Chapter 3:

We landed in LaGuardia Airport with no problem. The company had a car waiting for us to take us to the hotel. We were both given rooms on the 20th floor, giving us quite the beautiful view of Manhattan. I spent 5 years of my live living in Ithaca, which is where I studied. It's not exactly close to Manhattan, is about a 4-hour drive, but whenever I had a long weekend I would make the trip and stay with my best friend from elementary school, Phillip. We're still best friends, but it's been a while since I talked to him. While I was in the navy I talked to him whenever I could, sometimes we would even write letters to each other. There was this running joke between us, we would write things like 'I love you, my darling' and things like that, because seriously, who writes letters between each other anymore?

Now, that I think about it, Phillip's a chef. And a damn good one, at that. Maybe he can help me with my date with Claire. He has a restaurant. He can totally help me out. I pick up my phone and decide to call him.

"There must be something wrong with my caller ID, cause this couldn't possibly be Owen Grady"

"Oh, but it is my friend. Phillip! How are you, man?"

"I'm excellent. But I should be the one asking you, Lizard man! You're all over the news with that pretty red head"

"Well, you know me. I'm always getting myself in trouble, but I'm a survivor. That's one of the things I'm good at; and that's my pretty red head or at least I'm trying really hard for that to be true"

"Oh, really? You have to tell me about her. When are you going to come visit me huh? It's been too long, man. I want to see you!"

"Funny you should say that. I'm in Manhattan and I have the day off. Wanna go grab a coffee somewhere?"

"You're here?! Finally. Yes, I have 5pm free, but unfortunately I can only be with you for an hour. I have a kitchen to run, you know?"

"I know, chef. The Coffee Bean & Tea leaf at 5pm, then?"

"Okay. See you, dude"

"See ya, buddy"

I cannot express how much I've missed Phillip. We met in elementary school back home in New Haven, Connecticut. I was drawing samurais, he had a samurai lunchbox and we were glued to the hip until the day of graduation. He wanted to be a chef and I wanted to be an expert biologist and interact with animals. We found really good universities in New York and we would see each other whenever we could and we talked all the time.

I'm hoping he can help me out with what I have in mind for Claire. Speaking of Claire, I'm going to go and tell her I'm going to head out, just in case she wants something. I walk down a corridor to my right, turn left and I'm looking for room 2004, 2005, here it is: 2006. I knock.

"Owen. I was just about to go to your room and show you the questions they're going to be asking us on the interviews. I just wanted to read them to you now, so you can freak out, yell, whatever here, that way we don't have a scene tomorrow morning in the office" She gives me one of those tight lip smiles, amusement in her eyes.

"Are you calling me a drama queen?" I say leaning on the doorframe.

"I'm calling you impulsive. Now, come in so you can here the questions we're going to be asked" She steps aside to let me in.

"Sorry, I'm heading out. I'm going to meet a friend. I came to let you know. I won't be long though. We can check those out when I come back. Is that okay?"

"Oh yes, of course. Uh, see you in a bit then"

"Do you want anything? I'm going to be meeting my friend at a coffee shop"

"Hazelnut Latte, please and thank you"

"You got it. See you in a bit"

"Okay, see you"

The hotel we're staying in is in the middle of Times Square. The coffee shop is at a walking distance. The 5 minutes it takes me to get to the coffee shop, remind me of why I accepted the job to train the raptors. Manhattan, as beautiful as it might be, is very overwhelming. Costa Rica is a small country and Isla Nublar was even smaller. You wouldn't get overwhelmed that easily. At least not by people.

I step into the coffee shop, the smell of freshly pressed coffee immediately engulfing my senses. I'm tempted to close my eyes and take a good sniff, when I feel someone grab me in a chokehold.

"A year since I saw your face, you son of a bitch!" I hear a throaty laugh.

"Jesus, man. This is how you welcome your brother from another mother?"

He lets go and I cough a little. We both laugh and hug it out.

"It's good to see you, brother" Phillip ruffles my hair, just like when we were kids.

