Y/N's POV:
"Alright! It is a new day! Yesterday was great but today will be even better!" I say happily as Shayne and I walk to where we're filming together.
"Why are you so peppy?" Shayne laughs.
"Why aren't you? In case you've forgotten, we're about to play paintball. You saw how I am with a crossbow, now imagine that but with a paintball gun. I'm gonna destroy Mushroom Clout." I smile.
"Okay, let me know how that works out for you." Shayne elbows me lightly and I punch him the shoulder, "I won't have to, you'll see it." I say.
We arrive at the paintball area and everyone starts putting on padding but I don't.
"Why aren't you putting on padding? You're gonna have a lot of bruises." Lasercorn says, walking over to me.
"I could ask you the same question." I say, putting on my helmet and grabbing a gun.
"Touche." Lasercorn squints his eyes at me before walking away. Truth is I actually am wearing padding, it's not enough that it looks like I'm wearing padding but it's enough to protect my stomach. I'm wearing pants to protect my legs from actually getting paint on them but my arms are bare so this'll be interesting.
Olivia had to leave after filming yesterday so Tommy is now here, aka Olivia Gay. Matt Raub, Sarah, and Ryan Todd explain how Bunker Destruction works and then we all go and take our places.
"You're pretty ballsy to be going out there in bare arms." Shayne says to me.
"You're pretty ballsy to doubt me." I smile. He looks at me for a second before laughing a little, "By the end of this game you're going to look like you have hickeys everywhere."
"Maybe so, but I bet I'll barely get hit." As soon as I say this the buzzer goes off and we begin. I go in the opposite direction than most of my teammates. I hide behind a barrel and take a couple of shots at Keith, who is failing at, well everything. Everyone is hitting him and he's just stumbling around.
Before we actually started filming I excused myself to go to the washroom but really I scouted out the field. I go to the small building I found this morning and step on a couple boxes to hoist myself up through a hole in the tin roof. It's not very steady but it's enough to hold me. I lay down flat on my stomach so that other people won't be able to hit me. I'm right next to Mushroom Clouts base so I get quite a few shots on their bunker.
"Who's shooting?!" I hear Courtney yell, who's guarding her bunker. Her eyes follow where my paintballs are coming from and she looks right at me, "How did you even get up there?!"
"I have my ways!" I yell and she starts shooting at me. But at the angle I'm on I know darn well no one is able to hit me.
"Dammit, Y/N!" I hear Damien say. I turn around on my stomach and start shooting the people on Mushroom Clout who are trying to work their way up to our bunker, sending them all back.
"Haha! Suckers!" I laugh. Just then the buzzer goes signaling the end of the first round. I go to climb back down through my hole but somebody moved the boxes. "Frick." I mumble. How did someone take them without me noticing?
"Looking for something?" I hear someone say. I stick my head through the hold and see Shayne standing there laughing.
"You little- we're on the same team!" I pout, "Can you put the boxes back please?"
"Uh, actually I can't. I have no idea where they are. I think someone took them to use as more obstacles." Shayne says, still laughing slightly, "Here, I'll help you down. Drop your gun."
I drop my gun down and it lands on the ground. I put my hands on either side of the hold and start to lower myself down, which is really hard because I don't have that much upper body strength to support me. I feel Shayne's hands grab my hips.
"Okay, you can let go now." Shayne says.
I do and Shayne lowers me down. As he's about to actually put me down he trips on my gun and falls over, causing me to fall on top of him.
We both start laughing, "Are you okay?" I ask.
"Yeah, I'm wearing padding, unlike you. Are you alright?" Shayne asks.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." I laugh, still partly on top of him. "We should probably go to our base."
He nods and we both stand up, I grab my gun and we run to our base. The buzzer goes off and we start round two. This time I don't have a plan. I just start running and hiding behind random obstacles. I get shot about a minute into the round on my arm. It hurts when it first hits but then the pain goes away. I now just have some pink paint on my arm. I walk back to the base and see Noah getting close. I fire a couple of shots and one hits him so he turns around.
I start making my way back up the field before I'm pounded with paintballs.
"Ah! What the heck?!" I yell. Paintballs just keep coming at me.
"Aw, man! I'm out of ammo!" I hear Damien say. I finally see him.
"You did this?" I yell at him gesturing to my now paint-splattered body.
"Oh, uh, yeah. Hey Y/N." He scratches his neck. I head back to my base where Shayne is.
"Woah." He says staring at me, "You got blasted. Say hello to paintball sized bruises all over you." Shayne touches my collar bone where some paint is, "That had to hurt."
I cringe slightly as he touches where a paintball hit me, "It's fine." I shrug and we head back out to the field. A couple of minutes later the buzzer goes off and we take off some of our gear and put our guns away. I pull out my phone to use it as a mirror. I check out my collar bone and yep, that definitely looks like a hickey. I laugh a little and go to where everyone else has gathered.
The judges examine our bunkers and announce that ToxiciTea wins. We cheer and end the video. While everyone is taking off the rest of their gear I start wiping the paint off my arms. I'm relieved to see that they're not actually very bruised, just a bit red in places but that'll go away. We head back to our rooms to get cleaned up. After I wash the rest of the paint off me and change my clothes I get a text from Shayne.
