Only In It For A Minute

“So where are you driving me to this time?” I asked, as John drove along the roads that had become familiar to me these past few days.

“To a place I used to love when I was younger and haven’t been to in quite a while,” he smiled, whilst concentrating on the road. He drove for a few more minutes before I suddenly saw a big sign up ahead.

“You brought me too the zoo!?” I said, excitedly.

“I thought you’d like it,” he laughed. “Come on, let’s go see the nice animals,” he mocked.

We began walking around the animals, trying to find out their names as we went. We looked at the lions, cheetahs, meerkats, giraffes, tigers and so many more.

“Oh hey look, you’re family are here,” he joked, as we walked around the Monkey Village. My arm swung out and punched him lightly in the stomach.

“You’re lucky I like you,” I laughed walking away from him. There was one animal in particular that I hadn’t seen yet and kept walking around trying to find but hadn’t had any luck yet.

“What you looking for?” he asked, as I held his hand as I walked around the enclosures.

“My favourite animal,” I told him. “I’ve never seen one in real life before and was hoping there would be at least one here.”

He began leading me away from where we were, taking me back along the enclosures we had walked by first and then in the opposite direction. I saw a different path up ahead which we walked along before I finally saw it, or rather them.

“Oh my god,” I gasped as we got closer. In front of me, there were two pandas, happily going about their daily routine. They were all I’d wanted to see here at the zoo and I was finally able to. “But-but how did you know they were my favourite?”

John shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, I just guessed.”

I stood on my toes and kissed his lips briefly.

“Thank you for bringing me here today, it’s been a really nice day out,” I told him.

We walked around the animals a bit more before we decided to head back to his. Tomorrow was my last day here and his family were having a barbecue for some of their family and friends before I had to get my flight home in the evening. As we got back to John’s car, he suddenly seemed to become all shy.

“So, I have something for you,” he said. “I hope you don’t think it’s lame or anything, I just thought it was cute. It actually seems really stupid now and I probably shouldn’t give it to you, you’re 21 for fucks sake, why would you want it?”

“John, hun, you’re mumbling. Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll love it,” I told him, looking him direct in the eyes. “Besides, I love gifts, so gimme!”

“OK, you can say if you think it’s lame-”

“John!”

“Fine, here,” he said, producing a cuddly toy panda into my hands.

“Aw, John this is so sweet!” I said, as I held it to me. “I love it, thank you!” I said, standing up to kiss his lips. “When did you even have a chance to get this?”

“Just now when you went to the bathroom. I spotted it in the gift shop and knew I had to get it.”

“It’s very sweet, he will sit pride of place in my room when I get home,” I told him.

Later that evening, Pat invited John and I over for a couple of drinks and to hangout. We got there and found Garrett, Kennedy, Jared, Tim, a few girls and few other faces I recognised already there.

“So Tash, last night in Phoenix, how’s it feel?” Kennedy asked.

“It feels...” I pondered over this as I looked around my surroundings. I had barely known these guys two months and they had all taken me in and made me feel so welcome. Leaving again just meant that whenever I saw them next, it would feel as though I was starting over with them. “It feels weird. I can’t wait to go home and actually spend some time there, but I love it here and don’t really want to leave.”

John wrapped his arm around me and kissed my cheek. It was at this moment a weird feeling washed over me. I had no idea when I would next get to see him. I had no idea what we were to each other at this point. Were we a couple? Could I go home and call him my boyfriend? Or was this it for us? This wasn’t the time or place I could ask John these questions, so I pushed them to the back of my mind, as we all settled down into conversations and Jared began strumming away on an acoustic guitar.