AN: Time for quite possibly the most fun competition we'll have with our boys…I think I may have overdone it on this one…naaah. We love torturing them, don't we?
The next chapter is already in the plans- it will be another 'interview the family' chapter. And it ought to be quite interesting too.
Blink
The set up in the backyard was the biggest yet- it looked like an army training course. First a wall with ropes hanging off it, and on the other side of that, a pool of what seemed to be green slime. After that came the barbed wire that had to be crawled under, and then a path of tires. At the end was a stand with a bell on it.
"It doesn't look that bad." Mush whispered to me.
"Yeah, well, they always add somethin'. It can't be that easy." Spot said. He was right. This couldn't be it.
"Hello house guests."
Ugh. Sarah. "Hi, Sarah."
"The head of household and food competition this week is this obstacle course."
"Yeah, so what's the catch?" Skittery muttered just loud enough for her to hear.
"The catch is in the box sitting in front of Spot."
We all looked at the small brown box, and Spot sighed heavily as he reached forward and flipped it open. Inside lay one pair of handcuffs.
"What is this, handcuff week?" I asked, my annoyance shining through. I was still sneezing flour from the last competition involving handcuffs.
Sarah ignored my comment and began to explain. "You will be handcuffed to a partner, and then you will complete the course. The pair with the fastest time gets to compete for head of household. And if the fastest time is under 40 seconds, then you win the food competition as well. Does everyone understand?"
"Yes, Sarah." I said as snidely as I could manage.
"Just for that tone, you and your partner can go first, Blink."
I groaned in frustration. Women and their moods…
She just snickered and continued. "Spot, please handcuff Blink to Mush."
I tried to concentrate on the course as Spot snapped the handcuffs onto my wrist and then onto Mush's. I had that strange twinge in my stomach again, that weird feeling that I couldn't shake if I tried. But I tried anyway.
We stepped up to the starting line, and I only needed to glance at Mush to know that he was ready.
"Ready…set…go!"
We took off and we each grabbed a rope with our free hand, and I did a hasty count to three and we jumped and planted our feet on the wall. My left hand was not going to last long being the only thing holding me up though, but Mush had a stroke of genius. He moved his hand that was in the handcuff and intertwined his fingers with mine, and then we alternated moving so we had something to put our weight on. It still felt like it took way too long to reach the top, and when we got there, we ignored the ladders on the other side. He counted to three and we took a flying leap into the slime.
Oh, man, that stuff was absolutely disgusting. Up to my waist, thick, slimy, and worst of all, green. I just don't like that color. Especially when it pertains to slime.
As I hit, the coldness of it made me gasp and almost just stop moving altogether. What did they do, dye some liquid nitrogen green? I couldn't move in this stuff!
Mush yanked me forward, seeming completely unaffected by the temperature as he dragged me through the slime. It almost reminded me of that dare I had taken, jumping in the freezing cold pool during a storm.
As soon as we crawled out of the pool we had to drop to our stomachs and start crawling underneath the barbed wire. We had to move on our stomachs for quite a distance before we could stand up again.
Now came the tires.
"Left, right, on my word." I said, and he nodded.
"Go!"
Left, right, left, right…damn, this kid was fast! I could barely keep up with him as he took the tires like a pro. I made a jump for the bell and rang it, but obviously I had surprised Mush in doing that, because I jerked him forward and we both ended up on the ground.
It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't landed right on top of him.
My lips were less than an inch from his, his deep, chocolate eyes filled with surprise as he stared up at me. Time seemed to stand still in that one precious moment. If I just leaned forward, just a little more…
NO! WHAT WAS I THINKING!?!?
I jumped up as fast as I could, and only succeeded in getting yanked down by the handcuffs again and knocking the air out of him as I fell on him again. I was a little more careful this time, rolling off him instead of jumping and laying on my back in the grass beside him as he struggled for breath.
I could hear the other guys laughing hysterically, but this was far from being funny.
I had wanted to kiss him. Mush. Another boy.
I had almost done it, too.
Dutchy
They had been so damn close!
