I was losing my crackers. I needed a distraction.
“Look,” I cried, pointing at a guy in a top hat and white face paint approaching us with a stack of iPads.
“Play the trivia game!” Top Hat handed me one. “We’re giving away a trip to Cancun.”
“Oh,” I said. “I’ll play!”
“Keep your eyes on the screen!” He pointed at a flat screen behind the Mercedes exhibit, then he handed Dash a tablet and took off for the next willing victims.
“Wait!” Dash held up his tablet and put it back on Top Hat’s stack. “I’ll play with her.”
“Play with me?”
Top Hat took off, and I was left with a shrinking space between me and my double meanings.
“Yeah. Like sackmates.”
Dash seemed to like sexy entendres, and everything I wanted in the world right then was for Dashiell Wallace to like me. I didn’t have to promise him anything, and he didn’t have to deliver after we left the event. All he had to do was stand near me. Let me be in his orbit.
“What if we win?” I said.
“Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. Now…” He leaned over me to look at the screen. “We need a nickname. Apples?”
“Apple Dash.”
“Sounds like a delicious dessert.” The glow of the screen washed the surfaces of his face in blue light as he tapped in the name.
I didn’t even know what the nickname was supposed to mean except we’d become a team while I wasn’t looking.
I was going to die with happiness. It was temporary of course. But I couldn’t stop smiling. I knew then why women threw themselves at the feet of men like Dash. Actors, musicians, athletes, the kings and gods of the world. The social alphas. The gifted ones.
It felt good. Really, really good.
The screen flashed. Ready-Set-Go.
“The suspense is killing me,” he said, glancing sidelong at me.
“You better watch it,” I said. “Trivia’s my thing.”
The screen flashed.
First category. Three questions.
“Really?” he asked.
Literature.
“Yes. Really.”
In what play was the phrase beast with two backs coined?
The word was almost out of my mouth, but I didn’t get past the initial vowel before Dash had typed the answer.
Othello.
I tapped Send, and a big gold star filled the screen.
“Talk about double entendre,” I said.
“He’s the king.”
Who created Lenny and George?
“That’s so vague,” I grumbled.
“Do you know it?” His fingers hovered over the screen as if a batter was switching his stance to send it his way.
I scrunched up my face and let it go when I realized how unattractive that was. I did know, but I didn’t. “Skinny book. Tree on the front.”
“Right. Uh…” He shook his head as if loosening the information. “Unemployment. The Great Depression.”
“Steinbeck.”
“Has to be.” He tapped out John Steinbeck.
Gold star.
We high-fived, and for a second, his fingers curled into mine. I pulled my hand away. I would have burst if he’d held my hand. Just exploded into hot, sexy bits of Vivian all over the automotive museum.
What 2012 American novel ended with an unfinished sentence?
It was a hard question because the book wasn’t on any bestseller list, nor was it part of popular culture. It was thirteen-hundred pages long, and the only way to know that was to finish the book, which no one had. Except me. That was where I earned the prize. The other questions were bullshit.
“I got this,” he said.
“Don’t send!”
He couldn’t know. He was going to type in the wrong book entirely. I would correct it before he hit Send, saving the win for us and impressing the hell out of him with how much time I spent alone on my couch with a Kindle.
But his fingers tapped the glass confidently, and the letters that appeared were exactly right.
Eternal Joke.
He knew.
“Right?” he said.
“Right.” I hit Send. “Did you read it?” It was a stupid question. I was supposed to assume he had, but where had he found time to read that monstrous doorstop of a book?
The screen flashed beneath us. I knew why. Gold star.
“I like long books.” He shrugged.
“I’ve never met anyone who finished the whole thing. Did you like it?”
“Loved it. Right up to that last comma.”
Winners will be chosen randomly from players who answered all three questions correctly!
Next Category – Pets!
“It was beautiful,” I said. “Do you read a lot?”
“Yeah. It helps me.”
“Helps you what?”
He didn’t answer but handed me the iPad. “I travel too much for pets. Do you want to do this one?”
Without him? Did I want to answer questions about pets without him? No, I didn’t. I just wanted to ask him what else he’d read, his favorites of all time, everything. I pushed away the iPad.
“Paper or Kindle?” I said.
“Paper.”
“You’re missing out! Look, I have my Kindle in this tiny bag.” I opened my gold clutch, revealing my slim grey device. “I can catch a couple of pages anywhere, any time. It’s the best thing!”