You can't start a fire, sitting 'round crying over a broken heart

Rose woke up pouting, much to Kim’s amusement.

“What’s wrong?” Kim asked, looking to her roommate and trying not to grin. “Hard day at work yesterday?”

“Yes!” Rose said with a scowl. “Nobody came in and bought anything! Kim, you said that you were going to encourage people to do their shopping while I was working your shift!”

“Yeah,” Kim said bluntly. “And that’s exactly what I did. Is it my fault that nobody felt the need to buy anything?”

“If you asked Vivian, I’m sure she would have thrown me a couple hundred Bonus Points, at least!” Rose protested. “Just out of the principle of the matter!”

Kim gave Rose a hard look. “…Would you really have been okay with that?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “A couple of pity BP, given to you by Vivian simply because she can’t not try to get on everybody’s good side? That’s why I didn’t tell her, I didn’t want you to take advantage of her generosity, Rose.”

Rose’s jaw dropped. “…Who are you, and what have you done with Kim?!” She demanded, springing up out of bed. Her fox ears stood up tall at the top of her head as she pointed an accusatory finger at the half-dressed schoolgirl. “This is another trap, like when Echo impersonated Mary! The real Kim wouldn’t say anything like that! Is that just how this season is going to go from now on!? Are all my friends going to be replaced by duplicates right under my nose, and it’s up to me to sniff them out!?”

Kim blinked. “…I’m your friend?” She asked incredulously. “…Mary is your friend?!”

“You know what I mean!” Rose snapped. “And no, you aren’t my friend, you’re clearly a duplicate of Kim sent to fool me! I see through your pitiful disguise!”

“Ah, you got me,” Kim said, getting out of bed. She stretched her arms over her head. “You’re right, Rose, I’m just a duplicate. A copy. The real Kim died a long time ago, and I’ve been impersonating her all this time… muahaha. And now that you know the truth, I have to kill you!”

Rose’s furry tail stood on end. “I knew it!” She hissed. “Just wait until Nick finds out about this, you… you… …You’re messing with me, aren’t you?” She scowled, finally waking up enough to realize that her roommate wasn’t serious.

Kim cracked a grin. “Nothing gets by you, huh, does it, Rose?”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’ll have you know, I’m a little on edge right now, so if you could stop it with the games, I would really appreciate it,” she snapped. She started pacing back and forth. “Yesterday was so subdued, it was like nothing at all happened. Isn’t that ominous?”

“Ominous? Why?” Kim questioned. “I’d have thought you’d be happy that we could have an easy day without any drama.”

“Of course it’s ominous!” Rose snapped. “Echo has only been here for a short time- don’t you think it’s weird that she just let yesterday pass with no big moves? No drama, no surprises, no nothing? I’m telling you, that isn’t her style! She’s gotta be plotting something- it’s exactly what Mary would be doing in her situation!”

Kim wasn’t sure whether or not Rose was complimenting Mary or insulting her. She stared blankly at the blonde girl and tried to make sense of what she was saying. “…Really? That’s the sort of thing Mary would be doing?” She asked. “Really?”

Rose nodded seriously. “You may doubt me, but I know I’m correct,” she insisted, crossing her arms over her chest. “Echo’s up to something, I just know it!”

Kim sighed. She really hoped that Rose was wrong. Mainly because she didn’t like how smug and self-aggrandizing Rose got when she was right about something. Also because this was a serious issue and she didn’t like the idea of Echo conspiring against her and her friends, but mostly the Rose-arrogance part.

“Whatever you say,” she replied, scratching her head. “But, if you ask me, Rose, I think you’re being a little too paranoid.”

“You were the one who said you weren’t ever going to take a Sick Day from Echo again because you don’t trust her, so don’t go pretending that I’m the one who’s thinking too much about things!” Rose demanded, jabbing her finger into Kim’s chest.

Kim gave her a dirty look, but didn’t bother replying. Other than to let Rose know that her situation was different. “That just involves me,” Kim explained. “And Echo has proven that she isn’t to be trusted. It’s a completely separate issue.”

Rose sniffed. “If you say so,” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. But she didn’t see it that way at all.

Kim sighed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever… it’s not worth fighting about, anyway,” she muttered.

“I couldn’t agree more.”

One would think that Kim had gotten used to hosts popping up on her in the morning, having worked shifts under three of them at this point, but no, she still jumped slightly when she heard Echo’s voice from the doorway.

The short-haired Mary duplicate leaned against the door of the Garden Suite with a sneer on her lips and a mischievous gleam in her baggy eyes.

“Good morning,” Echo said, strolling forward with her cane tucked in the crook of her arm. “I just came by to check in on you ladies… see how you’re holding up.”

Kim stiffened and then straightened up. “We’re doing just fine,” she said, shooting Echo a challenging expression. “As you can clearly see.”

She knew what Echo was angling for here, and she wasn’t about to let the host have her way. Not this time.

“To be clear,” Kim insisted, “I’m not going to be taking a Sick Day today.” She shook her head. “Not a chance.”

