The Contestant#28
Wait, before you dive into this story, have you read ‘The Stretch‘?
Corey awoke from their sleep around four in the morning. Since high school, they’d always awaken in the middle of the night, dying of thirst, at four on the dot. It didn’t matter how much water they consumed before bed; if they went to sleep any time before three thirty am, then right at four, Corey would be wide awake, looking to quench their thirst.
And so, swinging their legs off the bed, Corey swiped their sweatpants from the floor, slipped into their crocs, and headed out the door.
Now that they were in an actual house, Corey had to be more careful about the ways in which they moved about the house at night. In the mansion, once they left the room, Corey could exhale and walk normally, but in this house, one wrong step could cause the creaky floorboard to wake up the whole house.
Too lazy to turn on the light, Corey slid their fingertips along the wall as they headed for the staircase. After finding the banister, Corey made their way down the staircase. Thanks to the moonlight shining in from the small window above the front door, Corey was able to see better, allowing them to take on the staircase with a bit more confidence.
As they approached the bottom of the staircase, Corey heard a door creek open.
“Gotdamn it! I thought I told Andrew to fix this fucking door.” Corey heard a deep voice grumble.
A soft light flicked on, causing Corey to freeze.
While Corey had been aware of the bedroom in the furnished basement, they didn’t know that anyone was actually staying down there.
Hopefully they hadn’t woke up whomever was down there.
Corey stepped off the last step as the door opened.
Thanks to how dark it was, Corey could only make out the outline of the person.
The tall figure emerged from the door and a second later the sound of a hand rubbing against the drywall filled the air. Clearly, they were looking for the light switch; so, turning around, Corey flicked the light switch that sat on the backwall.
“Oh shit!” Tyson, Adriana’s father, shouted as he whipped around and looked over at Corey.
Hunched over, Tyson looked back at Corey like a dear in headlights.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Corey said sheepishly.
“Oh no, your fine, I just didn’t expect anyone to be up this late.” Tyson said as he stood up straight.
“Just need to get some water.” Corey said, pointing to the kitchen.
Tyson nodded before a smile spilled across his face.
“You know what goes great with water?” He asked.
“What?” Corey asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Ice cream.” Tyson said with a smile.
Despite being born and raised in New York City, where driving is the worse way of getting around, Corey always loved riding in the car; especially at night. There was just something about the empty streets that always gave Corey a sense of peace. Of course, living in The City That Never Sleeps, empty roads were hard to come by, regardless of what time of day it was; but every now and again, Corey and Alex would head upstate and go camping, and that’s when Corey really loved riding in the car.
Tyson pulled up to 7-Eleven and killed the engine. Swinging their doors open, Corey and Tyson let out a simultaneous sigh as a cool breeze rolled over them.
“How could anyone sleep when the sky looks this pretty?” Corey asked, cocking their head all the way back.
The sky looked like a navy-blue blanket with thousands of little, tiny holes poked through it.
“Should we ride around for a little after this?” Tyson asked, looking over at Corey.
Corey reluctantly pulled their gaze away from the sky and focused it on him.
“Is that allowed.” Corey asked, cocking an eyebrow up at him.
“Oh what, so now all of a sudden you’re concerned with the rules?” Tyson said with a laugh.
Corey paused and thought about it for a moment; he was right, they’d already snuck out of the house.
“Alright.” Corey said shrugging.
Tyson and Corey sat on a large beach towel, watching as the waves crashed into the sand.
“I don’t think I ever wanna leave this beach.” Corey said.
Tyson laughed as he dug his spoon back into his chocolate mint ice cream.
“Is this your way of telling me you’re forfeiting?” Tyson asked.
Corey shook their head as they swallowed their mouth full of melted ice cream.
“No, she can come and deliver the final rose to me here.” Corey said pointing down at the sand.
Tyson threw his head back and let out a laugh.
“Wow, so cocky, just like your grandfather!” Tyson said.
“It’s not being cocky if you’re right.” Corey said, pointing their spoon at him.
Tyson shook his head and opened his mouth to say something when his phone began to ring.
“Uh-oh.” He said, looking down at the device.
“Looks like we’ve been caught.” He said, sucking air in through his teeth.
“Don’t say anything.” He said, causing Corey to nod.
“Hi Bambina.” Tyson said with a sheepish tone.
“Somebody’s in trouble.” Corey said in a low voice.
“What? How do you- I mean well yes, I am at the beach, but only because Corey forced me to.” Tyson said, causing Corey to shake their head.
“Okay, okay. We’re coming right now.” Tyson said.
“Alright, bye.” He said.
“I forced you to come to the beach Tyson? Really?” Corey shouted, throwing their hands in the air.
“Oh you’ll be fine. You’re not the one who has to sleep next to my wife.” Tyson said.
“Yeah, but I still have to answer to your daughter!” Corey said.
Tyson shook his head.
“Nah, you’ll be fine! Katy won’t say anything.” Tyson said.
“What if she already knows?” Corey shot back.
Tyson paused for a moment.
“Ahh, I didn’t think about that.” He said, earning a huff from Corey.
“I bet you didn’t.” Corey said.
“Well, as the French say bonne chance my friend.” Tyson said, patting Corey’s leg.
“Unbelievable.” Corey said, shaking their head.
Hopping up from their place in the sand, Corey followed Tyson to the parking lot, where the pair hopped into the car and made their way back to the house.
Thanks for reading-C
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