What Real Life's Like (AU,CC,MATURE) Thread #1

[Sugarplum7]

Look! I found the time to write something! I am posting a part finally! ::laughs::

I’m assuming from Alex’s last part that Liz and Iz never rejoined the rest, so I just came up with something to explain Liz’s absence at least. Hey, Ruby, I’m borrowing Iz for a little bit. Maybe it’s time for roommates to share a secret . . . or possibly two . . .

<center>~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ Liz ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~</center>

I finish with my shower and get dressed in my cloud-pattern pajamas, and although I know I could go back downstairs and watch the movies with the others, I find myself enjoying the silence of the room. I twist my wet hair up and use a clip to fasten it in place and decide to take some time for myself. So much of my time has been spent with others when I haven’t been working, and it isn’t that I dislike them, I just feel like I could use some quiet time to myself.

I go looking through my things, trying to find the book that I had brought with me. Instead I first come across the rose that Max had given me. I smile absently as I bring it up to my nose and inhale the fresh, sweet scent. It felt so nice to receive that gift, even if it was just a simple token of friendship.

Friendship. I suppose that I haven’t been appearing very friendly with Max. I’ve probably come across rather aloof at times with my distance and how I always seem to be running away. I really do want him as a friend at the very least. It’s just so . . . hard to e around him sometimes because I lose all my thoughts and my mind mists over slightly. And it’s even harder when he’s with Tess. They seem so close, so comfortable with each other. It’s like a reminder of something that I know that in all likeliness, I won’t have with him. I take a deep breath and decide that from now on, I’m going to be stronger, nicer, and warmer towards Max. He deserves that at the very least.

Putting the flower down on my nightstand, I continue to look for the book. Finding it, I get on my bed and lean back against the pillows after taking note of the time. I think I can give myself another half hour to read before I should head back downstairs. I curl my legs closer to me as I open the book and place the receipt, which is serving as a bookmark, in the back of the book. I immerse myself in this world filled with characters and situations that felt so real. Their relationships, their conflicts, their struggles, their conversations, their circumstances take me to a different world, allowing me a small escape from my own life.

I yawned, pausing in my reading to stretch and look at the clock. I practically jumped out of the bed when I realized how much time had actually passed and how long I had been away from the group. Izzy isn’t back yet, so they must still be watching movies, which movie, I have no idea. I do know that it can’t be X2 any longer. I stick the receipt in between the pages and place it on my nightstand beneath the rose and head downstairs, deciding to stop by the kitchen to get a glass of water to drink and to bring up to my room should I get thirsty during the night.

“Izzy?” I say questioningly, confused. I thought she was with the others. I move to get a glass and fill it with water.

“Hey, Liz,” she greets with a smile that seems to cover whatever mood she was feeling before I came in.

“Hey,” I say as I come around the island to be in front of her. “I thought you’d be with the others, watching movies.”

“Are you just coming down now?”

“Yeah. I decided to take advantage of the quiet and read for a little while. I just lost track of time,” I say and take a sip of water. “Why are you in here?”

I watch as she silently looks down at her well-manicured hands, not answering the question, and I don’t know whether she doesn’t answer because she simply doesn’t want to talk about it, or if she just doesn’t want to talk about it with me.

“I know that we just met and there probably isn’t any reason for you to trust me like you do with your friends, but I’m hoping that you might with time. You just look like . . .” I trail off, searching for the right words to say, and she looks up at me with her brown eyes that seem a both a little lost and slightly afraid. Afraid of what I might say? Or something else?

“You just look like you could use someone to talk to.” I smile and try to lighten things by adding, “If you can’t talk to your roommate, who can you talk to?” I think back to the secret Alex and I share. As silly as it seems, I felt so much better when I knew that he was keeping my secret. “I’ll keep this a secret if that’s what you want. I promise.”

She looks back down at her hands, thinking over what I just said, I suppose. And probably whether she wants this to be something the camera’s pick up. As long as it’s in her mind, it’s completely hers. Once she says it to anyone, including me, in confidence, the cameras will pick it up. At least now she knows that if she really needs to and wants to talk about it, she can talk to me about it.

“Hey! This is where you two are. We were starting to wonder what happened to you guys.”

<center>~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ End Liz ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~</center>

Okay, so whoever wants to stumble in on the two of them can take that opening. It can be just about anyone, although (now that I reread that) I don't think it's Michael. Ruby, if you want Iz to talk it over with Liz, they can do that in their room.

