2 - Accepted

A year went by and I thought that I would never be accepted into the conservation when I finally got a call. I was so excited that I ran out of the back of the employee's lounge and up to Julie who was doing a tour with an old folks home. I grabbed her up and swirled her around, making her cry out in surprise.
"Dexter! What is wrong with you? Have you no shame?" she said, exasperated.
"I got in, Julie! I got in!"
"That's wonderful, but I'm in the middle of a tour…" she said, pointing at the senior citizens.
I looked at them as some of them gave me that look that said 'how romantic' and others that had the look that said 'what the hell? I want to see the fish'.
"Right… Sorry…
"We'll celebrate afterward, alright? I promise."
"Yes… Carry on!"
Julie shook her head at me, her blonde ponytail wagging in tune.
I laughed at my luck and almost skipped to my station in the back.

I told everyone about the good news and got many compliments. The curator said that they would throw me a party the day before I left and they were all happy for me. I was a little surprised because I thought surely there would be some resentment. He said there wasn't any because I was trying to do something for a good cause for an animal not many people took into consideration. At least no one seemed standoffish or uppity about the situation…
After Julie got off from work, we went to a nice Italian restaurant and ordered some food. I told her about the job and she was very happy for me. She gave me a kiss and I smiled at her.
"I'm happy for you, Dex. Truly… I know this is something that you've always wanted. But now we won't be able to see each other again."
"Who says we can't?" I asked, swirling my fetticini.
"Well, the job in general. Isn't it at a conservation in another city?"
"Yes but it's only about three hours away. We can still see each other whenever we want to. I can come up here on the weekends or you can come down there… It's not that big of a change."
"I don't know, Dexter..."
"Well, would you rather I marry you?"
Julie blinked and I blinked at her as well. I couldn't believe the words had left my lips. We had only met about three months before and now I was asking her to marry me?
"I'm sorry… I don't know what came over me… But anyway-"
"Are you going to at least let me answer your question?"
"It was just something rumbling in my head and it kind of blurted itself out. It's nothing…"
"How about this: whenever you get an actual project going, you can propose to me?"
"Um… That's a great idea but what if it takes a long time?"
"In that time, we'll be able to get to know each other a lot better and we'll also be able to figure out if things work out. I mean, if anything at least we can see how long we can span ourselves with our relationship."
I thought about it and she was right. If it took a while then we'd get to know each other before marriage and even if it took a lot longer than we thought, I could just marry her when I wished after that.
"I like that idea…"
"When will you be moving or whatever it is you plan to do?"
"Well, I will be driving there and back until I can find a place to live. Maybe you can help me pick someplace out?"
"Sure, I'd love to… I'm really proud of you, Dexter."
I smiled at her and we finished our meal.

My goodbye party was happy yet somber because I was leaving my friends behind. I had grown to have a fondness with these people and a lot of them helped me with my thesis and such. They were the few good friends I had. After the party, I went to look at the big reef one last time and say goodbye to my little seahorse friend. I had affectionately named him Tippy so that I would be able to point him out.
I felt someone come up beside me and slip their hand in mine.
"Tippy will miss you." Julie said with a hug to my arm.
"I will miss him…"
"You know, he only showed himself when he knew you were looking. It was the weirdest thing; almost like he knew you were there searching for him."
"I'll miss the little Sygnathidae."
"You'll see him again, Dex… Come on, let's go."
He pulled me from the glass and we went back to the party at hand.

A week later, I was stepping into the conservational institute and looking around like a little idiot.
"Hey! Hey you! You with the dorky grin on your face!" someone yelled.
I immediately turned, which got a laugh from a very tall man dressed in nice pants and shirt with a lab coat over it all.
"Wow, you should learn to never look straight at the dude calling you dorky…" he said, stopping in front of me with a smile. "You must be Dexter Leoda?"
"Yes, that's me."
"Excellent. Management told me your were bumbling around here. I'm Dr. Tarot Koine, I'll be your lab partner."
"Partner? But no one said anything…" I said, faltering a little.
"Oh, no it has nothing to do with your research or anything. But we're in the same line of work and so we get to be stuck in the same room. The rooms are huge though so we shouldn't bump into each other or anything."
"So…"
"I'll explain a little more on the way." He said, directing me to follow him as he walked. "There are very few things wrong with fish these days except of course the sea turtles and some whales. But fishy fish, our little scaly friends, are usually the bottom of the barrel for importance on an ichthyologist's list of things. That's why the board thought your thesis was good in regards to the seahorse. They looked into it and you were right in your accusations regarding breeding and such."
"I see…"
"In this sense, both you and I are in the same little category because I am also trying to do research and experiments on a lesser known problem involving starfish. Since we are in the same field but with different smaller interests, they thought it best to save space and combine our projects together."
"Ah, I get it now."
Tarot was quiet for a while as we walked through many halls. I just followed him, trying not to look around. I knew I'd get lost if I did and trudged my way after him.
We finally ended up at a door that said "Minimal Ichthyologic Data Department" and Tarot pulled out a scan card.
"Tomorrow when you come in, the security guard will hand you one of these. You will need it for any door in the this building. Including the bathroom." He said, looking at me seriously with his sea green eyes. He swiped the card in the slot and the door opened. "Just remember to always knock on the door because the doors open as soon as the card slides down. If you're in there doing your thing, you had better say something when someone knocks."
I nodded and looked around the laboratory.
"This is nice." I said, impressed.
"Good, I'm glad it's to your liking. You should be able to do plenty of research here."
I nodded and Tarot helped me get everything situated.

I drove back home and called Julie to meet me somewhere to eat. I told her all about the job and about my partner and she listened intently. I was so excited about everything and she laughed at my display of glee. I was never one to just keep all my emotions hidden (except crying maybe) and so I wanted everyone to know that I was happy and nothing was going to bring me down.