Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Home of now late Winter the dolphin and filming place of the Dolphin Tale movies. You live about an hour away and visit the aquarium often, sometimes just going to sit and watch the dolphins play with each other for hours on end. You even do virtual school from the aquarium most days.

You knew that this aquarium attracts celebrities… well it did. Until Winter passed. You don’t keep your eye out for celebrities anymore because, well, the main ‘attraction’ is no longer there. It’s peaceful still, the sound of kids laughing and seeing a dolphin for the first time, seeing the dolphins roughhouse, and sometimes even just watching them gracefully glide in the water. It’s part of your routine, your therapy.

That was until everything changed.

Whitney Carson from Dancing With The Stars is in town. You don’t know it yet, no one does. Her and Robert Irwin just won the latest season a few months back, and they became close. Robert became an uncle figure to her kids, one of her husband’s boating friends, and of course, he’s her dance partner. It’s no surprise that when he comes to Florida, they meet up again. He came for a fancy banquet on wildlife conservation up in Jacksonville, and Whitney wanted to bring him and her family to Clearwater Marine Aquarium as a treat. Whitney even gets them the dolphin encounter add on.

You were there that day. Of course you were, when were you not? It’s basically your home. Your school. Your place of therapy. You were sitting on the ledge of the main underwater viewing center, a 50 foot window tucked to the back of the conjoined 5 pools that most people miss.

Not Robert and Whitney’s family.

Three of their rough toothed dolphins were particularly active as you worked on schoolwork: one playing with a ball, one with a traffic cone on its snout, and one swimming fast and in circles around the other two. As the family comes up on the window, you don’t pay attention. You drown out the families at this point… until Robert stands next to where you’re sitting. He makes casual conversation, but you swear that even under the dark, blue lighting of the hallway you see a pink tint to his cheeks

Robert: “Incredible creatures, yeah?”

His Australian accent comes out way thicker than usual, thick enough for Whitney to snap her head over in our direction to see what’s going on… is Robert flirting right now?! She furrows her eyebrows. She never thought she’d see the day Robert gets the courage to talk to a beautiful young woman just like him. She never thought she’d ever have to guide him through confusing talking stages… but here we are