Fearless ≫ Zach Mitchell

iii.

t h r e e

~

Not ten minutes later, Ashton found herself at the Raptor paddock, staring at a sandy-colored, toothy snout standing only inches away from her. Echo's bright orange eyes stared, unblinking, at the fifteen year old in front of her. The raptor's breathing was slow, almost relaxed as Ashton ran a hand over her smooth, scaly head. Echo's snout was locked shut in a strong, metallic muzzle used by the raptor trainers to check over the creatures. She was always the calmest of the four raptors, Ashton observed, as she never fought against the trainers as they locked her in the muzzle, while the other three almost always gave up some sort of fight.

Claire had mentioned that her nephews would be arriving at around noon, which gave Ashton nearly an hour of leisure time- something that was rare to come by on the island. She chose to spend this hour at the Raptor paddock, as she usually did, caring for the raptor that she had imprinted on years ago. Barry, a fellow raptor trainer and a good friend of Owen Grady, stood not too far away. He stood in front of the dark, jungle green raptor known as Delta. The dark skinned man always took a liking in the Velociraptor, and just so happened to be her personal trainer.

A sort of purring noise came from Echo as Ashton as she ran her hand down the dinosaur's throat, her orange eyes fluttering closed for a mere second. Her pink lips pulling into a small smile, Ashton patted her head once before slowly backing away from her raptor. She raised her arm to get a better view of her wristwatch. The clock read 11:50, which gave her just enough time to get down to the docks before the next ferry arrived. Turning towards Barry, she sent the older man a smile.

"It's time for me to babysit," she said halfheartedly with a unsubtle roll of her eyes. "Take care of my Echo."

Barry laughed lightly, his accented voice thick as he spoke. "Will do. You have fun being a tour guide."

~

By the time Ashton reached the middle of the park, she had five minutes before the ferry arrived. She held a tablet in her hand, the names Zach and Gray Mitchell written in white letter across the black screen. The plaza was crowded, as usual, with guests flooding in and out of every restaurant and gift store. An accented, electronic woman's voice spoke above all overs, announcing the next Mosasaurus feeding and happy hour at Margaritaville.

Though Ashton didn't pay attention to any of this, knowing that soon enough, she would be attending the Mosasaurus Feeding Show with Claire Dearing's two nephews. She had to admit, she was pretty excited to have the opportunity to view the park as more of a guest rather than Owen Grady's personal assistant. Most of her days were spent at the Raptor paddock, overseeing the Velociraptor's training whilst having All Time Low blare through her headphones and into her ears. She could count the number of times she had actually visited the attractions on the fingers of both of her hands in the five years she had livedon the island. She was looking forward to visiting the Gentle Giant's Petter Zoo and riding the Gryospheres and even watching a Great White Shark being torn apart by the park's Mosasaurus.

Ashton quickly wove her way through the crowds of people at the sound of the ferry's horn, signaling that the next round of guest had arrived. She held up the tablet that had the name of Claire's nephews written on it as people began flooding from the white boat with Jurassic World's logo printed freshly on the side. People pushed past her, many very rudely, as they made their way over to their own families. Ashton only stood their dumbly, tablet in hand, her pink lips pursed impatiently. She would have much rather been with Owen and Claire right now, despite the obvious fact that the pair were more than likely fighting. At least, then, she would be doing something interesting, rather than waiting to show a couple of little kids around the island. Hell, maybe she would have even had the chance to see the park's new asset.

"Are you Ashton?" Ashton was snapped out of her daze at the sound of a high-pitched voice. She blinked rapidly, focusing on the figure standing in front of her. It was a boy; he was only a few inches shorter than her, though judging by his lack of facial hair and baby-ish features, he had to be at least a couple years younger than her. His head was covered in a mop of curly blonde hair, his bright blue eyes shining happily as he stared at her. Standing behind him was another boy who seemed to be around Ashton's age, though he was nearly a foot taller than her. His dark brown hair pulled back in a side swoop and, even though his gaze was currently buried in his phone, Ashton could tell his eyes were brown, nearly the same color as a dark chocolate Hershey's bar.

"Y-yes," she stuttered out, clearly taken aback by the tall boys standing before her. She was expecting kids, 8 years olds, at the most. Though as the older boy cocked an eyebrow, tearing his gaze away from his phone and focusing on her, she forced herself to straighten her posture, coughing awkwardly. "You must be Zach and Gray Mitchell?"

"That's right. My name's Gray," the younger boy answered her eagerly and smiled. He pointed behind him, towards the other boy and scowled slightly. "That's my brother, Zach. He's a lot worse than he seems." This earned him a smack in the back of his head from his brother, though Ashton only laughed, amused by Gray's outgoing personality. She could basically feel the excitement bubbling from the young boy, so she decided not to keep them waiting any longer. Feeling no need to use the thing anymore, she stuffed the tablet into her bag, swinging it over her shoulders before smiling at the two boys.

"Your aunt arranged to meet you at one," she informed them, unable to hide the fact that her hands were shaking vigorously at her sides. She quickly shoved them into the pockets of her jean shorts, hoping that it would hide the spazzing of her hands. "So I figured we could head to the hotel so you don't have to lug your bags around any longer."

"Great!" Gray exclaimed happily, and Ashton found herself smiling at the young boy's enthusiasm. Though she had only just met him, she knew that she would grow quite fond of him. She slowly tore her gaze away from Gray, looking over at Zach expectantly. Though his face was buried in his phone once more, the slightest hint of a smirk that she had once seen replaced by a deep scowl. Already growing tired of his anti-social behavior, Ashton crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight impatiently.

"Zach." At the sound of her voice, Zach immediately looked up, slowly lowering his phone to his side."Is that alright with you?"

Zach only stared at her for a minute, the corners of his lips curling into a smirk. Though his eyes were wide, clearly startled with the fact that she had addressed him. "Yeah- yeah, that's fine," he said simply, shoving his hands into the pockets of his gray jacket.

Focusing back on Gray once more, Ashton's mouth formed a friendly smile. She reached up and ruffled his hair gently before turning around on the balls of her feet. "Come on. The faster we get this meeting over with, the faster you get to see the real attractions- and I'm not talking about me." Twisting her head around, she saw Zach swallow thickly, his brown eyes blinking rapidly before slowly following behind his younger brother. Smiling triumphantly, Ashton turned back around. Honestly, she didn't know why she was acting so flirty all of a sudden. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that she was getting to spend a whole day with an attractive guy- something that rarely happened to a girl like her. Yes, she had to admit she found Zach Mitchell extremely attractive. Or perhaps it had to do with the fact that she hadn't had the chance to hang around a guy close to her age in nearly six years, and her teenage hormones were only getting the better of her. Whatever it was, she had to admit, she didn't exactly mind it.

Ashton Grady walked with a bounce in her step, making sure to move her hips in a flirtatious way as she led the Mitchell's towards the island's only hotel. Sure, she still would have much rather been with Owen and Claire, inspecting the paddock of the park's new asset, though what Gray Mitchell told his brother, so quietly that she had to strain to hear, made her plump, pink lips curl into a proud smile.

"I hope you know that staring at her with heart eyes isn't going to accomplish anything."