Topp
Hey, do you wanna help me with something?
Me
Sure I guess, are you in your room?
Topp
Yes
Me
K, I'll be right there
-
I knock on Shayne's door and Damien opens it. I walk in and I immediately start laughing. Shayne is in the window and Damien flops down on his bed and starts laughing his head off. I walk over to the window and Shayne's legs are hanging out one end, with his upper half in the room.
"Yeah, yeah. It's funny. Oh look, Shayne's stuck in a window, how hilarious." Shayne says sarcastically.
"How- why?" I ask, still laughing.
"Damien wouldn't let me in the room. So I decided to climb through the window, ya know, since we're on the ground floor I figured it would be easy. Anyway, I got stuck and Damien refuses to help me." Shayne explains.
"Hey man, you got yourself into this!" Damien says.
"You wouldn't open the door- nevermind. Y/N can you please help me?" Shayne pouts.
"Yeah yeah, just one second." I pull out my phone and wave Damien over. we take a selfie with Shayne stuck in the window. "Okay, now I'll help you." I push the window up and Shayne climbs through. He hugs me quickly, "Thanks, you're a savior. Unlike Damien." Shayne says, letting go of me.
"Anytime." I laugh.
"Woah Y/N. Who did that to you?" Damien asks pointing to where the bruise is on my collar bone, he then looks at Shayne with his eyes wide.
Shayne holds his hands up, "I- I didn't."
"Actually Damien, I'm pretty sure it was you." I say.
"What? How-" Damien just looks at me.
"Oh my goodness Damien! It's not a hickey! People don't like me like that and that's just a fact." I laugh, "You hit me with a paintball. Actually, you hit me with multiple paintballs."
"Ohhhh. Okay, that makes sense." Damien says, relaxing his shoulders.
I laugh and leave the room. As the door closes I can hear Shayne and Damien talking, I know I shouldn't but I eavesdrop.
"Dude. You thought I gave Y/N a hickey?!" Shayne says.
"I mean, I wouldn't be surprised..." Damien replies.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh come on, we've talked about this. I know you have at least some feelings for Y/N. I'm your best friend, I pick up on this stuff. And I did tell you to put yourself out there so I figured, ya know, you put yourself out there."
"Okay well, I didn't. You shot her with a paintball." Shayne says matter of a factually. I step away from the door and go into my own room. Courtney is waiting for me.
"Were you just eavesdropping? Actually, I know you were, I saw you through the peephole." She says.
"You were spying on my eavesdropping? We're quite the pair." I laugh.
"Well? What did you hear?" Courtney asks.
"Um," I blush, "Shayne might have feelings for me. Emphasis on 'might'. Nothing was confirmed."
"I knew it!" Courtney jumps up, only to sit back down again.
"Even if Shayne does like me, which he probably doesn't, Damien is just jumping to conclusions, it wouldn't matter. We work together." I say.
"There's no rule about coworkers dating. I've asked." Courtney replies.
"Why did you ask? Do you have a crush on someone?" I ask.
"Oh, no! I asked because I wanted to know if Koah could actually be a thing! And it can be." She laughs and I laugh too.
"We should probably go get some supper, I'm starving." I say, gesturing to the door.
Courtney stands up and links her arm with mine, we walk to the dining hall like that.
After supper, I get another text from Shayne.
Topp
Hey again, do you wanna come to my room and watch a movie? I figured I'd better educate you on apocalyptic movies since you clearly didn't know any from Netflix and Chill.
Me
Sure lol, I'll bring a bag of gummy bears.
Topp
Awesome
-
Did Shayne really just invite me over to watch a movie? Is this like, a move? Maybe he does like me... I grab the bag of gummy bears that I stashed in my bag so Courtney wouldn't get into them.
I knock on Shayne's door and he opens it immediately.
"Hey!" He smiles.
"Hey yourself!" I smile back and hold up the bag of gummy bears. We sit on his bed and I rip open the gummy bears as he scrolls through Netflix.
"How about 'A Quiet Place'?" He asks.
"Oh gosh. Sure. This'll be interesting, I'm a huge scaredy-cat." I laugh and he clicks play. It doesn't take long for the gummy bears to be gone. We're sitting up against his headboard, about a hands length apart. I keep grabbing his hand and then letting go every time I get scared. Shayne eventually scoots closer to me. At one point I get so scared that I hide my face behind his shoulder and cling to him. He just chuckles and puts his arm around me, which immediately makes me a little less scared. At the climax of the movie, I'm gripping Shayne's arm so tight that I'm scared I might be hurting him.
"Sorry." I say when I let go.
"No need to apologize." Shayne laughs and grabs my hand, intertwining our fingers and stroking the back of my hand with his thumb. After a few minutes he puts his arm back around me and keeps it there for the remainder of the movie, I rest my head on his shoulder and put my hand on his chest.
Eventually, the movie ends, "Do you feel educated?" Shayne asks.
"I feel terrified." I laugh.
He pulls me even closer to him, which I didn't know was even possible, "Well, in that case, you should never watch a scary movie alone."
"Noted." I say, wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my head on his chest. He wraps his other arm around me and I can hear his heart beating, which makes me smile. We just lay there, in comfortable silence, me feeling safe in his arms like it's where I'm supposed to be.