Some Call This Fun (3/?)
Title: Some Call This Fun (3/?)
Word Count: 5,262
Summary: On a remote Brazilian island, 22 contestants are separated into 2 teams to compete against one another through a series of challenges. But they aren’t the only ones being challenged. A stressed producer, an exasperated doctor, the off-balanced host, a horny intern and an extremely concerned judge all struggle to maintain their faith as their reality show spirals into insanity.
I like this chapter :) Things happen. It seems kinda long- but it reads pretty quickly.
Part 1 - Where we get to meet the pissed off producer, the out-of-the-loop judge, a desperate intern and a host who may or may not have drank pee.
Part 2 - We meet the contestants, Blithe wanders off, Hoobler’s ears are indeed large, and much to Nixon’s dismay Liebgott doesn’t punch anybody.
Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or challenges borrowed from a reality show belong to the creators of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!
Also the idea of the awake-a-thon is from Total Drama Island
It wasn’t as if Lipton expected everyone to take off running- the way that they did when he watched such competitions on TV. But he guessed he expected something more than the indifference and onslaught of bitching that came the moment Nixon was out of sight.
Since he wasn’t sure who everyone on his team was-he just slid pass the crowd of people and made an escape up to the room he was sharing with Christenson and two others he didn’t know.
If he was lucky not only would his room be empty, but the camera men would be more interested in the ruckus downstairs than in following him.
He wasn’t really sure how he was going to do this. Live with all these people and be constantly watched. The only reason he had agreed to even audition for the damn thing was because his brother had wanted to.
When he had gotten accepted and not his brother, he had been more than eager to drop out. But Chris had been so excited…and there was no way Lipton could disappoint his kid brother. So that escape route had been cut off.
When he got up to his room- his hope that it would be empty wasn’t to be. The bed across from his was being stared at by a lean, dark haired man.
Lipton curled his nose at the smell of cigarette smoke. Knowing his luck he’d be the only non-smoker on the whole show.
“Hey buddy-um do you mind opening a window? Or maybe you could smoke outside?” he waved a hand in front of his face to clear the air, just glad not to be sleeping directly next to the
other mans’ bed.
At his suggestion his unknown roommate turned away from scrutinizing the assortment of red clothing laid out before him and regarded Lipton for a moment with dark eyes-cigarette in his hand.
Lipton noticed the red clothing-meaning that this man was on his assigned team. He also noted, quite uncomfortably, that the other man was still silently staring at him.
Finally, the dark haired man licked his finger and snuffed out his cigarette, tucking it behind his ear and walking over and opening the nearest window.
It wasn’t what Lipton had been expecting-but he was grateful.
“Thanks.” He nodded to the man who just shrugged at him. Sitting on his bed Lipton fiddled with one of the red shirts on his pillow. “I’m Lipton by the way. Well Carwood Lipton, but my first name is pretty hideous so you can just call me Lipton.”
He saw the other man’s back straighten for a moment, “Ron Speirs.”
Lipton nodded at the supplied name, “Ron Speirs. You’re um…not much of a talker I take it?”
Another shrug, “I have a hangover.”
Lipton sighed as Speirs rummaged through his bag silently before finding a bottle of Advil and walking off- red shirt in hand-to the bathroom.
“That went well…”
“Man I am sooooooooo thirsty. Where’s the kitchen? There is a kitchen right? I really, really need a glass of water.”
Babe’s throat was sore, his head hurt, he was dizzy and he wasn’t sure how to stop his arm from twitching.
In hindsight- this could have been prevented. He could have NOT run away from home or lied (about oh so many things) to get on a TV show. And he could have not gone partying with those sorority girls in Brazil before getting on his boat.
And in hindsight, guys with green hair are NOT your friends, that was not a red bull and if the numbers falling off that clock were any indication-those square pills were NOT for headaches.
He wished he could say what was done was done-but it kind of wasn’t. Because now he was thirsty, he wasn’t sure who these people were and he couldn’t find the goddamn kitchen!
Suddenly he felt a soft poke on his arm and looked over to see Shifty standing there offering him a bottle of water, “Here you go.”
Babe smiled and grabbed the water with a shaky hand, “Thanks man. Ummm do you remember where I put my stuff?”
Shifty’s eyebrows raised, but he nodded, “Yeah the room with the green sheets, same as me.”
Babe nodded before opening the water and guzzling half of it down before taking a deep breath.
Water had NEVER tasted so freaking good. Usually- he hated water. It was gross and had no taste. But this was like- freaking miracle water that tasted kind of like orange juice.
Haha right….water that tastes like orange juice. Just like there was really a sea lion on the couch.
Sucking down the rest of the water he smiled brightly at Shifty, “Right then. Thanks for the water- I should go change.”
Floyd was getting nowhere fast. He’d tried talking to Blithe earlier but the guy had been totally uninterested.
Spotting Liebgott outside smoking he walked over to try his luck again.
Joe spotted him coming and groaned, “Don’t you have some other shit to do? Like-away from me?”
Talbert just smiled, “Well I saw you out here and thought you might be lonely. Or is that like your thing? Being the loner?”
“Yeah sure, that’s my thing, whatever. Now fuck off.”
“What? You don’t like my company?”
“Uh no?”
“Your eyes say yes.”
“Hmm what does my foot up your ass say?”
Floyd just smiled, not sure if Liebgott’s aggression was a good thing or not. He opened his mouth to speak but another voice cut him off.
“Liebgott is it? Shouldn’t you get changed-we don’t have that long.”
Floyd looked behind him to see David Webster approaching. Definitely cute….but not really crazy. He’d be a waste of time to hit on.
Talbert would have stayed but he saw a camera coming up behind Webster and knew that was his cue to exit. He aimed a cocky smile at Joe, “I’ll catch you later.”
Liebgott just blew smoke in his face, “Drop dead.”
Webster watched Talbert take off coughing before looking at Joe, “That wasn’t very nice.”
“Can I help you?”
Webster just shrugged and jerked a thumb back towards the house, “Everyone’s getting ready. I saw you out here and thought I’d let you know since you’re on my team. I’m David Webster-by
the way.”
Liebgott just rolled his eyes, “That’s nice. But I have eyes Web and I’ll get ready when I feel like it.”
Webster just frowned, “I actually prefer being called David.”
“Like I care. Look can I puh-lease smoke in peace?”
Webster just stared at him, not able to believe anyone could be so rude. When Liebgott saw him still standing there he sighed, “Jesus. I’m outta here.”
Webster watched him walk off and was soon left alone with the camera, “What an asshole!”
“How does that make you feel?” The camera man asked-remembering Nixon’s advice to elicit reactions from the contestants.
“Oh stay out of it.” Webster snapped at him before going back inside.
Joe Toye figured he had gotten pretty lucky. He and Buck had decided to room together and their other two roommates were both on their team.
He had just changed into the gym shorts and red T-shirt laid out on his bed when he heard a groan behind him.
He turned to see the short brunette that Buck had been talking with earlier-Luz.
Luz was holding up the red shirt that was a tad too large for him, “Being short fucking blows.”
Toye laughed, “Well I wouldn’t know anything about that.”
Luz made a face, “Rub it in why don’t ya? Hey you think Frank’s is smaller?”
