“Give him the point,” Alexander demands.
“I’m afraid he didn’t get it quite right.”
“Because he forgot to add athebefore the answer?” Alexander snorts, pounding his fist down on the table rhythmically. “Give him the point! Give him the point!”
It doesn’t take very long before people nearby join in on the chanting. Eden wonders if Alexander did that on purpose. It’s astounding how charismatic he can be when he’s yelling for the right reasons.
They get the point.
Unfortunately, they lose to the next table over in the lightning round. Rina still gets a consolation prize: a small basket of lightly salted fries. She munches away grumpily. Eden thinks she looks like a pouting hamster.
“Any pets?” Freddie asks. It’s getting late, but none of them are willing to call it a night yet.
Eden shrugs. “I’m afraid not. My apartment building doesn’t allow them.”
“But if it did?”
“I’d love a dog.”
“Big or small?”
“The bigger the better,” she says with a grin. “Something with fluffy black hair, I think. I want to spoil it and cuddle with it all the time.”
Rina nudges Eden in the arm with her elbow. “Save the cuddling for your boyfriend.”
Eden laughs softly. “I’ll keep that in mind if I ever end up with one.”
She pretends not to notice Alexander’s ears perk up.
Rina guffaws. “How’s a gorgeous thing like you single?”
“Beats me. What about you guys? Any pets?”
Peter immediately pulls out his phone to show off a bunch of pictures he has on his camera roll. The majority of them feature a bright orange and white tabby. “This is Bubbles,” he announces with pride.
“Bubbles?” Alexander mutters.
“Well, he’s just so bubbly, so I think it fits.”
“And you?” Eden asks Alexander. “Any pets?”
“No. I’m not home enough. It wouldn’t be fair to them.”
“Maybe get a fish?” Freddie suggests. “Super low maintenance.”
“I’ll pass.”
Rina finishes her basket of fries, clearly dissatisfied. “You ever going to tell us who that leather babe was?” she asks Alexander.
He crinkles his nose. “‘Leather babe’?”
Rina crinkles her nose, too. “Yeah, sorry. I just heard it.”
“Oh, yeah,” Peter says, raising a finger. “After work that one night.”
“Scared me, to be honest,” Freddie mutters. “Thought she was some assassin on her way to kick our asses.”
“Your girlfriend?” Rina asks with a suggestive pump of her thin eyebrows.
