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Trivia Night (1/2)
Steve and Catherine sat in the Paradise Lounge at the Hilton Hawaiian Village with Carrie and John, sipping drinks, relaxing, and discussing the game night of the previous week. The kids were spending the evening with Joseph and Elizabeth so the four old friends decided to take advantage of the time to catch up on what had been going on in each others lives.
"...and then Angie asked if we played Yahtzee at the academy," Catherine said as she took a coconut shrimp from the appetizer plate.
"Apparently someone told her we played games for food," Steve pointed at Carrie.
"Where's the lie?" Carrie responded with a smirk. "If they had Yahtzee tournaments you'd have entered those too. And I am 100% confident you'd have won."
"Probably." Steve grinned and nodded in agreement. "Mostly because Catherine would have studied the rule book and developed a plan for how to deal with every game situation."
John held up his beer in a toast. "No doubt."
"Remember when Carrie signed us up for Red's first trivia contest?" Catherine chuckled. "She waited until about an hour before it started and then told us she'd done it."
Steve nodded. "I remember asking why you signed Catherine and I up instead of you and John."
"And do you remember my answer?" Carrie asked.
"Because I want to win," everyone said in unison then erupted in laughter.
"I'll never forget that night," Steve said. "Red's bar and grill had the best prizes,"
"That's why you remember it?" Carrie looked skeptically at Steve. "It didn't have anything to do with how Catherine looked wearing your academy sweatshirt?"
"I forgot how cold it got in that bar and I wore short sleeves," Catherine said reflexively, even though the secret of how she and Steve felt about each other back then had been revealed long ago.
"Uh huh." Carrie smiled playfully. "Funny how you only seemed to 'forget how cold that bar got' on nights we were meeting Steve and John there."
That's ok," John added. "How many times in your life have you ever seen Steve wear a sweatshirt? Never. He bought that one for the sole purpose of lending it to Catherine."
Carrie barked a laugh. "Your secret is out."
Steve grinned but didn't deny the accusation.
"Then you'd spend all night making mooney eyes at my roomie while simultaneously managing to dominate at trivia."
"What can I say? I'm a multi-tasker," Steve replied, his lip twitching into a smile at the chuckling blonde. "And it was good news for you because you always had a side bet on us."
"My mom didn't raise a fool," Carrie laughed. "Sure bet."
"The two of you were unstoppable," John said with a grin.
"Dream team," Catherine nodded and pecked Steve's cheek.
"Remember that night with Royce and Watkins? I still can't believe those two idiots tried to challenge you," Carrie said, shaking her head in amusement.
"They were just jealous of Catherine's far superior brains and athleticism," Steve remarked, a glint of pride in his eyes, even twenty-odd years later.
"They couldn't stand the fact that a woman could outsmart and outperform them," Carrie added, remembering her own annoyance at the good old boys' club attitude some of their fellow midshipmen displayed towards females at the academy.
"Those two definitely never figured out how to just take the L and move on," John remembered.
"Then they gave you shit when you won. Remember?" Carrie gestured to Steve. "I can still see your 'Insult Catherine and you're dead' face. They did not make good decisions that night."
Red's Bar and Grill, Annapolis, Maryland
"Are you warmer now?" Steve asked Catherine as the game was about to begin.
Catherine smiled. "Definitely. Thanks. I forgot how cold it can get in here."
Carrie snorted. "That's so weird. I'm not cold at all," she said as she and John exchanged a knowing look.
"Good thing Steve had that sweatshirt with him," John snorted.
"Look," Catherine said, used to Carrie's teasing and wanting desperately to change the subject, "We're about to start."
"What early 80's popular tv show starred Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari as men who dressed as women?"
"Bosom Buddies," Steve and Catherine said in unison, in voices not loud enough to be overheard by the other competitors.
Steve wrote the answer on their paper.
"For an extra bonus," the quizmaster said, "What were the names of their female alter egos?"
Steve paused, pencil poised above the paper.
"Buffy and Hildegarde," Catherine said.
Steve beamed at her as he wrote down the answer.
