Coffee in Common (32 page)

"Sure. What did you have in mind?"

"Mystery Beer."

"Yes! Good idea!"

Paul headed off to the bar.

Of the seventy-two brews DHL offered on tap or in bottles, about a dozen selections were perennially popular. The rest were an ever-changing mélange of currently trendy, foreign, boutique, or specialty beers. It was the rare customer who could lay claim to having tried the entire current assortment.

Paul returned with five player lists. "I figured the others will want to play when they get here."

A few minutes later, a waitress arrived with two trays of glasses and the game was on.

As Paul took his first sip, he noticed a bunch of guys sitting at a table along the far wall. One of them was staring so intently at Priya he didn't catch Paul eyeing him.

"You know, next to losing at darts, this is my favorite game."

Priya laughed. "Later on, I'll be happy to help you with the first one, although all that winning does get tiresome."

Paul held his hand up sideways, the back facing Priya, thumb and little finger folded in, with the first three fingers tightly together. "Can you read between the lines?"

That drew another laugh from her. "Well, at least you'll have a chance with this game. Speaking of which, I've been meaning to ask you. Does anyone know where Mystery Beer started? It's such a great bar game."

"As a matter of fact, I do know. Hold on a second."

He jumped up and she watched him go to the far end of the bar. He returned with a fiftyish blond woman.

"Leah, this is Priya Kumar. Priya, this is Leah Guillemin. Leah owns DHL."

"Paul said you were asking about how Mystery Beer got started."

"I was. It's like, the perfect bar game and I've been curious where it originated."

Leah half turned and pointed to a table across the room. "Right there." She chuckled at Priya's surprised reaction.

"Back in '92, an MIT student named Frank DuBois got the idea to hold beer identification contests with his friends. Usually four to six of them came in and would take turns being the beermaster, the person who selected the mystery beer for that round. He or she would tell the bartender which beer to bring and they'd be delivered in mugs, regardless of whether the beer was draft or bottled.

"When each person had a turn at being beermaster, whoever correctly guessed the most was declared the winner, usually of a small pot of bets.

"After the second or third time, Frank made a list of all the beers we were offering and had copies made so players could refer to it and mark their guesses.

"But the game quickly began to get out of hand. Kids were coming in playing two or three rounds and getting way too drunk. It became a liability issue, but it was so popular, I really didn't want to ban it. So I decided the bar would take over management of it.

"I hired two of the MIT students to write software that would manage the game using our existing POS system."

She smiled at Priya's quizzical look.

"POS. Point of Sale. The touch-screens and registers are all computer controlled.

"The system automatically updated the brew lists. I also found these two-ounce glasses and had trays made for them.

"Once all that was in place, each round consisted of six samples selected at random by the computer, which also kept track of how many rounds each group had consumed, to prevent people from drinking too much.

"The changeover worked out a lot better than I expected. There were nights when every table was playing. That hasn't happened for years, now, unless we do a promotion. Anyway, that's the story. Enjoy your game."

Priya knew Paul was still edgy. She wished he'd spit out whatever was bothering him since the others would be here soon. She sipped her third sample, savoring the strong, malty flavor and thought it was an ale. But which one? She glanced up and found Paul again focused on something across the room. When she took a quick glance over her shoulder, all she saw was a table full of guys.

"One of them has been watching you."

"Which one? There were seven of them around that table."

Paul looked away for a few seconds. When his eyes met hers again he said, "I'm impressed. Seven it is."

"Want me to describe them for you?"

Paul's obvious incredulity made her chuckle.

"I'm serious."

"You can describe all those guys after glancing over there for less than a second? I don't believe you."

Her head tilted as her eyebrows and lips angled into their ‘Are you challenging me?' position. With a confident grin, she stared right into Paul's eyes and began.

