Binghamton, NY 1994
Jori says we should be halfway there, and we’ve decided to stop and stretch our legs for a bit. The air is much cooler in this part of New York, and it makes me shiver slightly.
“You okay, Red?” he asks, glancing down at me.
“Yeah,” I reply with an enthusiastic nod. He laughs and squeezes my hand as we walk toward an intersection.
He left the car in a parking garage a few blocks back after I told him I found the town pretty. That’s when he got the idea to stretch our legs, but I know he’s only doing it so I can explore and see new things. We settle on going to the zoo after seeing a few signs for it, partly because I love animals, and partly because it’s the only thing we can really afford to do.
“This place looks kind of old,” he remarks as we near the entrance. “But I bet it’ll be a lot of fun.”
I look up at him and grin. Even if the zoo doesn’t live up to whatever expectations he thinks I have of it, I’m with him in a place neither of us has been to before, and that’s more than enough for me.
“Two please,” he says to the woman inside the booth. She tells him the admission for both of us is eight dollars, to which he reaches for his wallet and begins to carefully pull out one dollar bills like he did at the gas station.
It’s not a quirk of his or anything, he’s just always been very conscious about how much money he has on him and the amount he chooses to spend … Something about always making sure he has enough for bus fare if he ever needs it. While Jori continues his painfully slow count of the admission fee, as well as how much he has left, I reach into my bra again and slide a twenty dollar bill into the booth. He turns slightly and grunts at me. Obviously, he’s upset that I’m paying for this, but if we stand around and wait for his meticulous money counting, the zoo will shut down and we won’t have anything left to do.
“I could have paid for it, you know,” he grumbles after we take the tickets and walk toward one of the staffers at the gate.
“I know. I just wanted to go in sometime today,” I reply, making a face at him.
“Smart ass,” he says with a laugh. I stick my tongue out at him and thank the young man who’s smiling at our interaction as we walk into the zoo. Jori drapes an arm around my shoulder protectively, giving the man a pointed stare, before he begins to pull me off toward the carousel.
“Come on, Red! I’ll race ya,” he says with a grin as he pulls open the gate and waits for the carousel to come to a stop. I giggle as I run in behind him, wrapping my arms around him, as the machine comes to a complete halt. Jori takes me by the hand and walks us toward a couple of horses that are side by side, helping me up onto mine before he climbs onto his.
“Alright, I would hold on if I were you. I bet these things are fast,” he instructs, rolling his eyes.
The “race” doesn’t last more than a minute and a half, but we’re both in great spirits when we walk away from the carousel. We spend no more than an hour and a half in the zoo, making sure to stop at each exhibit.
“I wish we had a camera. You look so happy here, Red. It would have been nice to capture that, you know?” Jori says, running his hand back through his hair as we make our way toward the gift shop.
“Memories make better pictures than film ever can,” I reply happily with a twinkle in my eye. He smiles gratefully at me as he opens the door to the shop and waits for me to walk in first.
My eyes become huge and my heart flutters at all the stuffed animals inside. I pick up a meerkat and hold it up, smiling and giving it quick hug before I place it back down. That was definitely my favorite exhibit of the day, and if we had the time, I would have gone back in to see them again. While I would love to get a souvenir, I know they’re far too expensive, and we’ll have to find our way home at some point. We’ll need every dime we have for that.
I give one last glance around the shop before making my way toward the exit, waving at the two teenage girls behind the registers. They smile and wave back at me, which makes me feel good about things. Usually, strangers don’t care too much for me and Jori being around, but they seemed genuine with their smiles.
“I guess we should head back to the car now,” I say, turning to look at Jori. I raise my eyebrows and begin to wring my hands when I realize he’s not there, and I crane my neck toward the zoo exit, wondering where he could be.
I sit down on the green, metal bench just outside the entrance, and wonder where he could have wandered off to.
Time ticks by slowly, and I know it hasn’t been more than five minutes, but it worries me that I lost him in a place I don’t know.
“Goddamn, you’re fast,” he calls out with a laugh as he appears a few moments later. I leap up from the bench and start walking quickly toward him, but he shakes his head and grins, “Close your eyes, Red.”
“Why?” I ask him in confusion, stopping in my tracks.
“Because I said so. Close them,” he replies chuckling.
“On the count of three, you can open them again, okay?” he says. I nod and close my eyes tighter than ever before as he slowly begins to count. “One … two … two and a half …”
“Jori!” I shout, gleefully.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself,” he replies with a chuckle. “Two and three quarters …” I put my hands on my hips and let out a sigh, to which he snickers, and finally says three.
When I open my eyes again, my hands fly to my mouth in shock. He’s holding out the meerkat I had held so happily for only a few moments, and he looks so proud of himself when my face lights up.
“Thank you!” I exclaim as I rush forward and take the stuffed animal from his hands. I hug it tightly again and look up into his eyes. His face is red, and as he slides his hands into his pockets, I can feel something is different about him. What it is, I can’t quite place yet, but it’s enough to make me feel incredibly shy for some reason.
“I know we can’t afford this,” I say softly. “But I promise you this will be my most prized possession for the rest of my life, and I’ll pay you back somehow. I promise.”
“Um, you don’t have to pay me back,” he says, looking down at his feet and kicking the ground. “I just wanted you to have it because I saw how happy it made you.”
I take a step closer to him and wrap my free arm around his body, leaning my head against his chest, and he chuckles. He pulls his hands out of his pockets and returns my hug, his heartbeat increasing from somewhere deep inside his chest.
“We should probably go back to the car,” he says softly.
I nod and begin to pull away, but as I do, he leans his face down and kisses me gently on the lips. It takes us both by surprise, because up until now, we’ve only ever been best friends. True, we have a song and he calls me babe from time to time, but it’s never meant anything other than what we’ve actually said to each other.
“I’m sorry,” he says, pulling away, wide-eyed and embarrassed.
“I … I’ve never had a boy kiss me before,” I reply shakily, hugging my meerkat tightly. Jori runs his hands back through his hair and looks away. He looks as shocked as we both feel, and it bothers me. Maybe he can be more than a friend, but is it really worth messing up our perfect friendship to find out?
“Maybe we can do that again sometime?” I ask, tripping over my words as I try to catch his eyes.
He turns his face back toward me and grins, looking faint with relief. “Anytime you want, Red.”
I smile shyly as he puts his arm around my waist and we begin to walk. “We should probably get going toward Canada again. I got something really cool there I want to show you.”
I let him lead me back to the car, completely disregarding the fact that he’s just told me a secret. I don’t care that he’s been there without me already; I just care that we’re going there together.