The Trivia Night Setup
A free B1-level English story for language learners, readable online in English, with an option to listen via the free Storyteller app.
Set up on a blind date at a pub trivia night, Zara and Bram slowly warm up to each other over an unexpected shared answer.
Zara's best friend has set her up on a blind date at the pub's weekly trivia night. She almost cancels twice before finally walking through the door. Her date, Bram, is already sitting at a small table near the back. He looks just as nervous as she feels. Zara orders a lemonade and sits down across from him, unsure how to start.
The first round asks about geography, and neither of them says much. Zara answers two questions correctly but stays quiet about the rest, unsure how to start a conversation. Bram taps his pen against the table, clearly searching for something to say too. The second round covers movies, and they both guess wrong on every single question. Somehow, that makes them both laugh.
Everything changes during the music round. A question about an obscure 1980s band appears. Both of them shout the answer at the same moment. They stare at each other, surprised, then laugh so hard that the team beside them turns to look.
"How do you even know that song?" Bram asks, grinning for the first time all night. Zara admits her older sister used to play that album constantly when she was growing up. Bram says his father did the exact same thing. For the next few questions, they answer as a real team.
By the final round, they are leaning across the table, arguing happily about answers instead of staying quiet. Their team doesn't win, but Zara doesn't mind at all. If trivia night happens again next week, she already knows she'll be back, and so will Bram. Neither of them mentions the blind date part again; they simply agree on a time.
