Page 33 of Fake Dating Adrian Hunter
“Oh, crap!” Tory studies her card with panic in her eyes. Out of the five cards she’s already burned through during this round, Phoebe has only guessed one correct word. “What is the Blue Danube?”
“Ehhhh!!!” Dad makes a buzzer noise. “You’re not meant to say the word. Move to the next card.”
“I think it’s a river?” Phoebe says.
“It’s a waltz,” Mom offers, “by Strauss.”
“Stop having a conversation during our turn!” Tory demands.
“Times up!” Dad yells, passing the box to Adrian and me.
My palms grow sweaty as I eye Adrian. “What on earth have we walked into? You want to call or guess?”
He pushes the box to me. “You’re in the driver’s seat.”
“You sure?” Adrian probably wants me to call so that he can blame me for not doing a good job when he can’t guess the answers. “This is a disaster waiting to happen. Look at all the anger this game evokes.”
Adrian rubs my leg. “Come on, baby, relax.”
My gaze drops to his hand, and I go rigid. “I can’t relax when you’re touching me like that.”
Everyone laughs, and he withdraws his hands.
Tory turns the sand timer over. “Start!”
I pick up the first card. It’s a geography category, the word beingMilan. This is an easy one for me, but how can I explain it to Adrian? My mind draws a blank. “Um… Ahh. I don’t know.”
“Breathe, Vee.”
I glare at him for using that name, right now of all times. It takes him a moment to understand my expression, then one corner of his mouth slants up. “Verena, you’ve got this.”
“Ah… Okay, you probably won’t guess the word, but it’s the country I studied fashion in—”
“Milan!” he shouts before I’ve finished with the clue.
“Yes!” Shocked at his answer, I take another card. “I guess um… Oh, I know. She’s a famous singer. And it’s the color you hate.”
“You’re not giving me much to work off. I don’t hate any color. Try describing the word from a different angle.”
“Um… The color I died my hair in high school.”
“Pink!”
“Yes!” I draw another card, stunned at how well this is going. “Okay, this guy was your favorite sports star when we were kids.”
“Michael Jordan.”
“Yes!” I shout on the edge of my seat, then move faster through the cards, spending less time coming up with a logical clue and instead saying the first thing that comes to my mind, because that seems to be working. “Our favorite show when growing up.”
“Malcolm in the Middle?”
“No, the other one.”
“Seinfeld.”
“Yes!” Next card. “My favorite flower.”
“Tulip!”