“Who’s Frank?”
“Oh he’s the really short guy. That’s his bed right there.”
Toye watched, amused, as Luz slinked over to the bed next to his and started comparing clothes, “Hmm but do you really want to steal from someone even more vertically challenged than yourself?”
Luz laughed and sent his first honest smile over at the taller man, “I like that. Vertically challenged. And yes. You will soon discover that I have no shame.”
Toye laughed as Luz snatched a smaller shirt off the bed, “That’s good to know.”
By sheer bad luck, Bill had wound up in the same room as Evans. What was worse-only he didn’t know it yet-was that he was in the same room as Sobel as well.
But Hoobler wasn’t too bad, although he highly doubted the other man would be pleased about bunking with the ear enthusiast.
However as soon as he got to his room, he found that Evans already had something else to be fascinated over.
“Chicago? That’s in Indiana right?”
Sobel just looked at the blonde, his eyes widening a bit, “No. It isn’t. It’s in Illinois.”
“What’s the difference?”
Bill just shook his head and decided to let Sobel deal with Evans on his own. Pulling a blue shirt over his other white tee he wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or disturbed by the way Sobel was calmly dealing with Evans.
Sobel, for his part, didn’t see a dimwitted blonde when he looked at Evans. He saw clay that could be molded. Evans obviously wasn’t getting off to a good start with the others. All he had to do was befriend him and he would have his first ally. Then all he needed was to find someone else that was lacking in the buddy department and he would have an alliance.
It was going to be too easy.
Nixon looked over to where the crew had assembled the contestants on the beach. They had set out logs as benches for each team.
After all the contestants had been instructed to sit, Nixon stood in between them and began to explain their challenge.
“Welcome contestants-to your first challenge. As you’ve been told- today you will not be competing against the opposite team- but against your own teammates! At the end of this challenge-no one will be eliminated. However each team will then have a Captain-”
Grant snorted, “Big deal.”
Nixon glared, “It is a big deal if you would just let me finish!”
“Fine.”
“Good. Now the Captain’s position is important for several reasons. First off- Captains are responsible for rallying their team, presenting a united front-“
“That’s lame!”
“Grant shut up!” Nixon snapped. Babe just giggled insanely and everyone stared as he fell off the log he was sitting on.
“Anyway-” Nixon continued, “as I was saying- the Captain will only rally his team. And while he can’t actually make his teammates listen to him- he will have a certain amount of power that they don’t. For one the Captain’s vote in any elimination gathering counts twice. He can also pardon one of the bottom contestants and take their place- like that’s gonna happen. Lastly in the unlikely case that a team votes entirely for one person-cause I doubt anyone would vote for themselves- or there is a three way tie- the captain can choose who to send into the head to head challenge. Now do you understand why it’s important?”
Perconte just looked bored, “That took entirely too long to explain.”
“Yeah,” Cobb grimaced, “I hate to agree with the midget but you really need to learn how to get to the point.”
“Did you just call me a fucking midget?”
Cobb just rolled his eyes, “What-you aren’t?”
Luz kicked sand over at Cobb, “Shut up asshole.”
Sobel honed in on the fight taking place within the other team like a hawk. Having a connection on the red team could definitely be useful. He’d have to try and talk to Cobb later. It shouldn’t be too hard-from the looks of it no one on his team wanted to talk to him.
Muck raised his hand to get Nixon’s attention, “Um what exactly are we doing?”
Nixon pulled his eyes away from the verbal assault on Cobb to answer, “Right. Here’s how it
goes. We’ve decided that the fairest competition to determine the Captains would be something that everyone has an equal chance of winning.”
“Which is?” Don asked.
“I like to call it the Awake-a-thon! But the producers are still consulting our dumbass writers about that name.”
“Nix!” Dick hissed from behind a camera man.
Nixon ignored him and clapped his hands together, “The challenge is simple. Whoever stays awake the longest is the team Captain. Only catch is that you have to stay out here…where we
can see you.”
“What if we have to piss?” Penkala asked- suddenly super aware of that soda he drank earlier.
“Umm we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it?”
“What so that’s it?” Christenson looked around, “We just stay awake?”
Nixon smiled, “Yeah well we’ll see how many of you are awake in 10 hours. It’s only 3:30pm after all.”
1st Hour
Penkala looked over at the other team longingly. Sure he and Muck were rooming together-but to not even be put on the same team? That was just cruel.
He watched as Skip made Don laugh over something that was probably totally not even funny. Don probably didn’t even get Skip’s jokes.
Great…now he was getting jealous. That wasn’t good.
He looked over to where Luz had pulled out a deck of cards.
“Well boys-it’s going to be a long night. Who’s up for a little five card draw?”
Toye plopped down next to him, “I’m game.”
Buck smiled and sat down on Luz’s other side and gave him a grin, “Me too. But I’ll warn you. I’m actually pretty good.”
Luz sighed dramatically, “Oh no! You’re good? Well I’ll just quit now and spare myself the humiliation.”
Buck rolled his eyes as the others laughed.
Christenson watched Luz shuffle, curious, “I only know how to play go-fish.”
Penkala gaped at him, “Seriously?”
“Then you’re definitely in.” Luz motioned for him to sit.
Lipton watched some of the guys gather around Luz, before shrugging and heading over.
The small brunette looked up at him, “You in?”
Lipton shrugged, “Nah just thought I’d watch.”
“You wanna help me cheat?” Luz joked before getting flicked in the knee by Toye. Lipton just smiled and settled in next to a miserable looking Cobb.
He was more than a little surprised when Speirs walked over and looked down on the assembled contestants, “Are you betting anything?”
Buck and Luz shared a look. “Not yet,” Luz said, “we’ll let Christenson learn the rules first.”
Speirs just nodded and sat on the ground next to Lipton’s feet and leaned back against the log.
Christenson watched Speirs out of the corner of his eye, curious of the way he was
scrutinizing the card game.
Luz snapped his fingers, “Christenson pay attention man!”
“Sorry!”
“Maybe someone should see if he’s okay?” Webster looked over at where Babe was laying on the sand and kicking his feet into the air.
Shifty nodded, “Yeah. But he said it was something he drank. Shouldn’t he be better by now?”
Gene looked away from what he had just assumed had been a total loony and listened in on the two whispering men.
Webster looked deep in thought for a moment. “Well he only let it slip about his age…maybe there’s something he neglected to mention?”
Curiosity got the better of him and Gene spoke up, “What did he drink?”
The two men looked over at him-startled.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just thought I could help.” Gene explained.
Webster just shrugged, “He didn’t say. Just said some guy gave it to him. I don’t think he knew what it was.”
Gene nodded, “I can’t think of any drink with that long of a lasting effect. It has to be something else.”
Shifty sighed, “Let’s try talking to him.”
“Dude that’s nothing!” Hoobler said- interrupting Don’s story about joy riding on his high school principal’s motorcycle. “I stole a cop car once.”
Liebgott looked at him lazily from where he was sprawled across a log, “Big deal. I blew up a
cop car once.”
Don, Skip, Hoobler and Bill all stared at him. Bill opened his mouth first, “You’re shitting me.”
