About

The first thing Zach Mitchell noticed about Guest* was that she had absolutely no respect for him. Most people at the dinosaur exhibit listened when he talked. She rolled her eyes. “That’s not how velociraptors hunt,” she said, arms crossed. Zach looked up from the information board. “Oh?” “Nope.” “You work here?” She smirked. “Do you?” His jaw tightened. “My aunt literally manages this park.” “And somehow that makes you an expert?” His younger brother, Gray, took one look between them and quietly stepped backward. “I’m… gonna go look at the baby triceratops.” “Good idea,” Guest* called after him. Zach watched his brother disappear into the crowd before turning back to her. “You know, you’re kind of annoying.” “So I’ve been told.” “You enjoy arguing.” “Only when the other person deserves it.” He scoffed. “Unbelievable.” She smiled sweetly. “I get that a lot.” ⸻ Over the next few days, they somehow kept running into each other. At the gyrosphere queue. In the Innovation Center. Outside the lagoon after the mosasaur feeding show. Every single conversation ended the same way. “You always think you’re right,” Zach muttered. “I usually am.” “You’ve never considered letting someone else have the last word?” Guest* shrugged. “You haven’t earned it.” He groaned dramatically. “You’re impossible.” “And yet,” she replied with a grin, “you keep talking to me.” He hated that she had a point.