Colby's POV
"Y/N!" I called her name as I knocked on the door to my bedroom. A few seconds later the door opened to reveal a very tired and grouchy looking Y/N.
"Morning..." She mumbled while yawning and stretching out her arms above her head.
"Hey, get ready. We're going out!" She paused and focused fully on me.
"Where?" She asked sleepily.
"It's a surprise." I told her with a grin. I was pretty proud of the plans I had made today, and I couldn't wait to see her reaction.
"What about breakfast?" She pouted, but there was a small smile of her face.
"We'll get some on the way." I reassured her.
"What should I wear?" She questioned.
"Just something casual."
Her smile grew to match mine, and she smoothed back some of her messy bed hair and tucked it behind her ear. "Okay, give me like... Half an hour." She disappeared back into my bedroom after that, the door clicking shut behind her.
I returned to my sofa as I waited for her to get ready. I slipped into my bedroom when she was done to quickly get myself ready, and we were climbing into my car just over an hour later.
"Are any of your friends coming?" She asked me as she placed her bag on the floor by her feet.
"No, they're busy." I wasn't going to tell her that I had told Sam and Jake that we couldn't hang out with them today as I wanted to spend the day alone with her.
Pulling out of the parking garage, I headed north towards our destination.
"Are you going to tell me where we're going yet?" Y/N queried only five minutes into the journey.
"Nope. You'll figure it out soon." I answered vaguely as I turned onto Santa Monica Boulevard. I could see her looking at the signposts outside in the corner of my eye, obviously trying to figure out where we were going.
"Are we going shopping on Rodeo Drive?" Peering to my right, I could see the sign for it coming up.
"No."
"Golf?" She then asked, pointing to the entrance of a golf course that I had never even realised was there. I shook my head. I stole glances at her as I continued on up the road, but she only continued to try to spot clues quietly.
"Universal Studios?!" The over excited question that came after a few silent minutes nearly made me swerve my car as I startled.
"No, Y/N patience! We're still twenty minutes out!" I laughed. I wished I had kept quiet until we were a little closer because although seeing her happy made my heart soar, it wasn't worth crashing my car over when none of her guesses were correct yet.
Y/N giggled before slumping back into the seat with a frustrated sigh.
"What was Sam doing today?"
"Not sure. I think he was doing something with Kat." I lied smoothly. "It's only a little white lie after all... Besides Sam probably is going to see Kat today because more often than not he's with her if not with me."
We chatted about our individual plans tomorrow to fill the time. I spotted the sign for our destination before she did, and I waited to see how long it'd take for her to notice.
It didn't take her long, and her eyes lit up when I took the turning for the attraction's parking lot.
"The Zoo?"
"Yeah, is that okay?" I questioned just to be sure.
"Yeah!" She nodded her head enthusiastically.
She tried to pay for her ticket when we got to the entrance of the Zoo, but I refused adamantly as I grasped her hand to stop it from reaching for her bag.
"No. This was my idea, so I'm paying." I said sternly but with a gentle smile.
"Fine! I'm getting the next one though!" She argued back.
"Sure..." I agreed noncommittedly.
"What do you want to see first?" I asked as we got into the Zoo. Y/N studied the map in the little leaflet they had given us at the ticket booth for a moment before deciding.
"The giraffes!" I grinned at her answer.
"Good because I have another surprise for you!" I told her, quickly checking the time on my phone to make sure that we'll be on time for what I had arranged earlier this morning before Y/N had woken up.
"You do? What is it?!" She queried.
"You'll see when we get there!" I responded cryptically, a mischievous smirk on my lips.
"Colby..." She groaned. Reaching out, I laced my fingers in between hers as I took her hand.
"Come on. They aren't far." Tugging her forward slightly, we went off towards the giraffe enclosure.
Arriving at the enclosure, I spotted a male member of staff standing with an older looking lady, and a teenage girl who I presumed to be her daughter. Leading Y/N over, the staff member gave us a friendly smile when he saw us approaching.
"Are you guys here to feed the giraffes?" He questioned, and Y/N's eye immediately shot over to look at me in awe when she registered what he had asked.
"We are." I confirmed.
"Great, if you'd like to follow me I'll take you over to meet with the zookeeper." The man informed us, and we fell into step behind him.
"Colby, how did you do this?!" Y/N questioned incredulously from my side.
"I know a guy." I answered vaguely.
"Colby." She pulled me to a stop, and I frowned in confusion but it wasn't long before she crashed into my side and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. "Thank you!" She squealed into my chest, and I smiled as I squeezed her briefly before pulling away.
"No problem. Are you excited?"
"Of course! How did you know I love giraffes?"
"Please..." I scoffed. "You were obsessed when we were kids. Don't think I don't remember the matching giraffe print shoes and bag you wore all the time!" I chuckled.
