Seduction - Chapter 5 #2
And then the weirdest thing happened. All the parrots in the restaurant started singing in harmony Wouldn’t It be Nice by the Beach Boys.
Apparently they were all robotic. They started flapping their wings and swaying to the beat of the music.
It was perfect timing. Hence the watch that Rob was wearing for the first time in his life.
It was so freaking cute.
“You’re crying,” James whispered.
Am I? I touched my cheek and sure enough, it was wet. Anything could set me off recently. But I wasn’t surprised I was crying now. This was amazing. I loved Rob and Daphne together. And I’d just gained the world’s best sister-in-law.
Rob stopped kissing Daphne long enough to say, “You didn’t read the whole card.”
“What?” asked Daphne.
He reached behind her and grabbed it off the table.
She looked at the card and then back at him. “You’re crazy, you do know that?”
“I do,” he said. “Is that still a yes?”
“A thousand times yes.”
He kissed her again.
“What else is on the card?” Matt asked.
Rob held it up in the air as he started making out with his fiancée again.
Matt stood up and grabbed it. “It says marry me…in two weeks.”
“No, sir,” Rob said. “I will not.”
Matt hit him in the back of the head.
I laughed and then stopped. “Wait, two weeks?!”
Rob smiled at Daphne. “I don’t want to wait another minute for you to be my wife.”
She nodded. “I love you so much.”
“We have a wedding to plan!” Rob said.
Two weeks was not a lot of time. But if there was anyone who could do it… “I know exactly who to call.” My wedding planner, Justin, was the only person I’d trust for the job. He was going to freak about the two weeks’ notice. But he’d also see it as a challenge. He’d make it magical for them.
“Good, because I don’t know the first thing about planning a wedding,” Daphne said. “Oh my God, I need a dress.” She shook her head. “And a venue. Can we really do this in two weeks?”
“We can do it,” I said. Well…I couldn’t. Justin could. And I’d definitely be there to help with anything they needed. We needed to make a list of everything we had to do. My mind was going a mile a minute, but it came to a halt when Matt screamed at the top of his lungs.
One of the parrots was attacking him.
He screamed again and slapped the parrot.
I screamed too and ducked under the table.
But I could still see the action. Some of the parrots were flying around the restaurant now, flapping to the music.
The creepy parrot with the wandering eyes only had one target, though…
Matt. Its mechanical wings flapped violently as it belted out the lyrics to Wouldn’t It Be Nice , trying its best to hit Matt in the face.
Matt was trying to swat it away, but it kept coming back for more.
I started laughing because I didn’t know what else to do. And Matt’s screams were so high-pitched.
Matt dodged another attack and then swatted once more at the bird before ducking under our table too. “What the fuck?” he said.
I started laughing even harder.
“It’s not funny. That bird tried to fucking kill me.” But he started laughing because I was laughing so hard.
“Did you see its eyes?” I said through my laughter.
“Yes, they were staring right at me.”
James ducked his head under the table as the song came to an end. “It’s safe to come out now, you two.”
I lifted my head back up. The whole table was laughing.
“Part of this place’s charm,” Rob said. “Singing birds on the hour every hour.” He unhooked his watch and then threw it on the table. “I don’t need that thing anymore. Watches suck.”
Of course. Rob was timing this out perfectly. And murderous tropical parrots were the perfect way to celebrate a proposal. The night made a whole lot more sense now.
The food came out a minute later. “Sorry about that,” our waiter said, nodding at Matt. “Patty the parrot has a certain route around the restaurant and you were in the way. We’ve never had that happen before.”
“Was I in the way?” Matt said. “Because I was just standing by our table.”
“We always suggest that our guests stay seated during the show. For their own safety.”
“I didn’t know there was a show,” Matt said.
“Oh. That’s why everyone comes here. For the parrot show and the delicious food.” He turned to the newly engaged couple. “Congratulations, you two,” Randy said. “Dessert is on the house tonight. And you know…we do weddings. You could have it here.”
Good God no. Accidentally being attacked by parrots on your wedding day did not sound like a good plan.
Rob nodded at Randy, but he didn’t say yes. I was hoping it was more of a polite nod. Not a…yeah we’ll have our wedding at the Parrot Palace kind of nod.
Daphne and Rob climbed back into the booth. They both looked so happy.
Which reminded me of how nervous Daphne had been to tell us the news. “Wait,” I said. This night made no sense at all. “Daphne said you guys had news. But she was totally surprised about the proposal. Was there other news?”
Daphne opened her mouth but Rob cut her off.
“Yeah, we probably should have warned you,” Rob said. “There were terrible reviews for the burgers here. Their beef is super rancid.”
What? I’d ordered a burger… I looked around at the rest of our meals. We’d all ordered burgers.
“I can assure y’all that our beef is not rancid,” Randy said.
Rob looked down at Daphne’s plate. “Oh, then maybe it was the turkey then. Well, either way, she can’t eat this. The pickles can’t be anywhere near her plate. And there are pickles there. We talked about this.”
I’d never seen Rob complain about any food. Or care about any reviews. It was sweet that he was taking care of Daphne though. And I didn’t want to get sick from rancid beef. Or turkey. Or whatever.
“Sorry. I’ll take it back right away.” Randy grabbed the plate.
“Wait. I’ll take them.” I leaned across the booth and grabbed the pickles off her plate.
Daphne looked horrified when I shoved one in my mouth.
So freaking good.
James laughed. “So the turkey is rancid?”
“I promise you nothing is rancid,” Randy said again. “Will you guys please stop saying that,” he said, dropping his voice so the other patrons would stop staring at us.
“Just the turkey,” Rob said with a nod and then whispered something in Daphne’s ear.
She nodded.
Screw it. I didn’t know what those two were up to. But that pickle was amazing. And I was starving. “I guess we’ll find out,” I said and took a big bite of my burger. It didn’t taste rancid. It tasted like heaven.
James shrugged and started eating too. The rest of our table followed. Minus Daphne because she’d ordered the rancid turkey meat. But I didn’t think she was that hungry. She seemed perfectly fine making out with Rob.
I took another bite and then all the lights in the restaurant turned off.
What the hell is happening now?