Liebgott shook his head, “Nah-my grandpa was in WWII- he had all these relics and shit. I stole one of these grenades he had in his basement, took it to the local police station, and set it off under an extra cruiser. Ka-fucking-boom. It was awesome.”
Bill raised an eyebrow, “What the fuck did your grandpa have a grenade in his basement for?”
Joe shrugged, “He was psychotic man. He had all sorts of crazy shit.”
Don smirked and leaned in towards Skip, “I think it’s genetic.”
Skip just nodded, still gaping at Liebgott.
2nd Hour
“Alright, I say we raise the ante a bit.” Luz shuffled the cards again. “Who’s up for it?”
Christenson shook his head, “No way. I suck too much still.”
Grant put his chin in his hand, “What do you have in mind?”
“Well I doubt anyone has that much cash on them. Any one got any cigarettes?”
Just as Lipton suspected, everyone nodded. He was going to die of secondhand smoke.
Luz grinned, “Perfect. We’ll use them to bet. But something else...”
Buck looked over, “What?”
“When you’re out…you have to drop out of the challenge.”
Toye shook his head, “You really don’t have any shame.”
Luz smirked as he pulled out his cigarettes, “What can I say? I’m an opportunist.”
Speirs scooted away from Lipton and into the circle of poker players, “I’m in.”
“Okay it’s been an hour….I don’t think we’re getting through to him.” Shifty sighed as he
watched Babe swipe at the air with his fingers.
“Oh really? You don’t think so?” Webster grumbled.
“Now who’s not being nice?” Joe asked as he walked up behind the frustrated man.
Webster just glared, “What do you want?”
Liebgott shrugged, “Thought I’d come see what you guys were looking at.”
Gene just watched the red head curiously. He had said plenty over the last hour-just nothing useful. He had to wonder what the young man was normally like.
Liebgott snorted and Shifty frowned, “What’s so funny.”
“Well you all want to know what’s wrong with him right?”
“Wow maybe they’ll make you the Captain of stating the obvious,” Webster snapped.
Joe ignored him and leaned down to look at Babe, “He’s obviously tripping. How come none of you noticed?”
Gene just sighed, “Actually I did notice.”
Shifty sighed, “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I don’t know the situation. I don’t want to get him into any trouble. Plus I’m not sure what he’s on.”
Webster looked at him curiously, “And how can you be sure?”
Gene sighed, “By watching his symptoms. Which is what I’ve been trying to do for the past hour-but I’m still not sure. If I had to guess-I’d say LSD.”
Liebgott looked down at Babe once more, “If he’s on LSD his pupils will be dilated, his skin should be hot, and he’ll probably win this challenge.”
“Why’s that?”Webster asked.
“That shit keeps you awake.” Liebgott answered.
“And how would you know that?”
Liebgott just turned to walk off, “Check him out. If you think that’s what he’s on you’ll know for sure once you check.”
Webster watched him go suspiciously.
Gene knelt down, “Hey Babe? How do you feel?”
Babe just stared at the sky, “That’s the coolest sound I’ve ever seen!”
“Yeah he’s on LSD.”
Gene sighed, “I’ll take him to the doctor. If he took that with alcohol he could get
seriously ill.”
Shifty tilted his head to the side, “Are you sure? That’s means you’d have to leave.”
Gene shrugged, “I’m not really Captain material anyway.”
4th Hour
“Full house! Haha sucks to be you Grant.”
“Damn it!” Grant cursed as he watched his last cigarettes disappear. That round had been dragging on but he had finally lost out.
“Tough break.” Toye smirked as Grant stood up to go forfeit.
As soon as he started walking-Grant tripped, “What the fuck?”
They all looked over behind him to see Blithe staring up at the sky still-only this time he was laying on the ground.
“Is he dead?” Penkala asked-eyeing his new cards.
Grant nudged at Blithe with his foot, “Nah he’s breathing.”
Suddenly Buck let out a laugh, “Aw man!”
“What?”
“He’s sleeping!”
Grant just looked at Blithe again, “But his eyes are open….oh no way!”
“Hey I guess you don’t have to be a loser by yourself!”
“Shut up Luz.”
5th Hour
Don was bored. He was like-really fucking bored. He didn’t even care about this stupid challenge.
He looked over at Skip who was making faces at Alex-who was obviously struggling to focus on his card game. “Hey let’s just quit.”
Skip looked over at him, “Can we do that?”
Don nodded, “Well they let Gene drop out to take that kid to the infirmary. And one of the guys on the red team quit…so yeah I think we can quit.”
“Well then-let’s go find some alcohol.”
Don hopped up and waved at Nixon, “Yeah this is retarded. We forfeit.”
Skip nodded and hollered over toward the red team, “Hey Penk- wanna go get wasted?”
Alex looked up, “Hell yeah.”
He threw down his cards and walked off.
Nixon stared after them, they couldn’t just quit! Damn it! This challenge was not going well.
He hollered after them, “You guys have NO COMPETITIVE SPIRIT!”
Dick looked over at him from where he was observing the other contestants, “What are you getting so upset over? You had a guy sleeping with his eyes open, an elimination poker tournament, and a kid strung out on LSD.”
Nixon smiled, “See that’s what I love about you Dick. You know how to put things into perspective.”
“You’re welcome.”
6th Hour
“I’m all in.” Perconte tossed the last of his cigarettes into the pot.
“So am I,” Luz grumbled.
Speirs gave them both a long look, “I’ll raise.”
Toye groaned, “Man…you would. Fine-I’m all in too.”
Buck was the only person to fold, “Alright show em.”
They all laid their cards down.
Luz cursed when he saw Speirs’ hand, “A royal flush? Fuuuck! I did not see that one coming.”
“Damn man. You just took all 3 of us out.”
Speirs shrugged and collected the cigarettes. “Just me and you Buck.”
Toye grabbed Luz’s sleeve and tugged him forward, “Let’s go get a drink.”
Luz hopped up, “Excellent idea. Y’all have fun.”
Buck watched Luz and Toye go with a frown. Well there went both his one friend and the most interesting person on his team.
Oh well….the game couldn’t go on that much longer anyway.
“Man,” Hoobler yawned, “I’m actually starting to get sleepy.”
Bill raised an eyebrow, “It’s only 9:00pm.”
“Yeah but I’ve been up since 7 this morning.”
“Sounds like a personal problem.”
Webster shook his head, “Forget being sleepy. I’m kind of hungry. I can’t believe they aren’t
going to let us eat!”
Sobel rolled his eyes, “That wouldn’t make it a difficult challenge would it?”
Liebgott just glared, “Shut up. You’re both annoying.”
Shifty sighed, “I wonder how Babe is doing.”
“Ugh I want to fucking go home!”
Gene looked over at the thrashing teen from where he had been talking with the doctor, “He was so happy a second ago. But I guess that’s normal with LSD-right?”
Renee looked up at the young man, “You seem to know an awful lot about this.”
Gene shrugged-worried eyes still on Babe, “I volunteer at the free clinic back home. We get a lot of crazy stuff.”
“Where are you from?”
“New Orleans.”
Renee was quiet for a moment and Gene sighed, “It’s not that bad…not for me at least. But that’s why I’m here. If I win the money I can help out the clinic. It helps so many people…if it gets shut down…”
Renee nodded, “I understand.”
