CHAPTER 10 (BRUCIE)

I put on my Beatles shirt that I bought from Adrianna yesterday. I just finished eating breakfast a while ago. I fixed my hair, letting it loose.

I was so excited for my date with Danny. I really did miss him a lot.

I heard the doorbell downstairs ring. My heart skipped a beat for a second.

Oh my gosh. It was Danny.

I checked my appearance in the mirror. I looked great. Okay.

I went downstairs. My parents were at the kitchen with Kristoph.

I pecked them on the cheek. "Bye Mom. Bye Dad."

"Bye", Mom and Dad said at the same time.

I patted Kristoph on the head. "Bye bro."

Kristoph smiled.

As I was about to go out, Jacob appeared. He was blocking the way.

Uh-oh. I though he was okay now.

He smirked. "You're really forgetful, aren't you? Bring a camera."

He tossed my camera at me. I caught it by the strap. I grinned at him. "Thanks Jacob."

He hugged me. "Hey, be safe okay? I'd go crazy if anything happened to you."

I let go of him, a gentle smile plastered on my face. "Thanks. I'll bear that in mind."

I got out and grabbed my small backpack. I twisted the doorknob and Danny was there outside.

I gasped when I saw him. He gasped too and began to laugh.

"Oh. My. Gosh", we both said at the same time, laughing.

I cannot believe that we actually wore the exact same shirt today! What a coincidence!

"You bought that from the men's section?" he grinned.

I nodded, grinning as well. "Yup. Jenny and James helped me pick it."

"Well, it is pretty cool. I just bought this yesterday too."

We laughed.

He was holding a bouquet of roses in his hand.

"Ah. These are for you", he said, giving the lovely bunch to me.

I beamed. "Thanks Danny!"

I immediately embraced him. Very tightly. He hugged me back too. He pecked my cheek.

"I missed you", I smiled.

He let go of me, grinning. "I miss you too."

He kissed me very gently. Gosh I missed that. It lasted for a few seconds. He hugged me again.

I just missed being with him, not just his kisses which could knock a star out of its constellation.

"So, where are we going?" I asked him as I held his hand.

"You'll see", he grinned.

Okay. I knew it would be a great place though. I just had a feeling.

"Wow Danny. I never knew you'd take me here", I exclaimed in awe as I took pictures of the place.

My camera made a shutter sound. I heard birds chirping.

Danny chuckled. "Well, I do love animals."

I smiled. "I'm glad you brought me here though. It's something different."

Much to my surprise, Danny brought me to the zoo. It's called the 'Emerald Haven', which was a really huge place. I've seen the zoo in the local news before and I've seen it being showcased in a magazine.

It contained a lot of different species of animals ranging from elephants, to camels, to zebras, to seahorses, to antelopes and so much more.

I loved this place actually. Sure I was pretty scared of dogs, but I loved all the other animals.

We were at the aviary, where a lot of birds were in huge cages with habitats in it to make the birds think that they've never even left home. We passed by one cage that contained a peacock. Its feathers were absolutely stunning, flashing a bright blue plumage. It bared its wings. I immediately took a picture. It was really beautiful and the colors just scream 'Beautiful'.

I smiled. I was having a good time here.

"Hey, you want to take a picture over there?" Danny asked, pointing to a place where the kids took a picture with different birds.

I agreed. "Let's go then."

We lined up. There were only a few people in front of us anyway. It didn't take that long.

Finally, it was our turn. Danny and I sat on the bench, waiting for the birds to be placed on our shoulder.

The bird keeper placed two small red parrots on our shoulder. Their claws tickled a bit, but I managed to shrug off the feeling.

"Why, hello handsome", the parrot on Danny's shoulder squawked.

I turned and looked. Danny looked surprised.

"Er… Hi… How are you?" he said.

"Fine. Fine. What's your name? I'm Rosanni by the way. And I think you are the opposite of plug-ugly", the parrot continued.

I stifled back a laugh. Of all the things that had to flirt with Danny, it just had to be a parrot. This was a funny way. The parrot was behaving in an effervescent way. If she were a person, I'd say her highly-spirited ways would be quite infectious.

I could see Danny laughing as well.

"Um… I'm Danny", he answered, laughing.

This was one crazy parrot.

"Rosanni. I told you to stop that", the bird keeper reprimanded the bird.

Rosanni lowered her head, appearing sorry. "I was only trying to find my own paramour…"

I looked at the parrot with a dumb-struck expression. Wow. This was a smart parrot. But sorry, she can't have my boyfriend as her paramour.

The bird keeper approached us. He was grinning. "Sorry about that. Rosanni's always like that. I'm Jared by the way."

"Nice to meet you", Danny and I said.

"Ah. So, where's your camera?" Jared smiled.

We handed him our cameras. He took a few steps back, getting a good shot of us.

He was holding my camera first. Danny and I grinned widely. He took our picture. He used Danny's camera now. He clicked on it, and the photo was taken.

I guess that's it. We're done.

I was about to get up when Danny said something.

"Wait! One last picture", he said.

