"Sorry," the host said into the microphone. "If you can't answer the question, I have no choice but to—"
"Steam," I blurted and then paused. There was silence again after that.
Javier moved his hand in a circle, urging me to continue because the word 'steam' was simply not enough. The words were coming back to me in fragments.
"Engine. Steam engine. He invented the steam engine."
The pause that our host took before responding immediately convinced me that I was wrong. I was fully prepared to flip over a table. Not really, but I had the urge.
"Correct."
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and I noticed Javier did the same. I looked at him apologetically because I had almost messed up everything for us. He didn't seem upset though, not at all.
He seemed...proud?
***
"I can’t believe we got second place," Javier repeated for the third time.
We had left the convention center and were riding in Javier’s car as he drove us back to our town. We did not have to report back to school because it had ended by the time we were dismissed from the competition.
I sighed in defeat. “I know, it really sucks.”
“Sucks? How?”
“Second isn’t first,” I stated.
We sat through two long hours of answering questions just to lose. I wanted to fall asleep halfway through, but I had kept pushing through believing for a second that we would come up on top. I knew better than to think that I could finally be the best. Even with Javier by my side it was unachievable.
“Eli, we got second place out of a bunch of the smartest kids in our school district. That's a goddamn accomplishment,” Javier said pridefully. “It was only the first round, so we can try to get first place in the others. But even if we don’t, so what?”
I settled on a shrug. His words were unconvincing, but I did not feel like arguing.
"I’m stopping for ice cream before dropping you at your place. It can be a treat for us doing so well.”
Javier answered every question in under five seconds with ease while I ended up going over the five seconds on a few. I was the reason why we did not get first place, yet he believed that we both did well. The one person who had every right to be mad at me was not, and it made my head spin.
Since I had to go and get ice cream with him regardless of my answer, I agreed. There was an ice cream parlor in town, but it wasn't on the way to my house. Actually, it was really far out of the way.
Once we arrived, we went inside and ordered the ice cream. I got Cookies N’ Cream while he got Mint Chocolate Chip. We sat down at a table on the outside patio and ate because Javier had expressed his worry about getting ice cream on the precious car seats.
"How's the toothpaste?" I asked with a sly smile, trying to fill the quiet.
He rolled his eyes. "Mint Chocolate Chip does not taste like toothpaste."
"Yes, it does and you can't convince me otherwise."
"Have you ever actually tried it?" he asked as he scooped some onto his spoon and put the entire spoonful in his mouth.
I grimaced. “Nope.”
He was smiling as he scooped more onto his spoon and then held it out to me. "Try it."
"Why? I already know what it tastes like."
"Stop being stubborn and just try it."
Maybe it was to shut him up, or maybe it was because I wanted to, but I gave in. I tried to take the spoon from his hand, but me being the clumsy fuck that I was, I almost dropped it in the process. Javier, not wanting me to waste his toothpaste, decided to put the spoon in my mouth himself.
