Day 5! Only one more day! I also know what you are thinking. You are thinking, “Wow, Ang! The red “X” you put through the eliminated girls is very eye catching and you must have a degree in art to be able to pull something that complicated off! Has the Louvre contacted you yet?”

The answer to your questions would be a regretful 'no'. I studied English & Communications in college, and the Louvre has never even heard of Zane--or me for that matter. Shocking, I know.

But there is another question: Will Zane ever realize what his dream all means? More importantly, will Tina win this challenge?

Not even I am 100% sure of the answer for that...***

Zane wasn't sure why his mind insisted on going through with the hot tub dates, especially since the entire concept had proven to be rather uncomfortable time and again. He was far too weary however to try and adjust what was taking place so he rode with it for the time being.

Tina was the last to enter the hot tub, despite the fact that she had skipped the last elimination round, so she had more time to get ready.

He peered intently at her, willing her to look in his direction and at the same time he was wondering why his headache seemed to pound harder whenever he thought too much about her. When she wasn't paying direct attention to him, he could sense the bad vibes, the “something's wrong” feeling rolling off of her in waves.

He wrinkled his brow and tried to work past the screaming headache. Unfortunately, Tina noticed his scrutiny.

“What?” She hissed at him. “What are you looking at, hm? Why do you keep staring at me?”

Flustered, Zane looked away, all of the doubting thoughts fell away as he did so. “Nothing! I'm sorry, I just...” he didn't know how to finish.

“Knock it off! Quit trying to 'figure things out' okay? I'm getting tired of waiting for you to make your stupid decision!”

Cassandra got a very thoughtful look on her face as she heard what Tina was saying. “So, are you telling Zane that if he decides to wait any longer that you are going to go away and leave him alone? How very interesting.”

She gave a small smile and said, without looking at Zane, “So Zane, did you hear about what Tina wanted to do with you? Far be it for me to go into great detail, but I know that it involved handcuffs and I know how you feel about graphic descriptions but--”

“NO!” Zane interrupted, blushing. “Do not go any further!”

“But Zane, I was only letting you know what Tina was saying. Perhaps it will make you take a little bit longer in your decision making. Of course, as Tina implied, if she has to wait any longer she will go away and leave you alone. So, as I was saying about the handcuffs, and I apologize in advance, as it's rather graphic but--”

In an instant, everyone was in their clothes once again. His ire raised, though he was still blushing, Zane continued as if Cassandra hadn't interrupted. “I am not some sort of deviant. I know this is all in my head, but believe me, I do not want an errant thoughts about...about that!”

“I want love, yes. But that kind of love is not what I want to talk about.”

“If you wish to continue talking about how much you apparently love me, whether it's true or not, then please do so. But I am begging you to please refrain from any more graphic innuendos. Please! It's...proving to be rather embarrassing for me. If any of you care about me,” he looked pointedly at Tina who just glowered back at him, “then you will respect my wishes and keep the conversation clean.”

“And as for you, Cassandra,” he said with a small laugh, “just...”

“Just what?”

He splashed a little bit of water at her. “Nothing.” He replied. He was grateful to realize that his headache had subsided somewhat. Apparently the trouble Cassandra tried to cause had turned his attention elsewhere, so he was grateful towards her.

There was some silence after Zane had finished his small rant. Tina continued to glare while the other three listened to the hut tub hum. After a few moments, Samantha broke the silence.

“So, how about that local sports team?” She asked in a joking manner. Cassandra and Zane laughed a little and they began a bit of stilted small talk which revealed that none of them knew much about sports.

Just as he was beginning to feel slightly better, Zane looked over at Tina and gave her a tentative smile. He was startled to see the mean look she gave back at him. “Don't let them fool you,” she whispered. “Do you know how much they hate you and would like to see you dead?”

The very small good feeling Zane had was washed away in a wave of coldness. He felt his eyes widen and he opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out.

Tina just smirked and looked away from him.

***

Tina continued to not put forth any effort and began to blatantly prove to Zane that she didn't really care about what he thought.

“Is that really necessary? It's very rude, especially when I'm trying to carry on a nice conversation!” Zane said, irritated at Tina's rude noises.

“Zane, I honestly doubt that you're going to eliminate me over a small burp. What kind of understanding, caring and nice person would do such a thing, hm? Unless, of course, you are a total fraud and your uppity attitude about how everyone should be nice is all fake.”

