Page 72 of Enticing the Elf

“Or we couldnotdiscuss it in detail,” Dáithí counters.

“Yes!” Noah slaps a hand on the table. “That. I like that idea.”

“But—”

“No.”

“What if we just raise any concerns?” Alistair suggests. “Don’t steal all our joy, please.”

Noah’s face says pretty clearly that he’d happily take the job of joy stealer, but he just sighs. “We’re spending five minutes on each task. I’ll be generous and give you six minutes for this first one, so you can divide them evenly between the three dates.”

Team Bro jaws collectively drop, and Alistair starts sputtering.

“I’ll time them,” Steffen announces, pulling out his phone.

Dáithí edges his chair closer to mine and leans against me. “This is more fun than I thought it would be,” he whispers.

Caolan, Andrew, and Alistair try to argue with Steffen, but he simply taps his phone screen and says, “Your time has begun.”

“Baseball!” Hagen shouts wildly. “Eoin gets points for picking an activity Dáithí likes, cranking it up a level to fancy, and… and…”

“Not just fancy,” Jared points out. “The fancy part was a bonus. He thought about how much Dáithí likes gossip and managed to find a way to combine two activities into a super-date.”

I preen. Super-date? I’ll take it.

Niamh’s nodding. “Yeah. Dáithí got to dress up, and he didn’t just hear gossip, he got to hang out with people and make new friends. He likes all those things.”

“Any negatives?” Andrew asks, and when nobody speaks up, he nods. “Next date… the nightclub.”

“Does it count?” Brandt asks, and when a round of gasps goes up, he holds up his hands. “I’m not saying it doesn’t, but we need a clear ruling on this. It was a group activity. Does it count as a date?”

I… didn’t think of that. Dáithí likes hanging out with friends, and he especially likes clubbing with people he knows. I didn’t consider whether that would disquali?—

“It counts,” he says firmly, and I exhale with enough force to make my shoulders slump.

Brandt grins wickedly. “Great! I wasn’t invited, but it sounds like it was a fun night.”

Oh, fuck. “I?—”

“Ignore him,” the king instructs. “We don’t have time for this.”

The reminder that Steffen is timing us sends Team Bro into a flurry of discussion.

“Dáithí loves dancing?—”

“Clubbing in general, really?—”

“—and the VIP area with bottle service elevated it?—”

“—got to dress up again?—”

“—arranged for his favorite DJ to be there?—”

“—hanging out with friends?—”

“What? Stop,” Dáithí cuts in. “What did you just say? About my favorite DJ?”

“She was the featured DJ that night,” Alistair explains. “Adjoa K. She’s your favorite, right?” He looks around. “I’m sure someone said that.”