Doll House: Book One

sixteen | mustang

Hazel and Gabriel sat across from eachother at a diner in Yonkers. Both ate breakfast foods despite it being two o'clock in the afternoon.

Gabriel gazed out the window at passing traffic while Hazel ripped apart a straw wrapper until finally she couldn't deal with the silence any longer.

"That shit was so weird."

"So weird." Gabriel echoed, smiling at whatever was out the window. "I can't believe how-creative the comments have gotten." He chuckled and turned back to the table.

They'd just finished another live but this time it was in the recording room of the Doll House apartment.

This one happened to be a lot different than the first. Toys were involved. But that wasn't the weird part. The weird part of it all had been the live comments that came in back-to-back as they performed.

"They really wanted some anal." Gabriel said. Hazel glared at him as a warning since nearby diner patrons turned at the statement. "Am I loud?"

"Very." She giggled. "In all my career, that's the craziest compilation of commentary I've experienced."

"Same, and that's saying a lot for me." Gabriel put a piece of fruit in his mouth.

"Especially when they asked if you would be open to a threesome." Hazel leaned back. "With me and Candy."

"Yeah, I noticed that question."

"But you never answered." She cocked an eyebrow. "Would you?" She wasn't anticipating the answer but she couldn't show how sensitive she was to the subject. Especially knowing that he'd fucked Candy already.

"I had to think about it." Gabriel pushed his plate aside. "I'd consider, after you and I fuck-just us." He shrugged. "On camera of course."

"That uh-makes sense." She gulped. "Especially since you've already fucked Candy. Off camera."

Gabriel furrowed his brows then rested his chin on his palm. "How do you know I fucked her off camera?"

"Candy gets what she wants." Hazel said. "Also, everyone hooks up at Dolled Up." She withheld some of the information that allowed her to know about them having sex. Why confess that she'd been watching them interact by the pool?

"Who did you hook up with?"

"No one at all. I was drunk out of my mind." Gabriel laughed and shook his head.

"I haven't fucked Candy." He assured, giving Hazel some relief. "But I put my dick in her mouth." He bit his lip and looked at hers. "The same way I did with you."

Hazel rolled her eyes. "You're so loud! Actually, 'loud' should be your stage name."

"Nah, not sexy enough."

"Oh so you would consider one?"

"No one at Rebel has a stage name." Gabriel laughed . "Victor's really firm on recruiting amateurs who build their own careers."

Amateurs generally didn't come on with stage names so Victor was clearly going with a type of "self made" brand. And it worked. It was intriguing to know that each Rebel boy went by their birth name which made the brand very personal.

"So you were an amateur before Rebel Room?"

"Everyone's an amateur before Rebel. I was uploading bi weekly videos with an ex for a couple months. Then Victor contacted us because he was looking for a new guy and apparently he kept getting tagged on our videos."

"It was that easy?"

"Nothing's ever easy." Gabriel scoffed. "When he briefed me on the lifestyle I was hesitant. Mainly because Rebel is a popularity contest. If fans don't respond well to our presence after a few months then we're basically just living in a mansion with no purpose."

It made sense. The boys were considered rebels because they had sex with those in their fan base. Very seldom did they partner with professionals and even then, viewers had control over the success of the collaboration. Thus, if the Rebels didn't establish themselves well enough, the fans wouldn't desire them and their presence with the brand was pointless.

"Well you seem pretty popular to me."

"I'm still learning." He shrugged. "So what about you? Did you ever consider a stage name?"

"No, and if I did I would probably just keep 'Hazelnut' since it's ridiculous anyway." She said and was quite serious but Gabriel laughed and slid out of the booth.

"Hazelnut is cute." He winked then went to pay for their food.

Of course, he would say that. It was part of his thing to be charming, kind, and caring. But the worse part was that she was clearly falling for it as if she were one of his clueless fan fucks.

"Who picked the name?" He asked when he returned.

"My father and his old fashioned Southern creativity." They both walked out of the diner to Gabriel's red Mustang in the parking lot.

"Southern girl turned city." He teased, sitting on the hood of the car.

"Who wants to stay in a boring town?" She asked. "I mean it started rough since I came here with some guy who ended up being an asshole. We broke up harshly and I slept in a church for three-" Hazel paused, realizing that she was rambling. Not pointlessly rambling, but rambling about a sensitive time in her life with a person that probably wouldn't care once the collaboration was over. Why was she saying so much to Gabriel?

"How did you go from sleeping in a church to sleeping in a penthouse?" He seemed impressed.

"Uh-yeah." She considered for a few seconds if she should continue but Gabriel looked at her so intently that she figured he wanted to hear more and if he didn't want to hear more then he would make that clear.

So she continued, "I needed money for a train back to North Carolina so I did one of those market research things." Hazel said. "It happened to be next to a building that was hosting a party for Doll House. Cecelia spotted me with my luggage bag right outside. Then one thing led to another and I was asked to do the formal audition process." She exhaled deep then turned to Gabriel. "Did I just bore the shit out of you?"

Gabriel laughed and stood up to be in front of Hazel. "You might be the most interesting person I've ever met." He smirked. "I'll let you know if that changes."

She narrowed her eyes at him and felt her body tense up. She knew what he meant but couldn't help thinking the worst. Maybe she shouldn't have told him all of that because things would change between them. It was guaranteed. Just like things changed with her family and now she could never talk to Autumn again.

Gabriel stared hard at her as her mind went a different direction.

"You okay Hazel? I didn't mean-"

"No, it's fine. We should get going." She stood up from the hood to get into the car but Gabriel grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

Their eyes met for a moment as he said, "I take that back. You are the most interesting person I've ever met." He said in almost a whisper.

It only took a split second for his slow smile to become contagious as she felt herself lighten up.

"Then I need to stop telling you so much." She walked to the passenger side.

"Well then ask me some questions so we can balance this shit out." He said playfully. "But start with sex questions, those are easier for me to answer." Hazel laughed lightly, happy for the distraction.

"No surprise there."