Gene shook his head, “Right now I think we should just worry about Babe.”
7th Hour
Lipton and Christenson watched the poker game progress in amazement.
“Shouldn’t someone have lost by now?” Christenson asked-still not squared off on the rules.
“Neither of them will go all in. And neither has gotten a winning hand twice in a row.”
“Yikes.”
“Nooo! Anything but that! I fucking hate that song.” Luz complained
“Well then you pick something! All the rest of this shit is in Spanish anyway!” Skip groaned
as he fiddled with the radio in the living room.
“Don’t they speak Brazilian?” Grant asked as he took another shot of vodka. Damn they had A LOT of liquor here.
“What the fuck is Brazilian?” Toye asked, confused.
“Isn’t it a bikini wax?” Blithe asked from where he was huddled on an arm chair.
“Oh-my-God! He can talk!” Don laughed.
“They speak Portuguese!” Penkala piped up.
Luz pointed at Alex, “If you know that then you aren’t drunk enough!”
Frank took another swig of beer, “Portuguese-Spanish…what’s the difference?”
Buck strolled in just as Luz went off to grab the vodka, “About the same as a midget and a really short guy.”
“Hey! Speirs finally got you!” Grant called.
Buck shrugged and sat down next to Toye who leaned over and whispered, “I have it on good authority that they prefer the term ‘vertically challenged’.”
“Duly noted.”
9th Hour
Speirs just drummed his fingers on his knee, wondering what time it was. The poker game hadn’t been very hard. He probably could have ended it sooner-but then he wouldn’t have anything to occupy his time.
Like right now…he wasn’t doing anything. He looked over at Lipton-who was only a few feet away.
“Do you not know how to play poker either?” he asked- somewhat curious, but mostly bored.
Lipton glanced over at him, “That’s the most I’ve ever heard you say.”
“Well can you play or not?”
“Yea I can play.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“I knew it would cost me eventually. I don’t really like to gamble.”
Speirs nodded and idly picked up one of his many, many cigarettes, “Can I smoke out here?”
Lipton sighed, “Yeah. You don’t need my permission.”
“But would it bother you?”
The blonde paused, “Honestly?”
Speirs nodded, not sure why he even cared.
“Yea it would bother me.”
“Then I won’t do it.”
10th Hour
“I can’t take this anymore! I’m starving!” Webster said for what he was sure was the billionth time.
“What’s the big deal? It hasn’t been that long. It’s only been like- what- 10 hours?” Liebgott reminded him for what he was sure was the billionth time.
“I know! I can’t go that long without eating. It’s not healthy. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
Liebgott sat up, “The fuck’s that supposed to mean?”
Webster let his eyes take in Liebgott’s scrawny frame, “It means you probably wouldn’t know a sandwich if it hit you in the face. Do you ever eat?”
Liebgott just gave him the finger and turned back to talk to Guarnere.
Webster sighed as Sobel sat down next to him. “Don’t mind him. He gets pissed off if you tell him the sky is blue.”
Webster just glared at the other man before getting up to go and forfeit.
Sobel didn’t really care whether Webster liked him or not at this point- he was out of the challenge and that was good enough.
Pretty soon the sound of Evan’s snoring hit his ears followed by a large yawn from Hoobler. Perfect.
11th Hour
Christenson yawned, “Man I don’t know how much longer I can stay awake.”
Cobb just shrugged, “Then go to sleep.”
“Ha yeah right.”
“I for one could use some coffee.” Said Lipton.
“We’re only tired because we have nothing to distract us,” Speirs informed them, “I bet the guys inside are still awake.”
Christenson shook his head, “No way. They’ve gotta be asleep.”
“Does that look like a helicopter to you!?”
Penkala just shrugged, “Well then why were you waving your arms around?”
Skip sighed, “I was being a BIRD!”
Malarkey just looked confused, “Why are we playing charades anyway?”
“13-corner pocket.”
“No way! You can’t make that.”
“Watch me…just watch me,”
Toye shook his head, “Nah Perco-impossible…it’d probably be easier to make if Blithe wasn’t passed out on the pool table though.”
Frank sighed, “It’d probably be easier to win if my partner wasn’t hammered.”
Grant took a swig of vodka, “Quit yer bitching.”
He took a shot at the 13- and poked Blithe in the eye.
“AH! My eye! I’m blind!”
12th Hour
“Hey is Cobb asleep?”
Speirs looked over to see the bratty blonde had indeed drifted off to sleep sitting
up, “Looks that way. Christenson too.”
Lipton saw that Christenson’s tilted head was somewhat concealing the fact that he had fallen asleep.
Speirs looked up at him, “Guess it’s just me and you.”
Bill yawned as Liebgott started to shake Shifty awake, “Just let him sleep there. Wake him up when we’re all done.”
“I guess.”
Bill watched Joe for a moment, “Webster didn’t strike a chord or nothing right?”
Liebgott raised an eyebrow, “Why do you ask?”
“You just got pissed off is all.”
“And what suggests to you that that isn’t his status quo?” Sobel asked from the log behind them, the only other contestant on their team left.
Bill just glared, “People think the same thing about me. I know okay? Also? I wasn’t talking to you.”
Liebgott shook his head-“Nah I just-“ he paused to yawn, “think he’s a prick is all.”
Bill nodded- not entirely convinced that his teammate wasn’t hiding something.
14th Hour
“So you worked at a bar? Were you a bartender?”
“No I was a bouncer.”
Lipton looked over-surprised, “You don’t look like a bouncer.”
“I get that a lot.”
Lipton nodded, “I bet.”
Speirs rolled his shoulders back, feeling stiff, “What about you? What do you do?”
He was met with silence. “Lipton?”
When he looked over Lipton was asleep
15th hour
Bill watched Liebgott’s eyes flutter and close but figured that it was for the best anyway. Although he would have preferred Sobel to fall asleep first.
He turned back to the snooty man behind him, “Joe’s asleep.”
Sobel just looked bored, “I know.”
Nixon came up to them-looking pretty tired himself. “Would one of you go to sleep already?
Red team already has a winner!”
“Not tired,” Sobel and Bill both lied at the same time.
Nixon groaned, “I’m going to have to drug someone aren’t I?”
It was another 3 hours before Dick saw Bill’s head drop a little. He had definitely fallen asleep.
Nixon sighed, “Oh thank God. I thought they’d never finish.”
“Wow. I can’t believe Sobel won. He was definitely not a favorite to win.”
Nixon shrugged, “Like I said- equal opportunity.”
He stood up and watched as the crew woke up the sleeping contestants, “Floyd! No molesting the unconscious! Especially not that one! He might kill you.”
Talbert glared from where he was waking Liebgott, “I wasn’t!”
“Yeah right.”
The two of them walked back in the house to check on the contestants- only to find the place totally trashed, most of the contestants hollering in another room.
“Ow! LUZ! No throwing darts while under the influence!”
“Well then when will I get to play?”
Nixon gaped and looked over at Dick, who just sighed, “I’m going to bed.”
The host silently agreed that this could wait until morning. After all it would be their first real challenge. Man he hoped they weren’t too hung over.
