The theme song started. This time the music was slow, deep, and spooky.

Nate walked into view wearing a sheet over his head like a ghost.

“Boo,” Nate jumped towards the reader. “This music is spooky, really gets you in a mood.”

He turned and started walking away and stubbed his toe.

“Blanched beets and wine!!” Nate tore the sheet off.

“Doughnuts, that hurts.”

He slowly limped back out of view again.

A few moments later, he came back into view. Now he was sitting on a skateboard, propelling himself forward with his hands.

He started singing along with the lyrics to the song. He wasn’t a very good singer, but there was nobody to hear him.

Once the singing had stopped, he rolled himself out of view again.

The theme song ended.

A book fell from the sky and opened to a blank page. A quill wrote on the fresh sheet.

Rule 7 - Dating is allowed between consenting, age-appropriate contestants.

Luke’s words slammed into Nate’s head like a gunshot. If he hadn’t been holding on to the fence, he would have been bowled over by the news.

“You’re…” Nate tried to speak. “But Matt. How. Why. Really? But…” Nate trailed off, unable to come up with anything coherent, he gave up.

Nate concentrated on his next two words, making sure they came out as intended. “Why me?”

“That’s actually Alvin’s fault. He knows I have a secret, but not what it is. Those divination methods of his are scarily accurate. He told me that somebody very special was coming. That our next roommate would be somebody that I could confide in.”

“I’m not sure how accurate that is,” Nate chuckled a little. “I’m just your average teenage boy.” Who is stuck in a story, he thought to himself.

“And why tell me now? You don’t know me yet.”

“I had to tell you before you got to know Matt. It might be selfish, but I need this to be about me.”

“Ok. I’m willing to hear you out. Do you mind if I lay down?”

“Of course, whatever makes you comfortable.”

Nate lay down on his back, looking up at the sky as Luke continued.

“Do you remember when Madame Midnight published her first book? It was three years ago, and I was a young boy of 13. I thought a romance book would sell better under a female name. I hardly even thought about it. Things snowballed, and I’ve done everything possible to keep my identity a secret.”

“I’m with you so far. How does Matt fit into things?”

“He sent a message through my website, and we started talking back and forth. I felt an immediate connection with him and thought he would be the one I told my secret to. But then things turned romantic. I’m not gay or anything. I always figured that it would be a long-distance relationship. There would never be a physical aspect, so it didn’t matter if it was a guy or a girl. I think we were both happy just having somebody who cared about us. Shitty families, you know. The next thing I know, we were both applying to the contest at the same time. Of course, thanks to the NDA neither of us admitted that we won/lost. We just stopped talking about it. And then we met. I had the feeling that he might have won, and that there was a chance we would bump into each other at some point. I was prepared for that. But roommates? What was I supposed to do.”

“That sounds like a tough situation for sure. What do the rules say about contestants dating?”

“I can’t break up with him. I love him. But I can’t tell him either. As for the rules, dating is allowed.”

“I wish I had advice for you. How would Matt react if you did tell him?”

“I don’t know, but I do know he would never date a man. All he can think about is the sexual aspect of dating another man and it grosses him out. We’ve talked about it, as myself and Madame Midnight.”

“So if you tell him the truth, you’ll lose him.”

“That sums it up. But it’s killing me that I’m lying to the person I love.”

“I can imagine. I’m still not sure what makes me special enough to tell? There isn’t much that I can do for you.”

“I’m going crazy. I need to be able to talk to somebody about it. Even if you don’t have any advice for me, just the fact that you know is enough.”

“Thank you for your trust. I won’t let you down.”

Neither of them said anything. They were both looking up at the sky when a shooting star flew past.

“Make a wish,” Nate said.

They both closed their eyes and let their hearts loose.

Nate suspected that Luke’s wish was about Matt, but if they shared their wish, it wouldn’t come true. His own wish was simple. He wanted confidence. He was here, and he wanted to win. But it felt impossible. Even now, he was casually laying on the roof with one of the highest-rated romance writers in the world. How could he hope to compete?”

