Delilah: Day 1 (Assessing the Situation)

Rebekah's in the kitchen making pancakes when you get there. She looks over at you and grins. “Just us this morning,” she says. “Jada’s got an early class.”

She takes the skillet over to the table and drops the pancakes into a plate, adding syrup just how you like it.

“Freya will be over in thirty for the interview. Ready, player one?”

You settle down to eat. “Yeah, I'm actually feeling relaxed for the first time in this game. I've played a challenge with Delilah before and I reckon she'll be okay for whatever this time.”

Rebekah takes a sip of her coffee as she sits down. “Yeah. I notice you got a public sex challenge card in the drawer too. This would be a good time to use it.”

“Yeah, I think I will. She engineered that pool sex one, so I know she's open to it. Hey, where are your pancakes?”

She looks down at her coffee and shrugs. “I didn't want any.”

“Have you done something to them?” you laugh.

“Nah, I had some today earlier. I'm just not hungry.

You spend a little quiet time together as you eat. With the week’s challenge seeming relatively easy since you didn't need to research the woman you have to challenge first, it's easy to relax into some personal time with Rebekah. But all too soon you hear the knock at the door which announces Freya’s arrival.

When she enters the living room it's with an air of salacious excitement she can barely contain. She sets up quickly. Her gaze penetrates as she gets ready to question you.

“So,” she says eventually. “This week you reserved your girlfriend and manager, Rebekah, as a card you can play. Previously you two said the game has no impact on your relationship, but I have to ask, was that jealousy?”

You know what the answer is. Your mind still goes back to Milo going down on her and it doesn't help that you starting there supposedly to keep her safe doubled his score. But there's no way you're admitting that on camera.

“Strategic,” you say, wondering if you're trying to convince her or yourself. “If I fail with my other challenge this week, I can secure four of a kind with Rebekah.”

Beside you Rebekah snorts. “Of course it was helpful,” she says with a smirk. “How would your boyfriend feel if he saw you with another guy? It's kinda cute really.”

Freya chuckles. “I suppose it is, but you said previously that you wouldn't let your relationship interfere with the game.”

“It's a legitimate play,” you say. “Okay so holding her in my reserve slot means nobody else can play her, but it is true that she goes towards building a possible hand too.”

“A bit of both then?” she responds. “A dash of strategy, a pound of passion. I get it. I have to ask though, are you refusing what you said about your relationship staying strong even in the face of the game?”

You pause just a second longer than ideal as you arrange your thoughts and Rebekah gives you a questioning look.

“No,” you say. “We love each other. Nothing's gonna change that.”

Freya moves on to other topics for a while before the interview concludes. Rebekah shows her to the door. When she returns she has a concerned look on her face.

“Took a little while to answer that one, baby,” she says. “Having second thoughts?”

She's nervous. Her teeth tease her bottom lip as she awaits your reply. You grab her hand and pull her down into your lap. Your lips meet in a deep kiss that lasts.

“No… I'm not gonna say I liked what happened with Milo. It sucked—”

“Well, he did,” interrupts Rebekah. You glare at her, then laugh.

“Yeah, I guess he did. But it was just part of the game. Doesn't change how I feel like you. Besides, since I've grabbed a wild tiger like you by the tail, I better not let go!”

She caresses your cheek with her nails. “Yeah or that tiger might bite your face off.”

And with that you fall into each other's arms.

Late that night you turn your attention to the College Spread chat app for the first time in a while. Right there is a message from Cassie Li, “Nice try, Phantom. Guess I know who gets my “Glass Ceiling Mafia” joker.

At first you don't understand it, but as you think over the Ladies of the College Spread deck she's working with you remember, she reserved the Dean of Humanities… and the drama girls have decided not to accept challenges from anyone but you. You never considered that might include the Dean who oversaw the whole department. It's pretty easy to work out who they got permission to do their end of year sex play from too.

The joker Cassie mentioned makes sense to use on a blocked Dean too. Without it, she scores nothing and might as well return the card to the deck for someone else to try. With it, she gets maximum challenge points on a maximum value last without even trying.

Of course. It also burns her joker, so there is that.