~Sugarplum

[isabelle]

*Max*

Alex has a good point about the time. It's nearly midnight and we have to be up early for our jobs tomorrow. "Good idea," I say, my words sounding almost like a yawn.

I give Tess a gentle nudge and she slowly unfolds herself from me. "Time for bed," I say. I give her a soft kiss on the forehead and then help her to her feet.

I look around at the minor mess we've all made and with a sigh, I start to gather the popcorn bowls and the empty cookie plates.

"I got it, Max," Maria tells me. "Afterall, you and Liz did the cooking, right?"

"Yeah," I say, gratefully, my arm falling around Tess's waist. The mention of Liz makes me wonder why she never came back to the movie, although odds are she's fallen asleep. Guess I'll try to talk to her tomorrow. "Let's head upstairs then."

I try to catch Alex's eye to figure out what he's doing but it looks like he's just heading up to bed, too. Isabel is still out of the room so Tess and I join him, heading out into the hall and up the stairs. I really want a few moments alone to talk to Alex, too.

At the top of the stair, I give Tess a good-night kiss and watch her go into her room. Then, with a deep breath that's part sigh, part yawn, I trudge into our room. "You want the shower buddy?" I ask him. "Or you gonna wait till morning?"

[Sternbetrachter]

KYLE

After collecting the dvd and putting it to the others next to the tv, I glance around and Maria cleaning up.

"Need help?" I offer, hoping that the answer is no and my prayers are heard, Maria declines my offer, saying "I've got it under control, after all you did some cooking too"

"Well, then goodnight." With that, I hurry out before she might change hir mind about me helping her.

Cleaning up? Urh, women's job!

I can hear Liz talking to - I guess - Isabel. I slow down a bit, wondering if I should say goodnight to them. Isabel seemed calm tonight but ... you never know, she could be the next Mata Hari after all!

Okay boy, the only think to be afraid of is fear itself so ... greet them!

[Sternbetrachter]

ALEX

Walking into my room, I I flop down on my bed with a sigh. Aside from Isabels weird reaction earlier, the day has been a full success. Jake is gone and I'm now Isabel's friend. Life is nice right now.

"You want the shower buddy? Or you gonna wait till morning?" Max asks, jarring me out of my thoughts. Looking over at him, I notice how tired he
looks.

"No, thanks. I think i'll wait till tomorrow." I reply. "You look pretty beat, if I dare say so." The whole fiasko with the magazines in his car must have been harder for him than I thought.

[~Ruby~]

while Alex is upstairs, asking Max if he wants to take a shower (alone of course)

lmao! That is priceless! Are you sure there isn't any subtext there, Trude? I mean, Isabel did have some suspicions. lol.

Isabel

“You just look like you could use someone to talk to. If you can’t talk to your roommate, who can you talk to? I’ll keep this a secret if that’s what you want. I promise.”

I look down at my hands, contemplating what to do. I like Liz a lot and I think that I can trust her, no scratch that, I know that I can trust her. And it would be such a relief to talk to someone but then again is there anything even to talk about and do I really want to say something that could end up making me look stupid in front of those cameras. Chances are I am just overreacting.

I look back up at Liz, I can trust her and she can help put my mind at rest about Alex. I mean, there is no way that he could possibly like me more then as a friend? For Christ’s for the last couple of days I’ve been making his life hell whenever he was in my presence. I’m lucky that he is even willing to be my friend.

Right, that’s it. I’m going to talk to Liz. I start to open my mouth, not quite sure what to say.

“Hey! This is where you two are. We were starting to wonder what happened to you guys.”

Ugh, Kyle. Maybe this is a sign from God that I shouldn’t talk about this. But wait, surely God would have sent a slightly better dress sign then Kyle. Okay so as soon as I get Liz alone in our room, I’ll question her about Alex. They seem to be pretty friendly, maybe she will know something.

[Sternbetrachter]

lmao! That is priceless! Are you sure there isn't any subtext there, Trude? I mean, Isabel did have some suspicions. lol.

no, no subtext there - I just know how your mind works and well, ... it does have a nice double meaning, doesn't it? ... and it's not like you are the only one who can make short posts

But wait, surely God would have sent a slightly better dress sign then Kyle.

KYLE

Uh oh. Isabel does not look happy. I try to lean casually on the door frame and cross my legs - you never can be safe enough.

