I exhaled, slumping against the counter. “Yeah. Rough night, actually.”
“Did you talk with him?”
“I did.”
“And?”
I twisted the phone cord around my finger. “Not so great.”
Maddie groaned. “I’m sorry.”
I fought a second round of tears filling my eyes.
“So . . . trivia tonight at The Den?”
I blinked, sniffing as I spun to look at the calendar. “It’s Friday.”
“It’s Friday,” Maddie said. “Pick you up at seven?”
“Yes, please.”
_____
The Den at the U of C was hopping. It was already decorated for Christmas with holiday lights strung over and around the bar and tinsel tacked on the trivia host’s mic stand. Maddie snagged us a high-top near the right edge of the trivia section, close enough to the speakers to hear questions, far enough that we’d still be able to hear each other talk.
She brandished one of the pencils sitting next to our answer sheet. “Team name?”
“The Comeback Queens,” I said. The last time we’d been here, we annihilated the competition. It was high time we defended our title.
She cackled. “I love it. Perfect.”
We ordered nachos and ginger ales, because I didn’t trust my emotional state with anything stronger, and settled in as the trivia host explained the rules. We spotted some of the regulars around the room and waved, but there were plenty of new faces, too.
“Okay, tonight’s theme for Round One is . . .” The host paused for dramatic effect, flipping his cue card like he was revealing a game-show prize. “Holiday Movies!”
Maddie perked up like someone had plugged her into a generator. “Oh, we’re about to destroy.”
“Agreed.” This was one category I had plenty of experience with.
The host continued, “Question number one: In what 1990 Christmas classic does an eight-year-old boy defend his home from burglars after his family accidentally leaves him behind for the holidays?”
Maddie and I exchanged a look. “Oh, c’mon,” she said, scribbling in Home Alone.
As the round went on, the questions ramped up from nostalgic comfort shows to only-people-who-lived-in-the-video-rental-section-know-this. The host dove into supporting characters, production trivia, original release posters. Maddie hit her first wall when he asked, “In the 1988 filmScrooged, what’s the name of the network’s live Christmas special that Frank Cross forces everyone to produce?”
She blinked at me, but I was grinning from ear to ear. I grabbed the sheet and wrote:A Christmas Carol: Scrooge LIVE!
Maddie stared. “How—why—how do you have that stored in your head?”
I shrugged. “You know math. My family knows Bill Murray.”
We won round one, though our score was barely higher than the table across from us. A victory, nonetheless.
Between rounds, we talked Christmas.
“What’s your plan?” I asked, popping a jalapeño popper into my mouth.
“Going home for actual Christmas Day,” she said.
