The Singing Canary (ON HOLD)

Chapter 3

I felt this constant nipping at my nose, followed my a small chirping. I finally got annoyed and opened my eyes to punch the crap out of Quinn. Instead of seeing him i saw his yellow canary right in my face. A small smile crept on my face. I'm surprised he was able to keep that thing alive, i had heard that they where a bit hard to take care of.

I remember when he first got the bird. I was sitting by myself at The Big Tree a few years back and waiting on Quinn to meet me. After a while i heard footsteps from behind me. I turn around and see Quinn running towards me with something cupped in his hands.

"What is that" i asked as he made his way over to me. He came to a stop in front of me smiling, and tried to talk.

"So...I was...at the park...and i found...this" He opened his hands a inside was a small bright yellow bird. "I think its a canary" he added once he caught his breath."I was playing around with it and when i had to leave, it kept following me. Cool right?"

"Yeah, that pretty awesome. Are you gonna keep it?" i asked. His smile slightly faded away.

"I don't know, i want to but only if its okay with my parents. I heard that these are really needy and had to be taken care of in the right conditions."

"Lets ask" i suggested. He looked like i was crazy.

"What, now?"

"No, next week. Yes Now!" i said already running to his house. When Quinn found out he could keep the bird his face was as bright as the sun, like it is now. I still don't know why he didn't want to name it.

"Good afternoon Acey." Quinn said in a high pitched voice impersonating the bird. "Quinn told me to tell you that you should dress nice for when you go out to dinner."

I smiled. "Oh did he now? And where exactly are we going to dinner?"

"I cant tell you that." Quinn got the bird out of my face and smiled the smile that i love.

The rest of the day seemed to by agonizingly slow. Every chance i get i would ask for a hint of where we were going. Even when i threatened to kill his bird he still wouldn't give it up and Quinn loves that bird more than me. The only thing i got out of him, be ready by seven-thirty.

When six-thirty came around, i took a shower and got dressed in a flowing sea blue dress that stopped just above my knees. I put on light makeup that did wonders for me making me look beautiful. It was a little before seven-thirty when i put on my white flats and made my way down the stairs. By the door i see Quinn, with his light brown hair combed perfectly backwards and a nice black and white tux. He actually looked more nice than me, making me feel under dressed. But then his words changed my mind.

"Wow" he said in awe. "You look amazing" I smiled and took the hand that was reached out to me. We closed the door to the house and got in the car.

"So, because we are on our way there," i stared as he pulled out of the driveway. ",do you think you could tell me where we're going. I don't really like surprises." i informed him. He chuckled.

"Well if we are on our way, then i don't have to tell you and this will be a nice surprise." I rolled my eyes and just looked out the window as he drove. The farther he drove, the more fimialir i was with my surroundings. When he was about a block away from our destination, I looked at him to see if he was serious. He was smiling but never looked at me. Yeah, he was serious.

"You have to be joking" I said as we pulled up to the donut shop where we had our first date. The only response was his laughing so hard I saw a tear streak down his cheek.

When we were fourteen he took me out to the donut shop for breakfast. It was the worst date i had ever had, mostly because of me. I was so nervous about going on a date with my best friend. I had sweaty palms so i kept wiping them on my green skirt. My stomach was twisting all night and i quickly lost my hunger, but i still got that stupid double chocolate long john and hot chocolate with whipped cream.

All the chocolate was so rich and sweet that when i chugged down my drink after my last bite of the donut, I could feel it threatening me with making a reappearance. I shot up from my seat and rushed to the bathroom and puked my guts out.

When i was done i splashed my face in cold water, not realizing i had ruined my makeup. So now the mascara was making me look like a raccoon. I wiped it off with a paper towel making it smudge. With the rest of the confidence that i had (which wasn't much) i walked out of the bathroom and bumped into something. I looked up to see a guy with a weird expression on his face. I don't know what possessed me to turn around and look at the door, but i did. On the door, i just came out of, in plain white letters, MEN'S. I could have died right then, but i held and walked passed him towards Quinn who was waiting patiently.

"HI, uh, sorry about that." i said with a shy smile.

"No, its okay, I'm nervous too." He smiled back at me and then looked down at my shirt and his eyes went wide.

"Whats wrong" i asked. I followed his eyes to my purple colored shirt and saw that there was some vomit on it. After that the rest of the date was kind out a blur to me.

"No!" i said as Quinn was getting out of the car, still smiling. I'm surprised he didn't block out the memory like i tried to. That was the first and last time i was ever here. Until today.

"No Quinn, I'm not going in there!"

"Come on! We'll only be here for a few minutes and then i have another special place planned. Please!"

Special? He calls the place where i threw up in the men's bathroom, with some left on my shirt, special? But I couldn't resist his begging. I'm only doing this for him and nothing more, i told myself. I got out of the car and we went inside. It was exactly the same.

Pale green colored walls with a white stripe going across the small area and the smell of roast coffee whipped through the air. Quinn grabs my hand and leads me to a table. When we sat down, i knew that this wasn't just any table. This was the table. I'm going to screw this up again. I could feel my palms get sweaty.

"I made sure that they didn't have this table taken." Quinn said as if reading my thoughts. Was this man trying to put me through hell? I bit my lip to hold back from all the profanity running through my mind.

"You don't have to be nervous." he said calmly and just with that, i relaxed.

Shockingly, the "diner" went great. I didn't order any chocolate, but i didn't puke either. We talked easily and normally. I think i can rule this as the best date ever. When we were finished we paid for our meal and walked to our car. When we got in i just stared at him and smiled. Even though i though i would kill him tonight, he is my savior.

"Thank you" i said sweetly.

"Don't thank me yet." he said. "We still have another place to go." We drove until we reached a four way cross and stopped at our red light. The longer we waited the more anxious he got. I could tell that he was looking forward to something.

"What wrong?" i asked just as our light turned green and he started to drive.

"Oh, uh, nothing. I was just a bit-" but he never finished that sentence because out of nowhere a huge semi with two bright lights came hurdling towards us on the left side. All i remember was a loud crash and glass flying everywhere when everything went dark.