Brent - Three months from Halloween
"I don't think so, no." Brent shook his head. "Find someone else!"
"I tried!" Chelsea glared at him with the form in her hand. "Everyone else said no."
"And you expect me to say yes!?" Brent sighed. Chelsea had never failed in dragging him along on some wild adventures. She was the reason he'd once spent a night in juvie, though the trespassing charges were never filed once they talked through the misunderstanding. An adventure had once gotten them lost in the woods for three days in their early teens. The woman had also been the catalyst for most of his successful relationships and innumerable incredible times.
"Yeah, I do. C'mon, Brent! You saw the payout! We don't even have to win; just participate, and I can pay off my student loans and finally get a place of my own!" Chelsea patted his leg. "Or we could finally put our plan in motion."
Brent was closer with Chelsea than he was with his own sisters. She was the next-door neighbor girl who was raised similarly by her grandparents. Being the only two kids their age in a plot of patio homes, they only had each other to play with. There were also Brent's twin sisters, but they were two and a half years younger and into girly things that rarely interested his best friend. Chelsea was daring and adventurous, while Brent was the calm, level-headed one who could often talk their way out of danger.
Chelsea was an undeniably gorgeous blonde with curly hair presently swept into a ponytail. Her electric smile and svelte form had stolen many hearts in her time. There had never been any romance between the pair as when Brent was getting over the thought that girls had cooties, Chelsea revealed that she was a lesbian. It was a secret Brent held sacred until Chelsea came out to everyone else during their senior year of high school.
"How much?" Brent couldn't help but imagine replacing his two-decade-old SUV, which he was constantly doing maintenance on, to keep on the road. It was getting closer to being cheaper for new car payments than keeping it on the street, but Brent still wasn't used to staying in one place for long. Not since he enlisted in the army fresh out of high school.
"Look!" Chelsea flopped open the thick packet of paperwork to the payouts.
"Holy shit..." Brent muttered as he ran a finger down the table. If they could get far enough into the competition, he'd not only be able to afford a car, but he could put a sizeable down payment on a house of his own
"Yeah. See why I want to do this?" Chelsea grinned. The woman obviously knew that she had Brent on the hook. "It's not because I want to parade around with my ta-tas and va-jay-jay hanging out."
"Everything is blurred down there, right?"
"Yeah, and up here for me." Chelsea grabbed her tits and shook them. "No advertising your big cock, Brent."
"How would you know?" Brent raised an eyebrow. Except for a few adventures skinny dipping, when all his parts were underwater anyway, they hadn't been naked around each other.
"Your girlfriends talk, Brent. I know more about your dangly bits than I really want to." Chelsea shrugged. "It's long, thick, with an upward curve, and uncircumcised." She giggled. "You knew how to hit it, so to speak." Another giggle issued as Brent blushed. "You also keep it shaved frequently."
Chelsea's intel was correct in all regards, but Brent wasn't going to admit it. "Sure." He rolled his eyes.
"I'll find out in a month anyway," Chelsea smirked. "I'm waxed, so maybe we kinda match?"
"
Nude and Terrified
, huh?" Brent flipped the packet back to the cover sheet. It was an attempt to either blunt the success of a rival television and streaming network or an effort to ride on its coattails.
"Yup, this one has nothing to do with the wilderness. All we have to do is make it up the twelve-story Haunted High-Rise, and we win!"
"Payout increases on each level, right?"
"Uh-huh. Doubles if you or I can cross the finish line on the twelfth floor. There's no guaranteed winner, and some of it's gonna be an obstacle course. If you land in the water or if they judge you as too scared, you're out. You can handle that, yeah?"
"Probably. Been a while since I've had to do any qualifying. They can't do anything sexual to us, right?"
"They can't touch your pee-pee if that's what's scaring you." Chelsea rolled her eyes.
"It's not me that I'm worried about."
"Their goal is to scare us or let the obstacle course make us call it quits. Everything is going to be on camera, so I doubt they want proof of sexual assault."
"Doubt they need you kicking the ass of an actor, right?" Brent joked.
"Damn straight." Chelsea nodded.
"They know you're the no-scream queen, right?"
"Of course. My tryout had more to do with the obstacle course." Chelsea nodded in agreement. "Don't think the producers expected me to do it ancient Olympian style."
"Naked? Your boobs didn't get in the way of all that running, did they?" Brent teased. It was an excuse Chelsea had employed whenever she lost some physical challenge with him.
