Abstraction ➳ Owen Grady

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IT WAS A Sunday afternoon with clear skies and a soft breeze that filtered beneath the thick foliage of the trees. Owen made a path through the underbrush near the raptor paddock, toward the beach. He was dressed properly for the occasion, navy and white swim trunks with a grey tank top. Ally, on the other hand, was less thrilled about the prospect but tagged along regardless, if only to see more of the island.

"It's a tropical island! It'd be a shame if you didn't go to the beach." Is what he had said. Ally had crossed her arms and given him a stern look that her graduate students would have been all too familiar with. "I prefer dry land, thank you very much." She had grown up in the Midwest and had always been content that they were hundreds of miles from open water.

That didn't stop him from hoisting her up and over his shoulder and charging toward the clear blue water once they emerged from the tree line and onto the sandy beach. Alysanne Sattler pounded her fists against his back, "Owen Grady, put me down this instant!"

He laughed and shook his head, "You're going in." The spray of the water speckled her cheeks and sound of breaking waves filled her ears. Ally squeezed her eyes shut. "PUT ME DOWN!"

She felt his slight shrug and could picture his triumphant smirk, "If you say so." He dropped her down into the water without warning. Ally resurfaced, spluttering and struggling to keep her head above the waves as she treaded water to get back to the sand.

Owen caught her arm when the water was only waist deep but she shrugged him off and turned, punching him in the shoulder as hard as she could manage. "You asshole!" she exclaimed, shoving him backward, at first, he took it for a joke yet there was no mirth in her tone or expression. "I don't know how to swim."

Owen's expression paled. "Sorry," he said quickly, "god I'm sorry." He reached out, taking her into his arms, keeping the both of them above the water's surface. Now he truly did feel like an asshole, he frowned, resting his chin on top of her head. "I've got you." She didn't say anything in response, just shut her eyes and listened to the waves.

They swayed in the water, never straying far from shore. "What if I teach you how?" He suddenly asked, a glint of waggishness in his eye. Ally looked up at him with a quirked brow. "Just in case, I don't know," he rambled, but then a serious look appeared on his face, "you fall into Mo's tank?"

Alysanne's questioning look turned into a harsh glare, "You wouldn't."

Owen shrugged. "Accidents happen," he smirked.

✹✹✹

Somehow, word had gotten around to all the park employees that Alysanne Sattler and Owen Grady were a thing now. In truth, most had suspected something for a while, after all, if she wasn't with Claire, she was always with Owen. Speaking of Claire, the redhead sat across from Ally at one of the small tables in Yoshinoya, though so far, neither of them had spoken a word.

Alysanne took a sip of chilled sake. "Claire," she acknowledged, sounding oddly formal and reserved. Claire Dearing sat with her perfect posture in a dress suit of cobalt blue. "Ally," she said in return. Two plates of sushi were placed on the table, though neither made a move toward them.

Alas Ally sighed, prolonged awkward silences made her uneasy. "I've known you long enough to know when you're jealous, Claire." Alysanne quirked one of her eyebrows upward at the redhead. That was the only possible explanation left to explain why she had been so distant since their shortened lunch at Winston's.

She sighed and let her shoulders fall forward with a slight roll of her eyes. "I went out with him," she started, though she was quick to modify that statement, "once." Ally would have never even imagined that a date between two people like them would be possible. "He's just so ruggedly handsome that I couldn't help it, but it didn't work out." She still cringed at the thought of their date night, apparently, their definitions of casual dress had been much different, and her punctuality wasn't appreciated either. "He's too much of a slob."

Ally couldn't disagree with that statement per se, but she had come to expect some degree of untidiness from almost everyone, hell, according to Claire's standards she was a slob too. She took another long sip of sake, "and you're just too uptight."

The redhead raised her brow as if to say 'excuse me.' "He wore board-shorts!" She exclaimed in defense as if it were an equivalent crime to murder.

"It's Central America!" Ally shrugged, laughing, "It's hot."

That silenced the redhead as she picked up a piece of nigiri. "You two are almost the same person," she muttered, "It's scary." Ally rolled her eyes and reached for a slice of makizushi with her chopsticks. They ate in silence after that, the type of silence that exists between close friends.

Claire straightened her blouse as they stepped back into the crowded walkway. "If he makes you happy, then I'm happy," she said out of the blue in a manner that reminded her of Claire and Karen's mother.

"Claire!" Ally laughed, disbelieving that not even two weeks ago she was hardly speaking to her out of jealousy. She shrugged. "What? It's true! You've been perpetually single since we met almost twenty years ago." It always stung a bit when other people pointed out her lack of love life. "I'm glad that you found someone and that you haven't resigned to being forever alone."

The park operations manager looked down at her watch, it was almost five and for once her shift could end on time if it meant patching things up with an old friend. "Drinks?" She asked, and that was an offer that Dr. Alysanne Sattler could not refuse.

✹✹✹

"It's karaoke night!" Owen exclaimed, pulling Alysanne from the crowded main street and into Margaritaville. She pressed her heels into the concrete, making it harder for him to pull her along by the arm and shaking her head the whole time. "Oh no. There's no way I'm doing that," she stated. She was a woman of science, not one that partook in frivolities such as karaoke.

"I hate you," she deadpanned now that they were standing in the small area that had been cleared out for the occasion.

"No you don't," Owen laughed.

"I'm picking the songs then," Ally retorted, skimming through the song list, a mixture of old rock and country songs, most of which she happened to know. Owen glanced over her shoulder at the screen and saw the song title that she was lingering on. "Why?" He groaned.

"It's Margaritaville," she countered as if it should be an obvious answer to her song selection, "I have to." Owen couldn't stop her time before she pressed play and the speakers started with the sound of a country band. The two of them stepped up to the microphone just as the lyrics began, but halfway through the first verse Owen stopped, but Ally continued.

"Pour me something tall and strong
Make it a hurricane before I go insane
It's only half past twelve but I don't care
It's five o'clock somewhere."

The restaurant erupted into applause and Ally smiled at Owen, it was bashful in nature though. His eyes had gone wide at the realization that she could sing, and sing well. They stayed for drinks and left stumbling out near closing time, laughing. Her place was closer and once they clambered out of the elevator and into the hotel room, the both of them plopped face down on the bed.