‘Okay, Todd, what is Nikki’s favourite snack?’ Neil asks.
‘Easy,’ Todd says confidently. ‘It’s crisps.’
‘Crisps?’ she claps back. ‘Todd, it’s white chocolate buttons – what are you talking about?’
‘You like crisps,’ Todd insists.
‘I like lots of things, Todd, but white chocolate buttons are my favourite.’
Nikki throws back her hair on one side, clearly unable to hide her annoyance that they’ve fallen at the first hurdle.
Luckily my urge to smile is quickly quashed by my nervousness to be going next. I fear we’re going to go the same way…
‘All right, Brody,’ Neil says as he takes another card, ‘what strange food does Jessa love?’
‘Well, that’s easy,’ Brody replies, with an impressive level of fake confidence, given the fact that he can’t possibly know the answer. ‘Pickles.’
My stomach turns just hearing the word, but as I look over at him I notice him widening his eyes at me, ever so subtly, silently urging me to play along.
I muster up a big, bright smile and then I say…
‘Correct!’
‘Bullshit,’ Todd calls out. ‘You hate pickles.’
‘I love pickles,’ I insist.
‘You would always give me your pickles,’ he reminds me – which is true.
Nikki looks furious, I suppose because Todd is talking about when we were together – it was just last month though, to be fair. Hardly ancient history.
‘I love them now,’ I lie. ‘Brody introduced me to them and now I can’t get enough.’
‘Bullshit,’ Todd says again, clearly more bothered by this than anyone ever should be. It’s a board game, it’s not that deep.
Brody wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me into him, grinning at everyone. ‘I’ve introduced her to a lot of new things that she likes,’ he says, giving me a wink.
There’s an awkward beat where everyone looks uncomfortable (Todd and Nikki) or amused (everyone else), and it is glorious.
‘I’m starting to feel suspicious about when exactly the two of you met, given how much you supposedly know about each other,’ Nikki says, almost under her breath.
Oh, she’s one to talk.
‘We met at Al and Kira’s wedding,’ I remind her. ‘I guess we’re just more interested in each other than we ever have been with anyone else…’
‘Come on, let’s keep playing,’ Neil insists, handing Al a card so that he can read it to him and Kelsey.
Of course, they smash it again, and so do Al and Kira, and then it’s back to Nikki and Todd – and she’s really on the edge of her seat, clearly determined to get this one right.
‘Nikki, what is Todd’s favourite TV show?’ Neil asks her.
‘One of theStar Warsones – come on, I’m too cool to know the name,’ she insists rather rudely. ‘You’ve got to give me a point for that.’
‘It’sStar Trek,’ Todd corrects her – offended by the wrong part of her answer.
‘The really old ones,’ I can’t resist chiming in. ‘It’s the only thing he ever wanted to watch.’
‘Like I always tell you – it’s a masterpiece,’ he reminds me, smiling just enough to infuriate Nikki.
