Even if I was, I wouldn't say that I wasn't cause I'm not

“Hey, Mary?” Kim followed after her redheaded friend, trying not to seem anxious. “Why did you want to partner up with me? It isn’t because you suspect me or anything, right?”

Mary was very popular, and could be surprisingly convincing when she put her mind to it. Depending on the **** of her accusation, it wouldn’t matter if the accused was innocent or guilty, she’d be kicked right off the station.

“Oh, no, it’s not like that at all,” Mary assured her with a smile.

Kim sighed in relief. “Oh, good. After all the accusations that were flying around in that meeting, I was starting to get worried. I promise, I’m telling you the truth. Dawn and I left Gina on her own, heard her orgasm, and raced back as soon as we could.”

“I know you are,” Mary nodded. “I trust you, Kim.”

That made Kim feel even worse. Mary was a sweet girl, and if she put her faith in the people she cared about, only for that faith to be betrayed…

“Mary, this game… I think you need to be careful about it,” Kim urged.

“What do you mean?” Mary asked, furrowing her brow.

“I know you hate liars,” Kim said, knowing Mary’s hang-ups all too well. “But right now, two of your friends are lying to you, pretending they’re not the saboteurs. That’s part of the challenge, you know? So if you get mad at them afterwards for lying… that’s gonna be really tragic, I think. It sucks to suspect our friends, but this isn’t their fault, either. They’re doing what they have to do. That’s the way I see it, anyway…”

Kim was trying to emulate Dawn’s rational approach. Even without that, though, she knew she could be much more reasonable than Mary tended to be.

To her surprise, Mary shook her head and smiled.

“I understand why you’d be worried,” the redhead sighed, thinking back to all the times she’d gotten mad at people for lying to her and keeping secrets from her. “And you’re not wrong, I don’t like this challenge in the slightest. Turning us against one another like this… Sylvia’s being a terrible person right now. But… you’re right. Whoever the saboteurs are, they’re doing what they’re doing because they don’t want to lose all those points and be penalized. The way this challenge is structured, it’s designed for us to not throw it in favor of our friends. So I’m going to do the best I can, and then forgive the liars and saboteurs when this is all over.”

Mary was surprisingly understanding. More understanding than Kim expected her to be.

If Kim didn’t know any better, she might have suspected that Mary was a saboteur herself, trying to excuse her actions. But there was no way that was the case.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that there won’t be any friendships destroyed by this game,” Kim sighed in relief. “Anyway, we should probably keep moving, right? What tasks do you still have to complete.”

“I have a few,” Mary said. “But I don’t think that’s what we should be doing right now.”

Kim frowned. “Huh? What do you mean?”

Mary crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. “Kim, Kim, Kim… you don’t understand, do you? This challenge is not simply about doing tasks! The game’s afoot, you see! We must find the culprits, the saboteurs, and eliminate them before they can take the rest of us down. That’s the right course of action.”

Kim stared at her, surprised. “Are… are you sure?”

“Of course!” Mary insisted. “After all, the less workers that get eliminated, the more points we’d all receive! Isn’t that for the best?”

That was unsurprisingly sweet from Mary. And very altruistic. Kim almost felt herself blushing at how selfless the other girl was. Someone like Dakota or even Dawn might have ruthlessly sacrificed a few of their fellow workers to maximize their point gains after winning, but Mary was trying to get as many people to clear this challenge as possible.

“Also, that way even though Gina got eliminated, she’ll still get a bunch of points, right?” Mary added, and Kim just wanted to hug her friend.

“That’s a really sweet thing to say, Mary,” she agreed, even though she didn’t really want Mary to go searching around for the saboteur. “But you’re painting a pretty big target on yourself, volunteering for that.”

Mary smirked. It seemed unnatural for her to have such a playful, unserious expression on her face.

“Those are the risks that come with being a great detective, my dear Kimson,” she proclaimed, patting the schoolgirl on the shoulder. “Now, let’s be off! We have much work to do.”

“Okay, so… how do you want to do this, then?” Kim asked, not exactly thrilled to be placed in the role of Mary’s Watson. “Could we, like, search everybody? Check to see if they have the syringe in their pocket or something?”

