Bend Into A Break (4)
Summary: Not one, but two vlog-squads came with the death of Vine. And the rumored beef between you two is absolutely true! So, you and David (begrudgingly) set up a month long-retreat among your groups to film team challenges and go against each other. Y’know. For views. Pairing: David Dobrik x Readers, Enemies to Lovers, living together. Warnings: Profanity, mentions of drinking. A/n: A bit of a filler chapter for a transition. Next part though... :)
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The drinks got the better of them so you and David stand alone in front of the Houdini Mansion waiting for the bus to catch back to the route after God knows how many pitstops it took for extended bathroom breaks.
It’s cold this high up. With that and the strange-car ride you had with David, you’re anxious to get inside.
Suddenly you realize this is all very real, happening in real time and no longer just an idea.
You’re proud to say so but worried at the same time.
David has to work the doorknob, pushing with all his weight (a little too much) to get the door open. You step in after him, hugging yourself (slyly) and keeping behind him as you step into the entrance room. Just as advertised. Beautiful, dusted, slick, pristine, but dark indeed.
“Geez.” He chuckles, setting down his suitcase. “You really outdid yourself Y/n.”
You take a breath. “Tell me about it.”
“This place is insane.” He picks up a flower pot placed on a thin side-table by the door and under a thin window. You catch him sniff it and his eyes go wide (for whatever reason) before he sets it down immediately and hurries into the next room — the kitchen.
He lets out that high-pitched, giddy little laugh of his and you jump but choose to ignore it for his own good. He’s messing with things on the counter and you head up the stairs, gripping the railing and letting your palm slide along the shining wood as you test the creakiness of the steps.
They’re all good, fortunately.
But at the top of the stairs is one continuous hallway going in both directions, left and right. A good handful of the rooms promised are in this one hallway, with a bathroom at the end of each hall. Every light in the place gives its room a warm yellow tint and its actually quite flattering, especially with the heaps of glass decorations you’re sure will be added to fees in damages. And each bedroom has two twin beds, and two of each other accommodation.
You look over all the little knick-knacks.
Maybe the bus getting here a little late is working out better than you thought.
You jog downstairs to see David having trouble with the curtain by the front door. And you hold your fingers to the bridge of your nose as you try to gain your composure — why on Earth did he decide to mess with the thing in the first place? He yelps as the pole falls from its confines…
He senses your presence and turns slowly, a crooked smile on his face.
You take a deep breath, waving him off. “David, get the bags.”
“Got it.” He hurries with his head down.
You pick up the pole and stand on your tiptoes to raise it back where it can be hooked in place. David comes in, his backpack over one shoulder, your backpack over the other, and both suitcases in hand. “Uh, where should I—?”
“Just leave them there.” You finish with putting them in place and do what you can only hope he intended to do with the curtains, pulling them back and tying them away from the window. “And then uh,” you swipe your hands down your chest, brushing off any dust, “follow me.”
He drops everything though is a little late to follow as he works on keeping the bags upright. He skips after you, watching you observe the downstairs hallway just past the double-set of staircases.
Quite claustrophobic indeed.
You open some doors, first finding an office area, another bathroom, a closet, a door leading to a basement which you promptly close and yelp at, then you find a master bedroom with a door attached directly to the aforementioned bathroom. And that isn’t even all of it.
David hums, impressed.
“Okay,” you clap, “we’ve got two master bedrooms. One down here, one up there, and…” you backtrack, going down the opposite side of the hallway, “four regulars down here, four regulars upstairs. So, pick one — up or down.”
Even without a specified time limit, David’s jittery with the pressure. “Uh, ah-ah UH, DOWN?!”
You pat him on the back before passing. “Okay, you get that room.” You point to the master room at the end of the hall. “I’ll take the other master, and the others can room together.”
“What about Scott, Natalie? Amanda, Toddy?”
“What about them?”
He holds still, his only hint being a slight raise of his brows.
You roll your eyes. “Well, they’re adults? They can do whatever the hell they want.” But then you stop to think about their partners and the hatred on top of the potential discomfort with sharing a room with someone of the opposite whatever. “Uh, fine.” You pinch your nose. “Scott and Todd can share a room, Amanda and Natalie can share a room. Which kinda works in one way I guess — anyway, uh, can you check the pool and see if it needs to be filled up?”
And yes, it does.
You see for yourself when looking out the window. David’s jog slows as he approaches and he turns, finds you in the window, and throws his arms to his sides as he shrugs. The only thing in it is leaves, thankfully, and you suppose not too much dust that’ll flake off when filling it up.
He hops in and plucks them out, and that’s when you stop looking, afraid of what stupidity he may subject himself to in an empty pool.
You suppose that could be the subject of a vlog or something.
But still, you pout realizing just one more thing to do. On top of the empty pool there’s no food (as expected) so surely you’ll be arguing among 18 others on what to order, this is likely the last moment of bliss you’ll have before they start pouring in, and you have no idea how this room situation is going to blow up in your face. What scares you the most is how vicious everybody might be over dibs and who gets to use the bathroom first…
And on top of all that, the glass sculptures irk you dearly. You go around collecting them, cradling them in your arms, and transporting them to where you’ll be staying. You store them in the closest provided alongside some extra blankets and pillows.
