42. Cassidy #2
He pretended to think about it, which only made me stretch my hand higher. I was a sucker for a good trivia game, and competitive to boot.
“Alright, Cassidy, since you seem to be the only person in the bar who knows what the answer is—”
“Horse of the river!” I blurted out, blowing out a breath when I finally got to set that fun fact free.
“That is correct,” Jeff grinned, his smile bright as I knew he was reminiscing about our high school days. I blushed slightly, remembering a particular study session where our hands did more of the work than our brains.
And it seemed he remembered it too as he coughed into the mic, laughing it off with a shake of his head.
“What was that?” Mav asked curiously.
“Nothing,” I said quickly, shushing him as he was about to make a comment, just as Jeff announced we were moving on to the second question.
“Alright, what was the first book ever printed?”
Someone beat me to the punch by a tenth of a second. When I looked around, I narrowed my eyes at Sam, who was sitting with a group of the Parkers. He stared at me with a smug expression that only slightly masked the desire in his eyes.
“Sam!” Jeff called out.
“The Bible.”
I burst out in laughter, slapping a hand over my mouth. It was really rude to laugh at people, but I couldn’t help it.
“Ooh, I’m sorry. That is not the right answer.”
My hand shot up in the air again, this time, before anyone else.
“Cassidy.”
“The Chinese Diamond Sutra dated 868,” I answered smugly.
“That is correct!”
I turned around and flipped Sam off before turning back to my non-date, who had a huge grin on his face.
“I bet that felt good.”
“It always feels good to prove someone wrong.”
“Yeah,” he coughed. “That’s what I meant.”
Our drinks were delivered, not that I had actually ordered anything, but I didn’t care.
I was lost in the game, my hand shooting up nearly every time.
Once, I got so excited that I actually knocked my stool over and nearly upended the table.
It was only because of Mav’s quick reflexes that I didn’t end up on my ass.
I was on my third drink when a tough one came up. Not that I didn’t know the answer, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to say it three drinks in.
“What is the longest word in the dictionary?”
My hand shot up, and this time, Jeff rolled his eyes. “You know, you could maybe give the others a shot at answering.”
“Hey, I haven’t gotten them all,” I pouted.
“Right, there was that one about cars,” he said sarcastically.
“Anyway, the answer is…” I took my time, making sure I didn’t screw this up. “Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.”
The whole bar went quiet as they stared at me. Yes, I was a nerd who knew the longest word in the dictionary, but it was my life to study books, to read and gain knowledge. I’d always been a bookworm, and that wouldn’t be changing anytime soon.
“And as usual, that is correct.”
I gently sat on my chair, careful not to fall over as the world tilted around me. I was well on my way to drunk. Whatever they put in these Long Island Iced Teas was on the heavier side, but I was enjoying myself, so I didn’t care.
“Alright, now for the final question…”
We all sat forward, waiting with bated breath.
“This one is worth fifty points. That’s the equivalent of all the questions Cassidy answered.”
“Hey!” Rob called out. “I got one right.”
Jeff tipped his hat at him. “So, for the final question, and the only way to win the trivia event, here it is…”
My palms began to sweat as I sat there, waiting for the words to leave his mouth. I was born for this, made to kick ass with my awesome knowledge of useless information.
“Where did the name The Beaver and Boot come from?”
I stared in shock, unsure what the answer was. I had never once considered that there was anything to the name or dared to question it. And now, the game-winning question, the one that could decimate all my hard work, left it all on the line. And I had no answer.
Mav stared at me intently, but I was at a loss.
“I…I don’t know it,” I whispered.
A slow smirk spread across his face as he raised his hand. “I gotcha covered,” he winked.
“Mav, for fifty points, where did the name of the bar originate?”
Mav got to his feet, looking right at Lizzy, who stood behind the bar, pouring a drink.
“That would be from a sign on Route 40 in Indiana.
A little ‘ole town that had a picture of a beaver and a boot on either side of the town name. And Lizzy said that would be a hell of a name for a bar. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where the name The Beaver and Boot originated.”
As he took his seat, I leaned forward and hissed, “How the hell did you know that?”
“Misspent youth.”
That was it? The only answer he was going to give me? After I’d answered all the questions for him and we’d won the money, he wasn’t going to explain?
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I hissed. “After everything, that’s all you’re going to give me?”
He shrugged with a grin. “Ask Lizzy about it sometime.”
“But I need to know!”
“Then I guess you’d better find out on your own,” he smirked.
I grabbed his hand just as he was about to get up. “How is it that only you and Lizzy know the answer to that question?”
If I wasn’t mistaken, his ears turned bright red at the question.
“Don’t tell me you and Lizzy—”
“How the hell did you know that?” Michael asked, walking up to Maverick.
“Good luck, I guess.”
“If I had known you were going to bring along Cassidy, I wouldn’t have bothered to even show up tonight.”
“Yeah, if they want to continue this every month, there are gonna have to be some restrictions,” Mav jested.
“Hey!”
“Maybe they can make it so she can only answer one question.”
Mav frowned. “Don’t be silly. We’d be here all night. No one else knows the answers.”
Well, that made me feel a little better, even if they were mocking me. Mav walked over and slung an arm around me, pulling me in close.
“That’s my girl. I never could have done this without you.”
“Technically, you could since you were the only one who knew the final answer, and that answer was worth more points than anything else.”
Grinning, he leaned in close. “Don’t smack me.”
I didn’t know what he meant until his lips were on mine. A thousand sensations ran through me all at once, and not one of them could be categorized. Yes, Mav was hot and the most wonderful person in the world. But kissing him? It was…
“That oughta do it,” he grinned. “Now, what do you say I get you home?”
I was dizzy as hell, and it was only when I stumbled along beside him that I saw Sam glaring at me from across the bar. Ducking my head, I bit my lip, finally understanding what Mav was doing.