Oh who was he kidding, of course he did. That would be hilarious.
Word Count: 5,262
Summary: On a remote Brazilian island, 22 contestants are separated into 2 teams to compete against one another through a series of challenges. But they aren’t the only ones being challenged. A stressed producer, an exasperated doctor, the off-balanced host, a horny intern and an extremely concerned judge all struggle to maintain their faith as their reality show spirals into insanity.
I like this chapter :) Things happen. It seems kinda long- but it reads pretty quickly.
Part 1 - Where we get to meet the pissed off producer, the out-of-the-loop judge, a desperate intern and a host who may or may not have drank pee.
Part 2 - We meet the contestants, Blithe wanders off, Hoobler’s ears are indeed large, and much to Nixon’s dismay Liebgott doesn’t punch anybody.
Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or challenges borrowed from a reality show belong to the creators of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!
Also the idea of the awake-a-thon is from Total Drama Island
It wasn’t as if Lipton expected everyone to take off running- the way that they did when he watched such competitions on TV. But he guessed he expected something more than the indifference and onslaught of bitching that came the moment Nixon was out of sight.
Since he wasn’t sure who everyone on his team was-he just slid pass the crowd of people and made an escape up to the room he was sharing with Christenson and two others he didn’t know.
If he was lucky not only would his room be empty, but the camera men would be more interested in the ruckus downstairs than in following him.
He wasn’t really sure how he was going to do this. Live with all these people and be constantly watched. The only reason he had agreed to even audition for the damn thing was because his brother had wanted to.
When he had gotten accepted and not his brother, he had been more than eager to drop out. But Chris had been so excited…and there was no way Lipton could disappoint his kid brother. So that escape route had been cut off.
When he got up to his room- his hope that it would be empty wasn’t to be. The bed across from his was being stared at by a lean, dark haired man.
Lipton curled his nose at the smell of cigarette smoke. Knowing his luck he’d be the only non-smoker on the whole show.
“Hey buddy-um do you mind opening a window? Or maybe you could smoke outside?” he waved a hand in front of his face to clear the air, just glad not to be sleeping directly next to the
other mans’ bed.
At his suggestion his unknown roommate turned away from scrutinizing the assortment of red clothing laid out before him and regarded Lipton for a moment with dark eyes-cigarette in his hand.
Lipton noticed the red clothing-meaning that this man was on his assigned team. He also noted, quite uncomfortably, that the other man was still silently staring at him.
Finally, the dark haired man licked his finger and snuffed out his cigarette, tucking it behind his ear and walking over and opening the nearest window.
It wasn’t what Lipton had been expecting-but he was grateful.
“Thanks.” He nodded to the man who just shrugged at him. Sitting on his bed Lipton fiddled with one of the red shirts on his pillow. “I’m Lipton by the way. Well Carwood Lipton, but my first name is pretty hideous so you can just call me Lipton.”
He saw the other man’s back straighten for a moment, “Ron Speirs.”
Lipton nodded at the supplied name, “Ron Speirs. You’re um…not much of a talker I take it?”
Another shrug, “I have a hangover.”
Lipton sighed as Speirs rummaged through his bag silently before finding a bottle of Advil and walking off- red shirt in hand-to the bathroom.
“That went well…”
“Man I am sooooooooo thirsty. Where’s the kitchen? There is a kitchen right? I really, really need a glass of water.”
Babe’s throat was sore, his head hurt, he was dizzy and he wasn’t sure how to stop his arm from twitching.
In hindsight- this could have been prevented. He could have NOT run away from home or lied (about oh so many things) to get on a TV show. And he could have not gone partying with those sorority girls in Brazil before getting on his boat.
And in hindsight, guys with green hair are NOT your friends, that was not a red bull and if the numbers falling off that clock were any indication-those square pills were NOT for headaches.
He wished he could say what was done was done-but it kind of wasn’t. Because now he was thirsty, he wasn’t sure who these people were and he couldn’t find the goddamn kitchen!
Suddenly he felt a soft poke on his arm and looked over to see Shifty standing there offering him a bottle of water, “Here you go.”
Babe smiled and grabbed the water with a shaky hand, “Thanks man. Ummm do you remember where I put my stuff?”
Shifty’s eyebrows raised, but he nodded, “Yeah the room with the green sheets, same as me.”
Babe nodded before opening the water and guzzling half of it down before taking a deep breath.
Water had NEVER tasted so freaking good. Usually- he hated water. It was gross and had no taste. But this was like- freaking miracle water that tasted kind of like orange juice.
Haha right….water that tastes like orange juice. Just like there was really a sea lion on the couch.
Sucking down the rest of the water he smiled brightly at Shifty, “Right then. Thanks for the water- I should go change.”
Floyd was getting nowhere fast. He’d tried talking to Blithe earlier but the guy had been totally uninterested.
Spotting Liebgott outside smoking he walked over to try his luck again.
Joe spotted him coming and groaned, “Don’t you have some other shit to do? Like-away from me?”
Talbert just smiled, “Well I saw you out here and thought you might be lonely. Or is that like your thing? Being the loner?”
“Yeah sure, that’s my thing, whatever. Now fuck off.”
“What? You don’t like my company?”
“Uh no?”
“Your eyes say yes.”
“Hmm what does my foot up your ass say?”
Floyd just smiled, not sure if Liebgott’s aggression was a good thing or not. He opened his mouth to speak but another voice cut him off.
“Liebgott is it? Shouldn’t you get changed-we don’t have that long.”
Floyd looked behind him to see David Webster approaching. Definitely cute….but not really crazy. He’d be a waste of time to hit on.
Talbert would have stayed but he saw a camera coming up behind Webster and knew that was his cue to exit. He aimed a cocky smile at Joe, “I’ll catch you later.”
Liebgott just blew smoke in his face, “Drop dead.”
Webster watched Talbert take off coughing before looking at Joe, “That wasn’t very nice.”
“Can I help you?”
Webster just shrugged and jerked a thumb back towards the house, “Everyone’s getting ready. I saw you out here and thought I’d let you know since you’re on my team. I’m David Webster-by
the way.”
Liebgott just rolled his eyes, “That’s nice. But I have eyes Web and I’ll get ready when I feel like it.”
Webster just frowned, “I actually prefer being called David.”
“Like I care. Look can I puh-lease smoke in peace?”
Webster just stared at him, not able to believe anyone could be so rude. When Liebgott saw him still standing there he sighed, “Jesus. I’m outta here.”
Webster watched him walk off and was soon left alone with the camera, “What an asshole!”
“How does that make you feel?” The camera man asked-remembering Nixon’s advice to elicit reactions from the contestants.
“Oh stay out of it.” Webster snapped at him before going back inside.
Joe Toye figured he had gotten pretty lucky. He and Buck had decided to room together and their other two roommates were both on their team.
He had just changed into the gym shorts and red T-shirt laid out on his bed when he heard a groan behind him.
He turned to see the short brunette that Buck had been talking with earlier-Luz.
Luz was holding up the red shirt that was a tad too large for him, “Being short fucking blows.”
Toye laughed, “Well I wouldn’t know anything about that.”
Luz made a face, “Rub it in why don’t ya? Hey you think Frank’s is smaller?”
