CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: I Win

Okay, it's official. I'm enjoying this prank way more than I should be. I think I've almost got him. I've been sending the message every five minutes practically on the dot for the past three hours. I've been careful to avoid being around him too much these past three days or so. Everyone else who's arrived has been brought in on the joke. There's about ten of us staying in the house now, and all of them are giggling at Mat behind his back. It's kinda mean, but I consider it due punishment for his ASF days. At least, that's how I rationalize it.

Right now, I'm hanging out with Ashley on the mattress we share under the stairs. We're the only single girls in the house, so we automatically got put together. I don't mind, and I don't think she does either. I've gotten to know her a little bit since she's gotten here, and she seems like a really cool person. We lucked out; both of us had enough videos prepared so that we don't have to do much while we're here. Everyone else is recording except for Mat and the girlfriends. Preston's girlfriend basically never leaves his side, recording or not. She's the only girl in the house besides Louise, Jerome's girlfriend, but those two are out on a date today. Needless to say, Ashley and I were kinda just dumped in the same boat.

"You know Mitch likes you, right?" I ask her. I look around to double-check that no one else is within hearing range.

"I've had a feeling ever since New Year's. That idiot can't look at me for two seconds without smiling," she replies, giggling. I laugh along. She isn't wrong; he gets this huge dopey grin that's actually pretty adorable in a puppy dog way.

"And?" I ask, nudging her shoulder playfully.

"And what? I like him too, but–"

"But what?" I cut her off. "My spidey senses are tingling. You guys would be an awesome couple." She blushes.

"I just don't think a long-distance relationship is a good idea," she says.

"Quentin and Annie do a pretty good job," I reply.

"We're not Quentin and Annie."

"True." We stare into space for a couple minutes.

"I just–I feel like there isn't enough there y'know? Like, we haven't spent nearly as much real time together as we have Skype time," she says.

"Yeah, I get where you're coming from. Still, though, if one of y'all haven't made a move by the time you guys leave, I might be forced to intervene," I say, grinning semi-evilly.

"Hasn't it been five minutes?" Ashley asks wryly.

"Oh, shit, yeah," I say, grabbing my phone and sending off the text. Mat would probably be bothering us right now (he was prepared too, video-wise), but we scared him off by saying we were gonna talk girl talk. Y'know, bras and periods and stuff. It was almost like someone had lit his pants on fire, he was outta here so fast.

"So what about you? Any secret lovers?" she asks mischievously. I laugh.

"Nope. Just Single Pringle over here, enjoying a life of freedom and solitude," I say.

"Not even a little crush?" she asks with puppy dog eyes.

"Not even. I'm about as romantically invested as a brick."

"But all the guys keep flirting with you. Except for Jerome, of course. But even Preston's been flirting," she says. I'm taken aback.

"They do?" I ask.

"Yeah," she laughs. "You seriously didn't notice?"

"No. Probably 'cause they treat you the same way," I say. Now it's her turn to be taken aback.

"No, they don't."

"Yeah, they do," I reply. "Occupational hazard of being a single female gamer, I guess." Ashley giggles.

"What's so funny?" I ask.

"Or they're so used to flirting with each other that they forgot how to stop," she says. I giggle, then send off another text to Mat.

This time however I get a reply. I nudge Ashley and she leans in so that both of us are watching the screen. I open the message and sit silently for a second. Then, as if on cue, the two of us bust out laughing. We high five, unable to stop the Niagara Falls of giggles. I quickly save the picture, then run upstairs to find Mitch. Ashley tags along behind me. When we reach his door, we pause and listen to make sure he's not recording. I hear his outro and wait a couple seconds before knocking. He opens the door, and I show him my phone. I mouth the words I win.

He busts out laughing.

-oO0Oo-

*MITCH'S POV*

I've just finished my outro and I'm stretching back in my chair when there's a knock on my door. I open it, and Lily and Ashley are standing in the hallway. I'm confused until I see the screen that Lily's showing me. On it is a picture of a shirtless Mat with an incredibly angry expression and the caption "R U HAPPY NOW U SHIT." Lily mouths I win, and I bust out laughing. I don't even bother trying to keep it down. Soon enough, Mat sticks his head into the hall.

"What's going on?" he asks.

"Nothing," Ashley and I reply simultaneously. Lily is busy with her phone.

"Yeah, bullshit. You guys have been keeping something from me ever since I you got here, and I–" he's cut off by his phone buzzing in his pocket. He pulls it out, and I take the opportunity to glance at Lily. She's moved so that she's mostly out of Mat's sight. She signals me to stay quiet, so I turn back to Mat.

"Oh, this asshole is CALLING me now?" He answers it. "Listen here, dickpants. I have had it with your–" he starts.

"Thank you for the tits," Lily says, looking him straight in the eyes. He is totally dumbfounded, his mouth gaping open like a fish.

The three of us starting laughing our heads off while Mat just stands there sputtering. We're practically on the floor from laughing so hard.

"Dude, your FACE," Lily crows, wiping tears from her eyes.

"It's been you the WHOLE TIME?!" Mat asks. Lily's laughing too hard to form a response, so she just nods.

"You–you–I–you bitch," he says. He starts to laugh.

"Worth it. One-ten out of ten. Worth it. So worth it," Lily says. The four of us eventually calm down, just sitting on the floor in silence.

"Hey Mat," Lily says.

"What?" he asks, looking at her.

"Like my lockscreen?"

A/N TIME! AWW YISS: Hey guys! QD here with a brand-new chapter. This is kinda fast, I know, but I actually wrote this chapter while I was camping and why wait to upload it? I'm super excited for the next couple chapters. All that aside, it's time to reveal my final project! I put up a poll concerning some options and I want you guys to vote on what you want to see. Thank you guys so much for everything. This story has almost hit 24k views as of right now, and that is absolutely just stunning to me. I'm glad you guys are enjoying my writing. Here's the facts!

-Ashley is one of my favorite MC YouTubers. She's awesome. Yey.

-Single Pringle over here enjoys her life of brickitude. Aww yiss.

-I suck at telling when people are flirting with me, but we've covered that before. Moving on.

To the fictions!

-I wouldn't be able to stop laughing long enough to finish out the prank like that.

I think that's everything! Thank you guys for all of your reviews, follows, etc. because y'all keep me going every day. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter to stay in the know! Username is in my bio :) Also, don't forget to vote on my project! Much luv!

-Quiet Defiance

PS - Shoutout to Rylee (I'm sorry if I misspelled that) for tweeting me 'tits or GTFO.' You rock!

PPS - Sorry this is a bit late, but another shoutout to Tammy for being the first to ever tweet me. You go!

PPS - Seriously, though. Vote.