Mary scoffed and rolled her eyes. “How droll. You’ll never be a master detective like that, Kim! No, I am not one to rely on the expert procedure. It is the psychology I seek, not the fingerprint or the cigarette ash.”

She seemed very proud of herself for that one, practically patting herself on the shoulder with a smug grin. Kim guessed it was probably a quote of some kind, but she wasn’t exactly the most well-read girl in the hotel.

Kim sighed and rolled her eyes. And people give Morgana a hard time for overdramatically pretending to be a witch?

“So… what should we do then?” She asked. And why couldn’t this posturing have taken place during the first meeting?

“We must track down the groups, two by two, and observe them,” Mary said calmly. “Follow them, stake them out, make sure that no funny business is going on. Then we interrogate them. Our friends may seem normal on the surface, yes, but the more emotional they feel the less command they have of language.”

She giggled. This was supposed to be a challenge dealing in suspicion, and yet Mary seemed to be having a blast with it.

Kim sighed and shook her head. As long as her friend was happy, was it really her place to say anything about it?

“Now then!” Mary held her chin thoughtfully. “I deduce that the best group to approach will be that of Dawn and Dakota!”

“Really?” Kim asked, raising her eyebrow. “Why those two?”

Mary smirked. “Elementary, my dear Kimson. Elementary.”

Kim stared blankly at her. “…So because Dawn looks like a kid…?”

Mary’s jaw dropped. “What?! No, that’s a line from… ugh, never mind! Come on, let’s go!” She grabbed a thoroughly confused Kim by the wrist and doubled back the way they came, trudging down the hall.

It took a few minutes of not finding anyone for Kim to finally ask her partner why they were looking for Dawn.

“Because Dawn is the most likely target,” Mary proclaimed. “With her memory, she’ll be able to give perfect testimony and poke holes in the story of the saboteurs. She’ll know the precise time of everything that happens down to the second. That will make it very difficult to lie to her. Not to mention that she’s very intelligent as well. And as a doctor, she’ll be capable of verifying time of **** accurately, narrowing down the window for the saboteurs.”

“Um… Mary, you know this isn’t really a **** mystery, right? I don’t think Dawn’s the kind of doctor who can determine how long it’s been since someone had an orgasm,” Kim pointed out.

Mary made a fart noise with her mouth in response. “None of that matters!” She replied. “Dawn is still the most likely victim. Not to mention that the saboteur will probably target her next as she’s a witness.”

“Oh, well that…” Kim’s voice trailed off. “Wait, doesn’t that mean the saboteur’s going to come after me next?!”

Mary pointedly had no response.

“Am I just bait?! Is that the real reason you wanted to partner up with me?!”

“Calm down Kimson, you’re always so emotional,” scoffed the woman who was completely ruled by her own emotions. “We must be smart about this. The time for personal feelings has passed!”

Kim sighed and slapped her face in frustration. Mary had done a mad dash right into being insufferable before she could say anything.

Then they heard voices coming from down the hall. Kim thought she heard three of them, so it must have been Carly’s group.

Then Mary grabbed her by the collar and yanked her backwards.

“Hey!” Kim hissed as she was dragged behind some shipping containers.

Mary pressed her finger to her lips and shushed her.

Unbelievable.

“Mary,” Kim whispered as the trio of girls passed by, making their way to Observation. “Again, this isn’t really a **** mystery, we don’t have to do stuff like this!”

Mary shushed her again.

“So, uh… how are things going?” Carly asked awkwardly. “You know, since… before.”

“Um…” Dani’s face was a little red. “I… look, Carly, about what happened between the two of us at Nick’s bachelorette party…”

“I-I told you, it didn’t matter!” Carly shook her head frantically. “You can just forget it! I’m sorry for kissing you, it was dumb, and I promise I won’t do it again!”

“That’s… no, I’m not upset,” Dani said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I’m not, really.”

Marley rolled her eyes and groaned. “Come on, you two are always apologizing to each other, you know? Shouldn’t we be getting some work done or something, rather than listening to you two bicker over your drama?”

“We’re not bickering!” Carly exclaimed, her face heating up. “It’s just… Dani… I care about you, I really do. And I don’t want you to think I’m leading you on or anything like that.”

“Then… what was that kiss, then? And all that other stuff?” Dani asked quietly. “Because I don’t remember it. I only have flashes. Was it really just because of the ****?”

