Nadine Book 7

27. Taste Test

Nikolas keeps the kisses coming. "I do miss you babygirl."

"I miss you too."

"WOMAN OPEN YOUR MOUTH." I turn around and Tye shoves something in my mouth. Then he shoves it at Nikolas's face. "JUST A BITE."

It is different. It's cheesy pizza but with a sweet taste. It's pineapple. I jump up. "THAT'S AMAZING."

"I KNOW. YOU CAN PUT PINEAPPLE ON ANYTHING."

Nikolas nods. "It is good."

Tye kisses my head. "I wanted you to try it. I'm putting it at my resort."

"That is so good Tye. And so different, it will fit in on the island."

Nikolas sits back. "I wonder if there is some kind of pineapple or coconut drinks you can add to the bar."

Tye's eyes get big and he runs out.

I smile at Nikolas. "You're now babysitting Tye for the night."

"I'll make sure he passes out somewhere reasonable."

"Thank you." I motion the brain. "How many Chinese dishes can the ship make?"

"1,964."

Nikolas laughs. "How about you bring us 30 of the highest rated main dishes. And 10 of the highest rated side dishes. And 5 desserts. Make enough for us to try."

"I will alert you when we need a door from the ship."

"Thank you."

Tye comes in. "Here's a ham 1 if you want to try it. They can't make any drinks here. So I guess I'll try later."

"Brain. How many pineapple or coconut type island drinks are there?"

"704."

"I need to slop asking how many."

Nikolas smirks. "Can you get us 10 of the highest rated pineapple drinks, 10 of the highest rated coconut drinks, and 10 of the highest rated island drinks? Enough for us to try."

"It has been added to the list. Current wait time is approximately 22 minutes."

"Is that for everything?"

"Yes."

"That's fine."

"It is suggested to add vanilla ice cream. Two of the Chinese dishes are spicy."

"Yea, enough of that too." I stretch big. "I don't want to try those two. Either of you like spicy food? I think Thora likes spicy and Coral hates it. It's 1 or the other. I'll summon them when the food gets here. One of them will try it."

Tye smiles. "I never thought about doing that. Thank you." He kisses my head.

"You're being so loving Tye."

"I really like pineapple pizza."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Dipak nearly falls over part of the door on the ground. "This is fine."

"Taste testing food. Try this." Tye hands him the pizza.

He takes it with him. "ITS GOOD TYE."

I can't help but laugh. "I guess he found his dinner."

"Order is ready."

Tye makes us a door, and we step onto the island with the ship. There are about 150 brains standing there with big bowls stacked up.

Tye and I lose it. Nikolas rubs his eyes.

Tye smirks. "Did you order everything again?"

"No. I swear." I wipe my eyes off.

"Exact order you followed."

"Make 30 highest rated Chinese main dishes, 10 highest rated side dishes, 5 highest rated desserts, for us to try."

"Why is there so much?"

"30 people. Table plus mates and guests."

We lose it again.

Tye makes us a door. "Get extra tables to Dipak's office and set it up."

I go in after the brains.

Dipak, Marcus, and Tre are sitting at the table watching me. I compose myself as best as I can.

"Nikolas and I wanted to try some Chinese food. We ordered like 30 main dishes, 10 side dishes, and 5 desserts. For us to try. Then Tye came in. Wanting to try island drinks. So we added that to the order. It turns out the brains weren't making enough for us to try. They were making enough for all of us to try."

Tre winks. "Looks like we're drinking out of coconuts and trying Chinese food to end the afternoon meeting."

"Summon everyone back. Make sure no one remains on floor 6 but the guards."

"Yes sir."

"Where are Elek and Tobias here?"

Tye shrugs his shoulders. "They are with Johen arguing about something they agree about."

It takes a few minutes, but everyone sits at the conference table.

Tye stands up. "We had an ordering mix-up. Again." Tye waits for everyone to stop laughing. "We are testing 45 Chinese dishes and 30 island drinks. Some of the dishes are spicy. If you don't want to try those, don't. The brains can let us know the heat level. If you do try something too spicy, we have ice cream here for you. As for the drinks, they were supposed to be enough to taste. They do have alcohol in them. Please no one drink 30 full drinks. If you don't want to try them, I get it. It's up to you. We have water and juice here as well."

The brains dish up stuff and bring us a couple bites of each thing to try. We make it through the side dishes easily. "The side dishes at the Chinese resort will be the fried rice, noodles, and egg rolls. Add the soup and green beans to the fancy restaurant for options."

Tre puts an eyebrow up. "You're going to serve Chinese in the restaurant as well?"

"I was thinking a day a week or maybe a day a month. For people to try more of it. I might move them to the regular menu. Or keep them for left over day at the restaurant."

"What are you talking about?"

"For the restaurant, I don't want to stick with 1 thing. Every week will be like Sunday is chicken or duck. Monday is pasta. Tuesday is fish. Wednesday island day. Thursday steak. Friday fish. Saturday leftovers and fancy Chinese food. Or something like that. I don't have my notes."

