Three (Devina)

Josh slumbered soundly in the passenger seat of my SUV; his Cincinnati Reds hat over his face. I had been driving a little over three hours now.

It felt like so much had happened since I woke up this morning.  Thomas had gotten us ready to go and already he was tracking a lead.

Driving was clearing my head. I felt more relaxed and had fewer reservations about this assignment. Granted, I still wished I was driving back to DC �" or even flying back home to Germany �" but I had given myself a long talking-to.

My career was my life, and just because my personal life wasn’t in order didn’t provide a good enough excuse to not give Josh my best. Plus, this was also a vacation! I just had to pretend to be some mega movie star’s girlfriend. That was simple enough. I’d had harder assignments.

Josh stirred next to me. I briefly glanced over at him to see him put his hat on his head and fumble around to sit up.

I glanced over again to find him looking at me.

“Hey,” he said, his voice groggy.

“Hey,” I replied softly.

“How long have we been on the road?”

“About three and a half hours.”

He pushed his seat into a normal sitting position but didn’t speak any more. We fell into a silence that seemed to last a year.

“Let’s play a game, “ Josh finally said.

I looked over at him. I hoped he could read my unamused expression, despite the aviator sunglasses covering my eyes.

“What are we �" five?” I asked harshly.

“No,” Josh replied as I turned back to the road. “Not all games are for children, you know.”

I wondered if he intentionally meant for that to have a second meaning.

“I don’t know hardly anything about you. So, I will make assumptions about you and you tell me if they are true or false. It will be up to you if you want to elaborate.”

I did not want to play this game. The less he knew about me, the better. Not to mention I was s**t at opening up to people.

“And you can assume things about me too,” Josh added, as if it would make this ridiculous idea more appealing.

Still I said nothing.

“First assumption: You are not from the US,” Josh began regardless.

“True. I come from Germany,” I answered reluctantly.

“So that’s the language you and Thomas speak,” Josh realized.

“You really couldn’t figure that out, given our last names are Kaiser and Friedmann?”

“I’m not good at identifying nationalities.”

“What nationality is Hutcherson?”

“American.”

I snorted. Indeed.

“What?” Josh asked curiously.

“Nothing,” I replied.

Josh was silent for a moment, clearly unconvinced.

“If you’re German, you must love beer,” he assumed.

“False,” I answered.

“False?! I’ve never met a German who didn’t like beer.”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

“Touché.”

I cracked my neck and Josh continued.

“So you don’t drink at all then.”

“Also false. Just because I don’t drink beer doesn’t mean I don’t drink at all. I don’t drink often and when I do, it’s not much. Can’t really afford to lose myself with this position.”

“Fair enough. You work for the CIA.”

“False.”

“The FBI.”

“Also false.”

“The NSA?”

I looked over at his curious face.

“Still false. I work for the German government.”

“How are you able to take my case then?”

“Temporary contract with the US government and security clearance.”

Josh took a minute to throw that information around. The silence was nice. Well, my mp3 player was playing softly, but I liked not talking.

“You have siblings,” Josh continued relentlessly.

Oh, please don’t go down this road.

“True. I have a brother your age,” I answered.

“You have a boyfriend.”

I snorted again. Not the assumption I was expecting next.

“False.”

“Why not?” Josh asked with genuine surprise.

Once again I looked at him. He was so curious about me. I didn’t know whether to be flattered or annoyed.

“I’m not exactly girlfriend material,” I explained.

“Of course you are!”

I looked at him like he was crazy.

“You’re beautiful, you’re smart. I’m sure you’re funny but I haven’t had a chance to see it. And I’m sure you’re nice when assignments aren’t forced upon you,” Josh said.

“Wow, you make me sound so appealing,” I said sarcastically.

“Okay, I obviously don’t know you well enough to name a whole grocery list of your positive qualities, but I stand by beautiful and smart.”

I couldn’t think of a reply. Thank you? It didn’t seem like the right thing to say. It felt hollow.

“I’d approach you if I saw you out somewhere,” Josh offered.

Still, I couldn’t think of an appropriate response.

“Okay, moving on,” Josh gave up. “You went to college.”

“True.”

“You studied politics.”

I opened my mouth to say “false” but then I stopped myself.

“Neither true nor false. I studied international relations, which is a branch of political science.”

“You attended college in the U.S.”

“False. I attended the University of Salzburg in Austria.”

“Ooo. Fancy.”

“Very.”

I snickered.

“You speak more than two languages.”

“True. I speak five fluently and can bullshit my way through a few more.”

“Five languages?!”

“Five. My mother was a foreign language professor. I got her gift, apparently.”

There was a small silence.

“Your favorite color is orange,” Josh guessed.

I whipped my head around to look at him. He still had a curious expression.

“True,” I said in disbelief.

Josh sat up, with an incredulous look on his face.

“No way! I totally pulled that out of nowhere!”

“Yeah, it really is orange.”

“Wow.”

“Wow indeed.”

I had to admit his reaction was completely adorable. He was taking a hammer and chisel to my resolve. It was definitely cracking.

“You like Harry Potter,” he continued.

“True,” I replied.

“Favorite book?”

“Order of the Phoenix.”

“The correct answer is Half-Blood Prince.”

I looked at him with my mouth agape.

“There is no right answer! It’s an opinion!” I shrieked.

Josh laughed at me. The sound was actually quite lovely.

“You like The Hunger Games,” he said after his laughter died down.

“True.”

“Peeta is your favorite character.”

“Also true.”

“You think Josh Hutcherson was the perfect Peeta and thought he did an amazing job in the films. He made you fall even more in love with Peeta.”

“Wow. Really? Fishing for compliments there.”

“True or false, Devina?”

What had I gotten myself into? This was a lose-lose question. If I answered false, he would be hurt. If I answered true, he would get hopeful and feel like he made a small victory.

I groaned inwardly.

“True,” I finally admitted.

“AHA! So you do like me!” Josh cheered.

“Just because I appreciate your talent doesn’t mean I like you as a person,” I defended.

“Whatever makes you feel better,” he dismissed.

I glanced over at him. He was looking very smug. He looked out his window as he thought of his next assumption.

“You’ve never fired a gun,” he guessed.

Really? I was an intelligence operative. It was part of my training.

“Would you feel safe with a bodyguard who hadn’t?” I asked.

“Not really.”

“There’s your answer. I carry one on me at all times. Surprised you didn’t notice.”

“You’ve never shot anyone.”

I hesitated.

“False,” I said, my voice a little shaky.

I did not like the road this was heading down. Not at all.

“You’ve never inflicted a fatal wound,” Josh said, his voice more hopeful than anything.

God, I did not want to answer this one. But I felt compelled to respond. I had asked Josh to be completely honest with me. It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t hold myself to the same standard.

A good minute passed by as I debated whether or not to answer. But with my long silence, the answer was obvious.

“False,” I finally said in a small voice.

I couldn’t look at Josh. The light mood he had created was sucked out of my SUV as if by a vacuum. What could I say, though? These kinds of things happened regularly in my line of work. And sometimes I had to be the one to pull the trigger.

Josh’s silence signaled the end of our game. I was sure he no longer felt like a victor.

Some game.