designer. Harry clearly was the youngest of the bunch, a fresh faced eighteen year old who finally looked his age out of his uniform and in smart looking jeans and collared shirt.

I'd caught myself staring quite a few times in admiration of his attire, having to re-center my thoughts to those that were more appropriate and less sexual about my younger coworkers.

"Snakes are people too." Zayn piped up, looking up from his phone where he had been watching videos all evening.

Niall had explained this as a habit that Zayn had started ever since Niall made him a blog. It was called 'Crawlies-R-Us' and on it Zayn passionately expressed his love for the creepier animals in existence. The problem was he became overwhelmingly dedicated to it, especially when he consumed alcohol.

"Of course, Zayn, of course." I reassured him, patting his back supportively while making a face at Harry.

Harry beckoned me over and while I rolled my eyes to make it seem like an inconvenience to make such a re-location, I was delighted that he had invited me over.

As soon as I sat down next to him, he leaned over and whispered, "You know what I said earlier about you changing the emporium for the better? You know I meant it right? I meant it all. I would never take a word of it back."

I indulged his inebriated ramblings by responding, "Yah, of course."

"I just have a quick question and I don't want to sound like an utter dick for asking it." He inquired, still speaking to me at such a proximity that I could feel his hot breath on my neck.

I nodded, letting him know that he could ask anything of me.

"Okay…. Okay…" he began, clearly collecting his thoughts. "Earlier when I walked in to Fizz's room and you were both chattering about someone liking someone else. Well, I just got this feeling and you might think I'm crazy but… was the liked person me?"

I swallowed slowly for responding, "Yah, uh… Fizz has a bit of a thing for you."

Harry gave me an almost disappointed look. "But I thought I heard you say 'I can't blame you for the interest'…"

What was Harry asking of me? I didn't want anything to change between us but no matter what I responded something was bound to change. The only question I had to ask myself now was: be honest with him or lie through your teeth?