The Right Bait
'Carp happens.'
Squinting at the bumper sticker in his hands, Mako said, unperturbed, "Indeed it does. But we mostly use trout to feed the whales."
Lene, who'd been snickering quietly in the corner, calmed down enough to say, "I think it's more of a play on words, Mako."
One raven eyebrow rising into spiky hair, Mako said, "Oh?"
Lene nodded. "It's an old saying: 'Shit Happens.' Well, a synonym for 'shit' is 'crap' and if you rearrange the middle two letters of 'crap' you get…" she gestured for him to make the connection.
"Carp," Mako realized. "Ah, I see…" He blinked, then frowned. "No, actually, I don't. What's the point?"
"The point is that someone couldn't think of anything insulting, so they hit you with something funny instead," Lene replied.
Suddenly remembering the last time he'd received a shirt with an insulting phrase on it, Mako realized that this must be part of that ongoing game, which had so far managed to avoid him – save for that one T-shirt. "Oh." His brow furrowed in thought. "So then what should I do?"
"Get someone else, obviously," Lene said.
"But who?" Mako asked, stumped as to who could deserve something like this.
"Someone who's pissed you off recently, I would advise."
Remembering a certain insane blond Egyptian duo that had come to the new water park on the weekend and proceeded to cause enough havoc and mayhem to shut it down before it had been open a week, Mako smiled, showing more teeth that your average shark. "I know just who I would like to go after."
Lene shivered. Mako was so sexy when he got like that, all ferocious seduction. The man was quite the catch, and the fact that he shared her love of the sea and all its denizens was just a bonus.
She frowned. If only she had the right bait to catch him.
Seeing that he was busy trying to think up a phrase to send to whoever it was, she smiled as he busily searched for the pencil he had tucked behind his ear. Plucking the wooden stick from behind its perch, she handed it to him, receiving a grateful smile and a nod of thanks in return.
She sighed longingly as she watched him go to work. No matter. Sooner or later, I'll reel him in.