I walked out of the crocodile enclosure. After Ashley went to help Bindi with the otters, I changed into my khakis as well and went to help feed the crocs.
As I was walking around the zoo, seeing if anyone else was needing help with anything, I saw Ashley. I smiled, happy to see her and was going to see if she wanted to help feed the tigers or something, but then I saw Jackson with her. My heart sank, part of me was hoping they wouldn't work out, and she'd turn to me as she does and I could then tell her how I feel.
I realised that they were walking towards me. I didn't wanna ruin their moment or anything, so I kept my head down in hopes that either of them wouldn't notice me. Sure, I've hung out with Jackson a few times and have seen him around the zoo, but I wasn't fond of him. He's the type of person I'd be nice to, just because that's who I am as a person, but I wouldn't go out of my way to talk to him or hang out with him. We had hung out a few times before when we were younger, but that was before I knew what kind of person he was and how he treated women. I wouldn't go as far as to say we were mates or anything.
Luckily they didn't notice me as I walked by, but I could hear a bit of their conversation.
"So, Ashley," Jackson said, "would you like to go out sometime, like a date?"
"Oh, I'd love to!" She replied. I could tell she was smiling from the tone of her voice.
I shook my head and walked on to the tiger exhibit, going behind it into the little handler's room to help prep their food. Before I could take the food out to them, I got a text from Ashley.
Ash: hey Tarzan where are you?
Me: tigers, feeding time
Ash: I'm on my way :)
Me: sweet as :)
I was still happy to see her, she just had a way of lighting up the room. Her smile, her eyes, even her personality was just so breathtaking, and you don't find that in just anyone. She was just amazing, both inside and out.
Soon enough she joined me in the handler's room.
"Let's feed some tigers!" She said enthusiastically.
We went into the enclosure and started tossing the tigers chunks of meat, a crowd gathered as we did.
"Sooo Jackson asked me out," she said.
"Oh did he?" I replied, trying to sound like I was happy for her while also trying not to give away the fact that I eavesdropped on their conversation a bit.
"Yeah, he wants to go to Noosa Beach Sunday, so the day after tomorrow."
"Oh, that sounds nice. Hey, you can show off your surfing skills!" I joked, earning a laugh from her. What I didn't tell her was that now that I knew where they were going, I was also going to drive out there and keep an eye on them, especially with Ashley just now learning how to surf. Something just didn't sit right with me about the whole situation.
"Oh, your surfboards are still on the top of my Jeep, could I just borrow them until then and I can bring them back over after?" She asked, reaching for the last chunk of meat at the bottom of the bucket.
"Go ahead!" I said, and then my walkie talkie crackled.
"Hey Robert, have you seen Ashley?" Mum's voice came through.
"Yeah, she's feeding the tigers with me, what's up?" I asked, looking at Ashley who already appeared anxious.
"Get to the wildlife hospital, as soon as you can," mum replied.
Thankfully we were done feeding the tigers and their usual handler was preparing to get them ready to go in for the night, so we handed them the meat buckets and ran to the wildlife hospital.
"We're here, what's going on?" I said as we made our way into the building. I looked over at Ashley, she was visibly anxious.
"It's Rose," mum called from the break room, "she hasn't been eating when the other handlers try to feed her so we thought maybe Ashley should try feeding her and see if that'll work."
I let out a sigh of relief, at least no one was hurt. But Ashley needed to try to feed Rose, or else she may not make it.
"Of course! Anything to help," Ashley said, going around the table to where mum was sitting with Rose in a bundle of blankets.
She pulled the chair closer to mum, positioning herself to take the bundle of blankets and koala in a way that would be comfortable for her and little Rose. Mum handed Rose to her as well as the bottle off the table.
"Hey, sweetheart. They're telling me you're having a rough time eating. I hope I can help you," Ashley said softly, speaking to Rose. Rose let out a few little squeaks, looking up at Ashley. She slowly brought the bottle to Rose's mouth, nudging her to find it.
"It looks like she's taking it!" I said in a whisper yell, not wanting to disturb the koala but also not being able to contain my excitement.
"She is!" Ashley said back, giggling. "What a good baby you are."
"She likes you, Ashley. You may have to be here to do her feedings from now on. She's so small and if she's not eating, she can go downhill very fast. Luckily she's only needing to eat every 4-5 hours, and she'll be needing pap soon to give her the bacteria that she will need to be able to adjust her gut to eat the eucalyptus." Mum explained. "We can keep her here, and you can come in to feed her since we do have staff here 24/7, that way you don't have to take her home and worry about a place for her or your cat or anything like that."
Ashley nodded, understanding how important this was. I watched as she fed Rose, smiling and cooing at her as she did. The sun was setting, and the light filtering in gave her this ethereal glow, causing her brown hair to shine and her eyes to sparkle. She looked angelic. I hope Jackson is good to her.
"Well, I got to help get some of the animals to bed, you two are more than welcome to stay here," mum said, getting up from her chair and patting me on the shoulder as she walked out.
I wanted to say something, to tell Ashley how I feel or that I don't think Jackson is a good idea. Especially looking at her at this moment, how she cradles Rose, how the fading sunlight is shining on her. She deserves so much better, and I want to be the one to give that to her. But like Bindi and Chandler said yesterday, she is hard-headed and wouldn't believe me anyway.
Rose has finished her milk by now and fallen asleep, snuggled into Ashley's chest.
"I don't want to move now," Ashley giggled.
"I can call Dr Sam to come and take her from you, and you can head home for a few hours before having to come to feed her again," I offered.
"Oh, that would be great. I know it's only 7:00 now, but I'd like to go home and shower the saltwater off."