"Just wanted to tell you that we decided to watch Pirates tomorrow and call it a night and that we'll talk about who drives with whom to work tomorrow. So ... Good Night."

[Sugarplum7]

Nothing beats masked procrastination! Write a page then take a break. ::laughs:: Sometimes I wonder how I ever manage to finish things with this place serving as such a wonderful distraction. Maybe when I write this I shall find the ability to form coherent sentences within the structure of a paper again. I keep groping for words and searching for thoughts. Very, very bad!

<center>~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ Liz ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~</center>

“Hey, Kyle,” I say as he stands in the doorway. He looks over at me and then at Izzy, leaning comfortably against the doorframe.

“Just wanted to tell you that we decided to watch Pirates tomorrow and call it a night. And we’ll talk about who drives with whom to work tomorrow. So . . .” he trails off a little before he stops leaning against the doorframe. “Good night.” He turns and starts walking away, heading upstairs.

“Good night, Valenti,” I say loud enough for him to hear it, and he simply waves his hand acknowledging that he heard me.

I don’t know how much Iz wanted to tell me, but I saw that she was about to say something when Kyle walked in. “Come on,” I say, keeping my tone light and reassuring, “let’s go upstairs. We can talk there.”

[~Ruby~]

no, no subtext there - I just know how your mind works and well, ... it does have a nice double meaning, doesn't it?

Are you trying to say that I have a dirty mind? Because I was just thinking about saving water! Because man, I hate it when people waste water.

So maybe Max, Alex, Kyle and Michael could group shower from now on. To you know save water and the planet.



Isabel

“Come on, let’s go upstairs. We can talk there.” Liz says. I nod and follow her up the stairs in silence as I attempt to sort through my jumbled thoughts. I don’t even know what to say. I should be discreet, yeah discreet is good and I should be tactful about how I question Liz about Alex. I mean, I don’t want her getting the wrong idea.

I walk into our room and sit on my bed, trying to remain cool. Suddenly I just want to talk about everything. Jake, Alex, this stupid house. Why is this all so confusing? I’ve never been confused in my life, everything has always been straight forward and simple. Maybe that’s why I applied to come on this show, I needed something different. My life had become too predictable. The photo shoots, the endlessly shopping, the long lunches. All of it just became too much for me to handle anymore, I wasn’t happy with the way my life was dragging along.

“So?” Liz says with another reassuring smile.

Deciding to bite the bullet since let’s be honest tact just do not suit me, “Do you think Alex likes me? And I mean, likes me likes me?” I rush on before Liz can answer me, “I don’t want to sound egomaniac! Its just I think there’s been signs but I’m not sure.”

[Sugarplum7]

<center>~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ Liz ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~</center>

“So?” I ask as I sit on her bed, waiting for her to bring up what it is that she wants to discuss.

She looks at me and takes a deep breath. It’s as though she’s making up her mind for sure before she jumps in.

“Do you think Alex likes me? And I mean likes me likes me. I don’t want to sound egomaniac! It’s just I think there’s been these signs but I’m not sure.” She just continued on, barreling through it, and I don’t really know why she wanted to continue on. I think it was to get it over with, or she just really wanted to get it out.

I try my best to mask my shock about what she actually said. How did she figure it out? I inwardly roll my eyes at that thought. Of course I know how she figured it out. Now it’s just up to me to try and hide what I know and pick up some information for Alex.

“Izzy, have you looked at yourself? I think it’s impossible for guys to not like you,” I say, starting off joking, trying to lighten things and get Iz to relax. “Seriously now, what are the signs that you think were there?”

[Sternbetrachter]

KYLE

Since Michael isn't in our room yet, I walk into the bathroom brushing my teeth and stuff, maybe he'll be here when I'm done.

It has certainly been an interesting day - both in the job and later with the roomies. I learned a lot today, for example to never piss off Isabel or that Liz is too much of a prude for my tasteTess really seems to like Max but that she's still flirting with me which I take as a good sign. Of course no one should piss off Michael either cause today he showed what he'll do to people who piss him off. (I mean, come on, that certainly was him with the magazines in Max's car.)

Or maybe I'm doing Michael wrong and he#s not plotting against someone right now but downstairs, helping Maria clean up. Even though that's hard to imagine. I guess I'll find out when he is here. I just hope I won't fall asleep before that happens