The Engineer

Chapter 4: Truth or Dare

The wedding had gone perfectly, people cried, laughed, and 'aww'ed at all the right times. Photos were taken and I had a little under an hour before they were going to start serving the food, this time had been allocated for family only picture time, and since we were running ahead of schedule that just gave me all the more time to talk to John.

As promised I found him by the fountain, he was sitting on a bench with his back towards me which i took as the perfect opportunity to make him jump. So creeping up behind him I let out a shout and grabbed his shoulders, he let out a shout of shock and jumped to his feet, spinning around and raising his hands in some sort of karate defence position. I couldn't help the fits of laughter I burst into, he appeared a little dishevelled and embarrassed, running a hand through his hair and making a comment which went something along the lines of "don't do that", or "what'd you do that for", but he mumbled it so low under his breath I couldn't even understand what it was he said. His comment only causing me to laugh harder, clutching my sides and bent in half, tears streaming down my face.

"It wasn't even that funny!" He claimed as I began to regain my composure.

"Oh no, your face was priceless though!" I replied through stifled snickers, "I'm sorry, what was it you wanted to talk to me about anyway?"
He shrugged, a lopsided smile creeping its way across his face, "I don't know really, I just wanted to talk to you, tell me about yourself."

I couldn't help the giddy smile on my face at his response, it was just such a sweet sentiment, but I couldn't think of what to tell him. "What do you want to know?"

"I don't know really, just anything. Oh! I know! Truth or dare!" I swear he is such a child, there's just something so mysterious about him, so I decided to play along, besides, the game went both ways I could learn some interesting things about him too.

"Truth" I said simply.

"Do you have a family?"

"Just my dad, he's a mechanic, I've learnt everything I know from him. Of course he's not my real dad, he found me on the doorstep of his workshop when I was just a baby, I had nothing but a little blanket, my watch necklace and a note pinned to my front which simply instructed my father to take good care of me, raise me as his own." I didn't know why I went into such detail about my past, I guess he just had one of those faces, the type you want to spill your guts to for no real reason. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Hmm... Is your name really John Smith? I mean, it just seems too straight forward to be true, no offence."

"Clever girl," he smiled, looking at the fountain then back at me, "no, I'm not really John Smith, I'm The Doctor."

"Doctor? Doctor who?"

"That's another question!"

"Dang, ok your turn!"

"Truth or dare?"

This goes on for a while, he finds out that I'm single, my history with Lyell, and I find out that he has no family, and loves to travel. He dared me to like a coin from the bottom of the fountain, I dare him to kiss my uncle Henry, he dared me to prank call my grandmother, and finally I dared him to explain the birds and the bees to Lyell. It was honestly the most fun I had had in a long time so when it came to be my turn to be given a dare I could never have expected what he said next.