Alright, another chapter. This is more character dynamics, next chapter gets into actual film.
Emily laughed and took another sip of her Coke. She, Lizzy, and Owen had gotten takeout from a Japanese restaurant on Main Street and were now sitting on Owen's porch, eating and enjoying the sunset.
"So," Owen was saying, "I said, 'Lizzy, here's the bucket' and passed her the bucket. Apparently, she wasn't expecting it to be full of soapy water."
Lizzy scoffed, "Obviously! You should have said, 'Lizzy here's the bucket of water to clean the muzzles'!"
Emily shook her head, "So, what happened?"
"I spilled it all over my shoes…"
Owen chuckled, "She had to wear flip flops around for the rest of the day."
Emily laughed again, "I don't envy you Lizzy. Flip flops would be horrible for going up and down those stairs."
"Yeah, I kept tripping."
"That reminds me. I finally met that paleo-vet that's supposed to be helping me. I also invited him to the paddock tomorrow."
Owen frowned, "Right. Do I have to put the visitor protocol into effect?"
"No, I knew him in college. He's nothing like most lab people."
Lizzy used her fork to spear a piece of chicken, "That's a relief. Do you remember when those lab workers came?"
"Yeah," Owen leaned back in his lawn chair, "Didn't one of them faint when they saw one of the frozen rats we feed the girls?"
Emily laughed, "Yeah, that would have been hilarious had it not happened on the catwalk. Gave me anxiety for the rest of the day."
They all sat in silence for a moment, drinking in the sounds of the jungle. Insects buzzing, the occasional bird call and in the distance, sauropods calling out to each other as they bedded down for the night. It was an ambience that Emily had long since gotten used to, though, in her first few weeks here, it had been a struggle to keep from conjuring up images from her nightmares.
The paleontologist drained the last of her drink, "Since I'm arriving at eight tomorrow, I, for one want to get to bed early." She grabbed her hat off the side table and jammed it back onto her head.
Lizzy yawned, "Yeah, me too. See yah Owen."
Emily followed Lizzy down the steps with a wave to Owen and they were soon back at their bungalows. Once inside, Emily kicked off her boots, hung her hat up by the door and put her leftover takeout in the fridge. Her phone buzzed from where she'd left it on the side table by her door.
Peeling off her sweaty socks as she went, Emily crossed back to the door and picked up her phone. It was a text from her dad.
"Do you have time to call?"
Emily sighed; she'd really been looking forward to just going to bed. The paleontologist collapsed onto her couch and dialed her dad's number.
"Hello?" Alan Grant's voice greeted Emily.
"Hey Dad," Emily ran a hand through her hair and sank back into a more comfortable position.
"Hey kiddo."
"So, why did you want me to call?"
"Well, you haven't been home in a while and I was wondering when you have your next break." Emily could hear her father shifting around on the other end of the phone.
"I've got one in two weeks. I've been so busy lately that I forgot to tell you."
"Busy with what?"
"Work! What else? The usual things. Checking paddocks, filing reports, organizing notes. I was going to try and get to bed early, since I'm getting up pretty early tomorrow, but somebody wanted me to call."
"Sorry. I'll let you get some rest then. Love you Emily."
"Love you too Dad. Bye," Emily hung up the phone and went straight to bed.
Dr. Samuel Ruiz, more commonly known as Sam, hated getting up early. However, he had work, and as such, had no choice.
Yawning, he pulled a sweatshirt on over his t-shirt, jammed his feet into his tennis-shoes and stepped out his front door. In the next ten minutes, he was pulling into the gravel parking area of paddock ten. There were already several park-issued jeeps nearby, one of which, he supposed, was Emily's. Even in college, she'd been so much better at getting up early.
Sam grabbed his sunglasses, he'd probably need them later, and hopped out of his jeep. He glanced around the parking area. There were several workers, all doing tasks that Sam assumed were commonplace, though he wouldn't know.
With a sigh, he approached a man who was standing outside what looked like a cage, "Excuse me," The man looked over, "I'm looking for Dr. Emily Grant."
The man smiled, "She's in the office," he had a strange accent, French maybe, "just over there." The man pointed toward an outbuilding.
"Thank you," Sam nodded to the man.
"No problem. I'm Barry, by the way."
"Sam. Nice to meet you."
The man grinned again and moved off, Sam doing the same. The paleo-veterinarian paused at the door, unsure if he should knock. He hesitated a moment too long though, because in the next instant, the door had opened, and he found himself face to face with a dark brown, curly-haired woman
Sam stepped back, flustered. The woman who had opened the door slipped past him, saying as she went, "I found your paleo-vet, Emily."
"Sam! There you are!" Sam stepped through the door and shut it. Emily was perched on the edge of a messy desk, and there was a light brown-haired man seated in the chair behind said desk, "Owen, this is Sam, the paleo-vet. Sam this is Owen, head raptor trainer. You just saw Lizzy, she's the assistant raptor trainer," Emily gestured between Owen, Sam and the door.
