***as published on Amazon***
What happens when the bad boy turns out to be your knight in shining armor?
Gwen wasn't expecting to fall for anyone. She had focused every ounce of her attention on getting through college and making it through her m...
Gwen, appreciating her home court advantage, spent the rest of the day walking by Dodo's cage whispering, 'Happy Birthday'. The parrot seemed to thrive under the extra attention while Josh pulled out his phone, uninterested in the situation now that he had set the wheels turning.
"Dodo, happy birthday," said Gwen again as the bird hopped along its perch. "Dodo, say happy birthday."
Ugh, there must be a better way, she thought and pulled out her phone and googled, 'How to teach birds to talk,' and read through a few articles. There were some helpful hints, like working several times a day with the bird in short increments and rewarding the bird with treats. Motivated, she went to the back where the food was kept and pulled out a handful of Dodo's favorite snacks and put them in a small plastic shopping bag and went back to see Dodo. Now that she had a plan, it would only be a matter of hours before she won the bet, although either way she would get to go to Joust – winning now was a matter of pride. The real question was, would she take Tanner with her if she won? It would be the right thing to do, after all.
Standing beside Dodo's cage, she said, "Dodo, say jerk. Jerk."
"Jerk, jerk," echoed Dodo.
"Good job, Dodo," Gwen cooed, and gave him one of his treats.
"Dodo, say jerk."
"Jerk, jerk, graaawk."
Gwen handed the bird another treat.
"Dodo, say happy."
"Jerk, jerk." Dodo hopped happily around the cage and then back over to the side, expecting another treat.
"No, say Happy, happy,"
"Jerk."
Gwen slowed her words down and repeatedly said happy birthday to a barrage of the bird's insults.
Josh stood in the corner laughing, which made her more than annoyed.
Hours later and she was no closer to making the bird do her bidding. Three days later, however, she made a breakthrough and almost fell on her face when the bird answered happy birthday back. It was a little garbled, but still, it was there!
Ha!
She ran and grabbed Tanner by the arm and dragged him excitedly over to dodo's cage, boasting how she had just won the bet.
"Jerk," the bird answered back, hopping over to peck at some seed.
Tanner fell apart, laughing just as Gwen's heart flopped over. It was time to go back to the drawing board.
"If you want to see a bird talk, watch how it's done," said Tanner taking Gwen by the hand and leading her a few cages over where the new bird, one that Gwen had hardly looked at since the day it had inconveniently made her stay late. "Peaches, sweetie, say happy birthday."
The bird chirped back happily with the attention.
"See, she's not going to do any better."
"Peaches, happy birthday."
"Happy birthday, Peaches," the bird magically chirped back.
What the Heck? thought Gwen. "How did you do that? I've hardly seen you around the bird."
"I sat down after work last night for an hour and worked with her," answered Tanner, not entirely to Gwen's satisfaction.
"I worked for days on Dodo and only got him to say it once."
"Jerk," interrupted Dodo from a few cages over.
Jerk was right! No wonder someone taught him that word. They were talking about him!
"Why didn't you tell me right away?"
"I was trying to give you as much of a lead as possible. Anyways, it won't be so bad going out with me, will it? You might have a good time."
Gwen smiled. Fair enough, and she'd get to go to Joust. She had to admit she was pretty excited.
Tanner returned to his puppies, and Gwen went back to helping customers until Inga, one of the customer service reps told her she was wanted in the office. Gwen groaned, "What now?" she asked. Inga shrugged her shoulder and left, leaving Gwen wondering, what now? She obediently headed to the manager's office, where to her surprise, Josh was waiting for her sitting at Elizabeth's desk.
"Are you supposed to be there?" asked Gwen. "And where is Elizabeth? She called me in here."
"No, that was me. I was curious how your bird is coming along."
Josh came around the other side of the desk, leaning back on it with his arms crossed. He carried himself with the demeanor of someone in charge but was still dressed like he was about to go to the bar. It was crazy sexy, but there was no way she would share that tidbit with him.
"I lost."
"What did I tell you?"
"There was no way for you to predict that. I could have won."
"You still don't get it, do you?"
"You know, you're a pretty cocky guy for someone who has only been here for a few days. And I don't appreciate the fact that you have such low opinion of me that you would assume I'd lose."
"It's not that. It's just I know guys like Tanner."
"I'm pretty sure you don't know anything about any of us."
"If you say so."
"I don't understand why you've got your nose in my business anyways."
"It's, well...." It was Josh's turn to stumble over his words. Gwen felt good that it wasn't just her messing up.
Josh's lips drew a tight line. His eyes looked her up and down in a practiced move. Gwen felt naked again, like when they first met, but she wouldn't let him get to her. "That's what I thought," she said and stormed off.
Author's Notes
It's only another week until this book is going to be published in the Weak in the Knees Anthology!! EEP! So exciting to be included amongst other authors that I respect so much!
