“Pour me a drink, partner,” Grant said, smacking the bar and grinning at Rachel.
She gave him a sour expression in return. “Make it yourself, loser.”
“Is that any way to talk to your partner?” Grant clutched his heart. “When Trace and I lost she wasn’t this hostile.”
Arnie walked around the bar to stand next to Rachel. “I’ll make you a drink. What do you want?”
Grant relayed his drink order as Eli shuffled in next to me. I barely had a chance to register his presence before Sofia squeezed in between us, almost knocking me off the barstool.
“You know, I don’t think Rachel and I are compatible,” Grant continued, swirling the drink Arnie had just handed him. “Maybe Trace and I can give it another go.”
“Too bad you came in last and have no choice,” Danny said, glaring at him.
“Well, clearly I wasn’t on my best game today,” Trace joked. “You practically had to drag me through that first cage.”
“Athleticism might not be your strong suit,” Danny said, looking down at her as if she had cast some sort of spell over him.
“I’m more of a day-at-the-spa girl,” she responded. They shot flirty looks at each other like they had forgotten the rest of us were even in the room.
Yeah. That wasdefinitelygoing somewhere.
It wasn’t so much that the sweet, sunshiny princess had captured the interest of the burly, intense bear that surprised me. It was just more of a shock to me that anyone could find something real under these circumstances.
“But hey, congrats to Arnie and Calla for pulling out the win,” Danny raised his glass to us. “You two really turned it around from the last challenge. Although I almost thought Eli had you at the end.”
“Hey, I was there too,” Sofia added defensively. I could feel her glaring down at me but I just kept staring straight across the bar at Danny, clinking my glass against his and Arnie’s.
“I guess I’m more competitive than I realized,” I said.
Eli snorted. “Is that it?”
I chose to ignore his subtle dig.
“And Rachel,” Danny continued. “Seems you went from first to last. I won’t say it was all because of me, but...”
Rachel scoffed. “It most definitelywas not.” She pointed at Grant. “It had a lot more to do with his incompetence than any sort of superiority on your part.”
Grant feigned offense and held up his hands to his chest. “Ouch, Rach. I thought we had something special.”
Everyone laughed and I managed to force out a chuckle in an effort to stay present. While I never shined in a group setting, it was usually easy for me to fade into the background and give as little of myself as possible.
“If these challenges keep being as physical as they are, I’m screwed,” Trace groaned.
“I think Eli and I are just getting better,” Sofia said smugly. “Just wait. Tomorrow is when we’ll finally take home the win.”
Eli’s eyes narrowed, as if he were calculating something.
“Well, I apologize to my future partner,” Trace continued. “Unless there’s a singing portion to this competition, we’re pretty much screwed.”
Danny leaned across the bar to get closer to her. “Sing something for us.”
Trace gestured to Rachel. “I’ll sing if she dances.”
“I’m not performing for these guys,” Rachel said, scrunching up her nose.
“I’d like to see you dance,” Arnie admitted softly.
Rachel’s face brightened. “Okay, maybe I’d perform for Arnie, but that’s it.”