They were driving me absolutely insane. How could they not see this? Were they honestly totally oblivious to what was going on?
Well, obviously not. If only Blink could've seen the look on his face. He had gone from lust to terror in just under a second. That had to be a new world record. And poor Mush…he was still gasping for breath, even though we'd already taken off the handcuffs.
"God…I'm sorry, Mush…" Blink said, his voice trembling noticeably. I shot Specs a glance, and he arched his eyebrow.
"It's…okay." Mush said, one hand on his chest as he slowly recovered from the blow. Blink stood beside him, his hands shoved in his pockets- even the air around them was filled with tension. They both knew what had almost happened. There was no question about that.
Specs slipped an arm around me from behind and spun me into a quick kiss. "Let them take their time. They'll figure it out." He whispered.
"Blink, Mush, your time was 42 seconds. Spot, you're next with Specs."
I laughed at the look on Specs's face, and then I pushed him over to Spot. "Have fun."
Those two weren't meant to do anything together. It took them a full minute to find their way up the wall, and from then on out, they just stumbled through the rest of it. They knew they had lost, but they still finished it out and rang the bell.
"Spot and Specs, your time was 1 minute and 27 seconds. Dutchy…big brother would like to ask a favor of you."
I looked up, wondering what in the world big brother would want to ask me, of all people. "What?"
"Since we have an uneven number of people, would you go twice?"
Shit. No, I didn't. But I was just too darn nice.
"Sure."
"Good. Then Bumlets and Dutchy, you're next."
We had our handcuffs put on and stepped up to the starting line. We basically just tried to use the same technique that we'd seen Mush and Blink use, but it obviously doesn't work well for anyone except them. We just weren't fast enough.
And damn, that slime was cold! I had been expecting it to be cold from the way the others acted, but it was freezing!
"Bumlets, Dutchy, your time was 57 seconds. Itey, Skittery…you're next."
I sat down and looked around to see who was left, and I quickly figured out that I would be working with Race. I slipped over to stand beside him, and then I told him my idea. He was laughing the whole time, but he admitted that it just might work. Now I had to think of a way to explain it to Specs without him getting jealous.
By the time I had explained my plan Skittery and Itey were done, with a respectable time of 45 seconds. Race and I had the handcuffs snapped on, and I laughed even as we walked up to the starting line. This was going to be interesting, to say the least.
"Ready…set…go!" Sarah said, and we took off to the wall. We used Mush's and Blink's technique to get up and over the wall, and once again, I was waist deep in freezing cold sludge. Out, under the barbed wire…and here's where my plan came into effect.
Everyone else had spent valuable seconds counting or deciding on a way to get across this. However, Race and I wouldn't have to work in unison. I turned to face him and jumped on him, wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. He was through the tires in a matter of seconds, and he rang the bell and I dropped to the ground.
"Congratulations, guys…that was 39.88 seconds. You've won the food competition. Dutchy and Race, you are now going to compete for head of household." Sarah said.
Specs couldn't help but laugh, even though he did seem a little irked. Probably jealous. I could just tell.
"You're somethin', you know that?" he said, running a hand through his hair.
I grinned. "Yep. I know."
"Alright. Race, go through the course." Sarah said. Being un-handcuffed, it only took him 23 seconds to complete the course. But I was utterly drained. I had already been through that course twice. I lost by two seconds.
"Congratulations, Race. You are the new head of household."
Specs ruffled my hair playfully, pulling me close and whispering, "Don't worry. I still like you better."
I played along. "Even though I lost? Cause you know, my life is over now that I lost…"
He looked at me, amusement shining in his eyes. "You're something. You're really something,"
"You said that already."
"Only to make sure you know I mean it."
"You'd only have to say it once for me to believe it, Specs."
I kissed him and then we headed inside, eager to change out of our slime-caked clothes.
AN: Okay. This chapter took a long time, but it was well worth it to see Blink and Mush's episode there, and the fluffy Dutchy/Specs stuff. Next chapter is the families, and then the next one is going to be nominations, and an awful shock for the house…