Frankly, you doubt the owner would care if you broke them (they’re only getting twenty-two thousand from you alone with this little trip) but you really don’t want to add anything on that from plain-old negligence. You don’t worry about ‘improper’ placement of the knick-knacks because only a person who buys with intent to consistently rent a place like this lives outside of it.
While you’re at it you rearrange and hide other decorations too, brittle or not. Despite the size of the mansion, it’s still too cozy for 18 people to sit in comfortably. At least in the case of everybody in one room at once. While knowing it won’t be like that all the time, you know it will be at one point or another
You slip off your jacket and set it on a chair in the living room, the heat of running around getting to you.
And to also help with the heat you step outside into the chill and catch David chewing gum with a limp hose in one hand and his phone in the other.
“What are you doing?” You ask, keeping your distance.
He nods at you, then the pool. “Filling it up. Says it’ll take like, a day, so.”
You bite your tongue but just say it. “Y’know, I was thinking we could leave it empty? For now at least?”
With as volatile as the overall group is, he doesn’t think it wise to leave a concrete pool empty and free to fall into. Quite a morbid thought but a genuine one.
You cross your arms. “For like, extra vlog footage. We could do a balloon-fight test run…? Or I dunno, turn the hose on everybody? Isn’t that like the shenanigans you put in yours?”
He looks at the pool, “Uh, yeah,” and kicks some dirt into the pool.
“And before you think it, I’m not letting you put dry ice in the pool.”
“Dammit,” he hisses.
You roll your eyes though not out of malice. “Look, I’m trying not to get anybody seriously hurt here. I’m sure you have enough of that to fulfill your followers’ needs, so.” You shrug.
Another talking point about this project was the month of July being somewhat of a true vacation. To get everything as crisp and pristine as can be, to give your mercy time to brew, and to not waste any pre-existing footage, you’ll both be keeping your mouths shut about this for the time being, editing ‘regular’ vlogs for June alongside this project’s vlogs for July. You’ll actually get some time to exist without pointing a camera at everything after this.
“If you need some dry ice and if that’s really what you had in this month’s roster, then you can put it in any pool that isn’t the one we’re separately,” you emphasize, “paying twenty-thousand to use this month.”
He hates how right you are.
The others did get evicted that one time.
“Save all your crazy content for your usual stream, alright?” ‘Crazy’ isn’t quite objective and you know that but you don’t correct yourself. Instead, you leave, hoping he won’t grasp onto that.
David grunts, stomping at the ground and flailing the hose around a bit before tossing it down in the pool and heading inside.
“What, am I just not supposed to get any ‘crazy’ content from this, then?”
“No, you can.” You sit on the chair with your jacket over it. “Just nothing that gets us paying fucking 5k extra in damages! Actually, you know what? You can do whatever you want with the pool and anything else in this house but if it gets added, I’m not paying.”
“Fine! Deal.”
You roll your eyes. “Geez David. It’s just some stupid dry ice. Can you try and respect where you are for once?” Your voice is sincere, far from condescending. But still, David jumps, offended. You lean on the armrest and hold your head up with your hand, closing your eyes as you try to deal with your own irritation. The stress of knowing damn well you won’t be able to bring yourself to let him pay for whatever damages by himself is just adding onto the incoming doom that is your drunk friends. And thinking back on the car ride (which began quite scandalously before ending productively with a slew of new challenge ideas), you don’t like David’s silence.
You don’t want to sour the day completely, so you continue, “Just, whatever ‘crazy’ students you have in mind, can you tone them down?” You look at him, pleading. “Please? You don’t need to throw Zane out a fucking stained glass window for your audience to be entertained. I don’t want anybody getting hurt here.”
HIs fingers go to lips, a small, very sarcastic gasp escaping as he thinks ‘Man that would have been cool.’
But he laughs at himself, which shocks you. The sarcasm in his gasp wasn’t exactly clear.
He shrugs, “I mean, sure,” and plops down on the couch across from you. You squint, looking him up and down and waiting for a sign that what he’s agreed to isn’t true. But he’s focused on the couch, bouncing on it and pressing his palms in to question the cushions. His lips go tight, impressed, and you take a strained breath before hopping up.
He watches you leave and gets up after.
His hands slip into his back pockets. “Hey, do you think we should go back to some of the ideas we had?”
You’re already kneeling by your backpack in the entrance room with the same idea but say “Yeah, sure,” and promptly pull out your laptop. He stands in the doorway like a goof (focus a bit wonky) and he recalls himself as such after you awkwardly squeeze past him. He thinks to collect his own things but sees no use. He sits on the couch again, this time leaning forward to try and peak at your screen, his elbows on his knees.
You get up and sit by him to avoid straining his neck so early into this thing.
“Number one—“ you start, he holds up a finger, “—lip syncing contest.” You type into a word document as you speak. “Number two—“ another finger goes up, “—either a scavenger hunt or a treasure hunt. Number three is a cooking challenge right around the time Heath goes crazy. Four is Assassin, five is…?” You’re stuck.
