In The Spotlight Extras

Actual writing???

In MY crack book???? It's more likely than you'd think.

Anyway here's some stuff with our favorite gay ppl! :D It takes place Sunday night.

~

Dating apps had failed me again.

In their defense, I had started the chat with her a few days after switching my location to NYC. But in my defense, she seemed great at first.

She was silly, upbeat, and a bit crazy. She also got old real fast. Turns out asking basically your female self out after 2 days of talking was a bad idea. She even had green hair like me.

What was I thinking?

I dipped early, making me alone at 9 pm in the city that never sleeps. The only people I knew here were the ones on this stupid show, and they all suck. Majorly. Still, I flopped on my bed and scrolled through my contacts.

Lollipop is way too intimidating. Bubble looks suspicious of everyone. 4 and X were obvious no-go's. TB and GB were both earth shatteringly nerdy.

Which left the Party Dude. That was what I had put in my phone as his name. He wasn't particularly great either, but he was super fun to mess with.

sup dough boy

Not the most original thing I could've said, but it's enough to start with. Three dots on my screen communicate anger better than screaming.

Gelatin. You did not just compare me to the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

Oh, yes I did, and I am thrilled about it.

y'all are so similar :)

Actually, they weren't. They shared a syllable in their name, and they were both white. From there, they diverged. Dough Boy had joy in his soul and love in his heart. Donut was in his mid-twenties but dressed like he was in his mid-life-crisis.

hang out please im bored asf

What room are you in? I'm coming to personally delete my number in your phone.

Woohoo! Hangout time. Mission accomplished.

412 see you soon best friend :D

It was then that I remembered that TB existed. "Hey, man, I'm having somebody over. So, you know, like leave or don't. Whatever you want to do." He currently was reading something on a website called 'E-Life' about the importance of being aware of misinformation. He moved only to refill his tea and push up his glasses.

If you fell asleep the first time, here's the TLDR: TB is as boring as a retired accountant.

He isn't even the fun kind of boring. When I try to mess with him, he just rolls his eyes and moves on. He puts the 'bla' back in 'bland.' Donut on the other hand got very annoyed at pretty much nothing.

"Whatever. I'm fine right here." I was hoping he would go to some library or café or wherever boring people go when they want to pretend not to be losers. Alas, not everything can go my way.

So he sat on his sad-person chair for sad people until the World's Neatest Knocker came to the door. 7 rhythmic taps, like a child trying so hard to be polite. "Hey dude! Come in."

As I opened the door for Mr. Pillsbury, TB looked at me like it was a war crime. "He is not on our team. I am not letting him see what I'm doing in here!"

"You're a killjoy," Donut said. If even he calls you lame, you need to look inward.

"Yeah. And literally all you're doing is-"

"Stop!" Apparently if I told him about digital footprint or whatever we'd auto-lose.

"Can we just go somewhere else?" I suggested.

"Yeah, sounds good," he agreed.

TB was less enthusiastic "Gelatin, this is a bad idea. He's trying to do recon on us through you! Just because you think he's hot or something doesn't mean you..." Fortunately, the rest of his dumb spiel was cut off by the door closing behind us.

"I do not think you're hot- no offense-, and he has anger issues." Donut nodded in agreement.

"For the record, I do like your hair. But I don't think you're 'hot' either." He did finger quotes around the word 'hot,' which tells me he does not know how to use finger quotes.

"Wait, where are we even going?" It hadn't really crossed my mind, as we had just been absentmindedly walking toward the elevator.

"The lobby? I guess?" I nodded approvingly.

The couches were cushy, the type you could fall into if you sat back too far. I almost got a soda, but there were already two (really loud) girls at the vending machine. For 9:15, it was very noisy in the lobby, and I felt bad for the tired workers. It was probably almost shift change at least.

"This isn't how I pictured myself this evening." Donut sighed. I made a guess that he meant with me.

"Guess you have a crap roommate too?" He sighed again. "If you'd rather hang with me."

"He's the worst. Keeps trying to 'get to know me.' We aren't friends! You get that we aren't friends. So here I am." I feigned a tear, and pretended to be incredibly offended. Then I shook my head and laughed a bit.

"Yeah. Everyone sucks, you just suck in a fun way," I said.

"I don't know about everyone sucking." I laughed again. As I did, I spotted GB come through the front door with a shopping bag, and subtly pointed toward her.

"Perfect example. She's crazy. I talked to her for like 30 seconds at the party, and she basically tried to read her résumé!" I did not like GB all that well.

"Some people do that. She wants to impress you!" I rolled my eyes.

"The only one who is at all impressed by her is TB. He follows her around like a goddamn dog." All night in L.A. he had talked to someone for a bit and then gone back to GB. He always responded to her in our team chat. And in the room, if he talked about anyone, it was GB. GB this, GB that. "He's supposed to be observant, but apparently he never noticed the ring on her finger."

"Gelatin! You cannot be suggesting he's into her! We all barely know each other!" This was a perfect example of the difference between TB and Donut. He got angry. He argued. TB just... sits?

"Whatever." Another teammate came through the door. Bubble, Ms. Detective. "That one there always gives everyone the side eye. Like, the only thing I have to hide are my fantastic brain and my heart of gold."

"If we weren't in broad daylight I'd punch you."

"Jealous much?" Instead of getting more annoyed though, he paused. And then he laughed. And I guess we sort of got in sync.

The night carried on pretty well. We talked and joked and made fun.

And as I went to bed, I realized I let him know all my weaknesses. I let him know some of my teammates'.

TB- that bastard- was right.