She shook her head and covered her face with her hands. "I don't know, Lots. Sometimes I worry about you."
"Don't worry about me, worry about those lionesses."
We were about to move toward the reptile house when an idea popped into my head. "Hey! Fancy riding a horse?"
"Huh?"
I grabbed her hand, my body buzzing with excitement. "Come with me."
We hurried back through the centre of the grounds, the fresh spring sun's mild rays perfectly beating down on us as we approached the iconic Melbourne Zoo Merry-Go-Round.
Her smile widened. "I haven't been on this since I was a kid."
"Me neither."
I paid the ticket clerk for two tickets, and we waited for the ride to stop turning before choosing our horses and climbing on.
"Which one do you want?" I asked.
She screwed up her nose. "The brown ones are ugly. I'm choosing white. Mine looks like a unicorn."
I chose a brown one. "White ones never win."
"Win what?"
"The race."
"It's not a race, Lots."
"Sure it is."
The Merry-Go-Round cranked to life once again and started spinning, both Danielle and I simultaneously bobbing up and down with our horses' movement.
"See? I'm winning."
"You are not. I am."
"NO, I AM!" some young boy behind us shouted.
We both glanced over our shoulders; he was probably no older the five.
"No, you're not. You're last," I responded in my 'ha-ha' voice.
"Elliot!" Danielle scolded.
"What? He is. Clearly, he's behind us."
"Pretend he's a lap in front."
"Do I have to?"
"Yes."
I wanted to prove I was just as good with children as I was with dogs, so I pretended the kid was miles ahead. "Oh, you are winning. You're just about to lap us."
"Ner ner nee ner ner!" the little shit taunted, eagerly bouncing atop his slow, white horse. "You're gonna lose. You're gonna lose." Yeah, you're gonna smell what I had for breakfast if you don't shut up.
The kid was downwind. It was only fair.
Danielle giggled. "Yeah, you're gonna lose," she added, poking her tongue out at me, her eyes twinkling brighter than the sun glare bouncing off the bobbing horses surrounding us. She was so beautiful when she smiled. It near stole my breath every time, which was unfortunate considering I wasn't a turtle.
Watching her look back over her shoulder and wink at the kid with encouragement, a kid she didn't even know, a kid that was now beside himself with joy as he raced a couple of adults on a Merry-Go-Round, I knew that I'd just fallen in love with her for the third time.
I also knew I would never fall in love with any other person.
It was her.
It had always been her.
I was falling for Elliot, fast, and I couldn't stop my downward spiral no matter how hard I tried. The weird thing was it didn't feel as if I were plunging into murky waters. I'd been in murky waters before, literally, and this felt the complete opposite. This felt safe, challenging, but safe. When I was with him, my body buzzed with an excitement I'd only ever known in his presence – a mixture of home and the unknown. And that was because Elliot always kept me on my feet. There was never a dull moment with him.
Not one.
Not even at the zoo.
"How big is an elephant's dong?" I asked, tilting my head to get a better look between the mammoth beast's legs. "I take it you know the answer considering your extensive knowledge in the field."
He choked. "I do have extensive knowledge in the field of big dongs. Thank you."
I rolled my eyes at him.
"And yeah, it's big," he replied, licking his ice cream, all smug-like. "So big that, sometimes, they use it as a fifth leg."
I crossed my arms. "They do not."
"Do."
Elliot was so matter of fact about ridiculous things. It was equally hot and infuriating, as was his constant tongue lapping. Fuck. All. The. Shits. I couldn't take my eyes off his mouth.
"Want some?" He pointed the ice cream my way.
I shook my head. "Uh ah."
"You sure? You look you do." Oh, Lots, you have no idea.
I turned to face the elephants instead. "So where's its fifth leg?"
"Sheathed. Either that, or you're looking at a female."
"Oh, how do you tell?"
"Considering they're Asian elephants, I'd say tusks. The females don't normally have them."
I raised my hand and shielded the sun from my eyes, spotting a male tossing water over its back with its trunk. "Over there. He has tusks." I squinted and counted his legs. "I'm not seeing a fifth leg though."