In The Spotlight

Bubble- Love, Lies, & Lemon Pies

My team had of course given me the most confusing role of all time. Something that still hadn't been explained.

We'd managed to make it to round 2, thanks to TB, GB, and Lollipop. But now we didn't even have the crutch of options. The category was health. Which was annoyingly unspecific. For a second time I sat there, watching the chaos ensue, as everyone learned about medical conditions and practices. This time though, I wasn't left to my thoughts.

"There's something about you," said Lollipop.

"What? What do you mean?" The last thing I need right now is to find out someone knows what I did. Or what I had seen. I didn't want people knowing that either. Not until it was useful, anyway.

"Don't get so defensive. I just mean you've got this quality to you. It's this effortlessly pretty thing." Oh. She was complimenting me. Which, to be honest is pretty weird as well.

"Oh, thank you. I think you're pretty too!" It wasn't just flattery, either. She was quite the looker. She wasn't in anything special, but her hair and makeup were perfect. And she was very tall, which I admired, as a short lady.

"Look, I'm definitely not homophobic, but that's weird, bro. Wait to do this once we're off-air." Gelatin needed to learn to speak when spoken to, and was no longer my favorite.

"Are you sure? Because that sounded awfully like the whole 'get a room' spiel. And I wasn't even flirting." Lolli was actually angry with him. I didn't think it was that big of a deal.

"Dude, I have paint on my nails, a gay dating app on my phone, and a pride flag on my bedroom wall."

"I think I stand corrected."

"Welcome back, it's time for round 2 of 'QNA', where there is no multiple choice!" 4 seemed far too excited about our struggles.

"Good luck to The Champions, who are up next! So, your question is: Vaccines are an example of what type of pseudoscience based medicine?" The dude named Cake's eyes lit up. He told Firey something.

"Homeopathic?"

"Yes, good job! Okay, Ionics, your turn." I took a deep breath. "Your question is: What does the psychological condition BED stand for?" Lollipop turned to TB.

"I didn't look into psychology! Sorry!" He looked frantic. They started worrying and chatting about potential acronyms.

"BED." I didn't realize I said it out loud until I saw the eyes on me. "It's binge eating disorder. My minor is in psych."

"Binge eating disorder." I was in the hot seat now. If it was wrong, it was my fault. If it was right, it was thanks to me.

"Correct." Our group breathed a collective sigh of relief. "Now, for the Marketing Team's question. What food most often stunts children's growth?"

As their team discussed, TB turned toward me. "Thanks for saving me there, Bubble." I told him it was nothing.

"Dude, seriously, that was great," Gelatin agreed.

"You really came through for us, Bubble." Lolli whisper-yelled.

"That was surprisingly adequate." Even GB was singing my praises. Sort-of.

Meanwhile, Coiny turned to X. "Coffee."

"Unfortunately, the answer was junk food. The Marketing Team will not be in round 3. That is a common misconception." X gave the other team a sympathetic look.

"We'll be back after these messages!" The cameras turned off again. "You guys: short break." 4 sat down at a nearby table.

"I've got to go to the bathroom really fast. Can you watch my stuff GB?" I asked, dropping my things on the ground next to her.

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Oh, and isn't this your ring?" It had fallen on the floor. I figured it would be nice to give it back, since she didn't seem to like me as much as the others.

"It is, thank you!" GB happily put her wedding band back on.

I practically ran to the bathroom and back. I think the only thing worse than having to show up here in the first place would be missing part of it. I hadn't even grabbed my phone, which I normally have on my person at all times.

When I came back, though, GB was looking all smiley. The newly happy woman looked at me and said, "I have a photo I really want you to see. It's super funny." Maybe she liked me now! Friends show each other memes.

"Man, I wasn't thinking and really hurt myself. This just goes to show that you need to be very careful," she told me, showing me the picture.

But it wasn't a meme. It wasn't even some picture of an injury or anything. It was a picture of my lock screen.

And on it was a text that said: hows the game show? looked up any more answers yet? lol

"Yeah, I've had a lot of bad luck recently. But when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, or maybe lemon pie." As I said this to GB, I looked her in the eye. And she twitched. Just a tiny bit. But it was there.

Because I had shown her a photo as well. And I knew it was bad enough to keep her quiet.

The night before we started filming, I was on the phone with a friend. I love the guy, but he can be a bit of a jokester. And he likes to mess around with me about sensitive topics.

Including me being a total fraud.

So when I heard a voice, I had to shush him. For good measure, I hid behind a wall. But, I can't lie, I'm a curious soul. So I looked toward the voice.

It was GB. But it barely sounded like her. She was carefree. And she was at the door of room 412, which is quite the walk from 427- her room-, in the opposite wing of the building.

She had a takeout bag with a logo reading: 'The Pie Guy.' The door opened a little wider. "I just thought you might be tired of the cake leftovers?"

"Is that lemon pie? Aw, Gigi." It was TB. If the voice wasn't enough to tell, he was now clearly in view. Then, he kissed her on the cheek. Not in a manner that can possibly be explained away. He held her hands. He smiled. He was in love.

"You know we can't do that here! Gelatin could be back any moment!" He rolled his eyes. GB was back to her usual self-righteous attitude, I noticed. "Just take it, and then I have to go back to Lollipop."

"Okay," he agreed, though reluctantly.

She started to turn, then looked back. "Lunch tomorrow?" GB whispered. He nodded, smiling again, as he closed the door.

I ran, as quietly as possible, to my room, painfully aware of her echoing footsteps. I never saw her after that, since I made it to the room in time.

But not before snapping a picture.

"Are you alright there Bubs?" I hadn't considered Leafy may be confused by my panic. I- of course, as the person seemingly least willing to meet people- was a leftover. I was in a room with someone not on my team.

"Yeah, no biggie. Just a bug. It landed on me and freaked me out."

"Well, that's good. I have some mixed feelings about bugs. Some are nice, but-" I didn't really hear the rest of what she said. Plus, not long afterward, she left to get snacks, but I was just glad to hear she wasn't suspicious.

Well, that was the story I told Golf Ball when she texted me later that day. If I told her the truth, there would be too many questions. And 1-2 innocent people would be in trouble.

So when she asked how I knew, I failed to disclose that I was suspicious from the start. Nor did I tell her I knew they were lying about more than that.

Because why would Tennis Ball, a New York City native, stay in a hotel here?

And, more importantly, did her poor husband know?

(A/N: Is this a shorter chapter? Yes! Did crap still go down? Yes! We're starting to really get going. While writing this, I was doing a BFDI marathon, and dude... The amount they manage to communicate with the tiniest twitch of Firey's mouth is freaking crazy. Much love! See you today with a surprise! 1269 words. Song for the day: This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things- Taylor Swift)