"It's good to see you too, man. Come on, let's order something so we can talk"

"Yes, my love" He grabs some of my hair and tugs it behind my ear. I push his hand away.

We buy a couple of coffees and sit in a table near the window.

"Okay, Raptor charmer. What the actual fuck was that all about?" he says taking a sip from his coffee.

"Long story short, a group of assholes created a new dinosaur in a test tube and when it started eating people, they asked me to try and stop it with my raptors. The girls turned momentarily against me, had to run for my life, but they eventually remembered their loyalty to me. Oh, and the equivalent of Godzilla ended up eating the 26 million dollar monster. So, what's up with you?" Now is my turn to take a sip from my coffee.

"Holy shit balls, Owen. I thought my life was tough, trying to create new dishes so I can remain 'relevant'. I fucking hate that word. Oh, hey wait a minute. You weren't running alone. Who is the badass red head? Spit it out, man!"

Phillip has never really seen me have a long-term relationship. I mean, I haven't had one. That's why every time I so much as had a date, he would encourage me to really make an effort to see if I saw a future with whomever I was dating. I never did.

I don't have that many friends and that's because I don't trust that easily. After I had a fall out with my parents, I became even more closed of. Walls up, all the time. Phillip would tell me to make an effort to put those walls down. He once told me: 'Those walls of yours might keep pain away, but they also keep out love, Owen" I tried, many times, but I could never put them down completely. I think that maybe I hadn't found someone worth the effort. Now though, I think I've found the one.

"Her name is Claire Dearing and she is a royal pain in my ass. But for whatever reason, I don't give a shit. She was the senior assets manager of the park"

"Wow, so your boss? Pretty, smart and badass? I like her already"

"Well no, not my boss. I was hired by InGen, not Masrani Global She's amazing, Phil. You know, we went on a date once, back on Isla Nublar. Complete fucking mess"

"Really? What'd you do?"

"Why do you assume it was me the one who screwed up?"

"Says the guy who kissed your date's best friend during a game of spin the bottle"

"I was 13 years old!"

"And apparently a moron. But please, continue"

I sigh "Any how, I wore board shorts, she brought an itinerary, as I said, complete fucking mess. The thing is that now, things are completely different. I've never felt with anyone, how I feel when I'm with her. I really think she's it" I shake my head, not even believing what I'm saying, what I'm feeling!

"Fuck me, I never thought I'd live to see the day Owen Grady would put his walls down. Congratulations, brother"

I smile "Thanks, man. I need you to do me a favour, though"

"Of course, dude. Anything for you"

"I want to take her on a date, but it has to be a million and one times better than the first. I was wondering if maybe you could prepare us a meal from heaven. Bare no expense, I want it to be amazing"

"You got it. When are you planning to have the date?"

"In exactly 2 weeks from today. You have no idea of all the shit I have to do starting tomorrow. Interviews for newspapers, magazine, tv shows, news, press conferences, meet up with lawyers and so many other things. It's giving me a headache already"

Phillip lets out a low whistle "Well, I can't say I'm jealous of you. But I can definitely put a menu together, I'll email it to you and tell me if you approve. Oh hey, I had a private room built for special occasions in the restaurant, you know. Nobody has booked it for that day. You want it?"

"Yaaaas, that would be amazing!"

"You got it" He looks at his watch and sighs. "Crap, I have to get going man. I have to start the mis-en-place"

"The missing what?" I look confused at him.

"You peasant. The mis-en-place. The prepping, Owen. Has the Central American sun cooked your brain or something?"

"Not that I can tell. I'm kidding, Phil. Did you forget where we grew up?"

"No, I definitely did not forget. Where are you staying?"

"At the Hilton in Times Square"

"Then, we can talk for 5 more minutes. I'll just take a cab from there"

"Okay, just let me grab a coffee for Claire. She wanted one"

"Getting coffee for his lady. What a gentleman"

We start walking towards the hotel, when Phillip tells me something I wasn't expecting. At all.