“Ooooh.” Maya winces, her nose scrunching in that perfectly modelesque way I’ve always been a little jealous of. “You’ll get the next one, guys. Ladies, what’s your boyfriend’s guilty pleasure TV show?”
I smile. This one I definitely know.
Saturday morning at the coffee shop. He admitted it almost sheepishly, like it was this secret he didn’t usually share. I almost feel bad letting the secret out, but…
“Reveal!”
Mine: Cooking competitions
His: Cooking competitions
Again, the crowd goes wild. Lauren looks like she’s about to walk out of here because she wrote K-dramas (which feels like wishful thinking on her part), and all he wrote was cheese, all of which the crowd finds very amusing.
But I can’t laugh.
Because Brody’s looking at me with this expression I can’t read. And Derek’s watching us both. Really watching. Like he’s cataloging every microexpression.
“Seriously, Candy? Cooking shows?” Tyler shouts from the audience.
Brody pulls his gaze away, grins at the crowd, and gives a quick shrug. “You should give it a try.”
Maya cuts in, waving a hand, and the audience dies down for the next question.
“Fourth question!” Maya says, and there’s something mischievous in her smile now. “Gentlemen, what was your girlfriend wearing the first time you met?”
My stomach drops.
Barcelona was six-ish months ago. There’s no way he?—
I can barely remember what I wore yesterday, let alone six months ago.
I’m frantically trying to recall. It was hot. Summer. I was wearing…a dress? Shorts? Did I have a sundress?
I write: Sundress (yellow?)
The question mark is doing a lot of work there.
Brody’s already done. Not even a pause.
“Reveal!”
Mine: Sundress (yellow?)
His: Blue sundress with white polka dots. Brown sandals.
The room absolutely erupts.
I’m staring at his board. My heart is racing. I think I can hear those little sirens again.
He remembered the polka dots.
“Oh my word,” Maya squeals. “That’s SO romantic!”
Meanwhile, this might be the only question Lauren and Brad got right, having both written white puffer jacket.
Brody smiles at the crowd, hamming it up, but there’s something in his face—soft, maybe a little embarrassed that he revealed just how much attention he was paying that day.
Oh, Brody.