“Who’s Frank?”
“Oh he’s the really short guy. That’s his bed right there.”
Toye watched, amused, as Luz slinked over to the bed next to his and started comparing clothes, “Hmm but do you really want to steal from someone even more vertically challenged than yourself?”
Luz laughed and sent his first honest smile over at the taller man, “I like that. Vertically challenged. And yes. You will soon discover that I have no shame.”
Toye laughed as Luz snatched a smaller shirt off the bed, “That’s good to know.”
By sheer bad luck, Bill had wound up in the same room as Evans. What was worse-only he didn’t know it yet-was that he was in the same room as Sobel as well.
But Hoobler wasn’t too bad, although he highly doubted the other man would be pleased about bunking with the ear enthusiast.
However as soon as he got to his room, he found that Evans already had something else to be fascinated over.
“Chicago? That’s in Indiana right?”
Sobel just looked at the blonde, his eyes widening a bit, “No. It isn’t. It’s in Illinois.”
“What’s the difference?”
Bill just shook his head and decided to let Sobel deal with Evans on his own. Pulling a blue shirt over his other white tee he wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or disturbed by the way Sobel was calmly dealing with Evans.
Sobel, for his part, didn’t see a dimwitted blonde when he looked at Evans. He saw clay that could be molded. Evans obviously wasn’t getting off to a good start with the others. All he had to do was befriend him and he would have his first ally. Then all he needed was to find someone else that was lacking in the buddy department and he would have an alliance.
It was going to be too easy.
Nixon looked over to where the crew had assembled the contestants on the beach. They had set out logs as benches for each team.
After all the contestants had been instructed to sit, Nixon stood in between them and began to explain their challenge.
“Welcome contestants-to your first challenge. As you’ve been told- today you will not be competing against the opposite team- but against your own teammates! At the end of this challenge-no one will be eliminated. However each team will then have a Captain-”
Grant snorted, “Big deal.”
Nixon glared, “It is a big deal if you would just let me finish!”
“Fine.”
“Good. Now the Captain’s position is important for several reasons. First off- Captains are responsible for rallying their team, presenting a united front-“
“That’s lame!”
“Grant shut up!” Nixon snapped. Babe just giggled insanely and everyone stared as he fell off the log he was sitting on.
“Anyway-” Nixon continued, “as I was saying- the Captain will only rally his team. And while he can’t actually make his teammates listen to him- he will have a certain amount of power that they don’t. For one the Captain’s vote in any elimination gathering counts twice. He can also pardon one of the bottom contestants and take their place- like that’s gonna happen. Lastly in the unlikely case that a team votes entirely for one person-cause I doubt anyone would vote for themselves- or there is a three way tie- the captain can choose who to send into the head to head challenge. Now do you understand why it’s important?”
Perconte just looked bored, “That took entirely too long to explain.”
“Yeah,” Cobb grimaced, “I hate to agree with the midget but you really need to learn how to get to the point.”
“Did you just call me a fucking midget?”
Cobb just rolled his eyes, “What-you aren’t?”
Luz kicked sand over at Cobb, “Shut up asshole.”
Sobel honed in on the fight taking place within the other team like a hawk. Having a connection on the red team could definitely be useful. He’d have to try and talk to Cobb later. It shouldn’t be too hard-from the looks of it no one on his team wanted to talk to him.
Muck raised his hand to get Nixon’s attention, “Um what exactly are we doing?”
Nixon pulled his eyes away from the verbal assault on Cobb to answer, “Right. Here’s how it
goes. We’ve decided that the fairest competition to determine the Captains would be something that everyone has an equal chance of winning.”
“Which is?” Don asked.
“I like to call it the Awake-a-thon! But the producers are still consulting our dumbass writers about that name.”
“Nix!” Dick hissed from behind a camera man.
Nixon ignored him and clapped his hands together, “The challenge is simple. Whoever stays awake the longest is the team Captain. Only catch is that you have to stay out here…where we
can see you.”
“What if we have to piss?” Penkala asked- suddenly super aware of that soda he drank earlier.
“Umm we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it?”
“What so that’s it?” Christenson looked around, “We just stay awake?”
Nixon smiled, “Yeah well we’ll see how many of you are awake in 10 hours. It’s only 3:30pm after all.”
1st Hour
Penkala looked over at the other team longingly. Sure he and Muck were rooming together-but to not even be put on the same team? That was just cruel.
He watched as Skip made Don laugh over something that was probably totally not even funny. Don probably didn’t even get Skip’s jokes.
Great…now he was getting jealous. That wasn’t good.
He looked over to where Luz had pulled out a deck of cards.
“Well boys-it’s going to be a long night. Who’s up for a little five card draw?”
Toye plopped down next to him, “I’m game.”
Buck smiled and sat down on Luz’s other side and gave him a grin, “Me too. But I’ll warn you. I’m actually pretty good.”
Luz sighed dramatically, “Oh no! You’re good? Well I’ll just quit now and spare myself the humiliation.”
Buck rolled his eyes as the others laughed.
Christenson watched Luz shuffle, curious, “I only know how to play go-fish.”
Penkala gaped at him, “Seriously?”
“Then you’re definitely in.” Luz motioned for him to sit.
Lipton watched some of the guys gather around Luz, before shrugging and heading over.
The small brunette looked up at him, “You in?”
Lipton shrugged, “Nah just thought I’d watch.”
“You wanna help me cheat?” Luz joked before getting flicked in the knee by Toye. Lipton just smiled and settled in next to a miserable looking Cobb.
He was more than a little surprised when Speirs walked over and looked down on the assembled contestants, “Are you betting anything?”
Buck and Luz shared a look. “Not yet,” Luz said, “we’ll let Christenson learn the rules first.”
Speirs just nodded and sat on the ground next to Lipton’s feet and leaned back against the log.
Christenson watched Speirs out of the corner of his eye, curious of the way he was
scrutinizing the card game.
Luz snapped his fingers, “Christenson pay attention man!”
“Sorry!”
“Maybe someone should see if he’s okay?” Webster looked over at where Babe was laying on the sand and kicking his feet into the air.
Shifty nodded, “Yeah. But he said it was something he drank. Shouldn’t he be better by now?”
Gene looked away from what he had just assumed had been a total loony and listened in on the two whispering men.
Webster looked deep in thought for a moment. “Well he only let it slip about his age…maybe there’s something he neglected to mention?”
Curiosity got the better of him and Gene spoke up, “What did he drink?”
The two men looked over at him-startled.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just thought I could help.” Gene explained.
Webster just shrugged, “He didn’t say. Just said some guy gave it to him. I don’t think he knew what it was.”
Gene nodded, “I can’t think of any drink with that long of a lasting effect. It has to be something else.”
Shifty sighed, “Let’s try talking to him.”
“Dude that’s nothing!” Hoobler said- interrupting Don’s story about joy riding on his high school principal’s motorcycle. “I stole a cop car once.”
Liebgott looked at him lazily from where he was sprawled across a log, “Big deal. I blew up a
cop car once.”
Don, Skip, Hoobler and Bill all stared at him. Bill opened his mouth first, “You’re shitting me.”