“And I’m not taking her shift either!” Rose snapped. “I could have been completing my bounty sheet during those last few hours, instead I just sat around bored the whole time!”

“You had all morning,” Echo pointed out. “You could have been working on your bounty sheet then, but you didn’t. Tell me, have you even given Nick all the panties you collected for him, yet? Maybe I should take back the BP I gave you for them, if you’re not planning on doing anything with them.”

Rose gasped. Her hand shot up to her hair, which was still shorter than she liked, but long enough that she didn’t want to lose any of it if she could help herself. “No!” She gasped, shaking her head frantically. “No, that-that won’t be necessary.”

She sulked at Echo, irritated at having her hair used against her like this. It wasn’t right, that Echo got to extort her! It wasn’t right at all!

Echo just sneered. “Believe me, Rose, there’s nothing for you to be concerned about,” she crooned, shaking her head and approaching the suspicious woman. “Nothing to be concerned about at all! No… no… no…”

Kim coughed. “Whenever someone says that, I find that there IS reason to be concerned.”

This time, Echo shot her a dirty look. “If you’re not going to take a Sick Day, then why don’t you get to work?” She snapped.

Kim shook her head. “No, I don’t think I will,” she replied cheekily. “I’m perfectly content right here. Maybe I’ll wait until this afternoon to do it.”

Echo stared at her for a few moments. “…Very well,” she said with a shrug. “If that’s your choice. So long, ladies.”

And with a tap of the cane she was gone, leaving a very confused Kim and Rose behind.

“That… was that it?” Rose looked questioningly over at Kim. “Did she really just come to get you to work?”

“I-I guess so,” Kim breathed, just as surprised as the other woman. “To be honest… I didn’t expect it.” She shook her head. “I thought… well, I don’t know what I thought, but…”

Kim had expected that Echo would be after more. Like, she had come there to taunt them but also because she had some twisted plan to coerce Kim or something.

But no, she seemed to take the rebuttal in earnest.

Which made Kim feel that much more uncertain.

Oh, great, she thought, biting her lip. I’m starting to sound as paranoid as Rose!

She knew just what Dawn would have to say about THAT when she heard about it.

Sighing, Kim scratched her cheek. “Well… today is my workout day with Dani,” she said, resigned. “I might as well get changed.”

“Wait, are you sure?” Rose asked. “I thought you worked out with her every other day?”

Kim shrugged. “More or less. The schedule got a little jumbled along the way for various reasons, but today is definitely a workout day, since I didn’t go yesterday.”

Rose stopped to consider what that meant. If Kim didn’t work out with Dani yesterday, then did that mean…

She struggled not to laugh, but not very hard. “W-wait…” Rose covered her amused smirk. “Does that mean… you were working out with Dani on the day of my party? In that butler uniform and everything, with Vivian there?”

Kim shot Rose a smoldering glare. “Don’t ask,” she snapped at Rose. “It’s not something you want to be thinking about.”

Rose wisely decided to drop the subject. As Kim went to go get her workout clothes prepped before getting breakfast, she couldn’t help but think about today. After all, it was Dani’s date with Nick today. Did that mean Dani was going to be with him while they were working out?

“I’m surprised, Dani,” Carly said, just finishing up getting changed into her costume. For whatever reason, Echo had selected a blue pinstripe dress with a white apron, and red and white striped high socks. She looked like a certain fast-food mascot! What a bizarre choice of outfit. “I didn’t think you’d be interested in actually going on a date with Nick.”

She almost wanted to tease her girlfriend with a “Should I be jealous?” line, but she thought better of it. Especially after the sensitive conversation they’d had the morning before.

“It’s not really a date, you know that,” Dani replied. “We’re just going to spend time together. We aren’t going to do anything like you’re insinuating.”

“God, I would hope not!” Carly clasped her hand over her mouth. “Geez, that would just be bizarre if you were.”

Dani rolled her eyes. “Yeah, no kidding.”

“So, you two are just hanging out as friends, then?” Marley asked. She shrugged. “That sounds like it could be fun.”

Carly nodded in agreement.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Dani said. She was spending a little more time than she was comfortable with picking out clothes for her “date” and if people didn’t know any better, they might think that she WAS looking forward to all those things Carly was suggesting.

Those people would be dead wrong.

Dani wanted nothing to do with Nick, at least, not in THAT context, anyway. The reason she was putting so much effort into choosing out her outfit was because she felt like she was going into battle in some ways, and wanted to be prepared.

Marley bit her lip. She looked back and forth between her sister and her girlfriend. Carly had only donated a little bit of her time and money to Dawn, but the minimum was still a decent transaction, and Marley hoped that it would be worth it for sister.

Carly: 10700 BP – 500 BP = 10200 BP

Dawn: 11600 BP + 500 BP = 12100 BP

She still didn’t know what, exactly, their conversation had entailed. But it definitely had her feeling worried. After all, with everything that had happened recently, and with how awkward Dani and her sister seemed around each other, there was a very good chance that something serious had gone down between them.

But, at the same time, they seemed natural around each other this morning. So maybe she was just overthinking things.

Honestly, there was no way to know.

