An Almost Silly Question

You’re a little torn. On the one hand, Amy’s made it clear that she doesn’t want anything too cute. On the other, it also doesn’t seem right to be too sincere with her either. You would look whipped, and besides, you’re not even sure what the appropriate question would be in that case. You decide to go with something else instead—the inane.

“Here’s a question that I think reveals a lot about someone’s personality,” you say, and you see her leaning in, suddenly engaged. “What’s your favourite Beatles song?”

“Ooh I like this,” she says, taking a second to think about her answer. “With A Little Help From My Friends is good, but I guess Back In The USSR really does it for me.”

“If the first answer wasn’t a dead giveaway, the second one sealed the deal. You’re a tankie, aren’t you?”

“Sorry, can’t help it,” she shrugs, giving you a shit-eating grin. “What can I say? I think that people deserve to live in a society that’s equal, and I don’t give a damn if you want to get in my way of doing that.”

“We’re living in the twenty-first century now. We’ve seen countries try to make it work, are you really…” your voice trails off as you see her raising her hackles. She is ready to fight you to the **** on this one.

“You really want to go in on this?” she asks, daring you to step up to it.

“It’s… we can save the conversation for another date. I doubt we can solve the world’s problems in the next thirty seconds,” you say.

“But I could,” Amy says. “I mean, only half-seriously. The problem is getting through all the pig-headed people like you. No offence. You’re lovely and all, but you just don’t see the light.” Her tone makes two things clear: one, that she’s only kind of jesting with you, and two, that she is not going to change her mind on this one.

“I’m sure I’ll come around once I hear your spiel,” you say, “but I guess I’ll stay a capitalist until then.”

“That’s right, keep up the oppression, pretty boy,” she laughs, right as the alarm buzzes again.

“That’s the second round,” Alexei says, and there’s a new set of pairings up on the screen. “Time to find your new partner!”

After getting up from your seat, it takes you a second to locate your name. You see that you’ve been matched with a girl named Adriana.

Amy +15