Page 64 of As a Last Resort
“To Florida.”
“I thought you didn’t like Florida.”
“IloveFlorida.”She threw back the two shots without even waiting for me.
So, it was going to be that kinda night.
There are little wooden triangle games that sit on the table of some restaurants and bars.Harpoon’s has them all over the place.By the end of the night, grown men are arguing over rules and threatening to throw punches over whether a plastic golf tee moved when it shouldn’t have.
“Bet you I can get it down to fewer than you can.”She handed me one and kept one for herself.
“Next round on the loser?”I asked.
“Deal.”A smile slowly crept across her face.
I let her take the bait.She hadn’t been coming here for the last seven years practicing like I had.In a handful of moves, she had three tees left.She smirked and took a long drag off her vodkatonic—two lemons, one lime.In five moves I had two tees left.I didn’t want to completely obliterate her on the first try.
“I think that means next round’s on you,” I loudly slurped up the last of my Jack and Coke through the small straw.
“One question for every tee left.”She pulled a little white tee out of the triangle.
“That seems unfair.”I narrowed my eyes at her.
“So is the way of the world, my dear Austin,” she responded.I didn’t want to press her, but there was something different about her.And not in a good way.
She wiggled one of her three tees up in the air.“What’s your middle name?”
“That’s your question?”I asked.Of course, it would be.“Of all the questions in the world you could pick?”
“Absolutely.”She pursed her lips together.This was a setup.
“Francis.”I cracked a smile and she burst out laughing.“Don’t you dare!It’s a family name.Mary Kay would be highly offended.”
Her whole body shook.Her eyes twinkled when she laughed like that.That reckless feeling I had just the second before vanished and she was absolutely beautiful.It caught me off guard.
“Why are you staring at me like that?”she asked with tears in her eyes.“You’re the one with Francis as your middle name.”
“Okay, Giggles, my turn.What’s the weirdest thing about you?Something people would be surprised to learn.”
She bit her lip as she thought.“I have an alarming addiction to sweets, but especially cotton candy.If I’m at a carnival or fair, I can’t pass it up.”
“That’s not weird,” I countered.
“But the fact that if I’m at a gas station in the middle of the country and I know the bag that’s hanging on the hook for three forty-nine has been sitting there for a year, I’ll still buy it, is.”
“Eww, really?”
“Definitely.My turn.I’m stealing your question.And your cherry.”She reached across me and plucked the cherry out of my glass.
“I love romances.I’d rather stay home on a Saturday night and watch Allie admit she loves Noah just as much as she used to over practically anything.”
“I already know this about you,” she drew out.
I leaned closer to her and whispered.“But what you don’t know is that I currently own thirty-four VHS tapes of romances from the eighties I refuse to throw out.”
Her eyes grew wide.Her smile, wider.“No.”
“Yes.I’m a total sucker for them.”
