Page 5 of The Quirky Vet

As I'm taking a slash, I pull out my phone to see what time it is.

"Holy shit," I mutter to myself. It's after two. No wonder I'm tired as fuck.

I find Fitz, we say goodbye to everyone, and I lead him towards the exit.

"Where are we going?" he asks, once we're out on the street.

It's even busier than it was before. Does no one go to bed at a reasonable time anymore? Related side question, where can one go to see whether they qualify as the world's oldest millennial?

We walk past a pop-up Las Vegas wedding chapel.

"What the hell is that?" he asks, slowing down to take in the lit-up tent set up on the side of the footpath.

"Dunno." I grab his forearm and march us forwards. "And don't care." I need a timeout, and I know the perfect place for it.

"I like your thinking," Fitz says, smiling as he kicks off his polished shoes when we get to the beach.

"Just needed a bit of quiet, you know?"

"Yeah. I do."

We leave our socks and shoes in the sand and head towards the water.

We're in Surfers Paradise, which isthetourist hotspot. There's a bright football-field light illuminating a good two-thirds of the beach. No one's in the water, but a few fellow drunkards are ambling around on the sand, trying to stay upright. Achieving mixed results.

I roll my pants halfway up my shins. Fitz goes to do the same but loses his balance and falls into me. If I hadn't consumed enough booze to knock out an elephant, I probably would have been able to absorb his weight.

But since I have, we both tumble down into the soft sand. His warm body lands on top of me, and suddenly I can't breathe right. He cracks up, but all I can manage is a weak grin. I'm lying on my back, trying to ignore the fact that every second I'm this close to him makes my heart race like crazy.

"Sorry, mate," he says, peeling himself off me.

"It's all good." I prop myself up and suck in a few gulps of salty air.

He brushes some sand off his arms. "What a fucking night."

"You can say that again."

What's that expression? Humans plan, God laughs. Well, I bet the big fella in the sky is laughing his head off at us right about now.

I try to wrap my head around the events of this evening, but I'm too tipsy to think straight. Ha. I let out a low chuckle at the unintended pun.

Fitz is restless as usual. He pulls out his phone and begins scrolling.

I wince. "Shit. I forgot you had plans to post the proposal on your TikTok."

"The ironic thing is, I'd forgotten about that, too, until just now."

"That's…astonishing." Fitz's phone is practically a part of his body at this point, and if he's not posting new content, he's talking about new content he wants to post. One of the joys of being an influencer.

"Tell me about it." He tucks his phone away.

"You must really be going through it."

"I am. Thankfully, alcohol is a tried and tested numbing agent for emotions." He rests his forearms over his knees, his hands dangling over. "What about you?"

"Yeah. Same." I clear my throat. "Going through it but numb."

"Come on." He flicks some sand at me. "We can deal with everything tomorrow. The night is still young."