"A little. The producers neglected to inform me that nudity wasn't expected until the run was finished." Chelsea laughed.
"I don't have to go prove myself on the course?"
"Nope, they only need one of the pair to qualify. It was then my duty to find a male running mate." Chelsea helped herself to the whiskey but poured Brent one as well. "There are obstacles that may be impossible without a partner, but the payout is all yours if you have to leave me behind."
"Why do I let you talk me into this shit?" Brent grabbed a rocks glass from her.
"Makes life more interesting." Chelsea raised her glass. "To paying off student loans."
"And finally replacing my truck."
Fiona - A day later
"Are Mom and Dad home?" Fiona asked Mica as she stormed in the door.
"No, they're at the high-rise." Mica looked up from the book she was reading. She looked comfortable curled on the tan leather couch in the middle of the front room.
"How can they do this?" Fiona fumed.
"Do what, dear sister?" Mica swung her legs off the sofa and sat up.
Mica was only slightly younger, shared the same brunette hair, brown eyes, and a nose that they'd been told was adorable and came from their father's side of the family. Fiona got an inch of added height from her mom's side of the family, while she didn't get the large breasts that her sister and mother had. Hers were nothing to scoff at, but her sister and mother were naturally blessed.
"
Nude and terrified!
"
"So?" Mica was either playing dumb or oblivious to the danger the show represented.
"A national TV and streaming show?"
"You know the Haunted High-Rise barely broke even last year. Mom and Dad needed something that would let them open the season earlier, and this'll be superb advertising. You should see the contract they signed! And if none of the contestants win, ka-ching!"
"Yeah, and that's great. But what happens when the fans and media start digging into my past." Fiona flopped in the lounger at the far side of the room.
"Then your shit comes out, sis." Mica shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time. You don't get to hide from it because you realized it was a terrible idea after the fact. And neither do we." Her sister glared over her book at Fiona.
"Well, shit. Not like running from it worked for that long." Fiona sighed. "What are you doing over here anyway? Thought you had your own apartment."
"I'm here to save money and help with the Haunted High-Rise. Taking a sabbatical for the last semester of my master's so I'm not overwhelmed like last year." Mica closed her book and set it beside her.
"You could try not helping out almost every night at the high-rise." Fiona shook her head. The haunted house was the highlight of Mica's year. There was no way that her younger sister would forgo haunting the halls.
"And miss out on all the fun?" Mica cackled. "Hopefully, we don't get so popular that the parents can't accommodate L's night. I've done very well for myself on those nights." Mica beamed.
"Still think calling the bar L's is a little too on the nose for a lesbian bar." Fiona shook her head and giggled.
"It's officially called Lorelei's, but that's too many syllables, and it's an LGBTQ-friendly bar. Can't help it if my lesbos have the biggest turnout for Haunted High-Rise night. I'm very popular." Mica nodded with a smirk.
"Ashley last year and Deb three years ago, right?" Fiona asked.
"Uh-huh."
"You know, it's okay to date them for more than six months, right?" Fiona teased.
"Says the woman that hasn't dated for a decade!" Mica threw back at her in a far more defensive tone than seemed prudent to the conversation.
"I can't." Fiona shook her head. The simple response was supposed to be a signal for Mica not to push.
"Yes, you can!" Mica yelled. Trying to get her sister to back down was like putting chum in the water. "It's been more than ten years, and you're what? Eight months from your doctorate? You can't punish yourself forever!"
"I tried dating afterward, and guys expected things that I couldn't do. Or wanted to go too fast."
"Fiona Hawthorne was always a slow burn."
"Even slower since..."
"When's the last time you tried to date anyone? And don't try and count taking Javier to L's a couple weeks ago. You both like to dance, but you both know you're not his type."
"Eight years." Fiona looked down as she blushed.
"EIGHT YEARS!" Mica threw up her hands. "Is your cooch sealing itself like my belly button piercing did when I took it out for a year?"
"Mica! You know that doesn't happen! Vaginas don't work like that!"
"I wouldn't know! Not going to take that risk!" Mica giggled.
"I have toys!" Fiona hucked a pillow at her laughing sister.
"Date a boy, Fifi!"
"I don't have time to date, brat!"
"Me, the brat? You're the one that threw a pillow at my head." Mica feigned innocence. She utilized her excellent acting chops to make sure Fiona was the one who got in trouble when they were girls instead of the instigator. "At least get fucked for the first time in a decade!"