They lay in silence for a few more minutes before deciding to head back to the room. Neither of them said much, and they walked in comfortable silence.

They stopped at the cafeteria to stock up on coffee beans. They got to the coffee area, it was like a coffee shop, with towering glass tubes full of coffee beans. They had hundreds of varieties.

Nate suddenly felt guilty about using flavoured creamer with such special beans. “Why does Jaz use such cheap grinds when she can get premium decaf here?”

“You’ve tasted the creamer she uses, it’ll mask the flavour anyway.”

Nate understood.

They got a bag of beans. The flavour of the day. Nate learned how much to ask for, which would last the group three or four days. If he couldn’t decide on which variety to get, they had a bunch of recommendations. Some changed daily while others like Sophie’s Pick and Heather’s choice were weekly.

They got back to the room and Luke put the beans away. Nate wandered into the living room. Dave was topless, lying on his stomach in front of the couch. With the help of a cushion, he was propped up on his elbows, and typing on a laptop.

Jaz and Alice were sitting on the couch barefoot. Jaz was rubbing her feet on Dave’s back. Alice had her feet resting on the top of Dave’s laptop screen.

Jaz notices Nate standing there, and explained. “We were playing Truth or Dare a few months ago and found out that Dave has a thing for feet. So we’ve been teasing him since.”

“Poor guy,” Nate smiled. It must be driving him crazy.

Alice got up to go to the kitchen.

“Well I think it’s gross,” Stacy was sitting in a chair with a laptop resting on her knees. “But as long as this is all they do, I don’t complain.”

“You know how I feel,” Dave said. “Look, don’t touch. Everything else I’m saving for my future girlfriend.”

Hic

The hiccup was so loud the walls rattled and the staircase made a disturbing clanging sound.

Everybody was knocked over. Stacy and Jaz were on opposite sides of the couch. Dave’s lower half was wedged underneath the couch. Stacy had fallen over the back of the chair but managed to save the laptop in the process.

Stan and Alvin were in their rooms, but two thumps confirmed that they hadn’t escaped.

A tiny thump sounded upstairs, and the bird rolled down a couple of steps before standing up and shaking itself off. It looked at the group, not convinced that it was safe to take flight yet.

HIC

This time felt even louder. Several dishes fell from the shelves.

Stan’s door opened. Stan was standing there holding a sign that simply said:

WTF

He carried the sign with him, and sat at the table, waiting for an answer.

“Don’t look at me,” Luke backed away from the kitchen, and pointed to Alice. “It’s her, I swear.”

Nate knew what to do. He ran to the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and turned toward Alice.

She reacted immediately by punching Nate in the throat, and grabbing the knife as it fell from his limp hand.

Nate sunk to his knees, holding his throat.

Luke realized what Nate was trying to do and let out a deep belly laugh. He calmed down enough to spit out in a shaky voice “She’s the queen of horror. You can’t scare her.” Luke couldn’t handle it and started laughing again.

By now everyone else had caught on, and had joined in the laughter.

Stan put away his WTF sign and pulled one out that said Ha Ha Ha.

“He’s right you know.” Alice put the knife back.

“How are we going to cure your hiccups if we can’t scare you?”

Luke took out his phone and looked up cures.

“Ah, here’s one we could try.”

He walked over and grabbed Alice by the ankles and held her upside down.

“Get her a drink”

Nate immediately grabbed one of Alice’s energy drinks and a paper straw.

“A little warning next time,” Alice crossed her arms.

Nate bent down and offered her the straw.”

She took a few careful sips, once she was sure she could do it without spiling she took a few deep sips.

Hic

Luke dropped Alice, who curled into ball mid-air, and landed on Nate.

Stan and the others had been prepared and were holding tightly to the furniture.

