CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Quality Time

***

 "Okay, the rules of the game are simple." Alyssa began, shuffling the cards in her hands like she was about to tell us only one of us would make it out of here alive. "You pick a card, you roll the dice, you look at color of said dice, and-" 

 "We know how to play trivia, Lyssa!" Paul yelled, looking slightly disgruntled that he was the only one who didn't have someone to share a seat with. 

 My head was resting on Embry's lap, and I stared at the ceiling, occasionally closing my eyes in contentment when he raked his fingers though my hair. Emily forced Sam to let us take the night off of training to play board-games with her. Kim joined as well, and her and Emily were the only people in the room wearing a shirt. 

 (You heard me correctly, Alyssa was currently donning her 'very fashionable' black sports bra.) 

"I will offer an example," Alyssa shuffled thorough her cards again, and we all groaned. Lyssa has a talent of over-complicating things. "So, if it was Tony's turn, and he rolled and it landed on yellow, it would be history." She picked up a card, and reciting what it said: "what year were balloon's invented?" 

 "1824," I blurted out, not really thinking about what I was saying, and the room fell silent, aside from Alyssa, who just kept talking.

 "Correct, now-" 

 "Hold up!" Kim held her arms in the air, looking around at all of us like we were insane. She was perched on Jared's lap in a particularly uncomfortable seat, her hair swished around her shoulders when she shook her head. "You're all just going to ignore that Tony knew the year balloon's were invented in?" 

 "Yeah," I didn't lift my head, but I flashed a thumbs-up in Kim's direction, "I don't really know how I knew that  to be honest." 

"He also knows that in Utah, it is illegal to swear in front of a dead person." Alyssa said. I scrunched my face up. 

 "Yeah, I don't really know why, like what if I stub my toe in a funeral? Are they gonna arrest me?"  

 "Do you just swear by default when you stub your toe?" 

 "You don't?" 

 Alyssa scoffed. "Okay, we're gonna make teams-" 

 "I call Tony!" It was like everyone in the room had a instantaneous mental decision, as Embry's arms wrapped around my head, pulling me tighter to him, at the same time Emily and Paul jumped up and made a move to grab my arm. 

 I jumped, "damn, you guys!" 

 "He's my boyfriend!" Embry defended, making Emily roll her eyes, "well he is my honorary son." 

 "We're all your honorary son's, Emily." Quil reminded, and she shrugged. Paul spoke up next, raising his loud voice to be heard. 

 "Yeah? Well he is my favorite nerd!"  

"Here, I have an idea!" I sat up, smacking Embry's hand from my face, and grinning at everyone in the room. "How about it's me, take all of you... like, Alyssa reads a card, whoever guesses first gets a point?" 

 There was a long pause, until it was finally broken by Jared scoffing, "I volunteer Sam to go first." 

 ***

 Turns out, the pack was a lot stupider than I realized at first. Or maybe it was just because I memorized our grade ten history book at age nine and a half. 

 "When the Dutch captured New York from the English in 1673, they briefly re-named in new... what?" Alyssa asked, looking up at us, I furrowed my eyebrows, and Sam slapped his forehead with his hand. 

 "I dunno," I leaned my head to the side, "orange?" 

 "Correct, next." 

 "What the actual fuck?" Sam demanded, rolling his eyes as Emily laughed, "how they hell did you know that?" 

 "I'm telling you, I have no idea!" 

 "Who's next?" Alyssa asked, I leaned back in my chair, thankful that the day finally has come when I would best all of these idiots in knowledge-combat. Paul decided to take his chances, although we all knew that Paul would just punch the wall if he lost. 

 "What is the cat in Harry Potter named?" 

 "Crookshanks!" We both yelled, before immediately giving the other an odd look. I raised an eyebrow at Paul, who's face was beginning to turn red. "What? Did you really have a childhood if you didn't read Harry Potter?" 

 "How did you manage to squeeze it in between making kids cry and wrestling deer's... or whatever a young Paul does?" Quil asked, earning a middle-finger from Paul, and a confused laugh from me. 

 "Okay... tie breaker," Alyssa gave both of us very judgmental looks, shuffling the cards again and picking one from the pile. "Who founded jungle gyms?" 

 "Who writes these questions?" Paul demanded, as I wracked my brain for anything having to do with jungle gyms. Paul groaned, pointing at me. "He's doing his thinking face, he knows this one!" 

 "I do not have a thinking face." I defended, crossing my arms over my chest and rolling my eyes. Paul nodded. "Yeah, you do. You stare up at the ceiling, squint your eyes, and bite your lip." 

 "Dude, how the hell do you know this?" 

 "Don't pretend that you haven't copied off of Tony during a test before!" He pointed an accusatory finger at Jake, who raised his hand in defense. 

"I think it was a lawyer, I read a book about them before... like, named after that guy from The Little Mermaid?" 

 "Dear God, he knows who invented jungle gyms," Alyssa muttered, although she didn't have the most surprised tone. Kim burst into laughter, leaning back into Jared and clapping her hands together. I grinned, still trying to remember that dudes name. I am pretty sure his last name rhythms with Clinton. 

 "Inton, Binton," I muttered, before snapping my fingers  and pointing at Alyssa. "It was Sebastian Hinton." 

A very loud and colorful array of swear words came from Paul, as he aggressively kicked the wall, and then proceeded to swear more when he hurt his foot. Seth bounced from his spot, obviously slowly being corrupted from all of the swearing. Leah didn't come-which wasn't a surprise- but Seth seemed to be having the time of his life.  "Can I go?" 

 "Sure, Seth." Paul muttered, sitting on the couch next to Emily, and earning a pat on the shoulder, "have at it." 

 "What was the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth?" 

 "Two billion degrees Kelvin." 

 Seth smiled sheepishly, "I didn't really think I was gonna win, I just wanted to be included." 

 "I love you Seth!" I called, and he smiled in response. 

 "Okay, here's a science question," Alyssa began, as Emily walked over to sit in front of me from my spot on the floor, Embry had a look on his face that I couldn't decipher, like forgot how smart I actually was. Hey, when you are short (which I'm not anymore) you have to have something to use as intimidation tactics. 

 "What is the twenty-fourth element of the periodic table?" 

 "Chromium!" We yelled at exactly the same time, making Emily grin triumphantly. 

"The fifty-seventh?" 

 "Lanthanum!" 

 "Eightieth?" 

"Mercury!" 

 Alyssa frowned, shaking her head as I stared at Emily in awe. "Wow, how do you know all of this?" 

 "I was going to major in chemistry!" She explained, grinning at the look on my face, "I could do this all day."  

 "Good. So could I." 

"Can we not?" Quil whined, as Kim laughed again, seemingly having the time of her life. Sam nodded, walking over to kiss Emily's cheek. 

 "As fun as it is watching Tony make everyone feel dumb, we do have a battle to fight, and we do need to fight." 

 I pouted, sharing a look with Emily.

 "Wow, thanks for ruining my fun, Sam." 

 A/N: These guys deserve some happiness before the fight in all honesty. Thank you to @Shadowthepan for the trivia idea! 

 Also: If any of you guys wanted an idea for writing a story, just ask me! I have so many plot and character ideas in my head that I would be happy to let you use! Seriously, there are so many stories I want to read, but don't have the time to write! If you have any ideas for a love interest, and a fandom, just as me, and i could totally give you some inspiration to get you started! 

 Thank you so much for reading, and I love you all!