“I..I'm not like that! I'm not uppity and while it would be nice if everyone treated each other in a humane way, I don't hold it against them if they aren't!”

“Wow, she's really riding the line there, isn't she?” Samantha said softly to Cassandra.

“Well, on the plus side, he's kinda fighting back. Maybe she won't win this after all. At this point, I don't care who wins, as long as it isn't her!”

Samantha shrugged lightly. “We're just going to have to wait and see, won't we? There's still the private time tonight where she'll have the opportunity to overwhelm him again.”

“Why can't you just tell him now?”

“Because...he's not ready, not yet. Almost though. Almost.”

Tina was the first date for the night. She entered the room and looked down in a rather chagrined manner. “Zane,” she began, “I'm really sorry for my attitude today. It's just that I'm getting so lonely and I'm worried that you aren't going to choose me, so I'm trying to show off in front of the other girls. I know that it's stupid and immature, but I just can't wait for this to be over with so I can be with you.”

Zane blinked in surprise. It was the first time that Tina had ever shown herself in such a vulnerable manner since his dream began. In an instant, all of the apprehension he had been feeling about Tina melted away.

Gently, he gathered her into his arms and looked into her eyes. For a moment, he noticed a brief look of triumph, but it was replaced with...nothing. Though she smiled, her eyes remained expressionless. Before he could think about it any further, she spoke in a soft, hypnotizing voice.

“Do you love me?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to kiss me?”

“God, yes.”

“Good,” she said as she tilted her head slightly and drew him in for his kiss that he so desperately wanted.

For Zane, a number of emotions whirled around in his head as his arms tightened around her. Love, lust, happiness...fear, dread, sorrow, and nausea. All were clamoring for his attention. He wanted this kiss, he needed this kiss, but it was wrong. And so right. And so confusing.

And then...it was just a simple kiss.

He was left dazed when Tina ran her thumb over his lips to wipe away the lip gloss she had left behind, and she walked out of the room without a word.

When she left, he laid down on the couch to contemplate everything. By all rights, he should have felt elated, but he was becoming more aware that his feelings for Tina, at least this Tina, were wrong and he couldn't place his finger on why.

It also didn't help that his head was pounding and screaming with a more powerful ache than he had ever felt before.

Feeling dizzy and sick, he closed his eyes for a moment, hoping that the pain would subside before Samantha entered, talking in her riddles and adding to his confusion.

It took a little bit longer than usual for Samantha to come in next. “Zane, I'm sorry. I have been debating about when it's a good time to tell you what you needed to hear. I have come to the conclusion that while you might not be completely ready, it might still be good...”

She trailed off and looked at him with a sigh. Shaking her head sadly, she walked out of the room, making sure that she turned off the lights.

Cassandra didn't believe Samantha, so she walked into the room to see for herself. It turned out that she had been told the truth.

Zane, who had meant to only close his eyes for a moment, had fallen asleep.

Cassandra stared at him for a moment, debating on whether or not she should wake him, but she decided against it. She had a sneaking suspicion that no matter what Zane was told, he was going to pick Tina anyway. So, what was the point?

Shrugging to herself, she also left the room.

After about an hour or so, Zane woke up. His mind foggy, he made his way to the bedroom and prepared himself for bed. As he was about to crawl under the covers, the realization hit him that he had slept through what was supposed to be his “dates” with Samantha and Cassandra.

“Oh, no,” he muttered, completely dismayed. He debated on going upstairs to where he could hear the women or if he should just continue to go to bed and ignore them. After all, he was reasonably sure that they were still upset with him—maybe even more upset because he had essentially stood them up.

He stood there, shifting from one foot to the other, weighing his options before he made his decision.

He went upstairs and sat down at the “Don't Wake the Llama” table with the other girls, still inwardly debating as to whether it was the right decision. Steeling himself, he spoke.

“I'm really sorry for falling asleep. There is no excuse for my actions and I hope you can forgive me.”

“Zane, did it ever occur to you that maybe we don't want you to be here?” Cassandra asked this more in a tone of curiosity than out of anger.

“Yes, perhaps we might be upset with you and would rather that you go back downstairs and go to bed. Obviously you must be tired seeing as you couldn't stay awake long enough for our private time with you, yet you managed to stay awake long enough for Tina,” Carter followed up in a semi-irritated tone.

Tina, for her part, just gave him a long, calculating stare without saying a word to him.