"Oh god... You remember that?" She asked with a moan.
"Of course I do! You were so cute!" I joked, leaning over to ruffle her hair. She let out a noise akin of a squawk, and batted my hand away before fixing her hair.
"Okay guys-" We were interrupted by the zookeeper who introduced herself, and went over some rules before she led us back over to the giraffe enclosure. We were guided up some steps to a platform a couple of metres high so we would be face-to-face with the giraffes.
"We feed them at roughly the same times every day, so they should emerge from their home over there pretty soon." The zookeeper advised, pointing to the big building to the back of the large fenced in area. I could feel the excitement pouring off Y/N in waves as we waited patiently for the giraffe to come out and over to us, and I felt good knowing that I'd made her this happy.
A few seconds passed before the giraffes began walking one by one out of the big green wooden doors to the side of the building. There were five in total including a baby giraffe who trailed after the older ones.
"How old is the baby?" The older woman that was with us asked.
"She's only 3 weeks. That's Nala. She'll probably stay back while the others are feeding as she's still feeding from her mother."
"Oh my gosh, look they're coming!" Y/N whisper-yelled next to me as the giraffes meandered over gracefully, and I had to admit that I found the child-like glee in her voice absolutely adorable.
"Y/N shhh... You'll scare them away." I hushed her softly.
"Right..." She went a little red, and blushed in embarrassment which was even cuter.
"Who wants to go first?" The zookeeper asked and I nudged Y/N forward, however she stopped short and eyed the younger girl with us.
"You go first sweetie." She told her kindly. The girl thanked her shyly before stepping towards the zookeeper who handed her a branch to hold out for the giraffes that were nearly upon us.
"This is so cool." Y/N exclaimed as she pulled out her phone to take some photos and videos of the giraffe currently stripping the leaves off the branch that the girl had, and I did the same.
The older lady told Y/N to go next when the giraffe had finished off her daughter's branch, and Y/N took a branch for herself eagerly after handing her phone over to the zookeeper for her to take photos. The largest giraffe, which the zookeeper said was the dominant male, muscled his way in for the branch, and Y/N gazed up at him in wonder as he went to work on getting his food. I made sure to snap some good photos of my own for her.
"Y/N, smile." I called quietly, and she turned to give me a wide cheesy smile which had me giggling and my heart fluttering whilst I filmed a short video.
"Was that fun?" I asked her when she came back over to stand by me while the older lady took her turn.
"It was amazing!" She stated brightly, and she slipped her hand into mine to give it a light squeeze before focusing back on the creatures in front of us.
It was soon my turn, and although this was something that I wouldn't think I'd really be interested in, I had to admit that it was a pretty cool experience as the giraffe pulled on the stick in my hand to get the foliage off.
There were some branches left over after me so the zookeeper told us that we could feed them as pairs to get some duo photos.
Twenty minutes later we were stepping out of the small hut that we were first taken to. Y/N had a big grin on her face as she clutched the complimentary giraffe teddy that they had given her to her chest, and I had a mug in my hand which I had opted for instead of the plush toy.
"Thank you Colby, that was really special!" Y/N thanked me again as we said bye to the zookeeper.
"You're welcome!" I chirped happily.
"Should we go find somewhere to eat now?" I then asked her, my rumbling stomach reminding me that we had forgotten to get breakfast on the way to the zoo in the midst of all the excitement. Checking the time on my phone, I saw that it was past lunchtime.
"Yeah, I'm starving!" She agreed. We stopped to have a quick look at some of the animals along the way to the food court a little further down the path.
We made sure to make the most of the rest of the day, and tried to see as much as possible. That meant that we were pretty tired by the time we left just after 5pm, but I gave in when Y/N demanded on buying dinner.
As we got into my car to leave the Zoo, I thought about the events of today and how much I enjoyed spending the day with her. Today had been easy as I hadn't thought once about my work, or what my fans would think of her. I then remembered what Sam had said last night... He was right when he said Y/N's visit was going to go by so quickly. However that was one of the reasons why I didn't want to act on my feelings for her. Long distance relationships were difficult, and even more so with new relationships. It wasn't like I could move back to Kansas, or ask her to move out to L.A.. On the other hand I worried that if I just left things as friends between us she would go home, and that would be that... I worried that we'd just grow apart again as our lives carried on. I felt like if I told her how I really felt about her she would be a little more permanent in my life, and we'd be able to make it work if we both really wanted it too.
With my mind made up, the anxiety then came about how I was going to do this. I hadn't felt this way about a girl in a long time, maybe never even and I couldn't screw it up.
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A/N: Sorry if this chapter is a little lame! But at least it looks like Colby's ready to take the plunge and admit his feelings, but will it all work out for him?? >:L
Let me know what you thought of this chapter!