Killing Time OST – 20b – Dinner

<< 20a – Dinner

The rest of the week went by while we prepped for the night. I wasn’t the only one who had to be taught how to lie. High quality microphones, disguised as flowers, snuck up in my centerpiece in the hope of recording enough of my father’s voice to engineer any verbal password the mainframe’s files would mention. Retina scans hid all around the room to maximize our chances of getting a shot clear enough to make contact lenses. The BluePrinter chose an empty, broken then reconstituted wine bottle as its new home so it could snap a picture from the wine rack. A radio frequency analyzer perched itself in the chandelier in case a chip besides the standard ID transmitted an identification code of some sort.
Julia received precise instructions regarding the wine glasses so they wouldn’t end up sterilized before we could pull off prints and DNA samples. She fought it and, ultimately, Vexx had no choice but to pump a virus in her system. The first version of it caused the robot to over-salt every single dish, a pretty obvious sign someone messed up with my cook’s interface. Version 2.0 of the ‘Glass Protection Program’ proved free of side-effects.
“I can reverse engineer blood, saliva and hair samples that Merrilyn Tech’s system will accept as long as we get your dad’s DNA make-up.” He didn’t say it but I knew he could also confirm if my ‘dad’ and I really were blood relatives. I might ask him to do it though I would have preferred to get the truth from the liar’s mouth.
While Vexx busied himself with the super spy retrofitting of my dining room, I began my quest for the perfect sound track. Finding something that I could play during dinner and use as a catalyzer for my mood proved an impossible task; no one would let me get away with playing the Devil’s Trill during the first service.
Eventually, it hit me; I didn’t have to play the song to everyone.
From that point on, the process significantly sped up. I would play the traditional Mozart for my guests and listen to something else in my head. Combined with the conversations, the required multi-tasking to handle all the auditory input should help me avoid the sore spots the evening was sure to poke.
After much thought, I settled for the greatest hits of James Bond movies soundtrack.
On the night, Naomi and Derek arrived first, as I hoped they will. Naomi stuffed a bottle of champagne in my hands as soon as the door opened wide enough to admit it.
“Oh! You shouldn’t have.” I meant it; she gave me same bottle every single year, chronically forgetting I had no love for bubbly. I hugged her nonetheless and thanked her fiancé as well though he had nothing to do with the gift.
When I presented Derek and ‘Vincent’ to each other, I could swear Vexx lost a few inches. Deflated, almost. He had nothing to be ashamed off but Derek was unnaturally stunning and it took its toll on the most confident minds.
“I’d take you over a million-dollar worth of cosmetic implants any day,” I murmured in Vexx’s ear as soon as Naomi turned her back on me. His eyes widened and he mumbled something along the lines of ‘I’d take you too.’
Vexx found his assurance somewhere between entering the living room and Naomi’s latest tale of dress fitting. She spent a good half hour babbling about wedding stuff before the doorbell interrupted her flow. She was in great shape tonight which meant she’d be perfect for the role I assigned her: distraction.
“Andrew!” she shrilled before I could greet my dad. She sidestepped me to hug him. “And who’s that charming lady on your arm?”
“Now playing Garbage – The World is Not Enough,” the chip in my head announced while my dad introduced Emma to all of us. I shook her hand and by the time I made my way to my father’s hug, I knew ‘what to conceeeeaaaalll’.
“You look beautiful, kitten,” my dad said. He planted a kiss on my forehead. “Happy birthday.” He stepped aside.
In the courtyard, two delivery robots held the biggest bed I had ever seen. It had to be at least twice a king-sized bed. A kingdom-sized bed, complete with four posts, drapes, an army of pillows and a big bow resting on the eiderdown.
“When I heard this one was sticking around, I figured that your troubles sleeping might be caused by the lack of space.”
I scraped my jaw off the floor and faked an overwhelming amount of enthusiasm by running outside and pulling Naomi behind me. We jumped on the bed, laughing. I checked the robots from the corner of my eye to make sure the added weight wouldn’t overwork their hydraulics. Naomi lay down and I followed suit, using her excitement to simulate my own.
“Oh my gosh! This is so perfect,” she moaned. “Wait!” She jumped off the bed and ran back to grab Vexx. “Come on!” She pulled on him until he followed, the rest of the party trailing behind them. She pushed him onto the bed by my side.
“That’s not heart-warming at all,” Derek smirked. Naomi stood by his side and frowned.
Vexx slid an arm under my head and one around my waist, his eyes glaring at me until I wrapped myself around him as well. Putting on a daring face for me, wasn’t he?
“Way better!” Naomi pushed my hair around and then, towered over us, an expecting hand opened toward Derek. He put a small camera in her palm. “Now kiss!”
I almost protested but Vexx’s insistent look and my father’s glowing smile convinced me I had to go through with this. I pressed my lips against Vexx’s. “Die Another Day” was an oddly appropriate soundtrack. And that damned flash wasn’t coming.
“Put some heart into already!”
Vexx pulled me closer and slipped his tongue between my lips. I gave in for lack of a better option. This felt awkward on so many levels. Kissing never felt out of place in any situation I could recall.
Which are all pre-nanobot removal.
“Now, it’s perfect!”
By the time we emerged from our kiss, everyone was cheering. We rolled out of the bed and let the other walk a few steps before we followed them inside.
“Dicey situation number one: overcome,” Vexx whispered.
My jaw tightened.
So that was what it felt like to be kissed to avoid trouble.

20c – Dinner >>