Playing Games(17)

He said nothing.

As if sensing an argument, a cameraman zoomed in on us working.

“Admit it,” I told him. “You think I’m weak because I’m a girl and that’s why you’re being all weird.”

“I never said you were weak or girly. You’re just…short.”

I tossed the shovel-full of dirt on Liam's buckle-covered, expensive boots.

He snorted. "Fair enough. I deserved that."

"You did," I said in a cheerful voice. "And you can dig the next one. Now, hand me your plant."

"Yes, ma'am," he told me, and he sounded almost amused at my bossiness.

We planted our first two quickly, electing the Poison Garden for the cannabis, and then heading back for the last two. We planted something that looked like a water lily in the bog garden, and the last plant, I had no idea what it was, but we just guessed at that point, and then flagged over a gardener.

Apparently we'd guessed right, because the gardener immediately handed over a disk. “Congratulations.”

Whooping with excitement, we quickly flipped over the disk and read it, heads bent. My hand brushed over Liam’s as we flipped, but I didn't have time to focus on that. We read the next clue together.

"Make your way to the Blarney Stone," the disk read. "One team member will need to volunteer for the kiss, and receive the gift of gab."

He glanced over at me, and I noticed how close our faces were for the first time. "Well, you called it."

"I did," I told him, unable to stop looking at his mouth, so close to my own. "I figured they'd use every opportunity to make someone kiss in this game." Abby's comment about making good TV was permanently stuck in my head. I began to get flustered as I thought about kissing him. He was tall, and, okay, if I admitted it to myself, good looking. Sure, he had tattoos and piercings, but he was pretty hot if I was paying attention to that sort of thing.

Which I wasn't. Theoretically.

"Do you know much about the Blarney Stone?" he asked me.

"Just that it involves kissing. Maybe you have to stand on it and kiss someone for this gift of gab thing," I told him, and felt my body get all flushed again. Was I going to have to kiss him for the next clue? Why did that make me feel all weird and kind of excited instead of reluctant and unhappy?

"Only one of us is mentioned, though," he said thoughtfully. "What if we have to kiss a stranger?"

"Oh," I breathed. I hadn't considered that. I elbowed him in a playful manner. "Well, you're the one that could use the gift of gab, if you ask me."

He stared at me, eyes narrowing. "Fine. I'll do it." Then, he turned away, clearly angry.

Guess I'd ruined our easygoing mood. Way to go, Katy, I told myself. We grabbed our bags - though he insisted on carrying mine - and followed the signs back to the castle itself.

I guess when I’d pictured the whole Blarney Stone thing, I thought it would be a big rock in a field that everyone went to and kissed. To my surprise, the Blarney Stone was just a stone set in the middle of one of the castle walls, nothing particularly special about it. I watched as one of guys from another team - Derron - laid on his back and grasped a pair of ropes attached to the wall. Two men held his legs as Derron lowered himself backward and kissed the stone while upside down. As soon as he was done, someone reached down with a scrub brush and cleaned the wall.

Okay, that was…not what I had been picturing. I looked at Liam sheepishly. "I guess I was wrong about the Blarney Stone."

"Guess so," he said in a bland voice, and I frowned. I'd hurt his feelings with my comment about the gift of gab. Now I was the bad guy.

He set down his backpack against the wall and got into line behind another team. I studied him, then noticed a camera hovering nearby.

Make good TV, Abby had warned me. They'll fix stuff in your direction to keep you on.

And the silent treatment between us? Not really good TV. Plus, it bothered me that Liam and I had come to a sort of understanding earlier, and we had almost had…fun.

Except I'd gone and blown things by making a comment about how quiet he was. So I needed to fix things, and I needed to make good TV. Somehow.

I considered this as I waited with our bags. The other person finished smooching the rock, and then it was Liam's turn. They carefully lowered him backward to the stone and he kissed it, then came back up a moment later. He got to his feet in an easy, fluid motion, and someone handed him a disk. Instead of reading it, he immediately headed for me so we could read it together.

He was like night and day from Brodie, really. And for the first time, I really, really wanted to make this work. And make good TV. And I kept thinking about how I'd misinterpreted the whole Blarney Stone thing, and how I'd been a bit disappointed when I realized that we wouldn't be kissing after all. And that was a little weirdly disappointing. I mean, wouldn’t a kiss make great TV? I thought so.