“Uhhh… ” I shake my head. “I don’t think that’s the best idea right now.”
She blinks and looks from me to the bottle and back again. Her cheeks turn pink, and she sets the bottle back down and instead pulls a can of Sprite from the fridge.
“Let’s play a game,” she suggests, placing the shot glasses on the island and cracking open the Sprite. “Two Truths and a Lie.”
I furrow my brow, confused. “Why do you want to play that?”
She pours Sprite into both shot glasses. “It’ll be a good way to share information about ourselves with each other. Get to know each other a little better. Besides, it’ll help with the article. Give me some insight into your life without it feeling like I’m drilling you with questions one-sidedly.”
It’s not a bad idea. I mean, really, it’s how it works with Cloak. Play games to get to know each other. It’s working for me andClickTease… why not Rylee?
“Okay,” I nod, grabbing one of the shot glasses and pulling it toward me. “You start.”
She scrunches up her face in concentration, and the way she crinkles her nose is actually pretty cute.
No! Bad Zander!
I stuff half my sandwich in my mouth while I wait for her to speak.
“I studied digital photography in college,” she begins. “I was a beauty queen when I was in high school. When I was a kid, I wanted to be the next Annie Leibovitz.”
Interesting start. Color me intrigued.
I think about it a moment before I say, “I think that the beauty queen one is the lie.”
She arches her brow. “You don’t think I could’ve been a beauty queen?”
I grin at her teasing tone. “It’s not that. The other facts have to do with photography, so my assumption is they’re both true since they relate to each other. The beauty queen fact is an outlier.”
“Ooooh, using logic I see.” She raises her shot of Sprite and salutes me. “You’re correct. I was no beauty queen back then. More of a shy nerd, truth be told.”
Hard to believe, but she wouldn’t be the first person to have a glow-up in life.
She drinks her shot, refills the glass, and nods at me. “Your turn.”
I consider my three facts for a bit, then grin. “I’m the youngest of four. I hated hockey when I was a kid. I sawJawsway too young and have a secret fear of deep water.”
Rylee tilts her head and scrunches her nose again. “I’m gonna say… you hated hockey. You’ve always loved hockey.”
Smirking, I point at her shot glass. “Drink up, Wildcard.”
“Damn!” She throws back the Sprite. “Which was the lie.”
“Jaws.I didn’t see that movie too early… I sawJurassic Parktoo early and have an illogical fear of dinosaurs.”
She snorts, soda spraying out of her nose.
“Oh, my God!” she exclaims as I roar with laughter. She dives for the roll of paper towels on the countertop and cleans herself up. “Sorry… I was not expecting that.”
“Clearly.” There’s something kind of endearing about her right now - messy and relaxed and having fun.
Once she’s wiped the soda from her face, she asks, “You have three older siblings?”
Nodding, I answer, “Yep, three sisters.”
“You’re the only boy?”
“Sure am.”