Liebgott shook his head, “Nah-my grandpa was in WWII- he had all these relics and shit. I stole one of these grenades he had in his basement, took it to the local police station, and set it off under an extra cruiser. Ka-fucking-boom. It was awesome.”
Bill raised an eyebrow, “What the fuck did your grandpa have a grenade in his basement for?”
Joe shrugged, “He was psychotic man. He had all sorts of crazy shit.”
Don smirked and leaned in towards Skip, “I think it’s genetic.”
Skip just nodded, still gaping at Liebgott.
2nd Hour
“Alright, I say we raise the ante a bit.” Luz shuffled the cards again. “Who’s up for it?”
Christenson shook his head, “No way. I suck too much still.”
Grant put his chin in his hand, “What do you have in mind?”
“Well I doubt anyone has that much cash on them. Any one got any cigarettes?”
Just as Lipton suspected, everyone nodded. He was going to die of secondhand smoke.
Luz grinned, “Perfect. We’ll use them to bet. But something else...”
Buck looked over, “What?”
“When you’re out…you have to drop out of the challenge.”
Toye shook his head, “You really don’t have any shame.”
Luz smirked as he pulled out his cigarettes, “What can I say? I’m an opportunist.”
Speirs scooted away from Lipton and into the circle of poker players, “I’m in.”
“Okay it’s been an hour….I don’t think we’re getting through to him.” Shifty sighed as he
watched Babe swipe at the air with his fingers.
“Oh really? You don’t think so?” Webster grumbled.
“Now who’s not being nice?” Joe asked as he walked up behind the frustrated man.
Webster just glared, “What do you want?”
Liebgott shrugged, “Thought I’d come see what you guys were looking at.”
Gene just watched the red head curiously. He had said plenty over the last hour-just nothing useful. He had to wonder what the young man was normally like.
Liebgott snorted and Shifty frowned, “What’s so funny.”
“Well you all want to know what’s wrong with him right?”
“Wow maybe they’ll make you the Captain of stating the obvious,” Webster snapped.
Joe ignored him and leaned down to look at Babe, “He’s obviously tripping. How come none of you noticed?”
Gene just sighed, “Actually I did notice.”
Shifty sighed, “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I don’t know the situation. I don’t want to get him into any trouble. Plus I’m not sure what he’s on.”
Webster looked at him curiously, “And how can you be sure?”
Gene sighed, “By watching his symptoms. Which is what I’ve been trying to do for the past hour-but I’m still not sure. If I had to guess-I’d say LSD.”
Liebgott looked down at Babe once more, “If he’s on LSD his pupils will be dilated, his skin should be hot, and he’ll probably win this challenge.”
“Why’s that?”Webster asked.
“That shit keeps you awake.” Liebgott answered.
“And how would you know that?”
Liebgott just turned to walk off, “Check him out. If you think that’s what he’s on you’ll know for sure once you check.”
Webster watched him go suspiciously.
Gene knelt down, “Hey Babe? How do you feel?”
Babe just stared at the sky, “That’s the coolest sound I’ve ever seen!”
“Yeah he’s on LSD.”
Gene sighed, “I’ll take him to the doctor. If he took that with alcohol he could get
seriously ill.”
Shifty tilted his head to the side, “Are you sure? That’s means you’d have to leave.”
Gene shrugged, “I’m not really Captain material anyway.”
4th Hour
“Full house! Haha sucks to be you Grant.”
“Damn it!” Grant cursed as he watched his last cigarettes disappear. That round had been dragging on but he had finally lost out.
“Tough break.” Toye smirked as Grant stood up to go forfeit.
As soon as he started walking-Grant tripped, “What the fuck?”
They all looked over behind him to see Blithe staring up at the sky still-only this time he was laying on the ground.
“Is he dead?” Penkala asked-eyeing his new cards.
Grant nudged at Blithe with his foot, “Nah he’s breathing.”
Suddenly Buck let out a laugh, “Aw man!”
“What?”
“He’s sleeping!”
Grant just looked at Blithe again, “But his eyes are open….oh no way!”
“Hey I guess you don’t have to be a loser by yourself!”
“Shut up Luz.”
5th Hour
Don was bored. He was like-really fucking bored. He didn’t even care about this stupid challenge.
He looked over at Skip who was making faces at Alex-who was obviously struggling to focus on his card game. “Hey let’s just quit.”
Skip looked over at him, “Can we do that?”
Don nodded, “Well they let Gene drop out to take that kid to the infirmary. And one of the guys on the red team quit…so yeah I think we can quit.”
“Well then-let’s go find some alcohol.”
Don hopped up and waved at Nixon, “Yeah this is retarded. We forfeit.”
Skip nodded and hollered over toward the red team, “Hey Penk- wanna go get wasted?”
Alex looked up, “Hell yeah.”
He threw down his cards and walked off.
Nixon stared after them, they couldn’t just quit! Damn it! This challenge was not going well.
He hollered after them, “You guys have NO COMPETITIVE SPIRIT!”
Dick looked over at him from where he was observing the other contestants, “What are you getting so upset over? You had a guy sleeping with his eyes open, an elimination poker tournament, and a kid strung out on LSD.”
Nixon smiled, “See that’s what I love about you Dick. You know how to put things into perspective.”
“You’re welcome.”
6th Hour
“I’m all in.” Perconte tossed the last of his cigarettes into the pot.
“So am I,” Luz grumbled.
Speirs gave them both a long look, “I’ll raise.”
Toye groaned, “Man…you would. Fine-I’m all in too.”
Buck was the only person to fold, “Alright show em.”
They all laid their cards down.
Luz cursed when he saw Speirs’ hand, “A royal flush? Fuuuck! I did not see that one coming.”
“Damn man. You just took all 3 of us out.”
Speirs shrugged and collected the cigarettes. “Just me and you Buck.”
Toye grabbed Luz’s sleeve and tugged him forward, “Let’s go get a drink.”
Luz hopped up, “Excellent idea. Y’all have fun.”
Buck watched Luz and Toye go with a frown. Well there went both his one friend and the most interesting person on his team.
Oh well….the game couldn’t go on that much longer anyway.
“Man,” Hoobler yawned, “I’m actually starting to get sleepy.”
Bill raised an eyebrow, “It’s only 9:00pm.”
“Yeah but I’ve been up since 7 this morning.”
“Sounds like a personal problem.”
Webster shook his head, “Forget being sleepy. I’m kind of hungry. I can’t believe they aren’t
going to let us eat!”
Sobel rolled his eyes, “That wouldn’t make it a difficult challenge would it?”
Liebgott just glared, “Shut up. You’re both annoying.”
Shifty sighed, “I wonder how Babe is doing.”
“Ugh I want to fucking go home!”
Gene looked over at the thrashing teen from where he had been talking with the doctor, “He was so happy a second ago. But I guess that’s normal with LSD-right?”
Renee looked up at the young man, “You seem to know an awful lot about this.”
Gene shrugged-worried eyes still on Babe, “I volunteer at the free clinic back home. We get a lot of crazy stuff.”
“Where are you from?”
“New Orleans.”
Renee was quiet for a moment and Gene sighed, “It’s not that bad…not for me at least. But that’s why I’m here. If I win the money I can help out the clinic. It helps so many people…if it gets shut down…”
Renee nodded, “I understand.”
