I Am Not Uptight!

The Zoo part 5

“I don’t see why that should make a difference,” Gary snootily replied as he began looking through the bags. As he sorted and handed them out, he noticed the empty seat beside Dustin and asked, “Where’s the big guy?” with a few chips already in his mouth.

“About that, did you guys—" Dustin was just gearing up to ask them if they knew anything about what he had witnessed, when he suddenly felt someone take a seat next to him.

“Hey, there he is!” Gary announced, handing over one of the take-away bags to Dustin to give to Wells. “Wells, buddy, what dirty business were you up to that took you such a long time?”

Dustin handed the bag to Wells without making eye contact, convincing himself that he couldn’t care less about whatever his deal was. At least that was until he heard the man reply, “I went to the restroom.”

Liar, liar. Somebody's pants were clearly on fire and the smoke was thick.

Dustin wasn’t the type to get up and mind people's personal businesses, but when someone just flat out lies like that in his face—in a way undermining the fact that he was there as a witness—he couldn’t help but take it personally. So, just to poke some fun, he decided to put the guy in a tight spot.

“No,” he said, scoffing lightly, “he was with—”

“I was in the restroom,” Wells interrupted. He said the words so firmly that Dustin turned to look at him, only to find himself at the end of a deathly threatening stare that effectively wiped the smirk off his face.

Dustin always thought of himself as a tough guy—he drank protein shakes religiously, he was athletic, he can dunk over anyone on his basketball team—but he ended up keeping his mouth closed and being the first to avert his gaze. He had been half-kidding whenever he would say that Wells looked like a man who was capable of harming someone, but in that moment, it felt like it could really ring true.

Gary, innocent to everything as he chomped on his food, was buying Wells's lie completely without question. “That long?” he gasped in worry and a bit of disgust. “My goodness, you must’ve stunk up the place.”

No one spoke after that as the show finally began. Dustin didn't dare to; but if he were to be asked why he kept mum, he would say that it just wasn't his business—not because he felt afraid. Not at all.

Meanwhile, even more oblivious to what was happening were the two on Gary’s right.

Josh—who had spent the first half-hour of their visit the zoo feeling uncomfortable, had finally managed to slowly loosen up. It was partly because of Gary—who had been talking his ear off that it somehow drowned out most of his thoughts that his usually loud anxieties sounded like whispers. It came to a point that he was actually beginning to develop an interest in Gary's many—many—animal kingdom fun facts. The dolphin show and the surprisingly decent food helped as well; but what contributed the most to his comfort was the fact that he had to change his outfit. Sure, his nice clothes became dirty and a few people had given him funny looks because of his newly bought zoo t-shirt, but that was just it. He didn’t have to worry about running into a careless kid with a snow cone anymore because he had already had that done and over with. There was no more good shirt to ruin. The worst had already happened.

Or so he thought.