Jared nodded and followed his instructions.

"Okay. One… Two… Three!" Jared said.

Before Jared could say 'three', Danny did what I never expected.

He kissed me on the cheek.

I turned red.

Wow. I was caught of guard. I certainly didn't see that coming!

I looked at Danny, a surprised expression on my face. Danny was grinning widely at me. I blinked twice and just laughed.

"I didn't see that coming", I said, grinning.

"Well, I wanted to surprise you", he replied.

Suddenly, Rosanni began to flap her wings. "Hey, hey, hey. Enough is enough."

Danny and I laughed. This parrot was really funny.

Jared came and gave us our cameras back. We thanked him.

"Honestly, you two are so sweet", he grinned at us.

We smiled back. Danny placed his arm on my shoulder.

"I just love her so much you know", he grinned.

I smiled. "Anyway, thanks! We have to jet now."

We walked away. I looked at the pictures in the camera. I was looking at the one where Danny kissed my cheek. I had a really surprised expression on my face. It was a sweet picture though. I'm definitely going to keep this.

We toured around the zoo some more. There were a lot of snakes here. I saw one in the middle of the process of shedding its skin.

Danny wanted to go to the spiders' exhibit, but no way was I going there. I was still scared of spiders.

After touring the zoo until lunch time, we headed home. We had lunch first though at the zoo's restaurants. The blue marlin was simply delicious. We'd just probably talk back at home. I was happy as long as I was with him.

We finally arrived at home. Danny and I proceeded to the garden. My parents had just put a swing here. We decided to just head there and chat.

We were at the swing now, sitting side by side,

"That parrot was really funny you know", I chuckled.

"I know. I've never met anything like it before", Danny agreed.

"So, how was your seminar?"

He shrugged. "It was fine. We learned a lot of stuff and I met a lot of people. There was even someone who came all the way from Thailand. Cool, huh?"

I nodded. "I'm glad you had a great time."

"Well, it was kind of sad. I missed you."

I grinned. "Really?"

"Yup. I really did. It just feels kind of dead without you", he said as he held my hand.

"Aw… I missed you so much too."

He smiled. Then he moved his head closer to mine. I closed my eyes.

All of a sudden, the bushes behind us began to rustle. I opened my eyes as I flinched. What the heck was that?

"Danny? Did you hear that?" I asked him.

He nodded. "I sure did."

"Wait here. I'll check it out."

I got off the swing and went towards the bushes. The rustling sound continued. Just what was that?

I squatted as I observed the bush. All of a sudden, something white with brown spots and fur lunged at me.

It barked as I fell down. I closed my eyes as I hit the blades of grass.

"Ow!" I groaned.

Something was breathing heavily on me. I opened my eyes.

Oh my gosh. It was a dog.

It was a beagle puppy to be exact.

I started to panic. I was still scared of dogs. And this was not helping me get over my phobia of them.

"D-Danny! C-can you get him off me??" I asked Danny in a frantic voice.

The dog began licking my face. Its drool was all over my face.

I heard Danny chuckle a bit. Finally, he placed his arms around the dog and carefully scooped it away from me.

I finally began to relax. Whew. Thank God it was over.

I stood up and wiped the slobber from my face.

The dog was in Danny's hands. It kept on moving. Danny was smiling broadly.

"Aw… Isn't he cute?" Danny grinned as he played with the dog's ear.

I smiled. "I'd say that too if I wasn't so scared of dogs."

Danny observed the dog's neck. A puzzled expression appeared on his face.

"Look, it's got no collar or anything", he said.

I looked at the dog's neck as well. He was right. No identification whatsoever.

"Maybe it's a stray", I said. If it was, it was an adorable stray.

The dog sneezed. Danny and I laughed.

"Aw… I think I'll keep him", Danny smiled.

"Maybe you should. It's got nowhere else to go to", I agreed.

The dog suddenly jumped out of his arms. It ran back to me.

I squealed and ran to Danny. I hugged him.

"Danny! Danny! It's gonna attack me!!" I cried.

He laughed. "Don't be scared Anthea. It's only a dog, and a puppy too."

He squatted and snapped his fingers. The dog approached him.

"Sit", he commanded.

It followed.

"Nice. Smart dog", he grinned.

"So, what're you going to name him?" I asked him.

A thoughtful expression was on his face. "I know. I'll name him Brucie."

He lifted the dog. "Hello Brucie!!"

I laughed. Aw… That was so cute! He looked like a kid now.

Brucie yawned and began to sleep. Danny cradled him in his arms.

"He's adorable", I smiled.

We went back to the swing. Brucie was still in Danny's arms. We talked for a while. Brucie kept on yawning from time to time.

Finally, Danny had to go home. I was sorry to see him go. Things felt so fast.

I hugged him. "Bye. I'll miss you too."

He kissed me. "I'll miss you too."

He grinned and made Brucie face me. "Say bye-bye to Anthea Brucie."

I laughed. "Bye."

Then he left. Brucie kept on barking, as if it didn't want to leave. I smiled. Like I said, it was adorable.