Episode 1: The CrossBit Games Preparation

The first official day of filming on a Monday arrived along with an announcement.

"You'll be having a game night tonight as your mini challenge of the day!" Fern texted us in the morning.

I forgot about that part where we would have to do mini challenges. It was probably for the entertainment of the audience. I hadn't thought much about the prospect of thousands of people watching us on television until we went to the production studio to sign the contract that day.

Hollywood/Bradley was literally the VVVIP of show producers, everyone seemed to worship the ground he walked upon. And his company hosted one of the popular television programs across the city.

It started nerving me to think that I would be taking part of #RoomLife that could be seen by so many people. I wasn't worried that much about audiences going crazy over us, they'd probably get bored and turn to a different channel within minutes. Surely life between me and Michael was not that fun to watch?

Not wanting a repeat of shirtless Michelangelo, I tiptoed over to my door and peeked outside to see if Michael was there. The coast was clear, so I ran outside, almost slipping on the floor.

Maybe I shouldn't have cleaned the floors so well since now they shined and were squeaky clean, easy to trip and fall over. That was a weakness of mine, clumsiness. I blew a strand of hair away from my face just as the front gate opened.

Dashing back to my room, I closed the door, heart pounding in my ears. Unfortunately I stubbed my toe painfully and that made me shriek in pain.

"Marie?"

Michael called my name.

I walked out acting nonchalantly, as if nothing happened. Hobbling a little, I said, "yeah, what's up?"

Michael's eyebrows pointed inward and he said, "you okay?"

"Uh yeah, perfectly fine." I tossed a hand in the air.

"Did you see the text from Fern?" Michael slid his phone out of his pocket.

"Yeah I did. What kind of games do you think they want us to play?" I asked.

"Not sure, I'll ask if they need us to get anything. I'm going to be working on my paper for most of the day though," Michael grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, his Adam's apple bobbing as he drank from the bottle.

"Okay, I'll be job searching too but I can help out whenever." I said, my eyes tracing the line of his throat.

Ugh, stupid pervert self! I slapped myself mentally.

"I'm gonna take a shower, do you need the toilet?" Michael gestured to the bathroom.

Shaking my head I averted my gaze and I said, "nope, I'm good."

I needed to avoid thinking about Michael shirtless otherwise my body temperature might explode from heat.

Fern texted again with lots of emojis and italicized words.

"The CrossBit Games will have three mystery rounds and will be hosted by yours truly virtually. These are the items we need that may have to be bought for the three rounds.

Apple x2 🍎

Any pack of round cookies x2 🍪

M&Ms x1 packet 🍫

Black cloth 8 x 9 Inch fabric x2 ⚫️

A set of dice 🎲

Donut any flavor x2 🍩

Packet of chips x2

A cameraman will come and accompany 🙌🏻 you for your shopping trip, I will handle reimbursements. Make sure to wear sports shoes 👟 😉😉 🏬 🎥"

We both came out of our rooms, Michael scratching his head and me doing a mental roundup of items needed.

"I guess we're going shopping?" Michael said to me.

"Yay!" I was secretly jumping circles in glee because I wanted to go buy groceries since the week before but we'd been busy with promo stuff. Speaking of, the promotion aired tonight just before The CrossBit Games (after Fern).

"By the way do you want to watch the promo video together?" I asked Michael as we got ready to go buy the items.

"Yeah, sure!" Michael smiled and I about melted inside.

The cameraman who I dubbed Google because he really liked Fern appeared as we went outside. It was hard to focus when he filmed us from behind, but I tried my best to keep in step with Michael's long legs.

"You okay so far?" Michael nudged me softly.

"Oh me? Yeah I'm fine," I smiled, my lips curving upward as we walked to the nearby superstore.

"You? How's the paper going?" I asked.

"It's going alright," he said.

We didn't really keep fruit at home so it was weird going to the fruits section. There were some elderlies and some younger moms buying fruits and vegetables.

Michael moved towards the door and said, "I'll go get the cloth from the store next door! And I can grab the chocolate, chips and donuts too."

"Okay I'll get the cookies after paying for the apples," I said.

I chose Oreo's peanut butter flavor. As I rounded the corner, Michael came jogging towards me.

As Michael held out the black strips of fabric my mind went south, like way south.

Me in a blindfold laying on the bed with Michael above me, grabbing my hands and putting them over my head. Crawling over me, placing his hands on my thighs and leaning down to-

"Oh shit, brain is going to dirty land, stop!"

I thought.

"Marie?" Michael's voice shook me out of dirty land.

"Huh?" I realized I'd been standing there without a word as the camera pointed towards us, for a total of ten seconds.

"Oh, sorry I was thinking about what else I need for groceries," I made up some excuse.

I grabbed a random baguette as we walked to the cashier.

"Got it!" I said loudly.

—-

Late afternoon we sat on the couch, with all the required items laid on the coffee table. Michael flicked the remote on and the Ring channel came on, the channel where our show would air.

I gasped and covered my mouth as the first scene was us wrapped around each other falling to the ground.

"Oh my god they caught that? I thought they weren't filming during that photo shoot!" I exclaimed.

Michael was laughing, his eyes closed as he rocked back and forth.

I felt mortified. And even more so when the next segment came on and it was my interview part where they were asking me my opinion and first impression.

I covered my face as I heard my voice calling him an uptight nerd.

Michael was still smiling though for some reason when I dared to look at him.

Then I understood why because the next one was him telling the camera of the time when he got really angry at me just for being asleep.

"That girl sleeps like a rock, under a tunnel, under the earth's crust!" Michael was saying.

I looked at Michael then and smacked him lightly on the shoulder.

"Seriously? You had to reveal my sleeping habits to the world?" I said.

"Well you revealed my poor fashion choices." He teased me.

There was footage of me in the hallway running to my room and the memory flooded me with big embarrassment in the form of pink cheeks.

Michael was gazing at me and still laughing though so it was a good sign for the moment.

There was another scene with Michael in the kitchen too. He was singing some random tune but I heard my name in the song.

The screen narrated, "Season 1 of #RoomLife airing next week with Marie and Michael. Tune in and don't forget to vote for your favorite moments at www.ringtv.com! Win prizes, get excited!"

"Seriously there's voting going on?" I said.

Michael pulled the website up on his phone and I almost choked.

There were those incriminating clips being played on loop and a voting poll for favorite moments beside a big real-time chat box as the promo aired.

Comments were filtering in, with many people saying "#COUPLEGOALS!"

"We need a ship name for them!"

"Hahhahaa so funny. They're cute together."

"Not as cute as the cat though."

I looked at Fluffs who was so unbothered by the world.

Michael looked up at me at the same time that I looked at him. He seemed to want to say something but then our doorbell rang.

Our phones buzzed with notifications in the group chat with Fern.

It was time for the CrossBit Games.