Tye writes something down. "I like that idea."

"Me too. Chinese day or 2 even. Then I can get an island day there. Fancy fish for at least 2. Throw in a day for Italian food. That would be perfect."

"You're really going to have to watch leftover day though. You don't want chicken or duck sitting for 6 days and trying to serve it to someone."

The boys write it down.

"We are starting on the main dishes. They will be served in order of spiciness. Beginning with no spiciness."

We all handle the first 10 dishes. And I get 7 good choices out of it that everyone liked.

Then we get hotter. I make it to 11, then get my ice cream.

The boys make it into a competition.

A competition that Dipak has to win. They get up to the 25th dish and Dipak is bright red. "You look like you're about to catch fire. Take him some ice cream. I'm making him stop."

"I can finish woman."

I shake my head. Then he winks and takes the ice cream.

Omar nods. "I enjoy spicy food. This is not spicy food. This is lava."

Kane is the only 1 who manages to try all 30 of them. "Those last couple had some heat. But they were good."

I raise an eyebrow.

Dipak smiles. "I am positive you will feel that tomorrow, Kane. Start the desserts."

"Number 5 is rice pudding. Many types of fruits and sauces can be added to it. The fancier it looks, the more popular it is."

"4 is candied fruit on a stick. This is available highly with vendors. We have strawberries for you to try, but there is a variety of fruits that can be candied."

We all like it. "That will be at the snack bar for sure."

"3 are called mooncakes. They can be made with a variety of fillings.""

"2 is what is called a custard. It is a small pie."

"1 is a fortune cookie. If you break them open, they reveal a fortune printed on paper. My fortune is… I can not help you. I am a cookie." The brain looks at us seriously and we bust out laughing.

We move onto the drinks while we share fortunes.

An hour later, Thora falls out of her chair and Coral gives a speech about how to shut doors. I'm not drunk. I was sipping them to taste. But I am exhausted from doing so much today and I don't think the alcohol is helping that.

Tye, Nikolas, and Marcus are mostly sober. They seemed to be tasting them too. Dipak and Tre didn't taste the drinks with alcohol. Johen, Elek, Elroy, Tobias, the girls, the moms, and Omar are drunk.

"Thank you. That concludes the alcohol tasting. Feel free to go home."

Dipak stands up. "Elek, Elroy, Tobias, and Coral. Stay here, and I will make sure you get home."

I sit on Dipak and stretch out.

Tre smiles. "Someone's tired."

I shake my head.

"You ready for dinner then?"

"Ok."

He stands up and I go to him. I smile and hug him. Tye stands up and falls back down on the chair. "I was sipping them, so I could stay focused but some of them have a lot of alcohol in them."

"Yea, a few of them were like drinking straight liquor."

"I didn't like strong drinks. They made my nose burn. But pina colada, you have to have. And the drinks in the coconuts. Those were the best drinks ever. You have to have those too."

Coral stands up. "Yes, we need the coconut drinks."

"Which one did you like?"

"All of them. They are in coconuts. I need coconut drinks while I'm on the island. And the pina colada like she said. Someone take me home before I throw up. And the blue. I need that blue drink too. It was pretty."

I nod fast. "I like the blue drink. The white drink with the red running through it was amazing too."

"You both want the pina colada and the drinks that look pretty?"

"Yes, we have to have the coconuts."

"And the blue."

Tobias smiles. "I would charge a huge price for that coconut drink. They are all going to be buying them, no matter what's in there."

"That's true."

"Yea, that's very true. You should make 1 at least for the snack bar. No alcohol. The kids want it too."

I stare into space and Tre wiggles me. "Are you alright?"

"I'm giving the China inn back to Nikolas. I want to work on the spa. Inns are too much work."

Nikolas smiles. "Say that again when you're sober. I won't accept anything right now."

Tobias puts his eyebrows up and shakes his head.

"I'm kind of sober, and I know that inn is driving me crazy."

Tre whispers, "Tell Dipak to move it over tomorrow, baby. It's too late now anyway." He picks me up. I wrap around him. I love him. "We're going to dinner. Anyone else?" He holds me up by my butt and I hang on and snuggle.

Elroy stands up and falls over.

Dipak stands up. "Elroy, you're going home for dinner. Take Johen with you Tre."

Tre stares at Dipak.

Tye laughs. "I'll make sure Johen gets there."

Nikolas stands up. "I'll help Tye."

"I don't need your f*****g help."

Nikolas sits back down.

"Alright Tye. Go ahead and take him."

Tre waits while they go down. "What the hell was that?"

Dipak shakes his head. "I'll talk to him tomorrow. It might be the alcohol."

Tre waits a couple more minutes and picks on me. "They should be out of the way. Anyone else going down?"

I snuggle into him. "Do you have candy?"

"No candy baby."

Nikolas stands up slowly. Then we get in the elevator. They are too quiet. I fall asleep.