eradication - zach mitchell *1/3 of eradication series*

Chapter 4

"I'm so sorry." I apologized as I bumped into someone slightly taller than I in the center of the park. Miss. Dearing gave employees passes to cut the lines during breaks. His eyes met mine for a solid three seconds and he just shook it off. 

"No problem." He shrugged. "I'm Zach." He had dark brown hair with a floppy fringe, deep brown eyes and a few inches taller than myself. His face seemed a mix of diamond and ovular. He was wearing a gray jacket; open to reveal his dark maroon shirt, matched with black jeans. His jacket looks so soft, that I wished I brought a jacket.

"I'm Jessie." I introduced. "What brings you here? You don't look like your having much fun." I prompted.

"My brother, Gray, loves dinosaurs." He shrugged. "And one reason I'm not really enjoying it, I'm not a big fan of dinosaurs..." He trailed off.

"Well, did you just come from the Mosasaurus feeding show?" I investigated – changing topics, trying to find out why his hair is wet.

"Yeah." He beamed. "It was so awesome." I grinned at that, having to do that show once or twice. It always tends to be one of the best highlights here. "Where did you just come from?"

"Well, I work here." I shrugged, no big deal.

"You work here?" He sounded shocked. "How old are you?"

"I'm sixteen." I answered. "It's no big deal." I was the youngest on the staff, as everyone else is above twenty-four years old. "How old are you?"

"I'm sixteen as well." He beamed before looking around. "Wait, where's my brother?" He sounded confused.

"Do you need help finding him?" I offered my help, being bored out my minds. He nodded. "Can I see a photo of him?" He pulled his mouth to the right side of his face while he searched through his black iPhone. I saw a photo of him and a beautiful blonde girl.

"Is that your girlfriend?" I prodded.

"Uh, yeah." He nodded, awkwardly as he stretched his neck. The tone of his voice sounded like he didn't want a girlfriend or hated his. He swiped the phone to move to the next photo.

"She's beautiful." I complimented, getting no reaction.

"Here"

The photo was super cute, and he was looking away from the photo, due to the fact that he was smiling with his little brother, maybe. He was wearing the same shirt and jacket as he was now. Zach was looking really cute in this, with squinted eyes and his fingers interlocked – his phone in them. He had a small smile on his lips as his younger brother leaned into his shoulder and head. His younger brother, who he said the name a while ago, Gray, had his eyes squinting too, his mix of golden blonde or dirty blonde locks were floppy and curling on the top of their head, eyes squinted with a small smile as well. He was wearing a checkered shirt. They were lying on a navy blue sofa, with a pillow that has circles and words on it.

"Aw, that's cute." I complimented, before realizing I just poked his cheek while doing it. "I'm sorry." I chuckled, and he chuckled as well. "He looks like you." I smiled.

"More of an insult." He smirked.

"To him." I retorted, nudging him. Even if the retort definitely wasn't true, it was a comeback. But, that guy - he's really attractive. "I know this place like the back of my hand, how long ago did you see him?"

"Minutes."

"He couldn't have gone far." I handed him back his phone. I started walking around the underwater observatory.

"ZACH! ZACH!" Someone screamed, a somewhat pre-puberty voice called from a window before running over to the boy behind me. I believe his name is Gray by how he looks.

"Gray, where'd you go?" Zach asked him.

"There." He said, pointing at the food shack's window. 

"Gray, meet Jessie. Jessie, meet Gray." Zach introduced and I waved to Gray.

"Hiya!" Gray grinned.

"She works here." Zach informed him.

"You do?" I beamed while nodding. I bent slightly so I can be face to face with him. "Cool! I always wanted to work here."

"How old are you?" I asked.

"I'm eleven."

"You know, I started working here when I was ten." I smiled while he jumped up, excitedly.

"Do you know almost everything here now?" I nodded, grinning.

"You can quiz me." I proposed.

"What is the stance of the Parasaurolophus?" Gray started the quiz.

"Biped or quadruped."

"What age?"

"Cretaceous."

"Correct." He grinned.

"Age of the Mosasaurus?"

"Late cretaceous. About 70 to 66 millions years ago?" I stated as more of a question and he nodded and smiled. "You're one smart cookie."

"Do you think you could be like our guide?" Zach offered, biting his lip in an awkward manner, with his little brother nudging him, 'oohing' while Zack put his hand over his mouth. "I mean, if you don't have anything to do now."

"I'd love too." I smiled. "Honestly, Ms. Dearing put me on a break." I shrugged.

"Oh, Aunt Claire!" Gray grinned, while Zach rolled his eyes, obviously sick of his aunt. "She's your boss?" I nodded.

"Yeah." I smiled. "She's your aunt?" I was more shocked about that. I didn't know she had nephews or a sister. She keeps her family life and her personal life out of her work life. They nodded. "Ah, well..." I didn't have much to say about her. What was I supposed to say, oh, my uncle went on a date with your aunt! or She's very uptight. "She's very intelligent." But can be very clueless. "So, where do you guys want to go?
"Gyrosphere!" I smiled at that and patted Gray's back.

"That's one of my favorites." I somewhat lied, somewhat told the truth. Gray grinned before starting off in a run. "I like him." I chuckled to myself, before jogging after him. I heard Zach groan, before jogging to keep up.

a/n: sorry, this one sucked. I couldn't find an excellent way for them to meet, so i just stuck with the bump into someone :P Hey! Please tell me your opinions in the comments!