Lucky in Love (A Reality TV Romance)

Six (alliances)

The number one thing Alex has noticed, chatting with the other girls and watching them light up any time one of the Kings approaches, is that several of them have that very distinct Baby Voice. It's something she saw a lot of at work, but rarely ever in the real world. A certain maintained soprano that would show up when talking to the men, and then would drop half an octave once they left. Not all the time, either, and Alex doubts it's something they notice, but she still takes note.

...And feels just slightly greasy for doing so. But this is a competition, after all. As much as she can say she doesn't want to tear down anyone else here, she has to be aware of them as competitors.

Or teammates.

"Ace!"

The voice is enthusiastic, but in a sharp kind of way. Unlike some of the giggly, bubbly types, this one has an underlying drive to it - her excitement is that of breaking and entering, not meeting a puppy. It's a familiar tone for Alex, even if the voice isn't.

The woman is gorgeous (but they all are, that's probably how most of them got on TV to begin with), with an asymmetrical bob in dark reddish brown, and a grin that screams competitive somehow. Alex finds her gaze lingering on sun tanned arms that are enviably toned.

-*-

"Look..." Alex puts a hand over her face briefly in the confessional, shaking her head as she snickers. "I have a weakness for buff people, okay? Did you not notice with the King of Jocks?" She means Kai. He mentioned he's a personal trainer. "It's a fault of mine. And Will is built. So don't blame me for looking."

-*-

"Ooh, nice tattoos!"

Alex is about to respond, to thank her, but the woman is already continuing.

"So—" Her tone is almost conspiratorial as she squeezes in next to Alex on the top step of the pool. "I heard a little rumor about this season—" the pin on her white bikini is a 2 of spades, "-that there may be more focus on the team challenges among the suits."

Alex is smiling back, automatically, but she has to laugh. "Wait wait wait— who are you? Have we introduced ourselves?" She wasn't on the bus Alex took to get to the mansion, that's for sure.

"Will." The girl holds out a hand that's damp from the condensation on her glass (looks like a piña colada).

Alex's smile widens; a fellow unisex name. "Alex." Their handshake is firm, and Alex can feel her opinion of Will rising another click.

"So, since we're gonna have team challenges, I figured we should start suit-bonding."

Tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear again, Alex nods, and watches Will's eyes (hazel maybe? or brown) flick to the distracting strand.

"Your hair is so cute by the way— did you have hair and makeup?"

"People had hair and makeup?" It's the first she's heard of it. "I was told we had to provide our own."

Will's teeth are so white. She lets out a huff of laughter, smile bordering on smirk, and glances around before tilting her head toward Alex, voice low. "The blonde in the red string bikini? Her name's Carla, she was on my bus. Apparently hired her own makeup team to do her up before we left the hotel."

The woman in question turns, and Alex lets out a low whistle. It's not horrendous or anything - in fact, it looks really good from a distance - but it's definitely high glam. There's no way that girl is getting in the pool (then again, none of them can without requesting to be un-mic'd). "Doesn't that sort of thing take ages? When would they have done it?"

"Don't know. Probably early. She wasn't at the hotel breakfast."

There was hotel breakfast?

Will's face turns back to her, curious. "Neither were you, for that matter."

Alex feels a slight blush, and laughs. "Yeah— I'm not really good at waking up early." Her smile is lopsided but not too guilty as she shrugs. "What can I say, I work the late shift, used to sleeping in."

"That might be hard to keep up with here."

"Alternatively: not sleeping at all."

"Living life on the edge." Will grins back.

-*-

"Okay— I know that, like, statistically - probably - there are reasons for me not to trust Will. Like: she's competitive, I get that. But also: are we really competing with each other? I guess, I just feel like if we get sent home it's not about petty drama among ourselves, it's about who the guys are feeling connections with. And— I don't know, I have a good feeling about her. We get each other."

"Do you trust her?"

Alex hems and haws a second, tilting her head from left to right. "I'm not going to say I trust Will implicitly, but she's definitely on my good side. And it's not like I have anything to hide."

-*-

"Alex definitely has a competitive spirit. This feels like a solid alliance. Probably my favorite person in Suit Spades right now, but we'll see how she performs when the chips are down." -Will (♠2)

-*-

"Alex can't even show her natural hair, how can we know her true colors?" -Jenna (♥A)