Whathegirlmuthafuckinwannadoo

Fade to black. Wake up in a strange new reality. Get up to speed on its rules. Sometimes he got to remember the cascade of strange experiences, sometimes it all felt natural. Regardless, the whiplash was getting disorienting.

At least this time, as he rolled out of bed, Jake knew where he was, and what he was. He was fully himself, back on the Island, recreated down to the ominous storm clouds bearing down on it. They were getting alarmingly close now. But then again, what did he have? Three dreams left? 12 hours of content, assuming all of the remaining contestants used all their time.

As he walked toward the living room of the Master's Suite, he began to run through the possibilities as to who this might be. But the question answered itself when he stepped into the living room. On the balcony, he could see a pair of legs propped up from a deck chair, a barbed wire tattoo wrapped around one and a long white rose on the other.

When he sat down to join AJ, she handed him a cold beer by way of greeting. He popped the cap, and the two clinked bottles. After a long swallow, she smiled at him.

“I must have been pretty late in the order. I been sitting here for hours,” AJ said.

“Surprised you’re not tanked,” Jake quipped.

AJ waved him off.

“Doesn’t appear to be an option,” She said. “At least not till you got here. Now I’m starting to feel it a bit.”

Jake wanted to smile at that, but he thought he saw where this dream was going, and he didn’t like it.

“AJ, I appreciate that you wanted to give me a reprieve and all. It’s really, really nice of you," he said. “But…you’ve gotta start looking out for yourself here. I’d love to just sit back and have a nice, normal couple hours with you, but the audience is gonna kill you for it, and…”

AJ interrupted him with a barking laugh.

“That’s what you think we’re doing here? Hanging out?” She asked. “Nah, man, don’t you worry. If you wanna sit here and tie one on for four hours, I’m game. But I gotta plan.”

Jake breathed a sigh of relief.

“Glad to hear it,” He said. “I’ll be honest, I don’t know what I’d do if you got knocked off this show.”

AJ placed her hand in his.

“You’d get by. Figure it out. You always do,” She said.

Jake squeezed it, returning her smile, then took one long, last swallow of beer. AJ nodded at the bottle.

“Save a little of that. You’re gonna need it.”

She bent to her left, withdrawing a matchbox. When she pushed it open, it revealed four pills, two blue, two pink. One of each was solid, while the other translucent. Jake arched an eyebrow.

“Very Matrix,” He said.

“Seemed appropriate, given the whole sim pod thing,” AJ said.

She said it with a shrug, but Jake caught a stiffness that told on her casual front. She was nervous.

“So there’s four of them,” He said. “What do they do?”

AJ sighed, and sat up straight.

“Look…this whole thing...Maybe Megan can make it if she doesn’t ever touch you. She’s off to a damn good start. But I won’t,” She said seriously. “There’s an obvious….gap we need to cross if I’m gonna hang in here, and I wanna use this as an opportunity to test the waters.”

Jake studied her, then the pills.

“Let me guess,” He said. “The blue pills make you straight, the pink ones make me a woman?”

AJ looked impressed.

“Damn…you nailed it. But that’s only half the choice,” She said. “One way or the other, we’re headed to a scenario I cooked up. If you pick a clear one, we go in with all our memories. If you pick a solid one, it’ll feel like we were always like that.”

“Alternative reality versus exploration,” Jake said. “Damn. You really thought this through.”

AJ let out a long sigh.

“When it comes to me and you, this show is gonna do whatever it’s gonna do,” She said. “But if there’s anything that could possibly exist between us, I’d like to find it on our own terms before they **** it on us.”

“Yeah,” He agreed quietly. “But what if there’s not? Anything between us, I mean.”

“Then you’re still my best fuckin’ friend,” AJ said. “Now quit dicking around and pick something.”

Jake reached out with a smile. He followed AJ’s eyes as he picked up the two blue pills, examining them in the setting sun. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he pitched them over the balcony.

AJ grinned.

“I knew you were gonna do that.”

Jake cocked his head.

“Then why’d you offer them?”

“Consent’s important. I had to at least give you a choice,” She explained. “Besides, it don’t feel right forcing you to give something up for me instead of at least offering to do the same.”

Jake nodded.

“And you'd have gone along with it if I’d picked the other one?”

AJ looked almost offended.

“Course I would. You know me better than that.”

He did, and he thought he loved her more in that moment than he ever had before. Everyone else had shuffled him into whatever reality they needed. He didn’t hold it against them; it’s what they’d been told they had to do. Not AJ. He almost hoped they did find a spark in this experiment. She was a damn fine partner.

She must have been sharing some similar thoughts about him, because when she finally spoke up again, there was a slight quaver in her voice.

“You’re a pretty fucking good guy for throwing those out. You know that, right?”

Jake grinned.

“My whole white knight thing aside, you know this is a pretty big opportunity, right? How many guys get a chance to see things from the other side?”

He held up the pink pills, mulling over which to take. Part of him was captivated by the idea of going into whatever came next with his eyes wide open, being able to appreciate his new self with complete awareness. Another part of him knew that doing that would mean going out on a limb with AJ. She wouldn’t be a hot stranger, or his girlfriend, or whatever she had planned for him. She’d be…AJ.

He weighed the two choices for a moment longer, then finally grabbed his beer. With the last dregs, he popped a pill into his mouth and swallowed.

(Author's Note: I'm genuinely a little conflicted on which direction to take here. Drop me a comment, but the turnaround will be pretty short. I hope to have this chapter up tomorrow.)