It wasn’t a threat, but it was a cryptic thing to say all the same.Before Blake could press him for more information, Noel melded into the shadows to return to wherever he lurked while deterring kids from hacking the crane games.The whole exchange was disconcerting, to say the least.
Blake went to pursue him, but Matt materialized into his and Marin’s path before he was able.
“I’m quitting, B!I’m really quitting this time!”he moaned, flopping his face onto Blake’s chest.Marin quirked a brow, folding his arms.“My new tat is itchy and my binder is suffocating me and I’m sweaty and exhausted andI don’t want to wake up before noon anymore!”He complained in rapid fire before his eyes fell on Marin who was standing next to Blake, expression stiff.“Oh, hey!Who’s your friend, B?”
Blake glanced at the merman seething beside him.What’s got him so pissed?
“Ah, this is Marin,” Blake said, gesturing towards him.“He’s uh… a foreign exchange student from the Intro to Psych class I TA’d for last semester.His host family is on vacation this week, so he’s crashing with me.He’s gonna hang out here while I work.”
Matt turned to Marin, jutting a hand out towards him.Marin regarded him with an icy glare.“Nice meeting you, I’m Matt!”
“Pleasure,” Marin responded after an extended pause, tone clipped.Matt dropped his hand, still as oblivious to vitriol as ever.
That’s weird,Blake thought.He’s pretty on-edge… he’s been really chill thus far.
Matt interrupted his chain of thought, chattering excitedly to Marin.“Hey, how about this: I’ll hang out with you while B’s working!”
Dammit!Blake scowled.Marin angled his torso away from Matt, arms still folded across his chest and expression withdrawn.
“I’m good, thanks,” Marin rebuked him, locating a booth to settle down in.
“He’s a grown ass man, M.He doesn’t need you to babysit him,” Blake huffed at Matt, who was determined to make friends.Matt climbed into the booth on the other side of Marin, drumming his hands on the vinyl countertop.
“It’s fine!”he insisted, waving a hand at Blake before turning his attention back onto Marin.“Where’d you say you come from, Marin?”
“I didn’t,” Marin returned, his poor temper unwavering.
“This guy!”Matt laughed, propping his cheeks up on his fists.He paused, squinting across the table at Marin.“Say, are you sure we haven’t met before?”
Blake jerked with horror, recalling Matt’s constant jokes about his “mermaid statue boyfriend” out in the park.
“Matt.Leave him be!”Blake groaned, concerned not only for Marin’s ability to get into the offices and Matt recognizing him, but also Marin’s temper—something about Matt was clearly setting him off.Blake glanced out of the corner of his eye at the clock over the snack bar.He only had a few minutes before he had to be out in the park, surely not enough to diffuse the situation at hand.
“It’s fine,” Marin insisted, his icy expression ebbing as he glanced over Matt’s head at Blake.“You should get to work.”
“Okay…” Blake hesitated, heading towards the staff room to get changed.He looked over at the merman, giving him a brief wave.“Have a good one, Marin.”
“You, too,” the merman waved him away in turn.His eyes said ‘I’ll take care of him’.
Blake glanced over his shoulder as he scaled the stairs and caught Marin watching him go.He flashed him a conspiratorial wink and another wave, which Blake again returned.
9
Before Blake knew it, his shift was nearly halfway over.
“Waaaaalk,” he reminded a pack of middle schoolers for the fiftieth time that day.He was stationed on the Cannonballer, waiting until the kids were out of the plunge pool before letting more go down the slide.
“WALK!” Blake’s co-worker Hannah screamed from where she was elbowing her way up the slide’s platform to relieve him, expression as pleasant as ever.“Hey B, boss says to take your lunch.”
“Thanks Han,” Blake said, handing over his rescue tube and bullhorn.He edged down the steps beside the line.
It had been an uneventful morning other than a three-year-old puking in the wave pool and a high schooler doing a dead man float in the lazy river for a TikTok prank.However, water park superstition spoke that a quiet afternoon shift would mean a wild shift in the morning.Blake felt bad for whoever was opening the next day.
He walked around the kiddie pool as he approached the castle, looking at the front of the fiberglass pirate ship.Merry kids were blasting each other with the water cannons and slipping down the slides, unaware of the now-blank bow of the ship.It was completely undamaged, although smooth of the wood grain detailing that decorated the rest of the boat.To Blake’s relief he’d only heard Noel mention anything about it.
Inside the castle, the arcade was as crazy as ever.A horde of children stampeded past Blake towards the golf course, faces and hands sticky and pink with cotton candy.His coworker Alex was attempting to console a little girl that was sobbing over a broken Poppit at the prize counter while his service dog rested beside him.Kids strutted around with tickets looped around their necks and arms like fashion accessories.
Squeezing by the children running wild, Blake headed behind the snack bar and clocked out for lunch.He found his manager Lovepreet pacing in the kitchen, taking a business call.She smiled at him as he passed her, kara bangle gleaming on her wrist as she wiggled her fingers in greeting.
