Page 28 of Into the Mountains
“Your friends would have,” she says quietly as if recalling a memory. This quickly took a detour down a road that is destined for a sinkhole.
I gesture to her vacated chair. “Have you ordered anything yet? What can I get you?”
“I haven’t. I was debating on coffee and whatever pastries they have. Since we were coming here, I knew they didn’t have a large food selection so I ate with my parents.”
“Do you want an extra espresso shot? And a blueberry scone?” She opens her mouth and then closes it, instead staring at me in surprise.
“You’d always have something blueberry in the cafeteria. The tips of your fingers were usually stained after lunch. And you were always studying with coffee. I just assumed it was extra caffeinated to help stay awake because you most likely stayed up the night before doing the same thing I was doing.” Part of me starts to panic for a second wondering if I should have let on that I was that observant of her in high school. I sound like a stalker.
“Not that I watched you or anything. I just, uh, noticed.”
“Mmm, sure.” She laces her hands together on top of the table. “Coffee and a scone would be great.”
Nodding, I head to the line and try to get myself to take a few deep breaths. So far, we’ve hit on the fact that my friends werebullies and that I was basically a stalker all within the first ten minutes of the date.
I’d say it’s going swell.
When I come back to the table with our orders—I ended up getting the same thing—I come with a few extra items. I knew surprising her with this was going to be a complete long shot and it all depended on her not looking at local events, but by the look of confusion on her face, she definitely doesn’t look for events around town. She also must not have seen the signs out front that tonight is the coffee shop’s monthly trivia night.
And it just so happens to be a Jeopardy themed trivia night.
She looks at me skeptically. “What is this?” she asks as I hand her our team sheet.
“It’s trivia night and we are a team of two.”
“What?”
“Clearly you should take up my stalker abilities and be more observant.” At my words, she looks around and finally notices the groups of people with the papers in their hands and when her eyes roam the front of the shop, she spots a chalkboard sign about the themed night.
“What made you choose trivia as a first date exactly?”
I shrug. “I figured our rivalry was all in the past and we should work together on the same team for once.”
She smiles at me and I want to drown in it.
“Alright, Hayes, let’s kick their asses.” She nods to the table next to us full with six people who all look determined to win. One man dressed in slacks and a blazer, has a notebook in hand, pen at the ready and he’s filling everyone else in on their strategy.
“Oh we’re definitely beating them.”
One of the women hears me and she turns around fully in her seat, legs crossed, her dark hair in a tight bun at the base of her neck. Strands of it snaking down her neck reminding me ofMedusa. Her eyes rove over me for a brief moment. “There’s no way you’re beating us,” she says as if by judging my appearance, she knows exactly how smart I am.
What she doesn’t know is I’m so used to that, I’d actually feel better if she insulted my clothing outright. I’m used to being automatically judged. People assume that since I’m really good at soccer, that I couldn’t possibly have any thought behind my eyes. They only think I know how to run fast and score goals, even though soccer is much more than that. But to most people, jock automatically equals stupidity.
What this woman doesn’t realize is, I graduated at the top of my class, I just finished my freshman year of college with straight A’s, and while I’m not an avid reader, Alan certainly is. And I ask a lot of questions.
I open my mouth to say something snarky, but to my surprise, Charlotte beats me to it. “Look lady. We were here just to have fun, but you decided to challenge us. And we never back away from a challenge. So I suggest you turn around and try not to think about the fact that there’s probably something missing in your life if you’re this concerned about winning a trivia night.”
She throws us another nasty look before finally turning around. One of her other friends tries to mouth “sorry” to us, but I turn away, focusing on the only person I care about right now.
“Was that mean?” Charlotte asks.
“Even if it was a little mean, she did start it,” I defend. She just shrugs and shifts her eyes to the coffee cup in front of her.
“Yeah, you’re right.” Before I second guess myself, I reach across the table and take her hand. Squeezing it, I give her a soft smile.
“Now, let’s give them hell.”
Her smile spreads as does the warmth in my chest and I feel as if I’ll never be cold again.