In a brief moment of clarity, he realized that he was being tested. Bracing himself and crossing his arms again, he looked boldly at them.

“Tough,” he stated. “I realized that I might not be welcome before I even came up here, but I wanted to make sure that I spent some time with you guys. I will admit, it was tempting to just go back to sleep, but I have the feeling that this is something that I need to do. So, are you going to glare at me or are you going to reset the pegs for the game? Because I'm not going anywhere.”

Cassandra and Samantha just shrugged and reset the board.

They stayed up playing the game for the rest of the night.

***

As the sun rose, everyone left the table and prepared themselves for the day. Zane had really hoped that he had mended a lot of the hurt feelings, but it became apparent that while the girls were fairly amiable when they were playing the game, in their private one on one time with him, they were still rather unreceptive.

He also had the feeling that they would be rather unappreciative of any sort of flirting advances, so he just lamely patted their shoulder. And even then, he could tell that they weren't all that thrilled with that little bit of contact with him.

In fact, Tina was the only one who at least smiled when he flirted with her. He tried to ignore the whirling emotions that he felt again as he caressed her cheek and just concentrated on how soft it felt and how much he wished, once again, that he was touching Tina in such familiar manner in the waking world.

“Things might not be as bad as we had feared,” Samantha said softly.

Cassandra shrugged. “Maybe. But she's not going to be eliminated today.”

“Who do you think will be?”

“Who do you think? Don't worry. I'll make sure that I call the elimination, not him. It's up to you to tell him the real truth, though.”

Samantha nodded grimly. “I just hope he's strong enough to hear it.”

“So do I, actually. So do I.”

“It's so nice of you to join us,” Samantha said to Tina sarcastically when it came time for the elimination. Tina smirked slightly.

“I'm just making sure that he actually eliminates one of you guys. I'm not really liking the fact that he went out of his way to--”

“To control his own actions? To act outside of your influence? Trust me Tina, I wouldn't be so positive that you're going to win. The fact that he didn't just go to bed proves that he does have a bit of a backbone. I know you really don't like it as you can't operate fully with him thinking for himself, and I couldn't be more glad.”

“Samantha forgot to add that you're a bitch, so I thought I would just throw that in there,” Cassandra chimed in.

Before Tina could retort, Zane entered the room and the three women fell silent. The tension in the air was thick as he sat down on the floor and looked at them.

“I'm really sorry,” he apologized for what he felt was the umpteenth time. “I really don't where to start and--”

“Oh just get it over with and eliminate me already. Didn't I say already that I knew you were going to keep me close but reject me in the end? To be honest, I really thought I was going to leave right after Lilith. Either way, it doesn't matter. It's my turn to leave.”

“But...but I--”

“Yeah, you were, don't deny it.”

Cassandra got up and walked over to the computer.

Standing close behind her, Tina whispered to Cassandra, low enough so Zane couldn't hear. “Your plan won't work you know. He's under my control, or at least he will be after tonight's date. Trust me on that.”

Cassandra smiled sweetly. “I really wish Zane knew a stronger word than 'bitch', because then I would totally call you it right now. On the other hand, I'm rather surprised that he even knows that strong of an insult. I hope to all that is good and holy that you are killed dead before this competition is over. I really mean that.”

“Pfft. Somehow, I really doubt that. After all, I look just like the girl he loves. I made sure of it.”

Muttering to herself, Cassandra walked out the door.

Cassandra made it all of the way to the end of the driveway before she stopped. She stood there a moment, getting angry. “Just DO IT!” She shouted. “GET IT OVER WITH BEFORE I SHOUT OUT TO EVERYONE WHO IS REALLY BEHIND--”

Before she could finish her shouting and reveal what it was she wanted to shout about, a bolt of lightning struck her and she was winked out of existence.

***

“You have got to be kidding me,” Daniel said in an unbelieving voice.

“Nananananana Nanananananana BATBOX!”

And here are the final scores for Day 5:

Tina: 100/100=200 Both LoveCarter: 77/45 = 122 (Carter feels -49/-59) Both are furious with each other.Cassandra: 86/24 = 120 (Cassandra feels -18/-48) Both are furious with each other.

Clearly if I were going off of the girls' scores, Sam would have left today. I can't help but feel that this is a very good thing because Zane really needs to hear what Samantha has to tell him :)

But, will he listen? Only one day left! Thanks for reading and see you soon!