"Your challenge is called the "Homemaker Challenge". Justin needs a girlfriend who can handle cooking, laundry, and some cleaning. You must cook a meal, finish a basket of laundry, and a certain room. You will be given the room number. The first one to do a good job wins the challenge. The last one..." She paused. "Follow me, I'll show you to the kitchen."
Everyone finished up their meals and waited in the dining room for Justin, who was annoyingly late.
Aurore held the bowl of pasta and smiled once again at Fawn, who was getting weird looks from the other girls for smiling back.
Finally, Justin emerged from a dark wood door far down the hall. "Sorry I'm late." He said, sliding into a chair at the table without missing a beat.
The first girl to set down her plate was Lily. The tomato soup bubbled and there was a strange film across the top, but Justin grabbed a spoon and tentatively tasted it anyhow.
He stood a bit straighter in his seat as soon as the soup was down this throat, some fresh perspiration on his upper lip.
Everyone watched in horror as he opened his mouth and...
Finished the soup?
"Wow, that was awesome!" He was practically licking the bowl, his face flushed from the hot sauce in the soup. "Man, no one makes soup spicy like that. I love spice!"
Mingxia slid her dish in front of Justin next. It was covered, like a freshly baked turkey in a very fancy estate. When she removed the lid, it was not the bland ramen under it.
Instead there was a plate of chicken with strawberries on it. There was a fairly pretty red sauce over the whole thing, and it smelled very... sweet.
Justin took a bite and
his face turned slightly green. "Fried chicken and Strawberries? Um..." He politely swallowed and pushed the rest of the plate away. Mingxia looked extremely offended by the action. He mouthed "sorry" as she cartwheeled off to the laundry room.
Caroline's apple pie was quote-unquote 'sapid', which made her very happy. She walked off beaming, showing all her perfectly white teeth.
Dave's hot dogs were 'a little too ordinary, but good'. Dave looked as if she might blast a cap in his pretty boy rear, but she simply stomped off with a red face instead.
Ai's rice balls were good, but once she told Justin what miso was, he turned green once again and set the Onigiri back on his plate and, like he had with Mingxia's dish, pushed it back politely. Ai shrugged and walked off.
Krystal's tamales were also on Justin's 'I like this' list, so she left with a smile on her face. As she left, however, she paused and gave both Fawn and Aurore a pat on the shoulder.
Aurore slightly stiffened at the action, but smiled at Krystal anyway. Fawn also smiled.
Aurore was the first of the two to place her dish on the table in front of Justin. "Well," he said. "This looks nice." He took a fork-full of noodles and stuck them into his mouth.
He chewed,
and swallowed.
"I like it... I like it a lot!" He smiled his full-on hotness smile, and Aurore, despite herself, smiled back.
As Aurore walked (more like floated) from the room, Fawn placed her dish where Aurore's had been only moments before.
"Looks nice, how did you learn to make this?"
"Um... c-cookbooks." She blushed, an action that Justin found ever so cute.
He tasted her Macaroni and Cheese. "I love it! It's probably the second best of the night."
She blushed furiously at the comment. "T-thank y-you, Ju-Just-Justin." she stumbled away with her head down, Justin watching her leave.
The laundry room was just as perfect as the kitchen. There were about fifty washers and fifty driers, each one was platinum, just as the kitchen had been. When the girls arrived, Janet was there to meet them. "Here are your loads of clothes," She motioned to eight human-sized hampers overflowing with clothes. "and, when you finish, you may simply leave to your final task."
She turned and walked a crisp walk down the hall.
The girls, finding this to be a fairly easy job, simply stuffed the washers full of clothes (one color per washer, thank you). Once that very easy part of the task was done, the girls were left with nothing to do.
Charades became the object of their attention.
"Okay, what am I?" Ai said as she turned her back to the girls, her hip stuck out so far that it could be used to carry drinks, but instead carried her hand. She turned her head very slightly and looked at them with half-opened eyes. Her stance somehow made her seem like a totally different person. She turned completely and strutted past the girls with that one had still on her hip.
"A model?" Caroline suggested.
"Close enough." Ai answered, riverting back to her usual non-glamorous stance. "I was going for 'Drama Queen. Dave, how 'bout you go next, dudette?"
"Sure."
Dave stood thinking for a moment, then grabbed a flat piece of cardboard that had a color code on it and firmly held it to her side. She raised her head and turned up her nose, making her look as if she were smelling something disgusting. Her feet were straight together, and her back straight as a pin.
"Oh, that's easy!" Caroline said. "You're Janet."
"Why, or course. Who else would I be!" Dave said, mimicking Janet's voice in a very high octave. "Now go clean dirty laundry and such."
All the girls laughed. All, that is, except Fawn and Aurore.
"That's not f-funny." Fawn mumbled, yet no one heard her except Aurore.
"Yea, it's not."
Fawn was a bit shocked to hear Aurore speak to her. "Um..."
"Hello," Aurore held out her hand to Fawn. "Thanks for helping me back there, I had NO clue what to do." She smiled, and Fawn shook her hand.
"You're um... w-welcome."
Aurore looked as if she were going to say more, but the buzzers on the washers all began going off all at once.