“Whelp, that didn’t work.” Luke brushed his hands against each other.

Alice got up and helped Nate to his feet.

Nate took out his phone and looked it up this time.

“Do you have paper bags?”

“No, we don’t.” Luke shook his head.

“Wait,” Alice jumped on the counter so she could reach the coffee. She dumped out the beans onto the counter. “What now?”

“Breathe into it.”

“That’s it?” Alice ran to Luke and started beating her fists against his chest. “Breathing into a paper bag was an option and you held me upside first!!? What’s wrong with you? What kind of list were you looking at anyway!?”

“Ahem.” Nate cleared his throat and waited for Alice to look over. He took a big exaggerated breath, then motioned for her to do it.

Alice sighed, then brought up the bag to her mouth and filled it with air. She inhaled deeply.

“Whoo, that’s the stuff. Nothing like a lungful of coffee to perk you up.”

Nate facepalmed. “No talking, just breathing.”

Alice stuck her tongue out at Nate before breathing back into the bag.

She continued this way for a few minutes.

“Did it work?” Nate was holding onto the counter for support.

Hic

Stacy came over, and filled a cup with ice cubes and water from the dispenser on the fridge.

“Drink slowly,” She handed the cup to Alice.

Alice took the cup and obeyed.

Hic

Nate suddenly rushed out of the room.

Stan held up a sign

Gargle salt water

“Isn’t that for sore throats?” Luke was scratching his head.

“How much salt?” Stacy dumped out the ice water and was already filling a glass with fresh water.

Stan made a weird movement that could almost be interpreted as a shrug.

Stacy poured the salt into the glass for several second, and stirred until it dissolved.

She handed the glass to Alice, who took a mouthful and immediately spit it back into Stacy’s face.

“Eew, that’s horrid.”

“Gargle,” Stacy pushed the cup back into Alice’s hand.

Alice held her nose, took a much smaller sip this time, and tilted her head back. She gargled for as long as she could handle it, then ran to the sink to spit it out.

Hic

“Oh, try swallowing some sugar.” Luke had his phone out again.

“Eating sugar!? I can do that?” Alice had been drinking straight from the tap, trying to get rid of the salt. “But seriously, give me the good ones first. I can’t believe I gargled salt water before you gave me sugar.”

She grabbed a bag of sugar from the cupboard, a spoon from the drawer, and started eating it straight from the bag.

“Now this is a cure,” She said.

“You could at least put it in a bowl or something,” Jaz wrinkled her nose and made a face.

Alice stuck out her sugar-covered tongue before taking another heaping spoonful.

Hic

Stacy tried to take the sugar from Alice, but Alice hissed at her and held the bag to her chest. “It’s mine now.”

Stacy’s shoulders dropped in defeat. “Fine, whatever.”

Nate burst back through the door, holding a lemon triumphantly.

He tossed it to Alice, “cut this up and bite.”

Alice’s eyes lit up. She loved sour candies. She caught the lemon, and cut it into quarters before biting down on one.

After the sugar she had just eaten, it was pure bliss. She fell back against the fridge and slid to the floor, trying her hardest not to smile and let the lemon slip out.

Everyone cautiously looked at her, still holding onto something just in case.

Nothing happened for several minutes.

“I… I think it might be over,” Alice had taken the lemon from her mouth. She stood up, threw away the lemon peel and grabbed the rest of the slices. She walked over to the table and put another slice into her mouth.”

“Thanks for the help everyone,” it came out garbled, around the piece of fruit still lodged in her mouth.

“Any time. But also, never again, you hear me?” Nate said.

Everyone chuckled.

“I’m going to head to bed now,” Nate waved. “We have that contest tomorrow, I want to be well-rested for it. Goodnight everyone.”

A chorus of goodnights came from his roommates.

Stan held up a sign Sleep well

Nate walked to his room and let out a sigh of relief.

He had made it back before anyone noticed.

Hic