“…I hope you two have fun together,” Marley said finally.

“Yeah, me too,” Carly pitched in. “Got anything good planned?”

Dani shook her head. “Just a workout to start,” she replied. “I don’t need to meticulously plan out every last detail, seeing as how this isn’t a date.”

Carly and Marley looked at each other. Both sisters felt that made sense… assuming that Dani was being upfront with them.

Neither girl felt like it would be appropriate to challenge her on it, though. Because even if Dani did have something planned, it wasn’t like it was any of their business.

“Well, we’ll, uh, try to stay out of your hair,” Carly replied. Speaking of hair, this was the perfect opportunity to use her transformation to give herself a set of red pigtails that Mary would have been proud of.

Dani turned to her girlfriend, and the warm smile on her lips made all of Carly’s doubts wash away. Once she saw that expression, she was certain that, whatever would happen, they would have a good time tonight, and that was all that mattered.

Carly cracked a smile. “I hope you two enjoy yourselves,” she chirped, and went to go check out her appearance in the bathroom mirror just to make sure she looked her best.

And if she was going, that meant Marley had to go, too, which left Dani all on her own.

Dani finished checking out her outfit in the only other mirror in the room. She… thought she looked pretty nice. A nice, casual outfit consisting of a sleeveless tanktop and one of the few pairs of shorts that she was allowed to wear.

Yup, this was good enough!

She headed out to get started, hoping that Gina had given Nick an easy night. The last thing they needed was for him to be tired and exhausted while trying to work out!

There was someone else who was thinking about Gina and the date that she’d had, or rather, trying NOT to think about it. But that was easier said than done when she woke up in an empty bed, without the feeling of someone’s foot in her side, or the horrid smell of their armpit in her face.

For once in this short round, Ella had actually managed to wake up feeling rested. She sat up in bed and yawned, and stretched her arms over her head.

“Huh… it’s been a while since I woke up in bed all to myself,” Ella murmured. She looked around the Luxury Suite. She had it all to herself for once. It was a nice feeling. “I hope Gina had fun on her date. Dream Alley sounds amazing…”

Ella had only made use of Dream Alley once, when it had been offered freely to the girls in her debut on the season. To be honest, she’d been a little apprehensive about trying it again, even if she had the funds to do so, which she just barely did. Lacking a consistent stream of income, it had taken her multiple rounds to save up as much as she had, and she didn’t like the idea of blowing that much on a single date with Nick.

She was a frugal woman at heart. It sort of went with the territory, given her upbringing.

Ella took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She had to think about what she was going to do today if she saw Nick or Gina. (Well, she was definitely going to see Gina…)

Her abundant curiosity of how the date had gone was hard to fend off, and she felt her heart pound with anxiety as she thought about how everything had gone up until now.

“They must have had a good time… right?” She tried to convince herself as she climbed out of bed and went to go get changed. “Yeah… I’m sure they did…”

A prickling feeling in her chest brought a frown to her lips. Why was she so upset at the idea that Nick and Gina had a good time together on their date? It was to be expected, wasn’t it? After all, Nick had gone on plenty of dates with other women.

She couldn’t be jealous… that didn’t make any sense!

Jealous, over a married man?

Maybe she was just upset because Gina had gotten to experience something that she hadn’t had the chance to do herself. Her own date in Dream Alley had been ruined by Cinder’s presence. And, given the description of the place…

She was reluctant to try it herself.

Dream Alley was supposed to change to reflect the will of the dreamer. That would be her.

But… it would also be Cinder.

Right?

So, whatever wonderful, heartfelt things that she imagined them doing together would end up being twisted by Cinder’s wicked desires. It was unavoidable. And, in the end, Ella didn’t want to subject Nick to something like that.

Forcing him to accommodate Cinder… it was a big step.

One that she wasn’t even comfortable with herself.

“What should I do?” Ella whispered to herself. She retrieved her rubber-band from the nightstand and slipped it over her wrist, before giving it a good snap.

“THWAP!”

It stung a little. But it didn’t make her feel any better, even if it kept her other side at bay. Ella hung her head and let out a sigh of disappointment.

“I just wish… I knew what the right thing to do was,” she muttered to herself, shaking her head. “But… I don’t…”

It made her feel like a jerk. The not knowing. Ella had tried her best to improve the lives of the people around her, but…

In a position like this?

What could she even do?

How was she supposed to have a positive, constructive relationship with Nick, when she couldn’t even give him the date of her dreams?

When she didn’t even know what that would look like?

“Maybe I’m not ready for this,” she muttered to herself. She didn’t like thinking that way, but sometimes…

Sometimes it was hard to deny.

No matter how much she wished she could deny it.

It was at times like this that she envied Cinder’s determination, confidence, and willpower. Cinder would never let something like that stand. She would plow right ahead without hesitation, and do whatever she wanted to do.

Because that was who Cinder was.

And sometimes, Ella wished she could be that way, too. Even if it meant being a not-so-good person like Cinder was.

But… she wouldn’t ever do something like that, not really! It wasn’t… it wasn’t right.