It's early morning and I'm in that state where you're aware you're dreaming but it feels real in a foggy way. I'm leaning up against a wall, which is oddly tall but it's doesn't distract me from the girl laying across my lap. Familiar faces are around us, but I only feel her smile beaming up at me and her soft hair that dances between my fingertips. God, I love her. I feel myself waking up and try to grab on to my sweet fantasy but the day waits and so does she.
As I get out of my bed I feel light and happy knowing that that dream isn't too far off from my real life. After all in about an hour I'll be sitting next to El on the school bus. We're going on a field trip to the zoo. Which is a little odd since we're in high school, but I'll take that over having some idiot put his feet on my chair in Spanish class.
After I get ready and have something to eat I drive to school and head to homeroom. I see Dustin and El by the window and head over, "Hey you," I say to El after I give her a peck on the cheek.
"Where's my kiss?" Dustin teases.
"Pucker up," I tell him as I raise my fist threateningly.
El puts her hand on my shoulder and pulls me into her arms, "It's too early for murder Max."
I jerk my fist jokingly towards Dustin, "Guess so."
The bell interrupts our antics and we sit down, the voice over the loudspeaker directing my grade to go to the bus loop and board. We make our way outside and find the rest of the party, squishing into a few seats in the back of a suspicious smelling bus.
Once the teacher checks that no one has already started being a "hooligan" the bus starts up. I pretend to yawn and stretch my arms, smoothly putting my arms over El's shoulders.
She looks at me with an amused grin, "That was cheesy."
"You have some schmutz on your face," as I take her chin with my available hand and pretend to wipe an invisible speck away.
"Max I know what you're doing."
I try to look as serious as possible, "Being a caring girlfriend?"
El looks at me and rolls her eyes, "Just kiss me you idiot."
"Well if you really want me to-"
I'm cut off my El pulling me into a quick but passionate kiss. When we pull away I look around to make sure no one saw us. The only person who seemingly did is Will, sitting with Mike across from us. His hands cover his mouth as he stifles his laughs. Once he gets himself under control he looks at us with a teasing expression, "You two are just so adorable."
El turns a light color of red and I respond by giving him a swift kick, "Was that adorable?"
Will tries to kick me back but I dodge him, falling back onto El.
She lets out a groan,"You're smooshing me!"
I sit back up and give Will a mildly threatening look, as if to dare him to go on. Will snorts and goes back to playing with Mike's hair as they look out the window together, occasionally whispering things in each other's ears.
I turn to El, "And he thinks we're bad?"
We both start laughing which annoys Lucas and Dustin in the seat in front of us. They start chucking random objects over the seat, which ends up turning into a mini war that goes on for the rest of the bus ride.
Once we arrive at the zoo the teachers give us a stern talking to about consequences if we misbehave. Also being very adamant that we stay in our assigned groups with our chaperone. They line us up to split us into different groups, but we get in the right spots and the party ends up in the same group.
We walk through all the exhibits and look at the animals while the guide drones on about them. El listens intently, captivated by all this new information. I love watching her face when she sees the animals, especially the monkeys. She just lights up with a joy that makes me happy too.
After we have lunch at some picnic tables El and I sneak off to the bird exhibit. I pay for a little bit of bird food for us to feed them and we go inside. The smell isn't so great in there but I have to admit that the birds are pretty.
I'm smiling until I feel a plop on my shoulder. I twist my head and gag, "One of them shit on me! Oh fuck me that's disgusting."
El comes over and, stifling her giggles, leads me to a bathroom to get cleaned up. We go into the big stall because it has a sink and I pull my shirt off, scoffing as I wipe it with a paper tail.
After I bunch it into a ball I wrap it in a bag meant for sanitary products, "El could you go get me a shirt from the gift shop? I'll pay you back."
She comes over and kisses my cheek, "With what?"
I raise my eyebrows, "What do you want?"
El considers that for a moment, "How about you owe me one."
I blush a little, "One what?"
El kisses my other cheek before slipping out of the stall, leaving me to wonder what she meant.
In 5 or 10 minutes she's back with a shirt with a monkey on it, "So I can steal it from you when we have a sleepover," she explains.
We hurry back to join our group, and thankfully are there before they do attendance again. After visiting a couple more exhibits the teachers round everyone up and get us back on the bus. While we're on our way back to school I pull out a monkey stuffed animal from my backpack that I got from the gift shop while El was using the bathroom before we left. She loves it and names it Mel, explaining that it's a combination of our names (because obviously it's our child). El falls asleep on my shoulder holding Mel, leaving me to contently look out the window.
