Dutch laughed. “I’d say it’s been pretty good since I got out of the hell hole we call the Middle East. How about you?”
“Same,” said Mantis, covering Alegria’s hand with his own. “We’re working on getting Manon’s clearance to fly.”
“That’s great, Al,” said Dutch, looking straight at her. Just like he could’ve predicted, she was glaring at him, and Malin’s expression wasn’t much better. “How are the wedding plans coming along?”
“Do you want to tell them or should I?” Mantis asked his fiancée.
“I’m sure they’re not interested.”
“Not interested?” asked Dutch, clutching his heart. “Are you saying you’ve replaced me as best man? Do you know how much work I’ve already done, planning the games for the wedding shower? Those are co-ed these days, right?”
“I’m curious why you know that,” laughed Mantis.
“I pay attention to shit like that.”
“Sure you do,” said Mantis. “This oughta be good. What kind of games?”
“Let’s see…plant a kiss on Mantis. That’s where we blow up a giant photo of you, and all the ladies take turns kissing it to see who gets closest to your lips.”
“I’d be willing to try that live, meaning no picture,” said Mantis, wiggling his eyebrows at Alegria and Malin.
When that got no reaction, Mantis encouraged him to go on.
“What about who knows the most about the groom? Bet I could win that one.”
“You don’t know him better than I do,” said Alegria, taking his bait.
“No? Wanna bet? Let’s see who among the three of us knows the other two the best.”
“How do you propose we do that?”
“We need a couple of pieces of paper. Four, in fact,” he said, walking up to the bar and grabbing four tasting sheets and pens.
“I hope you’re not suggesting I play along. I don’t know much about any of you,” said Malin.
“You just write down your answers for me, baby,” said Dutch, leaning over to kiss her cheek.
“Let’s get started. This is how it’ll work. Malin will answer just for me. I’ll answer for Mantis and Alegria, Al, you answer for me and Mantis. Get the picture?”
“Yes, I get the picture,” she spat. “And don’t call me that.”
Dutch smiled. “First question. Favorite food.” He took a minute to write down his answer for his two friends, and waited until they were finished before he went on.
“Next. How many siblings do each of us have?”
Again, he paused.
“Ready?” he asked when Alegria set her pen down.
“I don’t find this amusing, Dutch.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t care. Drop out if you feel like it,” he said, not even attempting to hide the sneer in his voice. She should’ve left Malin the hell alone if she didn’t want to deal with his wrath.
“Next question. If we could travel anywhere in the world we wanted to, what would be number one on the list?”
Mantis, sitting beside him, was chuckling, but only loud enough for Dutch to hear him.
“Last question, this one might be TMI, but if we could spend our time doing one thing, above everything else, what would that be?”