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“Did you teach him to say that?” I asked.
“No.” Sadie looked so flustered; I had no choice but to believe her.
“Nitro, you silly bird.” She brought him closer and stroked his feathers while he chirped contentedly. “We’ve talked about this.”
I’d never seen Sadie show this much affection towards anything, and it made me feel uncomfortable on levels I didn’t want to examine. But it made sense that of all creatures, she’d connect with a beady-eyed, rude parrot.
“You’ve talked with him about what?” I asked.
Sadie turned away, ignoring my question. “Okay, buddy. Time to go back in your cage.”
“THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID,” Nitro squawked.
There was a long silence before Makayla began to giggle and couldn’t stop. It morphed into a snort giggle, making the moment that much more perfect. All I needed was for Sadie to turn around and have to face us. Instead, she took her time putting the bird away before covering his cage with a sheet.
“So, did you inherit him or something?” Makayla asked once she got her giggling under control.
“No. Someone at work gave him to my brother, and Jenny and I volunteered to keep him until his new owners come. Obviously, his previous owner was a pig. I mean, a guy teaches his bird to say the most juvenile things and then doesn’t keep him because he’s too much to handle?”
Makayla asked all sorts of follow up questions I tuned out because I didn’t care, and also because I could hear the jingling of keys outside the front door. A moment later, Jenny came in and took in the sight of all of us, including Sadie with her flustered expression.
“Was Nitro misbehaving?” she asked, looking at his covered cage.
“Just the usual,” Sadie said with a sigh. “Makayla brought muffins.” The two of them exchanged a look that made me want to scoop up Makayla and protect her from their mental eye rolling.
Jenny should know better. Finding new friends was hard. She’d once called me in the middle of the night for help. Me, of all people. She’d needed someone and I’d stepped up.
That was it. I wasn’t leaving until the three of them were brushing each other’s hair and trading first-date horror stories. I parked myself on the end of the couch farthest away from Nitro’s cage and took a muffin out of the basket. Someone should be eating these. Might as well be me.
I pulled out my phone and checked my email one more time, even though I’d checked it five minutes ago. If I didn’t hear back from GoWithFriends Corporate about the interview they promised me, I was going to lose my mind.
Chapter 3 – Sadie
Nitro was a terrible man-deterrent. Yes, it had been pretty awesome to see Denver ready to faint at the sight of him. But then Nitro opened his big mouth… er…. beak, and that was the end of my fun. Nitro was no longer scary. Just a really, really embarrassing sideshow.
Poor bird. Why couldn’t his new owners drive down from Las Vegas tomorrow and not a few weeks from now? Then he’d have a bigger enclosure, bird friends, and someone better equipped to help him change his vocabulary. I wasn’t making any headway, though he seemed to like me. His favorite hangout when I got home from work was on top of my head, though I wouldn’t be admitting that to the bird-hating man currently parked on my couch.
And why was Denver eating our gift muffins? This was not how this visit was supposed to go at all. He was getting crumbs everywhere. Why was he always over here anyway? Just because once upon a time he’d let me and Jenny rent out a room in his house for a month didn’t mean we all had to act like roommates for the rest of eternity. Was it a power thing, or was it his leftover feelings for Jenny driving all this?
But I already knew it had to be the second one. This was his stupid attempt to flaunt Makayla in Jenny’s face. His little messages were coming through loud and clear.
This could have been you.
See what you’re missing?
Look how hot and nice she is. Also, did I mention she bakes cookies in a miniskirt?
Jenny wasengaged. If there was ever a person to win a not caring contest, it would be Jenny. Even now, I could see her mind flitting away into Noah la-la land. She wound a strand of her red hair around her finger while she stared off into space.
“So, you two are going to dinner?” I prompted, hoping either Makayla or Denver would take a hint and move on with their evening.
“Yep.” Makayla walked over to Jenny’s bookshelf and started perusing titles. Jenny had her books organized by color and size, which made absolutely no sense to me, but whatever. I’d left the decorating of the apartment to her. “It’s this little Italian place we found. They have the best oven-baked chicken piccata.” She suddenly froze and then whirled around to look at Denver. “Did I turn off my oven?”
He nodded, though it was clear he wasn’t one-hundred percent sure.
“I’d better check. I’ll be right back.” Makayla hurried out the door, forgetting to close it behind her.
Denver got up to follow, but instead of leaving after her, he closed the door and turned to face us, crossing his ripped arms across his broad chest, as his thin shirt so well outlined for me.
