"now, ladies," austin says, after carmen leaves the call. "it's time to tell us where you would take tommy on a first date." i bite down on my lip gently. lindsay told me this would be a question, but i'm still caught slightly off guard. "jules, let's start with you."

everyone's answers are either boring or unrealistic. marissa says she'll take tommy to meet the queen (which is exactly what i told lindsay i WON'T be saying), serena wants to have a netflix and chill date, and catherine's taking him to the freaking moon.

"valerie, you're the last one," austin says. "where would you take tommyinnit on your first date?"

"either the amusement park or an arcade. maybe both," i say. "i love those carnival-type scenes. the rides, the games, the food, it's all so much fun. we can get those little fast pass wristbands at the amusement park and skip all the lines, and get the free play cards at the arcade. we could definitely dominate and win the best prizes." tommy smiles when i finish.

did he like it?

"could we get the vlog gun?" he asks. i raise an eyebrow.

"the what?" i reply. he gasps.

"you don't know about the vlog gun?" he sounds shocked and horrified.

"miss girl, you just made a BIG mistake," heather says with a laugh.

okay, miss i'll-take-you-to-a-beauty-pageant-for-our-first-date.

"mistake?" i ask.

"the vlog gun! i won it at an arcade! look it up right now!" tommy orders. i nod and pull out my phone, typing "vlog gun" into safari. a small surge gun pops up, along with pictures of tommy and a man with curly brown hair and glasses holding the gun.

"oh lord, how many tickets did that cost?" i ask, raising my hand to my mouth.

"300," tommy replies smugly. i slam my phone down and look into his eyes on the screen.

"shut up. you're joking." i laugh. "300? that can get you maybe a chewed pencil in america."

"i actually had two vlog guns, but wilbur broke both of them." i assume wilbur's the man with dark hair in the pictures.

"oh, then yes, for sure we can go get a replacement. maybe five, if they're only 300 tickets each."

"HAH! perfect." tommy shouts, clapping his hands together. i grin at his enthusiasm.

tommy ends up kicking catherine off, because "taking me to the moon is unrealistic and makes it seem like you're not actually here to find love, but to dick around." i nod and purse out my bottom lip.

he has a point.

and turns out his hunch was correct. catherine chose host.

"this is one of the hardest questions," austin says. "girls, you've been talking a lot about what you like about tommy, now it's time to say what you DON'T like about him." i feel my heart swell. what do i not like about him? he's funny, handsome, fun to talk to-

wait.

i know the perfect thing.

"austin," i shout out quickly. "i have something in mind."

"valerie? no way!" austin says. "but tommy seems to like you so much. you're going to be the one to answer first?"

"yup. because i noticed something incredibly wrong in the one and only stream of his i watched."

i pause. everyone leans in, awaiting my answer.

"he drinks coke instead of pepsi when pepsi is OBVIOUSLY superior!" i shout, pounding my fists on my desk. i hear my parents laugh from downstairs.

"OH MAN!" austin shouts. tommy sits still in his chair, completely shellshocked. "miss valerie bashed tommy for drinking COKE instead of PEPSI! what do we think about that, chat?"

"i mean, she's got a point," isabella says, laughing. "pepsi is way better." i nod.

"y'all are BOTH dead wrong," gianna says. "dr. pepper all the way."

"you guys drink soda?" heather asks.

"hell yeah i drink soda. but i drink grape soda, the only good one," jules says.

"grape soda is disgusting," i say through laughs.

"yeah, who the fuck drinks grape soda?" amanda says, wiping tears from her eyes.

"what the hell is wrong with you guys?" marissa asks loudly. "so what if he drinks coke? let him be. that was a stupid answer." she rolls her eyes.

is she for real?

i brush it off. this was the liveliest the group has ever been, so i don't pay the one sour grape any attention.

the rest of the girls say what they don't like about tommy. some are realistic, like amanda saying he's too loud and serena saying his friends are annoying, but some are complete suck ups, like marissa saying he's too cute for his own good and heather saying she would "hate that they would be the pretty best friends." i almost gag a couple of times.

however, gianna gets kicked off because she didn't talk enough. she gazes at the floor after getting kicked off. to no one's surprise, she chose love.

"now, we're going to bring someone very special onto the show..." austin says. i raise an eyebrow, wondering what that could mean. "everyone, please give a warm welcome to tommy's best friend, the guy we know and love, TUBBO!" a bunch of the girls clap, so i start clapping as well.

"hi guys!" a meek voice says. "i'm tubbo!"

"TUBBO!" tommy shouts enthusiastically.

"TOMMY!" tubbo yells, matching his energy. i remember tubbo coming in a few times during tommy's stream. he seems very funny and sweet.

"tubbo, for this next round, we're going to need you to expose a secret tommy has, to figure the prompt for our next question," austin says.

"oh, i've got a good one for you guys," tubbo says, laughing. "the secret is that tommy is not 6'3. he's actually 6'1. i would know, i've met him in real life." austin gasps.

"tubbo, tubbo, no," tommy says, trying to redeem himself. "it's not true, ladies, i am 6 foot 3, i am a tall man-"

"TUBBO JUST EXPOSED YOU, CHOMMY!" austin yells through gasps of laughter. my cheeks hurt from smiling.

"in all honesty," jules says. "i had no idea how tall tommy was, but if he had told me he was 6'3 i would not have believed him." she puts her hand over her mouth, muffling her laughter.

"ARE YOU KIDDING-" tommy stands up and walks backwards until his full body is in view.

"i don't know guys, he looks pretty damn tall to me," serena says while shrugging.

"thank you, serena underscore valentine," tommy says while sitting down again. i decide to speak up.

"all jokes aside, i hope you're not 6'3," i say. "my dad is 6'3, and i'm 5'5, and i feel like i'd have to look up at you the way i look up at my dad, and now i'm just picturing you instead of him when i think about how tall he is... it's weirding me out honestly."

"how old is your dad?" tommy asks.

"somewhere in his fifties."

"you don't know his age?"

"don't ask don't tell type beat, i guess."

"that's so weir-"

"i'm into tall guys, so..." marissa interrupts. i have to pinch my arm to keep myself from raging at her. she's been pissing me off majority of this show. "with that being sad, i don't really care if you lied about your age, it was probably to impress your crushes."

"definitely not, but okay," tubbo says with a laugh.

"tommy definitely seems like someone in the mid five foot range, if we're being honest," jules says. tommy's eyes widen.

"are you fu-"

"alright!" austin shouts, interrupting tommy. "tommy, it's time to pick another person to vote off the show."

as austin goes through the list of who's staying and who's being kicked off, jules is in the bottom three. there are two more spots available.

"valerie..." austin starts. "you're in the bottom three."