Captivation

Captivation Part 18

Caitlin and Nigel returned an hour later with four of their six items. Nigel was dreading meeting up with the other half of the team. For two reasons. First, they had only managed to find a handful of items and second he was nervous about meeting Candy now that he knew she might be interested in him! In contrast Caitlin wasn't at all bothered about meeting up with the other half of the team. She felt she'd been productive in the intervening time. Playing matchmaker and bringing one treasure to the attention of another person was just a different kind of find on a treasure hunt.

"Hey, it's progress, we started with one, and we've improved 100 percent each time." Caitlin tried to put a positive spin on their effort. But she could see that Nigel was nervous again and she figured it was as much to do with Jared's reaction as it was to seeing whether Caitlin was right about Candy's interest in Nigel.

"Bet they've got all theirs." Nigel grouched under his breath. He didn't want to look bad in front of Candy, especially if she was showing some initial interest in him. He wanted to appear successful. Show her that he could do as well as Jared! He wanted to impress Candy.

"I didn't notice this competitive streak in you when we started." Caitlin slung an arm around his waist. At least Nigel was more relaxed and at ease in her company now. That was progress. He was actually a really nice guy when he forgot to be nervous. His stutter practically disappeared when he relaxed.

Nigel grinned somewhat sheepishly distracted by her statement, "Though I do think your chef's hat is a stroke of genius."

"Ah, can't take the credit for that." She announced as they kept walking. "The credit really goes to that cafe guy. If he hadn't told us we'd be none the wiser."

"Yeah." Nigel nodded. Though he doubted he knew of many people who wouldn't have taken credit for that rather than assign it to the chef who wasn't present to contest ownership.

Caitlin and Nigel caught up with Candy and Jared.

It was just unfortunate that Nigel was right. Jared and Candy had managed to get all their items.

It was the end of the collecting phase of the treasure hunt. So the two men took the items the team had collected into the corridor that had been set up for the teams to lodge their bounty. Caitlin and Candace went to the bar to get the team a round of drinks. Caitlin wanted a chat with Candy to see whether she was right in assuming that Candy was interested in Nigel.

Jared and Nigel handed their list over to Lisa then Jared and Nigel hefted the boxes with the items they had collected, onto the table. Jared and Nigel then took it in turns to hand in each item and have them checked off with the conference organisers.

"Your four did really well." Lisa murmured as she checked off the information against the items in the boxes. She was surprised that they had managed to get almost all the items. She had expected them to spend the time arguing. She was sure that Jared and Caitlin didn't get on. She intended to make sure that remained the case. Which is why she had deliberately put them in the same group and with two people who Lisa considered socially inept. She hoped those dynamics would create a bit of friction and enlarge the divide between Caitlin and Jared.

"Four? Jared grimaced, and shook his head. "We were handicapped, with a three person team." He told Lisa with suppressed exasperation bleeding into his tone. It had been building. Over the course of the entire afternoon, his irritation had grown in spades. And now he was ready to vent.

Lisa frowned, "But there was you, Nigel, Candy and Caitlin." Secretly she was pleased to see her plan had worked. He seemed even more irritated. Hopefully by Caitlin. Perfect. Just perfect.