The distance between Tampa, Florida and Orland, Florida is eighty-five miles. At least that's what Google told Lucy as she stared at her tablet. To her it wasn't that far, as long as she had something to write on and with, the hour and twenty-five or so drive wouldn't be that boring for Lucy. It was Friday, and even though it was just starting to get into the summer months, Saturday would be a pain in the butt at SeaWorld with crowds. Friday was the only day they could go without having to fight the crowds.
It was still fairly early in the morning when they set out. Joe had noticed though that Lucy was feverishly writing something in her writer's notebook. She did that last night when he went to bed, only to wake up with her in his arms. Now that he could deal with all the time. It's getting used to waking up before her that made the difference, he started dressing in the bathroom to prevent any indescent exposure incidents. Yet still, this felt almost natural for them, well for Joe at least. He wasn't sure how Lucy thought of this situation.
Joe's focus was on the road, yet in the quiet of the car Lucy had attached his iPod to the stereo system and let his music play. She would respectfully listen to his rap and hip-hop music, with her barefoot propped up on the dashboard so that she could write on the clipboard. It was cute to see her head bob to a song she liked. Her focus was on her writing basically but to Joe, she had done something not even Brie had done, let him enjoy something he liked.
The first thing Lucy actually noticed when Joe pulled into the parking lot of SeaWorld was a lighthouse with Orcas painted on it. Then she remembered nearly drowning in the lake when she was a kid. She didn't know why that was important at that moment, but it still bothered her.
"Babygirl, you okay?" Joe asked, reaching over to touch her arm slightly.
"Yeah, I think so. It's just, water is sort of the scariest thing to me right now."
He pushed her free flowing hair off her shoulder. "We don't need to go, Lucy. If you're uncomfortable..."
"No. I've always wanted to go here. And it's not like I'm going to be swimming anyway." She said as she placed her notebook down on the floor board. "Come on, I want to see some sea turtles."
Joe paid for their tickets, which included ride access. It was all overwhelming for her, with so many people walking around and so many different sounds. Even over the rush of people, to Lucy it seemed like she could hear the whales and dolphins already. Course this was how she thought a lot of the time, so she moved it to the back of her mind as she and Joe went to go see her favorite sea creatures, the sea turtles.
For a while it was magical for Joe. He could see the light in Lucy's green eyes as she watched each animal with intent interest. Every fish, every turtle, the manatees, they all caught her attention. The way Lucy would hold his arm or his hand as she reached out to touch the viewing glass, the innocence on her face...it made Joe just fall for her just as much as before. He watched as a turtle skimmed the glass beyond Lucy's hand, and the one sound she made was the joyful laugh he hadn't heard a lot of.
"So, how did you like it?" Joe asked once they left the Sea Turtle Trek exhibit.
"I liked it a lot. I loved the turtles and that 3D thing at the end." She lifted the back of his hand to her mouth and kissed it. "Now it's your turn to decide where to go. And don't say wherever I want, I want you to enjoy this place with me."
"Let's go look at Shark Encounter."
They weren't in any hurry, they wanted to enjoy their time at the park together. Yet when they started there at the sharks, there seemed to be more people than at the Turtle Trek exhibit. She hung close to Joe, holding his right arm snug to her, her small body pressed to the side of his.
"Lucy, what's wrong, babe?" Joe asked looking down at her. "Is this place scaring you?"
"No, it's more or less the people."
"You perform in front of thousands of people, millions on television."
"There is a barrier keeping people from me, they can't touch me." She jerked when two children ran next to her. "But I want to have some fun. If it gets too tough, I might have to leave."
But they didn't leave. The two stayed and kept a little ways away from most of the boistrous children who wanted to see the sharks. Joe found out instantly that Lucy wasn't kidding, she really was more oriented in animals than people.