Gene shook his head, “Right now I think we should just worry about Babe.”
7th Hour
Lipton and Christenson watched the poker game progress in amazement.
“Shouldn’t someone have lost by now?” Christenson asked-still not squared off on the rules.
“Neither of them will go all in. And neither has gotten a winning hand twice in a row.”
“Yikes.”
“Nooo! Anything but that! I fucking hate that song.” Luz complained
“Well then you pick something! All the rest of this shit is in Spanish anyway!” Skip groaned
as he fiddled with the radio in the living room.
“Don’t they speak Brazilian?” Grant asked as he took another shot of vodka. Damn they had A LOT of liquor here.
“What the fuck is Brazilian?” Toye asked, confused.
“Isn’t it a bikini wax?” Blithe asked from where he was huddled on an arm chair.
“Oh-my-God! He can talk!” Don laughed.
“They speak Portuguese!” Penkala piped up.
Luz pointed at Alex, “If you know that then you aren’t drunk enough!”
Frank took another swig of beer, “Portuguese-Spanish…what’s the difference?”
Buck strolled in just as Luz went off to grab the vodka, “About the same as a midget and a really short guy.”
“Hey! Speirs finally got you!” Grant called.
Buck shrugged and sat down next to Toye who leaned over and whispered, “I have it on good authority that they prefer the term ‘vertically challenged’.”
“Duly noted.”
9th Hour
Speirs just drummed his fingers on his knee, wondering what time it was. The poker game hadn’t been very hard. He probably could have ended it sooner-but then he wouldn’t have anything to occupy his time.
Like right now…he wasn’t doing anything. He looked over at Lipton-who was only a few feet away.
“Do you not know how to play poker either?” he asked- somewhat curious, but mostly bored.
Lipton glanced over at him, “That’s the most I’ve ever heard you say.”
“Well can you play or not?”
“Yea I can play.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“I knew it would cost me eventually. I don’t really like to gamble.”
Speirs nodded and idly picked up one of his many, many cigarettes, “Can I smoke out here?”
Lipton sighed, “Yeah. You don’t need my permission.”
“But would it bother you?”
The blonde paused, “Honestly?”
Speirs nodded, not sure why he even cared.
“Yea it would bother me.”
“Then I won’t do it.”
10th Hour
“I can’t take this anymore! I’m starving!” Webster said for what he was sure was the billionth time.
“What’s the big deal? It hasn’t been that long. It’s only been like- what- 10 hours?” Liebgott reminded him for what he was sure was the billionth time.
“I know! I can’t go that long without eating. It’s not healthy. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
Liebgott sat up, “The fuck’s that supposed to mean?”
Webster let his eyes take in Liebgott’s scrawny frame, “It means you probably wouldn’t know a sandwich if it hit you in the face. Do you ever eat?”
Liebgott just gave him the finger and turned back to talk to Guarnere.
Webster sighed as Sobel sat down next to him. “Don’t mind him. He gets pissed off if you tell him the sky is blue.”
Webster just glared at the other man before getting up to go and forfeit.
Sobel didn’t really care whether Webster liked him or not at this point- he was out of the challenge and that was good enough.
Pretty soon the sound of Evan’s snoring hit his ears followed by a large yawn from Hoobler. Perfect.
11th Hour
Christenson yawned, “Man I don’t know how much longer I can stay awake.”
Cobb just shrugged, “Then go to sleep.”
“Ha yeah right.”
“I for one could use some coffee.” Said Lipton.
“We’re only tired because we have nothing to distract us,” Speirs informed them, “I bet the guys inside are still awake.”
Christenson shook his head, “No way. They’ve gotta be asleep.”
“Does that look like a helicopter to you!?”
Penkala just shrugged, “Well then why were you waving your arms around?”
Skip sighed, “I was being a BIRD!”
Malarkey just looked confused, “Why are we playing charades anyway?”
“13-corner pocket.”
“No way! You can’t make that.”
“Watch me…just watch me,”
Toye shook his head, “Nah Perco-impossible…it’d probably be easier to make if Blithe wasn’t passed out on the pool table though.”
Frank sighed, “It’d probably be easier to win if my partner wasn’t hammered.”
Grant took a swig of vodka, “Quit yer bitching.”
He took a shot at the 13- and poked Blithe in the eye.
“AH! My eye! I’m blind!”
12th Hour
“Hey is Cobb asleep?”
Speirs looked over to see the bratty blonde had indeed drifted off to sleep sitting
up, “Looks that way. Christenson too.”
Lipton saw that Christenson’s tilted head was somewhat concealing the fact that he had fallen asleep.
Speirs looked up at him, “Guess it’s just me and you.”
Bill yawned as Liebgott started to shake Shifty awake, “Just let him sleep there. Wake him up when we’re all done.”
“I guess.”
Bill watched Joe for a moment, “Webster didn’t strike a chord or nothing right?”
Liebgott raised an eyebrow, “Why do you ask?”
“You just got pissed off is all.”
“And what suggests to you that that isn’t his status quo?” Sobel asked from the log behind them, the only other contestant on their team left.
Bill just glared, “People think the same thing about me. I know okay? Also? I wasn’t talking to you.”
Liebgott shook his head-“Nah I just-“ he paused to yawn, “think he’s a prick is all.”
Bill nodded- not entirely convinced that his teammate wasn’t hiding something.
14th Hour
“So you worked at a bar? Were you a bartender?”
“No I was a bouncer.”
Lipton looked over-surprised, “You don’t look like a bouncer.”
“I get that a lot.”
Lipton nodded, “I bet.”
Speirs rolled his shoulders back, feeling stiff, “What about you? What do you do?”
He was met with silence. “Lipton?”
When he looked over Lipton was asleep
15th hour
Bill watched Liebgott’s eyes flutter and close but figured that it was for the best anyway. Although he would have preferred Sobel to fall asleep first.
He turned back to the snooty man behind him, “Joe’s asleep.”
Sobel just looked bored, “I know.”
Nixon came up to them-looking pretty tired himself. “Would one of you go to sleep already?
Red team already has a winner!”
“Not tired,” Sobel and Bill both lied at the same time.
Nixon groaned, “I’m going to have to drug someone aren’t I?”
It was another 3 hours before Dick saw Bill’s head drop a little. He had definitely fallen asleep.
Nixon sighed, “Oh thank God. I thought they’d never finish.”
“Wow. I can’t believe Sobel won. He was definitely not a favorite to win.”
Nixon shrugged, “Like I said- equal opportunity.”
He stood up and watched as the crew woke up the sleeping contestants, “Floyd! No molesting the unconscious! Especially not that one! He might kill you.”
Talbert glared from where he was waking Liebgott, “I wasn’t!”
“Yeah right.”
The two of them walked back in the house to check on the contestants- only to find the place totally trashed, most of the contestants hollering in another room.
“Ow! LUZ! No throwing darts while under the influence!”
“Well then when will I get to play?”
Nixon gaped and looked over at Dick, who just sighed, “I’m going to bed.”
The host silently agreed that this could wait until morning. After all it would be their first real challenge. Man he hoped they weren’t too hung over.
Oh who was he kidding, of course he did. That would be hilarious.