Day 16: R&R

Today is a peaceful morning at the manor. People are having breakfast, and they'll need it to have the energy to keep up with Mr. Live Wire here.

"Pretty quiet here right now," Landon comments.

"I think Linda and Pri are still asleep or getting ready," Ariella says.

"So, are you ready for that date, Ms. Kate Tate?"

"Hold on, I'm just finishing my cereal."

"You choose cereal over me? I'm wounded."

"Here's a tissue for you to cry it over."

Ariella just chuckles to herself in the background.

"Welp, here we are," Landon declares. "I figured we should do something more light and relaxing after our previous date."

"I actually wanted to take you shopping at Magnolia Promenade since you like fashion and all, but management didn't allow us to film there. So here we are at Perfect Balance Spa instead."

"Eh, it's their loss," Kate says. "Being featured on the show is free publicity, right?"

"Oh wow, this place looks amazing!" Kate exclaims in amazement.

"Wait 'til you see what they have upstairs. Come on, let's get changed into bathrobes."

"Well, this is comfy," Landon remarks.

Kate moves in to snuggle Landon.

"You're right, it's so cottony soft," she replies.

"So you say you wanted to take me shopping for clothes?" Kate asks.

"Yeah, I was hoping maybe we could talk about that and you could get me something new to wear. Plus I thought we could do something less serious after last time. Hopefully something with less tears and emotions."

"But instead we ended up somewhere that has us wearing less clothes," Kate chuckles.

"Well, when you put it that way..."

"This is perfect, though. I could use something to help calm down my nerves. I think this show is starting to get to me."

"Really? I never imagined it would stress you girls out that much."

Landon looks over to the side, and something catches his eye.

"Oh, hey, they're serving fruit punch. Want me to get you one?"

"Sure."

"So what should we do first?" Kate asks.

"How about a foot rub?"

"Sold!"

"Oh my, this is amazing, Landon," Kate says.

"Right? Each session costs 40 simoleons, but the show's got us covered."

"Hm, I don't think I'd normally spend 40 bucks on a foot massage, but now that I've gotten one from here..."

Later on, these two kids sneak away to a corner in the spa for a little something.

"Oh, my muscles are starting to loosen up," Landon says.

"They better. You're always in that gym when we're at home."

"Yeah, I just really love exercising and moving about. Even when I was a kid I joined a few sports teams and I was always swimming in the lake. Made me feel really good. By the time I was in high school, I started lifting weights. My dad helped me get into it."

"I'm glad you did. You look great with all that exercise."

"Well, what can I say? It takes a lot of hard work to look this good," Landon jokes. Kate laughs along with him.

"Now that we've talked about my hobbies," Landon says. "What about you? What got you into fashion?"

"Oh, it was by chance. I didn't really get a lot of new clothes growing up, since I mostly got hand-me-downs."

"Yeah, a lot of my things were hand-me-downs from Elliot too."

"I always did look outside store windows and thought it would be nice if I could wear those things. But my real passion for fashion started when I was in high school. I was shopping for an elective, but most of them were filled up. So I decided to take an art class, and one module had us drawing and designing clothes, with a bunch of part-time models for reference. I enjoyed it so much that after a while, I decided that I wanted to pursue it for a career."

"It's great that you found something you love while you were in high school. I did well in a bunch of classes, but I only realized that I could turn my love for collecting stuff I found in the woods into a career during my freshman year of college."

"Who knew that a hobby you had as a kid would be why you'd end up an archaeologist today?"

"Right? My parents just thought I'd be a pro athlete or something. I mean I joined a few teams in college too, but it was mostly just a hobby."

"I'd say that was an amazing and rejuvenating date, even if I still do prefer the first one. It's just too bad Mac had to spoil the mood after with his little announcement."

"Mac? What are you doing here?" Kate asks.

"Looks like you two lovebirds are right on time," Mac says. "Landon, you'll need to head upstairs while I talk to the ladies."

"Got it," Landon replies.

"Kate, please take a seat," Mac requests.

