Page 19 of Just for December
They both whisper, at exactly the same time: ‘The Beatles, “Let It Be”.’
Duke watches Evie write it down, her loopy handwriting showing up his schoolboy-like scrawl.
‘I’ve got this feeling in my bones, it goes electric, wavy, when I turn it on,’ says Jerry. Evie looks up at Duke, obviously unsure.
‘Justin Timberlake,’ Duke says. ‘“Can’t Stop the Feeling”.’
‘You like pop?’ she asks, after she’s written it down.
‘Don’t say it like that,’ he replies, ‘all judgey. Everyone likes pop. That’s why it’s called pop, as inpopular.’
‘All right, music police.’ She rolls her eyes, and it makes Duke’s skin prickle. He wasn’t being an arse, and yet she makes him feel like one, always ready to pounce on any little thing that displeases her – which is, it would seem, everything. ‘I was just asking.’
‘You were justprovoking,’ he corrects her. He looks at his watch. It’ll soon be bedtime.
‘I write popular fiction, Duke. You act in popular movies. It’s called conversation, not provocation. Jeez.’
He eyes her as she half-turns to focus on Jerry, all flushed cheeks from the mix of the warmth of the snug and pure competition. She could be pretty, if she didn’t scowl so much.
The next rounds move fast.
‘Who played James Bond inFor Your Eyes Only?’ asks Jerry.
‘Roger Moore,’ Evie hisses, fast off the mark.
Jerry continues: ‘Which British actor died whilst filming his supporting role in Ridley Scott’sGladiator?’
Evie immediately says: ‘Oliver Reed.’
‘Which country was the first to give women the vote, in 1893?’
‘New Zealand,’ whispers Duke, and when Evie looks at him as if she’s surprised, he feigns nonchalance. He only knows it because he’s recently read a script set in the time period, but over his dead body will he admit that to her.
‘What name is given to the 8th of May to mark the unconditional surrender of the German Army at the end of World War II?’
‘VE Day,’ they whisper in unison. She writes it down.
‘Roughly what proportion of their DNA do humans and chimpanzees share? Seventy-seven per cent, ninety-two per cent or ninety-eight point five per cent?’
They look at each other, and, Duke realises, in a way it’s the first time they actually have. She stares into his eyes. He stares into hers. They are both searching for the answer to the question within each other, but there’s a split second where, for Duke at least, it’s almost like it’s something more. Like in that moment he can see the tiniest crack in her veneer and a softer, more vulnerable woman underneath. Then she says: ‘Looking at you I think the answer is ninety-eight point five. You’re basically a chimpanzee who can memorise a script, right?’
‘Low blow,’ he says, rolling his eyes. ‘But also: yes.’
‘Who is best known for his theory of black holes?’ asks Jerry.
‘Stephen Hawking,’ Duke says.
‘The chemical symbol Y denotes which uncommon metal?’
They look at one another again.
‘No idea,’ she says, grimacing.
‘Same,’ Duke supplies.
In the end, it doesn’t matter: once they’ve passed their papers to the next table, every team marking the answer sheet of the team beside them, and then get it back again, they know they must be in with a chance of winning. They only got three wrong in the whole quiz. Not bad given that they guessed a solid third of them.
‘And the winners are …’ Jerry announces, practically falling off his stool. ‘Duke and Evie!’
