Hell. after these last few days, we might need one.
I open my door and run down the hall to the master, grabbing the first clean shirt I can, an old vintage band shirt that’s really soft and won’t look dumb with my gray sweats. I grab my ADIDAS slides and hurry back out into the hall.
Ivy’s staring at her phone in horror.
“What? What’s wrong?” I immediately think it’s bad news.
She glances at me, then back at the screen, and finally, she looks back up at me. “Please tell me you liked Nickelodeon when you were a kid.”
“Who didn’t?”
“Oh, thank God.” She turns the phone to me. “Because according to this text from Anderson, who’s already downstairs waiting with everyone else… Max just mentioned nostalgia and already handed out team shirts.”
“Oh great, do I even want to know?”
She scrunches up her nose. “It appears we’re going to be the Silver Snakes.”
“Why does that sound familiar?”
“Because…” She sighs. “It’s from Legends of the Hidden Temple.”
I freeze. “Ivy, wait—”
“Come on, we have to hurry.”
“I think I’m going to be sick.” Nausea comes over me in waves.
“You already puked up everything last night. Let’s go!” She starts to tug at me, but all I can see is his face.
The nightmares.
The T-shirts.
“No, Ivy, like for real, I’m freaking out here.”
“It was just tequila!” she says.
“It’s not the tequila.” I’m ready to hold onto the elevator to keep from having her shove me farther. “It’s Olmec.”
“Olmec?”
“The rock temple guy—he’s terrifying, and his little minions, I may have um, when I was very small, very, very, very—very small, wet the bed after falling asleep to reruns on Nick at Night, my mom said I woke up screaming, ‘Olmec, Olmec!’”
Ivy’s eyes widen. “Jack, I need you! We’re a team, and who the hell is scared of Olmec!”
“His voice is loud, and he captures people in his temple, Ivy! I don’t know what’s more terrifying!”
“Okay, okay” She calmly grabs my hand and pulls me into the elevator. “It’s going to be fine. We’ll figure it out, but we can’t lose, so you need to get your shit together.”
“Easy for you to say.”
Her eyes narrow. “More participation trophies for your future wall if you can; at the very least, just attempt not to shit your pants if it really is Legends of the Hidden Temple.”
“How many more?”
She glares.
“Fine.” I cross my arms. “But if Olmec is there, just be warned, you may hear a high-pitched scream from my general direction.”
Chapter Twelve
Ivy
I don’t exactly know how to calm down a twenty-two-year-old man while he has a nervous breakdown in front of a fake temple.
College did not prepare me for this.
We’re wearing our Silver Snake shirts.
He’s pale as a ghost.
And we are one hundred percent about to play Legends of the Hidden Temple. Who knew that out of all things in Jack’s life, this would be his kryptonite? It’s like Ninja Warrior course meets OG Nickelodeon as we have to cross the water by jumping onto a line of floating rafts, run through the temple to grab the hidden treasure, and oh yeah, avoid everyone trying to “kill” us in said temple on top of beating the other teams in every relay race known alive.
But that’s not even the worst part.
The worst part.
Olmec.
He hasn’t spoken yet, but every few minutes, I see Jack side eye this giant talking rock, and I’m a bit concerned that this is going to be our downfall, the reason neither of us gets our promotion or bonuses.
A rock.
A stupid rock.
“Focus.” I elbow him in the ribs. “It’s not real.”
“Feels real, feels very real,” Jack says under his breath.
“You were a kid!” I hiss. “You’re a man, be a man, feel your dick, be awesome!”
“Feeling my dick sounds really bad in front of a kids’ show I used to watch with a rock scaring me… yeah, that feels wrong on so many levels. New plan, we run.”
“No.” I grab his hand. “New plan, we listen to Dustin, learn what we’re competing in, and win so we can go back to the apartment and have… trophies.”
Jack’s head pops up. “Real trophies or trophy trophies?”
I roll my eyes. “What’s gonna motivate you more? An actual trophy or sex?”
“I GET SEX?” he yells, earning almost every judgmental look imaginable from the other interns, and you know what? Who cares! I want to win, and I like him, and this is so not the time to read into things.
“Yes. Sex. All the sex. I’ll sex you so hard,” I mutter under my breath. “So, ignore Olmec and focus on me.” I take a deep breath. “Repeat after me, be the snake.”
“I would snake you so hard—”
“Not the time!” I elbow him again. “Just, remember, you’re the snake. Snakes are vicious, cunning, and creepy. We’re going to annihilate every single one of them, and then we’ll celebrate.”