Façade: Through the Eyes of the Codemeister
Chapter Twenty-Five: Recap, Part 2
As I was left on my own to watch the rough cut to The Sucky Outdoors, I soon took notice to the fact that at no point did Chris choose a clip showing me talking. Oh, sure, he ultimately showed not one, but BOTH times I pissed my pants, but I was hoping to at least catch some of the "meaningful" conversations I had that day.
Ah well…
There was a lot of focus on the Bass too. I guess I don't blame them—as interesting as the whole Izzy-Bear thing was, Katie and Sadie getting lost and Bridgette burning down the Bass tent by accident was rather amusing too, despite both normally being terrible mishaps.
I was so focused on the video that I didn't even realize Noah hadn't come back yet from the bathroom until it ended. "Hey, Noah? Where are ya, man?"
I heard fast footsteps behind me after I said that, before seeing the brainiac suddenly appear in my peripheral vision. "S-Sorry about that, I was having some problems…"
"…Do I need to know?"
Noah shook his head and sat down on the couch next to me. "Nah, it's nothing like that. Izzy disguised herself as a man and stole all of the toilet paper in the mens' room, and I didn't notice it until it was too late. Then she came in and said she wouldn't give me any until I admitted I was in love with you—that alone took a half an hour. I just caved in; I don't give a crap anymore…"
"Heh heh heh… Poor Noah…"
"Oh, shut up," he said before realizing the video was actually finished. He got up to switch the tapes, and sat back down. "Izzy's just making it hard for me to repress the memory. At least once the memory is repressed I can deny the whole thing ever happened and we can put it all behind us."
"…But it's already on TV…"
"Oh, come on, these are rough edits. I'm sure Chris isn't going to air the kiss. Think of all the pissed off 'moral' people…"
"…Noah? This is Chris we are talking about."
"Do you mean the guy who would sell his soul to get out of a lawsuit? I agree."
"…He's also the guy who would sell his soul to get high ratings, you know." I reasoned. "Think about it: what do crazy fangirls love the most?"
"Valium?"
"No! Yaoi."
"…Huh… But with geeks like us? I doubt it."
"…You don't have a deviantART account, do you?"
"No, I do not."
With that, we began to (finally) watch the next tape, which was already a few minutes in.
"Ah, yes… the 'phobia' one, AKA Chicken Boy's elimination," Noah noted.
"Yep…"
We once again sat through the video, though this time we simply watched, only talking every once in a while and chuckling at certain humorous moments.
"I bet that explosion was rather… exciting."
"Oh, shut up…"
"Nah, I'm good."
"I still can't believe Chris left Gwen buried alive like that…"
"I can."
"Man, this is sad…"
"I know. You and 'Shawnie' should've been clucking at him instead of Beth."
"Hey! Not cool, man!"
"Hey, it would've made good TV, Codemeister. Much like your little love triangle, which by the way ended in disaster… just like a soap opera, really."
"Egghead."
"Sixteen Candles Rip-Off."
"Hmm?"
"Nothing."
"You'd think Courtney's biggest fear is failure."
"Funny, considering she could've won it all for her team right there."
"Yeah."
"And yet Tyler walks the Dock."
"Ah well. Really, I don't care if Courtney stays in. I just want Heather to get the boot."
"It's probably not going to happen, Cody."
"…Why is that?"
"Have you ever seen a reality show before?"
"…Good point…"
"Alright, new tape?"
"New tape."
"Okay, but you know what this next one is, right?"
"…Yeah. I know…"
"…Okay…"
So then we began to watch Up the Creek. It didn't start out so bad for me, but after seeing me just pop up behind Gwen, acting all suave and crap… If I could shake my head without feeling an onslaught of pain, I would have. Everything I did… everything I thought looked cool when I did them… looked nothing like how I imagined it. I just looked like some sort of dweebish poser trying to get some girl to notice him.
…Which I guess is what I am anyway, but I didn't like it.
The moments on the canoe upset me. Gwen kept shooting me down and I kept going, like she was actually going to change her mind if I was persistent. Did I forget who she was? The independent thinker? Or did I just think she'd fall for anyone who'd give her the time of day? 'Cause hey—it's not like Goths are notorious for having guys of all shapes and sizes wanting to date them.
