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four - italian food
elle had managed to tick off quite a section of their to do list that day, dragging them around the park. their final stop of the day was the t-rex evening feed. it was the least busy of all of them and it let them see so much more than they would if they went at lunch.
she had shown them behind the scenes of most of the areas as although zach hated her, a lot of other people liked her. and even though she technically shouldn't have had access to a lot of places, they let her in. because they liked her and because she was the daughter of the owner.
she did, however, have access to the t-rex paddock and everything back there after she begged and begged to work with her.
so, she took them to the day's final event and pushed her way to the front so gray could watch the feed.
her attention diverted when she saw zach push his way back through the crowd and answer his phone. she frowned but paid it no mind. he'd been on the thing for most of the day anyway.
---
gray's stomach rumbling loudly as they walked through the stuffy night time air, reminded elle that none of them had eaten since lunch.
"shit, sorry, gray, guess it's dinnertime for you as well," she joked. "what'd you fancy?"
gray thought for a second but came up short.
"what 'bout you jack?"
zach had given up on correcting through out the day, he realised she liked that she was getting on his nerves, so he decided she wouldn't get the satisfaction.
"pizza?"
elle wouldn't admit it but she was craving italian food as well, "sure. we gotta get the monorail though."
---
there was a little italian restaurant on the outer parts of the park. most people tended to migrate towards the innards to avoid having to make the trek back full of food and ready to fall asleep in the stifling heat.
so, they got a table (after elle called ahead and made sure they could get one) and were quick to order.
max, a stocky, eighteen-year-old, who hated school and had decided isla nubar was the place for him, took their order. he was one of the people that elle had befriended on the island when she was bored out of her mind and travelling around all day everyday when it was the holidays.
turns out you can eat a lot of pizza.
so, one day, max greeted her and told her that there were other things to see on the island that weren't the inside of the italian restaurant.
they were fast friends.
"hey, elle-bell," max greeted, notebook in hand. "let me guess, veggie delight and a diet coke?"
elle flipped him off, "if you will maximillian."
"and whose this?" he asked, gesturing to the two boys opposite her.
"claire's nephews. i'm their tour guide."
"oh, i feel sorry for them."
"get fucked, maximus," elle retorted.
"you shouldn't say f-"
elle's head whipped round towards gray, "neither should you."
after max took their orders, gray began questioning her about max. turns out the boy had a lot of questions about everyone and it wasn't just elle.
who was he? how old was he? what was his name? did he work here long? did he work with dinosaurs?
was he her boyfriend?
that question cracked elle up. she choked on her diet coke before giggling and waving him off. of course she wasn't dating him, she was way out of his league.
in reality max was gay. extremely so. those were his exact words when he came out to her and told her about his boyfriend. elle loved talking to him about his boyfriend and everything they got up to, since they both worked on the island. they were so in love and she fucking loved it.
---
the monorail was a little less crowded on the way back to the hotel. elle let the cold air hit her, causing goosebumps to litter her skin. but it was such a nice contrast to the heat outside.
gray sat next to her, staring at her as if he wanted to say something. she didn't push him and let him get the courage to speak.
"thank you," he whispered, leaning closer to her. his eyes flickered towards zach, who was on his phone once more.
his battery was phenomenal.
elle smiled, "for what?"
"for being nice to me. i know you have to be here but-"
elle cut him off, "i don't have to be here. i chose to be here, gray. and i'm glad i did, you're a cool kid."
gray smiled, "but you could have been mean. and you weren't and you let me tell you about dinosaurs." he glanced back to zach again to make sure that he wasn't listening. "even though i know you probably already knew it all."
elle frowned, before laughing quietly, she should have known a kid as smart as gray would know that.
"it's nice to hear it from someone else, gray. don't let zach bully you into shutting up," she comforted. "you're allowed to be excited about something."
gray nodded, sitting back on his chair properly. elle let her eyes wander to zach, who had glanced towards the pair, finally having pocketed his phone. she assumed he must have heard something from their conversation but she didn't care.
he needed to know he wasn't allowed to bully his brother into being quiet. little brothers were bound to embarrass you, any younger sibling would. he had to just suck it up.
---
when they arrived back at the hotel, gray was bounding towards elle's room, telling her he had to see her dinosaur collection. she laughed but said he could.
once they were inside, she guided gray towards her bedroom, where she had shelves of dinosaur souvenirs she had bought while living on isla nubar. she flicked the light on and let him rush over to her shelves.
she was surprised that he was still so energetic after how busy of a day they had had.
she was exhausted. and it showed. but she didn't try and kick him out. she let him look at everything as zach just sat at her desk, glancing over at them every now and again.
"c'mon, gray, it's way past your bedtime," zach spoke up, when he noticed how tired elle was. she didn't know that, though. and he would never admit he did it for her. she was too annoying.
despite not knowing why he did it, she was grateful. she just wanted a hot shower and bed.
and that's what she did, ready to go back to work the next morning, with the promise she would meet them throughout the week when she was off of work.
