“Wow,” said Polly, wriggling free and taking a big step back. “And yet not long enough—do I know you?”

The guy looked injured. “Yeah! We dated . . . kind of . . . before Christmas . . . you don’t remember?”

Polly shook her head and looked around quickly to see if Asher was nearby. He wasn’t, but Anna and Laura were staring unabashedly, and even Nina paused in her last-minute preparation. Polly turned back to the guy, who was attractive, despite a beard and a man-bun. One or the other, people, make a choice.

“I’m sorry, I’m super bad with names . . . Mike?”

“No.”

“Steve?”

“No”—the guy was frowning now—“Bartholomew.”

“Really?” Polly covered her mouth with her hand. “I mean, sure, of course. Bartholomew . . . ?”

“Fenstremmer.” The guy looked pretty pissed. “Barty Fenstremmer. Not a very common name.”

“No,” said Polly contritely. “I’m really sorry. I meet a lot of people and do a lot of things, especially around the holidays. Maybe I’m confusing you with—”

The guy interrupted her. “We met when you crashed your bike into the back of my car. You were dressed as Sassy Santa Claus and the hat had fallen over your eyes. We went to Echo Park Lake and made out in a swan boat. Then we got into a fight with another couple in a different swan boat because their boat was lit up and ours wasn’t. Then you insisted we go climb the Hollywood sign, which you can’t legally do, but somehow we did and then you stripped down to your underwear and took off down the fire road, which was when the park police showed up.”

Polly tightened her lips and shook her head again. “Nope, sorry, it’s not ringing a bell.” She looked over at the four guys, who were fast approaching the table. “Oh shit, here come all my boyfriends. Run, Barty, run!”

As the guy lumbered away as quickly as he could, he looked back and mimed holding a phone up to his ear. Polly smiled broadly at him and nodded enthusiastically.

“Who was that guy?” asked Asher, handing Polly a tall icy bottle of Coke.

“No clue,” she replied. “When does the competition start?”

•   •   •

One of the innovations QuizDick brought to his trivia contests was the decorative contestant podium. A member of each team would face each other across the podium—which today was a repurposed condiment stand from a defunct coffee shop—and buzz in with their answers. It made for better YouTube footage and reduced the chance of people simply googling the answers under the table. It also let QuizDick release his inner crafter, and he’d spent many happy hours hot gluing glass pebbles to create the stunning reflective effect he was going for.