Carly nodded glumly. “When I drink too much, I get really sexually open. I do stuff that… I wouldn’t do sober.”

Dani winced. Her words struck a painful chord.

“So… like kissing me.”

Carly’s eyes widened. “That’s not what I mean! I mean… I know we’ve done stuff other times… you know, under the influence of the hotel’s aphrodisiacs and stuff…”

Both girls remembered several incidents that occurred on the beach.

“But this… it isn’t like that,” Carly said quietly. “I don’t know what it is, really. But you’re important to me, Dani, I know that at least. And maybe… maybe I drank that much… because I wanted something to happen.”

Mary and Kim let out small gasps.

“…What do you mean?” Dani asked, filled with equal parts confusion and suspicion.

“I… look, after last week, and what happened with Mimi and Marley… I don’t know. I’ve felt a lot more emotional than I’m comfortable with,” Carly said, quickly glancing at her sister. “That brought out all these feelings that I’m not really sure how to confront properly.”

Dani sighed. “Look… Carly… I don’t really know what you’re talking about. Okay? I have no clue. Totally lost. I’m not good when it comes to wordplay, or dancing around feelings. For me, it’s really simple. How do I feel about the person in front of me? And then I trust that feeling. So… what? Just be honest. With yourself, anyway. It could have just been a physiological response, I get that. And if that’s what you want, then… okay. It didn’t mean anything, you just got a little loose one night and enjoyed yourself. I’m cool with that. But if it’s not that… then what is it?”

She didn’t want any more confusing emotions between them. She wanted things upfront and handled now.

So she took a deep breath, and exhaled.

“I like you, Carly,” she confessed. “Romantically. At first, when we came to this island, I was mainly just smitten with your looks. Because I’m not gonna lie, you’re really fucking hot.”

Carly’s face turned a little pink.

“…But it’s more than that, now,” Dani continued, reaching out and running the back of her fingers along Carly’s cheek. “I really, really like you. And I don’t know if it’s love… but it’s something. That’s where I’m at right now. And I know that you’re not there yet. Honestly? I’m pretty sure that you never will. But I’m fine with that. I don’t need you to like me that way back, Carly. You’ve already got Nick for that. So I’m going to be fine. But… please. If I’m going to be your friend, I don’t want any more teasing nights like that one.”

She winced and held her chest. “Having something I want so close, and knowing that it’s not real… that hurts worse than when we weren’t talking, sometimes.”

Carly stared at Dani, not sure what to make of that. She understood perfectly where Dani was coming from, and she totally agreed. If she was in Dani’s position, she wouldn’t want someone teasing her and flirting with her all the time, either. She hadn’t meant anything by it, but then, she never did.

Dani had every right to be upset with her, but… she wasn’t. She was being compassionate and understanding. That should have made Carly swell with relief. Instead, she almost felt like crying. And she didn’t even know why.

“I- you’re right,” she stammered, stumbling backwards. “We… we need some space, for a little bit. I need to think about stuff.”

“Hey! Carly!” Marley jogged after her sister, trying to stay within the ten foot range, and Dani just groaned and slumped back against the wall with a sigh.

Kim sighed as well, and knocked her forehead against the crate. What a pain in the ass.

“Hold on!” Mary jumped out of her hiding place and Dani nearly toppled over, startled.

“Mary!? What the fuck!?” The tomboy exclaimed, turning red from both shame and frustration. “Were you just hiding there the whole time?!”

“Yeah,” Kim admitted, feeling terrible about it.

“That’s… that’s an invasion of my privacy!” Dani sputtered.

“I’m sorry, but there are more important things happening right now!” Mary snapped. “What are you doing?! There’s someone on the loose killing people- err, I mean, orgasming them to ****, and you just let the two of them walk away like it was nothing?! Are you mental?! Come on, we need to go get them, now! Before something happens to them!”

Dani winced. “But… maybe now isn’t the best time?” She asked weakly. “I think it might be better if we both had some space…”

Mary looked like she was going to pop a blood vessel. “Your personal life is not at issue here!” She screamed. It was like a cork going off from a wine bottle. “You two… you keep dragging everybody else into your drama! We’re trying to complete a challenge here, and what, you’re both busy making goo-goo eyes at each other?!”