Carrie leaned over and whispered in John's ear. "Behold the mooney eyes."
The quizmaster continued. "What 1927 film effectively ended the silent movie era by introducing synchronized talking and singing?"
"The Jazz Singer," Steve said confidently. "One of my aunt Deb's favorite movies."
Catherine watched as a familiar dark shadow that often accompanied any of Steve's mentions of his family passed over his face.
She patted his arm supportively.
"What notable astronomer penned the 1980 best-selling book 'Cosmos'?"
"Carl Sagan," Catherine said.
Carrie's face brightened. "Hey, I knew that one."
The questions continued for another fifteen minutes, then the teams turned in their papers and awaited the calculation of the scores.
Finally the quizmaster stood up and the bar fell silent. "Tonight's winners, and by quite a large margin I might add, are Midshipmen Rollins and McGarrett."
Most of the crowd clapped while Carrie's "Woo-hoo! That's my roomie!" could be heard all over the bar.
"And here's your prize!" The bartender said as he handed Catherine a $50 gift card.
"Thanks," she smiled and waved it. "Dinner's on us," she told Carrie and John.
One of the two midshipmen at the adjacent table, who'd been boasting to their friends about how they were the kings of trivia, made a scoffing sound.
"Problem, Royce?" Catherine asked as Steve turned in his chair and met the man's gaze.
The man, under the influence of liquid courage, puffed out his chest. "Only that he's a ringer."
"Seriously?" She responded, her eyes flashing with annoyance. "How do you figure?"
"I don't know how yet but the whole thing was rigged," Watkins accused.
"I looked over a couple of times while the questions were being asked," Carrie said. "I didn't see a lot of writing going on. Kinda like in Calculus class. How many did you leave blank?"
Royce glared. "Very funny, Stagler."
"Thanks. I try," Carrie shot back. "You might not have noticed because you were too busy wiping the flop sweat out of your eyes but Catherine answered as many questions as Steve and way more than either of you. It's the obstacle course thing all over again."
As tension crackled in the air, Steve and John exchanged a look.
"I don't need to prove anything to them," Catherine said, placing her hand softly on Steve's arm.
"You think you're better than us just because you studied a bunch of useless facts?" Watkins spat out. He kept pushing, sure that he and Royce had gone too far to back down without losing face.
Steve stood up and faced the two men.
"Let it go, Steve," Catherine pleaded, knowing an altercation would get back to the academy brass who wouldn't care that Royce and Watkins had started it. Steve would be disciplined right along with them. The last thing she wanted was for him to get in trouble because of her.
Steve, on the other hand, couldn't think of a more worthy cause to get disciplined for.
"One fact you clearly missed is how to show respect," Steve said. "Maybe you need to be tutored."
A flash of fear passed over both young midshipmen's faces when they saw Steve's expression. He clearly wasn't planning to let their comments slide.
Just then the arrival of several boisterous sailors served as a distraction, and Royce and Watkins tossed several bills on the table and scurried out of the bar.
"Scared their sorry asses," Carrie said with a small grin. "Bet they won't talk anymore crap."
"I know you could have handled them…" Steve said to Catherine.
"And now I don't have to," her smile was soft and genuine. "No problem."
Present Day
"We certainly shut them up that night, didn't we?" Catherine said, raising her glass in a salute.
"One of many times," Carrie said.
"To the unbeatable trivia champions," John declared, raising his glass to join Catherine's.
Suddenly, the manager's voice captured their attention. "Aloha friends, it's time for our first ever trivia contest! Gather your teams and get ready to put your knowledge to the test! Our servers have scorecards for you, grab one to sign up."
"Is this why you picked this specific bar to come to tonight?" Catherine asked Carrie, looking at Steve to see if he had known about the contest.
His expression told her he was as surprised as she was.
"It sure is. I think you need to show the amateurs how it's done," Carrie suggested with a mischievous look.
"I'm in," Catherine agreed immediately.
"Let's do this," Steve added, a competitive spark igniting in his eyes. Waving their server over, he took a copy of the scorecard and sat back down.
TBC on Monday
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