“We’re working on it.”
“Great. That’s great.” Lips pressed together, my legs jitter under the table.
Silence flops between us like a wet blanket.
Having come from a family of talkers—except, apparently, about the true state of the restaurant—I try again. “Have you ever done trivia night before? I’m pretty good at pop culture and history. Are there teams or?—?”
He interrupts, “I play alone.”
I mutter, “It’s trivia, not solitaire.”
He grunts.
I use the smile I reserve for people who’re dangling at the end of my patience. “Suit yourself.”
The trivia host—Ray “Lucky” Donahoo, a former card dealer who fled Reno after a “misunderstanding” with some casino enforcers, but still wears his dealer’s visor and sleeve garters—takes the microphone and announces the rules. Teams of two. Six rounds with an elimination between each. Five questions in each round, with sequentially increasing difficulty. The winner gets a miniature version of the town’s beloved squirrel statue and dinner on the house.
All participants confer to confirm that the big statue’s tail was rubbed for luck before the game starts.
Mindy and Austin exchange a nod.
Patton rolls his eyes.
I could really use a free meal. That’s it. I’m in it to win it!
“Could you make an exception and be a team player just this once?” I ask Patton.
He grunts like a cave bear. “Only when it matters.” Something flickers in his hazel eyes—amusement or annoyance, it’s hard to say—before it disappears behind his usual mask of indifference.
Maybe that’s where he got the nickname “Maverick,” not that I pay attention to these things.
Our food arrives, and much like the Crush Cakes from earlier today, he refuses to share his nachos.
I ask for a bite to test a hypothesis: the man is a selfish, self-serving jerk.
Results: affirmative.
He must test a theory as well because he asks Austin if they can team up. However, Mindy and Austin insist we play on a team together, whether he likes it or not.
Spoiler alert: he doesn’t like it.
Evidence: his scowl.
Make that both of us, buster!
Patton really grinds my gears. Would it kill him just to play Captain Courtesy for sixty minutes of his life and try to be friendly?
Actually, probably.
The first trivia round is local geography. Austin and Mindy get one, and I’m about to chime in when Patton cuts me off with the correct answer, even though we’re on the same team.
“I was going to say that,” I mutter.
“Too slow.”
Round two is sports. Patton answers every question before anyone else can blink. I’m starting to suspect he’s a trivia savant, or possibly a robot disguised as a self-important firefighter.
Unfortunately, Mindy and Austin are eliminated.