“No!” Dani protested. “It’s not like that! Didn’t you see-? We’re just… it’s complicated, alright? She doesn’t like me that way, and that’s what I was trying to tell her! That we need to stop focusing on all this relationship drama, and just be friends!”

Mary rolled her eyes incredulously. “Oh come on! And you mean to tell me that it was for Nick’s sake you were trying to get better at cooking? You want Carly to be the one eating your stir-fry, is that it?”

That sounded like a euphemism to Kim, but she wasn’t sure. Maybe Mary thought it was.

Either way, the redhead had lost the plot herself a little bit, focusing so much on her screed against Dani and Carly. And while Kim had to admit that shoving all this relationship drama aside was a long time coming, Mary had been right the first time.

There were more important things to think about.

So with a sigh, Kim left the two of them to bicker, and headed off in the direction Carly had gone.

Mary’s probably going to chew me out for going off on my own again, but what’s she going to do? If it’s about tracking down Carly to see if she’s safe, can she really be that upset with me?

She just hoped that nobody else ran into her first.

“So, what do you think, Nick?” Sylvia sat back in her chair with a smile on her face while Gina fumed in the corner. “Who do you think did it?”

Nick didn’t want to know. He felt weird enough having been changed into a jumpsuit that Chrissi had on offer after he ruined his old clothes. He felt like he was in some twisted sci-fi show! …And it did nothing to hide the outline of his dick, either.

His eyes hopped to Gina for a second.

“I know who did it!” Gina snapped. “And you’re telling me I can’t say anything? Why not?”

“It makes the challenge more fun for the audience,” Sylvia explained. “We went to great lengths to alter the cameras so that not even THEY could see who the killer- err, imposter- I mean, the saboteur is! …Yes, that’s the ticket.”

“Pretty clever, Sylvi,” Chrissi giggled. She was leaning back in an armchair just like her fellow host, high-heel-clad feet kicked up on the footrest. “Poor Gina… better luck next time! Me personally, I’m rooting for Mary. She’s such a cutie! But she’s got that corruptible little dark side to her that’s just adorable!”

“That’s my girl,” Sylvia cackled. “…Okay, fine. Here, Gina. It’s Nick’s pants and boxers, the ones he came in.” She tossed them over to the punk girl, and Gina’s face lit up.

“Sylvia!” Nick exclaimed, embarrassed. He couldn’t believe she would do something like that. But… at least it seemed to improve Gina’s mood. Even if he didn’t want to watch what she was doing.

Sylvia smiled, quite pleased with herself. “Now, let’s see what the audience is saying, shall we?”

She pulled up the chat and checked out what they were saying about this challenge.

“SUS”

“Among Us lol. What is this 2020?”

“Out of date challenge rip.”

“Mary kind of sus.”

“I 100% trust Dawn.”

“I saw Black vent.”

“Rip Gina lmao looks like she’s gonna be eliminated.”

“Nah Gina got it safe #GinaParty”

“We don’t even know how eliminations are gonna be.”

“They should all vote off Rose for the lulz”

“Lol rip #RoseGarden”

“Brilliant 69,420 IQ play from the imposter.”

“SUS”

“SUS”

“Dani sus”

“Carly ran off on her own, sus”

“Mary doing a great job as third imposter”

“You mean third saboteur”

“Lol she thinks she’s Sherlock Holmes, how adorable.”

“You mean, Surely Knocked-Up Holmes”

“Boo”

“Bad pun”

“#GetMaryPreggers”

“And here I thought the memes would die after she already got knocked up. SO much for hoping…”

“#CollarForDawn”

“I’m betting on Dakota this one. She’s definitely going to win, whether she’s an imposter or not.”

“These guys should know better than to split the party. L strats.”

“Makes the challenge more fun though”

“Fr fr”

“Morgana kinda sus.”

“Kim sus”

“Dawn sussy baka. Throw her out.”

“Hah. This guy’s toast.”

“Nah gotta be Rose.”

“Marley kinda sus, I’m gonna vote for her.”

“Kim always gets the dirty jobs, it’s definitely her.”

“Dawn got Gina with a trap, big brained imposter.”

While Sylvia and Chrissi laughed at the reactions from chat, Nick just shook his head and sighed. He really hoped that this wouldn’t further fracture everyone’s friendships.