“That like — us pretending to be stranded on an island, right?”
You chuckle. “Yup.” Quite the strange idea indeed but you can see it working. “We’ve got a murder mystery, going to an escape room for another, the quiet game—“ David hisses, knowing without a doubt his team will lose that one. But he still lives to see everybody’s reaction upon realizing they’re out of the game. “We’re gonna see who can stay up the latest so I guess the…24 hour challenge?”
“Yeah yeah.”
“Then there’s Youtube challenge day…” You shiver at the thought. Being subjected to some of the most infamous challenges in youtube history all in one day…the only thing keeping you up for it is the exclusion of things like the cinnamon challenge. Again — you’re not aiming to get anybody killed.
“Uh,” David pinches his nose then snaps at your screen, “That one we talked about.” You blink. “The horror movie one.”
You look out the window. There is indeed a forest surrounding the house — specifically the pool. The group didn’t even let you explain how the place isn’t haunted. The challenge you had in mind (and David thankfully added to) was to try and get each other to think it was haunted. To ‘tag out’ anybody who went to lengths to ease their fears. But with everybody thinking it’s haunted with Zane’s outburst, David suggested you tell campfire stories, set up some rules, and whoever needs to comfort themselves when they find themselves scared is out of the game. A bit of the same but the alternative would be to stay in the house which could have been enough of a threat on its own.
“Yup, yup.” You squint, typing it in. “Got it. Okay, and there’s also the Newly Wed game thingie, right?”
“Mhm. Make sure to have Scott and Natalie as hosts cause like—“
“Got it.” Can’t have those two knowing too much about each other when the rest of you are against your destined enemy.
“Okay, what else?” David asks as he comes to sit on his knees. But at that moment he looks over the back of the couch and through the window, hearing the low rumble of an oncoming vehicle. You look at each other for a moment before David jumps up and hurries outside.
You close your laptop and tuck it under your arm, then take your bags upstairs to your room. You put David’s too so nobody’s drunk ass trips over them.
You get to the middle of the stairs but stop when you see David welcoming people in, thankfully assisted by more than you both expected. Cody, for one, gives David a flat-lipped smile as he assists him and Chloe in helping Carly into the house. Erin’s behind them. She’s not exactly stumbling but rather lip-syncing to a song playing in her head that you can only assume she played on repeat during the drive.
You wince, realizing the repercussions of a bunch of hungover people who also happen to hate each other in the same house. But you’ll deal with that when the time comes.
You pinch your nose seeing the chaos steadily rise, and David is close to doing the same. He decides to stop helping (they’ve got it on their own) and watch people come in instead.
Once Carly is dealt with (sat down in the living room), Chloe comes to Emily’s side. Their bags are at their side and they have impressed grins as they look around the room.
“Nice.” Emily looks up at you, hair whipping over her shoulder. “Sure you want to get puke on all this mahogany?” You roll your eyes. Always been a bit snippy with you, huh? She forces a smile as she and Chloe stomp up the stairs opposite you.
David nudges you with his elbow. You squint at him, then he nods up the stairs where the two are headed with their bags.
You groan and run after them, skidding in the hallway and creating a squeeeaaaak with the soles of your shoes in an effort to approach them. You’re successful and get between them without retaliation. You grab their shoulders and mutter, “Let’s just wait to get set up, shall we?”
They’re curious and irritated but don’t do anything about it.
They follow David into the living room. He looks at you past their shoulders, and you give him a reassuring smile. He returns it, but neither of your efforts makes it seem like you think it’s going to be okay. You run out and help the bus driver take everybody’s luggage from the bus. You tip him again and give that familiar, solemn look. One that says ‘I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through.’ And he nods as though to say ‘Don’t worry about me.’
He steps back onto the bus to do a sweet-through, makes sure nobody left anything.
In your solitude, you put our palm to the bus and lean against it. You close your eyes and put the back of your hand to your forehead, thinking this all over.
“Good door,” Cody says, breaking your silence. He’s suddenly in front of you and pulling at the handle of his suitcase. “I mean it. IT was disgusting being on a bus with a bunch of drunks but better than it would have been if we were in our right minds.” Despite the sentiment, it’s hard to tell when Cody’s serious or sarcastic.
“But,” he presses his lips tight, looking at the ground before squinting at. you, trying to ignore the wind in his eyes, “never do this again.”
You deflate. “Wasn’t planning on it.”
He pats your shoulder and heads inside. He grimaces at his surroundings.
You give the area as thorough a look as you can from your single spot. You suppose this is the closest you could get to a cabin in the woods type get-up around here. There’s a good amount of tees (not too dense to get lost in but not too spread apart to see creepy things in the distance) and a pretty significant path from here to the next wherever. You turn in a circle to survey everything. And you scratch the back of your head, staying in this position as the wind blows. Some strands of hair flow around.
You drop your hands; figure its best to head inside now, lest leaving David too overwhelmed.
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@wefracturedmotivation @blackhood5sos @i-heart-movies @sinfulmango @edalalalalalala @mostlydobrik @latelycrazy @zavidzobrik @thetrickster67