Sam strode forward and held his hand out to Owen, who had gotten out of his chair and come around the desk. The raptor trainer accepted his hand and shook it, "I better not have to implement the visitor protocol, Emily."
"I told you last night, you won't have to," Sam's friend hopped off the desk, snatched her fedora (Sam had forgotten that she always wore one), and made for the door, "Come on. We'll leave Owen to his piles of paperwork, and I'll give you the official tour."
Owen rolled his eyes but sat back down at his desk. Sam followed Emily out the door, "You've got an official tour?"
"No. It just makes Owen roll his eyes."
Sam chuckled, "I want to see the type of environment they've got these raptors in. How many are there?"
Emily led him toward a set of stairs, "Four. Blue, the beta, and then there's Charlie, Echo and Delta."
"Who's the alpha?" Sam had to hurry to catch up to Emily, who was taking the stairs two at a time.
Emily paused on the landing, "Owen."
Sam froze, one foot on the landing, the other on the step below it, "What?!"
"That's why I'm researching, Sam. Now come on, or you'll miss Lizzy training."
Sam shook his head and continued up the stairs.
Emily laughed and set her drink down on her dining table. Sam, the cause of her laughter, had just tripped on a chair and nearly spilled his drink. They were enjoying dinner, courtesy of Emily's okay cooking skills, after a long day of working at the raptor paddock.
Blue, the beta of the pack, had a nasty case of ragged tooth, which had required treatment. Owen and Lizzy had spent their time attempting to get the raptor into her muzzle so Sam could treat her. Emily had spent the whole time running back and forth with buckets, frozen rats and medical supplies, taking notes whenever she could.
In Emily's opinion, they all deserved some rest.
Sam, sitting down in his chair, sighed, "I could get used to this…"
"What, my cooking?"
"What? No, this," Sam gestured to the jungle and then to Emily, "Sitting here, just enjoying life. Hanging out with you. I mean, we haven't seen each other since college!" He kept talking, but Emily didn't hear it.
Her heart was going about nine miles a minute. Was it possible that she still liked him; and even more impossible, did he like her?
"Hello, earth to Emily?"
Emily jolted out of her trance, "Sorry, got lost in thought."
"About what?"
"Oh, you know, dinosaurs, dinosaurs, more dinosaurs."
Sam laughed, "So the usual then."
"At least recently."
Sam leaned back in his chair and sighed, "How's your dad been?"
"He's been good," Emily set her drink down, "he keeps asking when I'm gonna have a break."
Sam smiled, "He's your dad, makes sense."
The two of them sat in silence for a while, the ambience of the jungle providing a soothing background. Emily let her thoughts drift back home, to Bozeman, Montana. As much as she liked working at Jurassic World, she did miss the summers spent on dig site. And the winters in the museum basement, sorting through the hundreds of fossils housed there.
The paleontologist's phone rang, startling her. Emily pulled her bag toward her and extracted her phone. It was Claire. And Emily suddenly remembered that she had been supposed to call the park operations manager back about the speeches.
"Who is it?" Sam looked her way.
"Claire. I was supposed to call her back about the speeches next Friday."
"You'd better answer that then."
Emily rolled her eyes at him and stood up, answering her phone as she moved away from the chairs, "Hello, this is Dr. Emily Grant."
"Dr. Grant, this is Claire Dearing. Have you decided what time you'd like your speech?"
"Yes. 8o'clock on Friday."
There was a pause before Claire said, "Perfect. I'll put you down. Next time, I expect you to be slightly more punctual with your response Dr. Grant."
Emily's hand rose to the back of her neck, rubbing it. It was a gesture she'd picked up from hours spent bent over in the hot Montana sun. "Sorry about that."
"Just make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Of course. Thanks again Claire."
"No problem," Emily sighed and dropped her hand, hanging up.
Sam fixed her with a questioning look.
"I've been warned to be more punctual next time," the paleontologist deadpanned as she sat back down in her chair.
"I see."
Emily tipped back her customary fedora and pocketed her phone, her gaze traveling over the tree line. After a few minutes of silence, Sam asked, "So what exactly does your job entail?"
Emily took a sip of her drink, "Quite a few things actually. I go around to various paddocks and holding areas, checking that the habitats are historically correct, that the animals are getting the right food, that sort of thing. All based on my paleontological knowledge."
"You had that speech prepared." Sam leaned back in his chair.
Emily rolled her eyes, "That's because I've had to give it so many times Sam."
He laughed, and the pair sat in comfortable silence for a while. Which gave Emily time to realize something. Being around Sam made her feel comfortable, made her feel happy. Not that being around Lizzy and Owen didn't make her happy and not that she wasn't comfortable around them, but there was something different about being around Sam. And the paleontologist couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Alan made a short appearance in this chapter. Not much to say besides asking for reviews, as it lets me know that people are actually reading and enjoying what I write. Also, I love feedback on how I'm doing.
Feel free to check out my Tumblr, gp3217. I've got some Emily related stuff on there, more backstory, a face claim, etc.
Thanks for reading.