"Starting along the back with the guy who's sitting at the left corner and going clockwise — blond, thirties, big nose, full beard, blue shirt; blond, early twenties, moustache, gray t-shirt; brown hair, early twenties, nice smile, white pull-over shirt; black hair, late twenties, needs a shave, pointed nose, white with blue stripes dress shirt; brown shaggy hair, broad shoulders, gray sweatshirt, couldn't see his face; black hair, very thin, dark green t-shirt, couldn't see his face; and the last one is very tall, brown hair, square jaw, straight nose, gray and blue crew shirt."

She enjoyed watching his eyes grow wider and wider as she detailed each one.

"Unbelievable. How?"

Priya shrugged. "Just a talent I've always had. So which guy was it?"

Paul glanced over and saw he was again staring. "The one in back on the right. You said he had a nice smile."

"He wasn't looking when I turned before."

"I know. I think someone said something to him and he turned his head away before you looked. But he's watching you again now."

Priya shrugged, finished the third sample, decided it might be
Road Dog Scottish Ale
, and put a (3) next to it on her list. Paul had fallen silent and Priya sensed he was deciding how to ask what he wanted to ask.

He reminds me of Raj when he was in high school and needed advice about a girl he liked.

"Did Jillian tell you about our goodnight kiss?"

"Oh yes. In great and explicit detail. Remember how we live for details?"

She had been going for a chuckle but his face remained serious, his eyes questioning just how explicit Jillian had been. She blushed as she told him.

"I was getting hot just listening to her."

She noticed a flush creeping into his cheeks.

"And she told you she invited me in?"

Now we're getting to the real question.

Priya nodded. "She did, and she told us what happened."

"She looked so hurt at first when I said no. I thought I'd ruined the best night of our lives."

"She was devastated when you rejected her invitation. Did you know you were only the third guy she's ever invited in on the first date?" Paul shook his head. "But when you explained why, she realized the same thing had happened to her the other two times. She understood, obviously. If she'd been upset, do you think she'd have brought her sisters to meet you Saturday?"

"You're right. I know I'm being stupid. But I really don't want to mess this one up. So you think I was right not to go in."

"What I think isn't important. What do you think? How do you feel about her?"

"Priya, when she was in my arms last Friday I wanted her more than, than…I don't know. I was literally aching to take that dress off her. I can't remember ever wanting anyone that much. But another part of me was really scared that if I did go in with her, we'd end up like all the other times." He sighed. "I don't know why I second-guess myself. I know I was right. I think I just wanted to hear someone else say it."

He picked up a sample and took a sip.

"Promise you won't tell Jillian any of this?"

"Of course. What we say to each other stays between us. Isn't that what we agreed to last week?"

He dipped his head once in agreement, then caught her eyes. "I know this sounds crazy. I know I've only known her for a week. I know it's like, impossible, but I really think she could be, you know, the one."

Priya smiled. As much as she cared for Paul, as much as she already knew he felt that way about Jillian, it hurt a little to hear him say the words.

She reached over and took his hand. "Paul, you did the right thing. You and Jillian are great together and it will only get better."

He inhaled deeply and let it out with a whoosh. "I know. But I want to be careful. There's something…I don't know…I think she was really hurt bad once. It's like a part of her is holding back, waiting for the worst to happen."

"If she has been hurt like that, then all you can do is to give her time to accept that you won't hurt her, too. And speak of the devil…"

Priya nodded in the direction of the front door. As Paul rose to greet her, he noticed the guy who'd been watching Priya now casually eyeing him. After giving Jillian a big hug and kiss, he saw the guy's face change and understood. He thought Priya was with Paul, but now realized she was not. He wondered what would happen next.

He asked Jillian about her day and then explained the rules of Mystery Beer as they waited for Rob and Lisa to arrive, which they did, ten minutes later. A signal to the bartender brought three more trays to the table and with everyone now chatting and sampling, Paul soon forgot about Priya's admirer.

It was a few minutes before nine-thirty when Priya returned from the ladies room to find Rob and Lisa at the jukebox and Paul and Jillian dancing between the tables. She sat down to watch them, a tiny part of her still wishing it were her with him.