"Those black spots on their snouts the sense electromagnectic fields, all living things give of EMF signals, and because of this when they don't know what something is they inspect it. Humans are soft and squishy, not their real food, too boney." Lucy said as a grey nurse shark, with all it's pointy white teeth. "Look a hammerhead over there. And that's a bull shark. On the most dangerous scale, bull sharks rank more dangerous than great white sharks."
"Yeah. How more dangerous can they be?" He asked, watching the shark she had pointed to pass over head in the viewing tube.
"Bull sharks swim up fresh water rivers. They have been seen thousands of miles inland in the Amazon, up the Mississippi River, all the way to St. Louis. But also because they are more aggressive than a great white. Most shark attacks are from bull sharks."
Joe smiled, enjoying the fact that Lucy was now starting to have a fun time.
As the day wore on, Lucy was starting to get more relaxed around people. It was like she didn't care they were there. Her focus was either on the animals or talking to Joe. He'd seen a woman brush by Lucy's arm and she didn't flinch, she kept on talking about one animal or another.
When the two of them were heading to the Dolphin Cove underwater viewing station they were stopped outside the Cove by a little girl. The girl was maybe six years old, and she tugged on Lucy's blue tank top, making her stop walking. The girl's mother, Lucy assume, grabbed the girl's hand turning her around.
"You don't do that, Chelsea." The mother said as well as using sign language. "I am so sorry, my daughter thinks you're a celebrity."
"What kind do you think I am?" Lucy signed to the little girl, which made her smile ten times brighter.
"You're Lucy," the girl responded, moving her hands rapidly. "You're from the WWE."
That's when Joe stepped back, letting Lucy take over the conversation.
"I am Lucy. It's nice to meet you, Chelsea. What can I do for you?"
The girl pulled a picture from a backpack, which was one of the recent photo shoots Lucy had with The Shield. Lucy smiled at the picture that was in her hands.
"Can I have your autograph?" The girl signed.
"Yes."
Lucy was happy to pose with the girl in a picture in front of the Cove. Chelsea was happy that a celebrity knew how to sign.
"I had a friend that was deaf growing up." Lucy explained. "But she moved away. She taught me how to sign."
The mother and daughter left soon after, excusing themselves to go see the Shamu show. That's why the crowds were thinning, the orcas were going to be performing. Lucy wasn't really interested in seeing a show at the time, she just wanted to see the animals at the moment.
"That was nice of you, Lucy." Joe said, pushing off the nearby wall. "And cute."
"Cute?"
"Being able to interact with special needs children. That they are willing to approach you, rather than me, because I bet they can tell you're different."
"I guess so. I never really thought about it."
She hadn't. Not that a lot of fans approached her outside of the shows, only a handful and now that she thought about it, they were mainly special needs people.
With the Shamu performance going on, there were less people around to worry about. The Dolphin Cove dolphins were just swimming around and enjoying themselves, not having children hitting the glass or screaming at them. There were like five in the tank at this time, and it was only Joe and Lucy standing in front of it. This caught the attention of the dolphins real quick.
"So, tell me about the dolphins." Joe said, wrapping an arm around Lucy's waist and pulling her towards him.
The two of them shared a kiss, in front of the well lit dolphin tank. The funny thing about water was that it amplified the dolphin sounds and from the way the sounds that were coming at them, the dolphins were enjoying the PDA actions of the two humans in front of them. Throwing her arms around Joe's middle, Lucy began laughing, especially at the dolphins who seemed to be laughing at them.
"They have some taste for romance, don't they?" Joe asked, swaying slightly as he held Lucy to him.
"Maybe their jealous of me. A beautiful man like kissing on me." She chided.
"Come on, Babygirl, you're more beautiful than me."
"Okay, we're both beautiful people."
Maybe she was right, the dolphins were enjoying watching the humans acting like animals this time. It was kind of funny to see five dolphins at the underwater viewing station watching these two humans who were holding each other and kissing.
Well, that's one half of the SeaWorld visit, not sure if was good enough. Not sure where to take it next, I've never been there before. Got any suggestions, PM or review.