Another beat of quiet. She wonders if it’s her – does he just not want to talk to her? He seemed so chatty the last few times they met. Something in her stomach twists uncomfortably.
‘Do you have a thing, then?’ she presses.
‘Athing?’
The way he says it makes her splutter with laughter. ‘A pub quiz thing. Like what would be your ideal round.’
‘Hmm …’ The sound he makes when thinking is a little rough, a little raspy. ‘Does Guess the Intro count?’
She taps a finger against the steering wheel as they wind down the country road. ‘Is that where you have to work out what song it is from just the beginning of it?’
‘That’s the one.’
She nods thoughtfully, then uses the buttons on her steering wheel to switch on the last song that was playing through Bluetooth.
‘“Tilted”,’ Ash announces almost immediately. ‘Christine and the Queens. An oldie but a goodie.’
Lissa glances at him. ‘Lucky guess.’ And only on her Spotify playlist because she’d been looking up French music, trying to understand where this recent Paris obsession had come from. She skips to the next song.
‘Shakira,’ he says confidently as it starts to play. ‘I’m not sure you need me to expand on that, all things considered.’ And he’s right – if someonedidn’tknow this song, she’d wonder what was wrong with them. He slides his gaze over to her. ‘I’m wondering, though, if we need to introduce you to some modern music, Lissa?’
She laughs, even as the ‘we’, as well as the playful tone, is doing something interesting to her insides. ‘I’ll get right on that. And that’s a fun pub quiz skill.’
He shrugs. ‘I like music.’ He turns to look out the window. ‘I also like libraries.’
As he’s looking away from her, she’s not sure she heard him right. ‘Huh?’
‘Libraries. That would be my second choice in pub quiz rounds.’
‘Libraries?’
‘You sound surprised.’ She can hear the smile in his voice.
‘Well, sure. I mean, that would be the surprise.’
He grins then, turning in his seat. ‘You don’t believe me?’
‘Well I don’t think you’re lying, because it’s a weird thing to lie about, but I didn’t have you pegged as a library sort of guy.’
‘Oh? What kind of guydidyou have me pegged as, exactly?’
‘Not sure.’ She taps the steering wheel again. ‘Maybe the kind who roams around on his motorbike and likes to drink whisky and could beat anyone at Risk and probably can name every capital city in the world and possibly has a tattoo just because why not.’
He nods slowly. ‘That’s quite detailed.’
And totally random, Lissa. But Ash is still smiling. She notices the way one corner of his mouth lifts higher than the other, and that, she thinks, gives it away as a real smile.
‘I do have a motorbike.’
‘I know,’ she says before she can stop herself.
His eyebrows shoot up and she realises she sounds like a stalker. Coupled with the fact that she showed up to save him moments ago – not a great look.
‘I saw the helmet underneath the table at the pub quiz,’ she explains.
‘Aha.’
‘Let me guess, you like the thrill of it?’
