“On your mark.” She picked up a cotton ball. William did the same.
“I thought you were going to count,” William said, looking into her eyes.
“Get set,” she said, not breaking her gaze.
She waited a moment, continuing to look into William's eyes. Neither broke the
gaze.
“Three,” she said and dipped her cotton ball into the glue.
William hesitated since he expected 'go' instead of 'three'.
She had two cotton balls placed on the dragon by the time he had placed his first
one.
The choir sang the theme song for the third time, distracting William every time
they hit a wrong note. Casey seemed to enjoy it and it seemed to help her. A cotton
ball also became stuck on his index finger and it took a few seconds to remove.
The final score was twenty-three to sixteen with Casey winning the first round.
“Wait,” William said, confused. “We didn't even time that round?”
“Are you sure?” Casey said, smiling.
“Neither of us had a stopwatch or our phones out,” William said. “Are you sure it
was a minute?”
“It may not have been,” Casey said. “But I did tell you I may change the rules
during the game and you agreed to it.”
“Did I?” William asked.
“Well, it's too late either way,” Casey informed him. “Now, you can forfeit the
game and buy me dinner or we can play one more round and then you can buy me
dinner.”
“We're going three rounds, not two,” William said, trying to maintain confidence.
“Only if you beat me next round,” Casey replied. “You can concede, agree to buy me