Page 12 of Hired By the Enemy
My eyes dart across the room to find Liam staring at me.
Favorite movie of Liam’s. Shit. I have no idea. What movies do jocks like?
“You’ve got a minute to write down your own answer plus your partner’s answer,” Mindy informs us.
I scramble to write down my answer,The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Rings, and then stare at the blank space where I’m supposed to fill in Liam’s answer.
I don’t like failing quizzes. It goes against my core nerd identity.
“Ten seconds left,” Mindy says.
Shit. I scribble downThe Bourne Supremacy. It seems like a Liam kind of movie.
“Right, reveal your answers to your partner, and we’ll see how well you know their movie preferences,” Mindy says.
We all obediently flip over our boards. My eyes zoom to Liam’s answers.
Under partner’s favorite movie, in Liam’s messy handwriting, isThe Lord of the Rings.
My breath leaves me. How the hell did he know that?
It turns out Liam’s favorite movie isThe Shawshank Redemption, so we only get half of the points on offer.
None of my colleagues seem interested in our score though. Because it turns out that even couples who’ve been together for years don’t know each other’s favorite movies.
Paul’s wife seems slightly perturbed that Paul put downThe Shiningas her favorite movie when her favorite is actuallyLittle Women.
“I couldn’t even make it throughThe Shining,” she reminds him.
“Right, let’s move on,” Mindy says in an upbeat voice. I get the feeling she’s seen it all running this quiz.
The next question flashes on the screen.
What is the name of your partner’s favorite childhood pet?
My shoulders relax slightly.
Okay, this is an easy one for Liam because he spent most of his childhood trying to pretend my dog Max was his. Unfortunately, Max was a golden retriever whose first loyalty was to his stomach, so he happily allowed himself to be lured next door by Liam.
The battle over Max was an arena of war in which neither of us ever relented.
Liam never had his own dog in all the time I knew him, but I have a vague memory of Liam writing something in elementary school about the dog that he’d had before he moved to Bainfield. Holly? Molly?
I go for Molly.
“Right, time to reveal your answers,” Mindy says.
I flip my board over, my eyes instantly seeking Liam’s board, and sure enough, his favorite childhood pet was Molly.
His eyes widen as he stares at my board.
Our answers perfectly match each other. Two points.
Our triumph is drowned out by Henrietta’s annoyance that her boyfriend, Carl, didn’t remember the name of the cat she had growing up.
Hmm. Paul has sold the concept of a couples’ quiz as fun. I’m not sure it’s quite panning out like that.
Mindy presses the button to display the next question on the screen.
