Chapter Text
Macklin is going to lose his goddamn mind.
No, like, it's serious.
Not only is Macklin at the fucking aquarium, surrounded by children, but he’s also here for a school project—something to do with sea animals for his biology class. Whatever the fuck that means.
He’s supposed to find a specific animal that speaks to him, research it, and then write a paper about why it relates to himself. And like, sure, Macklin is smarter than the average fifth grader, but telling him to find an animal that ‘speaks’ to him is just.
It’s insane, is what it is.
But the thing that’s making this entire ordeal harder than it needs to be is the mass of children everywhere he goes. He can’t look at the fish, because there are children. He can’t look at the turtles, because there are children. He can’t look at the goddamn penguins, because there are a metric fuckton of children.
Apparently, Macklin chose the busiest day to do this.
Everywhere he looks! It’s like fucking Oprah walked into the building and said, “You get a child! You get a child! You get a child!” to every adult in the general vicinity.
Fuck his life, honestly.
Lane, Macklin’s best friend and classmate, should be around here somewhere. Last Macklin heard, he was headed to the stingrays. Something about them being really interesting.
Whatever. It’s fine. It is! Macklin has a map of the aquarium, and he’s going to go see—
“Oh, jeez, I’m so sorry!”
Macklin is suddenly on his back, staring at the ceiling. His back hurts. The front of his shirt is wet. How the fuck is this his life?
When he tilts his head, he gets a full view of, possibly, the prettiest girl he's ever seen. In his life.
And wow, does she look spooked, clutching a black bucket close to her chest.
“Are you okay?” She asks, setting the bucket down and kneeling beside him.
Mack nods. He means to say, yeah, I'm okay. But what really comes out of his mouth is, “Pretty.”
The girl blushes all the way to the roots of her curly blonde hair. She looks down and bites her lip around a smile. She lifts her gaze again and, fuck, blue eyes stare back at him. “Yeah, you're okay.” She pats his arm once and stands up.
Macklin quickly gets to his feet, only swaying a little. “Hi. Sorry. Hi.”
She laughs, a pretty tinkering of a laugh. “Hi. Are you…Do you say hi a lot?”
Macklin nods fiercely, staring at her eyes. They're so blue. How are they so blue???? And her hair, blonde but not yellow. Her smile is so pretty, teeth straight and white. Her body is gorgeous, curves in all the right places beyond the tight black uniform. She's even a bit taller than he is, which is. Fuck.
This woman is beautiful. Macklin is about to have a conniption fit.
“Dude!” Lane lands around Macklin’s shoulders, breaking him out of his reverie. “You gotta come see the sharks. They're so cool.”
Macklin shoves his friend off of him, turning back to the girl in front of him. “Hi,” he says again, like an idiot. “I'm Macklin.”
She snickers again, nodding. “Will. And I'm late for feeding time. I'm sorry for knocking you over.”
With that, she grabs her bucket and walks away.
Macklin watches her go, and when she's out of sight through an employees-only door, he turns and socks Lane in the arm. Hard.
“The fuck was that for?” Lane shrieks, holding his arm.
“Did you see her?” Macklin whisper-shouts. “The prettiest girl I've ever seen, and you ruined the vibe!”
Lane scoffs. “Sure, bud.”
“No, you don't understand,” Macklin tries again. “You just—”
“From where I'm standing, you were making yourself look like a fool,” Lane says sagely. He grabs the sleeve of Macklin’s hoodie and tugs. “Let's go look at sharks.”
Macklin sighs heavily and lets himself be led, still thinking about Will and her pretty eyes and even prettier smile.