Kate proceeds to do so, and Mac begins.

"I have good news and bad news for you."

"I want to hear the good news first," Pricilla claims.

"Wouldn't hearing the bad news first be better, so that the good news can soften the blow?" Linda asks.

"I guess I can tell you the good news first: the next elimination ceremony won't be tomorrow. Instead, you'll have a free day to spend however you like."

"The bad news, however, is that the next elimination will be a double elimination. Two of you will be sent home..."

"...and the final two girls will go on dream dates with Landon before the show's finale."

"With that, I bid y'all good luck. And try not to worry yourselves too much."

The girls reacted to that announcement in different ways. Kate decides to make some BLTs for dinner.

Linda can be seen cleaning the desk in the study here. Girl must be a stress cleaner.

"I guess there's no escaping it," Ariella glumly says.

"Yeah," Pricilla curtly replies.

"I wanna wish you good luck. Hopefully you'll make it in."

"I do too, Ariella..."

"Hey, Pri!" Kate chirps.

"You're pretty upbeat after Mac dropped that bomb on us."

"I'm scared too, you know. But I'm trying my best to keep it out of my mind, so let's just talk about something else."

"We can talk about your date, if you want," Pricilla says. "Did you guys suck face again?"

"Pricilla!"

"What? Well, did you?"

"Are you on edge?" Ariella asks.

"More than I've ever been," Linda replies.

"Me too. But we still have one more day. Let's just make the most out of our time here."

"I'd really love that. I mean how often will you be living in a house with a huge pool in the yard?"

"Funny you should mention that," Ariella says. "We actually live right next door to a public pool."

"Lucky!"

"It loses its charm once you see the neighbor kids peeing in it all the time."

"What's this I hear about kids peeing?" Kate asks.

"Oh, the public pool near where I live. Kids are cute, but they can be really gross as well."

"Oh, jeez. Don't remind me. The public pool in my neighborhood was incredibly nasty. They didn't have enough money to maintain it, and it shut down some years ago."

While all this was happening, Landon was just in the gym going for a run on the treadmill. No surprises there, folks.

"I hope you and I make it, Ariella. To be honest, I've felt closer to you than the other two girls."

Landon decides to walk in at this time to grab some dinner.

"Hey, girls, whatcha talking about?"

"We were just talking about our stay here on the show," Ariella replies. "It's hard to believe it's been like, what? 15 or 16 days since we got here?"

"I know right?" Landon says. "It took a bit of convincing for the chair of the archaeology department to let me off for three weeks. In the end I just promised to make up for the work, and some of the days off are unpaid."

"Linda and I don't really have to worry about that since school's out this summer. I can't wait for this heat to be over, though."

"Anyway, I'm just going to step outside for a bit," Linda says. "Talk to you later."

"Hey, Landon," Pricilla says as she walks into the kitchen. "Do you want to watch a movie with Kate and me?"

"Sure. I'll just finish this BLT."

"What are you watching this time?" Landon asks.

"Another cop buddy comedy. I forgot the title," Kate replies.

"Can I join?" Linda asks.

"Hey, Linda," Pricilla says. "You a fan of Cool Cops 2?"

"Cool Cops 2!" Kate exclaims. "That's it!"

"Not so much," Linda replies. "I liked the first one better. Matthew Hamming kind of phoned it in for the sequel."

"I actually like the sequel better," Landon argues. "Castillo was introduced in it, and he's my favorite. And I thought Matthew's acting was fine."

As the night goes on, the ladies one-by-one decide to call it a day.

"I'm beat," Pricilla says. "Imma head upstairs."

"Yeah, if you'll excuse me, I just have a few things to do before going to bed," Landon says.

And just to end the day, Landon decides to focus his mind and body through yoga. Namaste.

---------------------------

Well, today was a pretty stressful day for the girls. Will tomorrow be less tense for everyone, or will the thought of the upcoming elimination still hang over their heads? This will be their last chance to make a good impression, so stay tuned to see how the girls try to make their mark. This is your host, Mac Jamison, signing off.