God, I was such an ass…
Soon came the moment of truth, and I held my breath. And at the same time, I was afraid. I didn't want to watch this, but at the same time I did.
Then I gave her up; I had mixed feelings watching that. A part of me—no—most of me was happy, because my decision wasn't for my own gain (by far), but hers. But at the same time, there was a part of me that was devastated—horribly, horribly devastated—because of the realization that I would never get to hold her hand, to kiss her, to let her cry on my shoulder, hell, to cry on hers!
Never to tell her how much I really… care for her…
Never to prove that I actually do, either.
Noah and I stayed silent after we saw that, both knowing I didn't really want to talk. That was alright, though, since I got to see the thrills of the episode, as well as the unintentional humor surrounding Geoff's "injury", all without interruption.
Of course, that silence wasn't forever.
"Wow… Trent's… pretty overprotective…"
"Hmm?" I wasn't expecting Noah to talk.
"Well, judging by his impulsive action in threatening to beating the crap out of his buddy if he was merely lying about Gwen liking him, one could assume he could be either overprotective or obsessive," Noah explained.
"…Is that a bad thing?" I asked, now worried about the two.
"Not necessarily, but then again it's not necessarily a good thing either. The only way we can know for sure is if we wait and see if any more proof of this theory exists."
I nodded. "Right." Now I was really worried. What if Trent's not the guy we think he is?
…
…Nah, I'm sure he's not like that. This was just a spur of the moment kind of deal. And besides, who'd want someone to lie about a girl he likes liking him? No sane person, that's for sure.
We watched the rest of the episode in silence. We couldn't find anything to say.
But once the tape ended, I could hear a soft voice to my right.
"That was very noble of you, Cody."
"Hmm?"
"Um… What you did… I don't think I'd be able to do that."
"Well, that's because you're the kind of guy to like self-gratification."
"And you're not?"
"…" I couldn't answer that, no matter how hard I tried to. He was right. What I did… I don't even know how I was able to do that… Looking back, it was actually very hard to do—possibly the hardest thing I had ever done…
"…Well, that's it," Noah told me. "We'll have to wait for Chris to bring us the next tape, but it should be coming tonight."
"I can't wait."
"…Really?" Noah asked, surprised at my response. "I'm surprised you'd want to watch that. I sure as hell didn't want to watch mine when I got here."
"…Well, I just really want to see the votes," I explained. "And if there's anything in that cut about them choosing me to vote off, I would like to know why they did it, y'know? I mean, they really could've gotten rid of Heather that time. I wouldn't have minded."
"…So… That's the only reason you didn't want to get voted off? 'Cause Heather stayed on?"
"…No… I also wanted to hang out with my Gopher buds a little longer."
"…So the money didn't mean much to you?"
"Are you kidding? I told you my reason for being here was to meet people. I don't care about the money. In fact, I figured I'd get kicked off eventually anyway." I paused for a moment before continuing my explanation. "…I just wish they would've gotten rid of Heather instead… so they wouldn't have to worry about her anymore…"
"…You mean so Gwen wouldn't have to worry about her anymore?"
"…You can read me like a book."
"Comes from actually reading books, I think."
"Hey, I read books too… just not as often as you do."
"Clearly." I knew he was joking, but I growled at him anyway, and he laughed. "If you're trying to intimidate me, it's not working. Of course, it's hard to be intimidating if you're in a full body cast."
I stuck my tongue out at him, though since I wasn't facing him I was really sticking my tongue out at the television.
Noah got up and walked up behind me. "Alright, what do you want to do now while we wait for Chris and the new video?"
"I don't know… I'm still wondering if I should trust you with pushing me around. You're not going to knock me into the water like Beth did, are you?"
"We'll see…"
-X-
Again, not a great place to end the chapter, but I wanted to separate Noah and Cody's recap of the previous episodes from everyone watching the Paintball episode, so it feels like time has passed since the two moments. Plus this gives me an opportunity to come up with a scene for the rest of the losers at the Playa des Losers.