"Excuse me," a voice said from behind her. "Are you by any chance a doctor?"

Priya shifted her bottom in the chair and saw it was the guy Paul said had been watching her. She glanced over to where he was sitting. The others were gone.

"No," she replied, wondering if he'd stayed just to talk to her. "Is something wrong? Are you ill?"

"I was hoping you'd be able to tell me why my heart's been pounding so hard since I saw you walk in earlier."

She blinked three or four times, then crooked her finger and signaled him to come closer. When his face was about a foot from hers she smiled, shook her head, and said softly, "I'll make you a deal. If you go catch up with your friends, I promise I'll never tell anyone you just said that."

As soon as the words were out she regretted being so mean. His face turned red and he snapped back upright. His mouth opened as if to say something, but instead he turned and walked slowly back to his table.

When the song ended a few seconds later, Paul and Jillian returned to the table.

"Who was that?" Jillian asked.

"Nobody. Just some guy with a really corny pickup line."

"Well don't look now, but he's coming back for more." As Priya turned to watch him approach, she heard a whispered, "I told you not to look!"

Standing next to her, the guy nodded to Paul and Jillian before locking eyes with Priya.

"I'm really sorry about before. I know it was stupid but my heart really did start to pound when I saw you walk in earlier, and I really wanted to meet you, and I guess my brain just misfired and made me think that was a clever thing to say. Could I possibly try again?"

Priya still felt a little remorse, and he did grovel well, so she nodded. His forlorn expression was replaced by the smile she'd earlier thought so nice.

"Hi. My name's Brian Jankowski. I'm an assistant network administrator at Northeastern University, I play the guitar and clarinet, I like to cook outrageously spicy food, and I seem to have a real talent for concocting truly horrible pickup lines."

Priya could not help grinning. She could tell he was nervous, but sensed his anxiety ratcheting down a notch at her positive reaction.

Nervous is good. I wonder if he meant what he said about his heart pounding when he first saw me.

"My name is Priya. Priya Kumar." She shifted around and gave Jillian and Paul a mischievous grin as she introduced them. Then she faced him again. "So Brian, do you like to play darts?"

"I think Priya's found a new friend," Rob said about half-an-hour later.

Priya and Brian were still at the dart board and it appeared they were getting along well.

"It certainly seems that way," Lisa agreed. "He's made her laugh at least three times and she's touched his arm and shoulder more than that."

Rob and Paul turned to stare at her with twin looks of disbelief.

"What? Girls notice those things."

"That's right," Jillian agreed. "And he made her laugh four times, not three. You were talking to Rob and missed one." She caught Lisa's eye. "Ladies room?"

Once the girls were gone, Rob asked Paul about his plans for the prom. "Lisa said you and Jilli's sister have some plan to make her old boyfriend jealous?"

"It's more of a hope than a plan. She told me what she could about him, and we kicked around some obvious ideas, but I think we'll play it by ear when we get there unless some inspiration strikes."

"You could pretend not to know the guy and start talking her up."

"We thought of that."

They spent a few minutes discussing it without coming up with anything great.

"I have to be careful, though, you know. I'm kind of restricted in what I can do seeing that she's Jillian's sister."

"No making out, you mean?"

"Making out! Are you nuts? After what happened last Thursday, I'm not even chancing a kiss on the cheek. Jessie's nice and all, and I want to help her, and a kiss or two on the dance floor or someplace where her old boyfriend can see would probably help the effort, but there's no way that's happening. I'm not taking any chances. Jillian's way too important to me and if she ever found out I kissed her sister…hell, I don't even want to imagine what would happen."

"You kissed Jillian's sister!"

Lisa's shocked voice startled him to the point of actually jumping in his seat. He turned to find Lisa, Jillian, Priya, and Brian standing behind them. His face reddened and he almost shouted, "No! No! I didn't kiss anyone. We were just…"

Jillian put her arms around him as everyone broke out in laughter. "Don't worry. Lisa's just being fresh. We heard everything you said, not just the last line."