"Yeah let me go find her."
Walking down the hall of the wildlife hospital, I looked for Dr Sam. I figured she'd be in one of the exam rooms somewhere.
I found her in one of the back exam rooms, putting some things away.
"Hey Dr Sam, Rose fell asleep and Ashley doesn't want to move and wake her. Could you come and grab her so she can go home and shower and rest a bit?"
"Sure thing, Robert." She replied, following me back down the hallway to the break room where Ashley was humming softly to Rose.
"Here sweetheart let me take her, you go ahead and go home and get some rest, her next feed will be around 11:00 tonight so try to be back here around then," Dr Sam said, carefully scooping up the bundle from Ashley and taking Rose back to the little incubator room to keep her warm.
Ashley sat up straight, stretching her arms above her.
"Well, Robbie I'm going to head home. I'll see you tomorrow morning when I'm here to feed Rose again." She got up, hugging me before going to collect her things from her locker.
"Sure thing, get some good rest!" I called.
I texted mum, letting her know I was heading home as well. Walking home, I was thinking of what would happen if her and Jackson's relationship didn't end well. Would she come to me as she had before, as her best friend and ask me to be there? When would I have my chance to admit my feelings to her?
I got home and went and showered, changing into some pyjamas. Instead of getting in bed, however, I went and sat at my desk. I took out a canvas and started sketching. Ashley's birthday was coming up, it was in a few weeks, December 20th. Her birthday wasn't a big deal to her, but I wanted to paint something for her. I was going to paint a silhouette of her sitting on the surfboard on the ocean, a sunset behind her. She loves sunsets and the way the sky changes colours.
I started with my outlines and worked on the sunset first, painting shades of red, yellow, orange, and pink. Then I heard a knock on my door.
"Come in," I called, setting my paintbrush down.
"It's just mum," mum called as she opened my door. "I didn't think you'd be asleep yet. What are you up to?"
"I wanted to paint something for Ashley, for her birthday. It's her when we went surfing earlier today," I replied.
Mum sat down on my bed. "You really do like her, don't you?"
"Oh is it that obvious?"
"Well, growing up you two were inseparable. And her parents and I would always say the universe brought them here so you'd have your person, just like how the universe brought me and your dad together, and then Bindi and Chandler. She's just as wild as you, and you'd be good for each other."
"Bindi thinks the same thing. But now she's talking to this guy, who frankly is not a good guy, and they're going out on a date Sunday. I just don't know what to do about it." I sighed.
"I know how hard that must be. But she'll come around. I see the way she looks at you. You'll be okay."
"Thanks, mum, I sure hope so."
She got up and hugged me before going off to bed. I hoped she was right, I wanted things to be okay, and to be with Ashley.
I went and rinsed off my paintbrushes before getting in bed and going to sleep.
I woke up the next morning at 8:00. I rolled over and grabbed my phone off the nightstand, checking it. Ashley had sent me photos last night when she went to feed Rose, and again at 5 this morning. I texted her back, congratulating her for doing such a good job with Rose.
With it being Saturday, mum didn't wake me up early and let me get a few more hours of sleep. I changed into my khakis and went downstairs to have some cereal before I went to the zoo. I had a croc show later, but the morning was free for me to do whatever I wanted, or what anyone needed help with.
Walking to the zoo, I thought about what I would do first. I decided to go to the wildlife hospital and see how Noosa the sea turtle is doing.
Dr Ludo had Noosa in an exam room and was checking on the fish hook wound.
"How's she doing?" I asked.
"She's doing great. She'll just have to stay for a week or so, just to make sure this heals up and she takes in more food to gain the nutrition she lost while she was tangled."
"Oh well, that's good to hear." I stroked the turtle's shell. If Ashley didn't notice her that day, she surely would've died.
I went and checked on some of the other animals in the hospital, before going to the break room to find Bindi and Ashley sitting around the table, Ashley feeding Rose again.
"Is it that time again already?" I said, sitting down at the table.
"It sure is. Thankfully I've been sleeping good in between feedings," Ashley said.
"Oh that's good love, you need your rest too. You can't take good care of the animals if you aren't taking good care of yourself," Bindi said.
"That's true," Ashley replied, setting the now empty bottle down. Rose snuggled into her chest and fell asleep.
"Are you coming to the croc show?" I asked. I wanted Ashley to be there, seeing her in the audience always calmed my nerves. I could take one look at her and instantly relax, no matter what I was doing or what was going on.
"I wouldn't miss it," she said, smiling. I relaxed, I know the show would go smoothly with her there. She was like my good luck charm.
"It starts at noon, but I've got to head there now to help set up," I said, getting up. "I'll see you there!"
"Oh, that's my queue to go too. See you in a few hours love," Bindi said, following me out the door to the crocuseum.
I talked with Wes about our plan, we were going to feed Grahm today, the biggest croc at the zoo. I was going to feed him on my own again, with Wes and some other staff there for backup.
Soon enough, the smoke machine was going and me, mum, Bindi, and Chandler all ran out of the tunnel.
As mum was explaining that I was going to be feeding Grahm by myself again, I scanned the crowd for Ashley.
Sure enough, there she was sitting in the staff section. We locked eyes and she gave a small wave. I nodded my head, our little signal so she knew I saw her, but not obvious enough for anyone else to notice.
I started hitting the dead chicken on the ground and stomping, trying to get Grahm's attention. I brought him over to one end of the crocuseum, where I could clearly see Ashley. I looked up at her and took a deep breath. Grahm lunged for the meat, and I tossed it in his mouth as I jumped back. Success.