the ride of your life

alma rivera. thirty-one. cashier at the gift shop at hoopla!

☄

“Oh, you’re on,” Merrick laughed. Alma might actually give her a run for her money - and Merrick liked to pride herself on being flirty enough to get people interested while coy enough to keep them wanting more. Not that she really expected much to come of it - she was still waiting on her own meet cute, the guy who’d actually sweep her off her feet and take her away. “Is that a famous idea? I’m sure half the staff would also think to do that - and then we’d all be fighting to get it into the editing team first. We should invite the personalities instead - they rarely steal my ideas, and they’d give us some actual competition.” 

💋

“Mer, you know I’m always down to shit like that, so count me in.“ Alma was always happy to be part of any of the shenanigans Merrick had in mine for any of her articles or to star in any of her TikToks if she ever asked. And why not? Speed dating could be fun. She wasn’t exactly looking to anything really serious and this one gave her the chance to get away from dating apps that were useless. “And yeah, bring them on. That will make any bets even more interesting, I bet. Just don’t be surprised if I end up hooking up with any of them by the end of the night, yeah? Because I’m sure those will be much better than Calvin.“

☄

“I think it’d be fun,” Merrick shrugged, but she’d always liked dressing up and trying out new things. Every experience was an adventure, even if it seemed a little out of her grasp. “We could make it a group night, though - the speed dating. I bet I could con Mason into going, telling him it’s a competition to see who gets more numbers. Jokes on him, though, because I always win,” she said with a laugh. “I’m sure some off them would wanna make it a segment - or an article. Getting them to turn off ‘content brain’ isn’t always easy, y’lnow?”  

💋

“A competition to see who gets more numbers? Even if it’s just to con him into joining us, I want in. We should even set a prize for the winner.“ A laugh escaped Alma’s lips at the idea of a bunch of people from Hoopla trying to win something ridiculous. It could be fun and Alma wasn’t against trying the whole speed dating thing—who knows if that would end up in her getting laid with someone decent? “I’m going to give you one of my famous ideas: tell them they’re absolutely forbidden to write about it and do it yourself. Tell me that wouldn’t be a great article, maybe even as good as the one about cult members on Tinder.“

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“Yep, fair enough,” Mason laughed; he knew most people would take offense but really, what was the point of that? They both agreed he was right and that was pretty much all that mattered.

“No, the breakroom is awesome,” he said, correcting her only slightly. “The cereal bar is nice when it’s not stale, but the couches and giant tv? Prime. I was talking about how I hate writing scripts.”

He shook his notepad at Alma, the pages ruffling against the binding. It really was full of nonsense notes to show he’d tried to put together something cohesive before handing it off to one of the actual writers upstairs. 

“I can cook and talk, but I’m not good at scripts.”

💋

Alma raised her eyebrows at the description on the breakroom upstairs. The fact she hadn’t visited it yet was outrageous. “I still have to see it with my own eyes. I might convince Merrick to show me around and all of that because I’d love to spend a few hours there.”

But as soon as Mason spoke of his problem with scripts, she kind of understood the issue. Alma wasn’t any good at it—any attempt of coming up with something decent whenever they had to something similar in high school was frustrated and someone else had to come to rescue her—but she doubted she could help him. And despite having that problem, his show was quite good.

“Your show is great though. Have you thought about improvising if nothing comes up and see what happens? Or isn’t that allowed?“

☄

“They would have drooled over my place,” Merrick sighed, shaking her head. The pros and cons of owning something like a house so young were somehow always the same thing - worried someone would want her just for her property, and knowing she had some place she could settle down with someone when the time came. “I’ll have a look around - we are not going to the place that also plays DnD on Sunday nights this time, though I have entertained the thought of learning how to play. I happen to think I’d make an amazing warlock.” 

💋

“DnD? Isn’t that the nerdy game by excellent everyone likes to dress up as creatures from the Middle Ages or something like that? Because that’d where my limit is,“ Alma spoke, shaking her head. While she knew little more than that, it wasn’t something she wasn’t exactly interested in. “But if you find a speed dating event anytime soon, count me in. You should bring a few more people from the office. You know, just to see all the chaos of it.” 

.

“Oh yeah,” Mason said as something in his brain clicked and the recognition took over. “You did something with your hair. I think. Or I’m a piece of shit. Both could be true.”

He put his notebook down and leaned back in the plastic chair a little bit, hearing it squeak against the floor. He did have a nicer break room upstairs: couches and chairs with cushioned seats. 

“I wander sometimes,” he said with a shrug. “I’m supposed to be writing scripts. I almost never use them but it’s for proof of concept or some other legal HR thing. Problem is, I hate it.”

💋

If Alma had to guess which one of those were true, she’d say both because they weren’t exclusive. “I got a haircut recently, but I’m leaning towards the second.” She wasn’t against telling it how is it and it was true Mason had that kind of reputation, so she doubted it was the worst he had heard.

“Really? Come on, what’s to hate about it?“ Alma asked. Although she had never been there before to visit some of her friends upstairs, she had heard wonders about the break room up there. “I’ve never seen it so I don’t know what I’m talking about, but I’ve heard the seats are great and the cereal bar is to die for. Assuming people haven’t told me lies about it and it’s not just a myth. Are you trading all of that for a smaller break room with not much than black coffee, Mason?“

☄

“Listen, if I didn’t already have a fuck buddy to fall back on, I probably would have invited him home. Can you imagine him having your address?” Merrick shuddered, giggling as she did. A cult would probably love her place, too - big and roomy and right next to the beach. Her roommates would murder her if she had to evict them for a cult to move in. “We need a palette cleanser, big time. We should find a speed dating night or something - imagine the hooks we can throw there. Maybe it’s time we start our own cult.” 

💋

A chill ran down Alma’s spine at the thought of Calvin having her address, although she doubted they could have done anything in it. Small and not that near to the beach. What would a cult do with a crappy apartment like the one she was living in currently? “My apartment is crap, so I don’t think a cult would have done anything with it. It’s not a great spot even for their meetings, not even to start our own cult, but I’m down for that speed dating night and see what comes out of it.” 

Keiko bit her lip to keep from laughing – solely from her own experience with the statement. Tinder dates were the worst and never go according to plan, so she understood; it was just funny because no matter how many times she has said she was done… she would end up swiping two days later out of boredom. “How bad was the date? I wish I could hold you accountable, but I say that same thing every week and run right back to the apps. It’s tragic, actually.” 

💋

“Bad level: the only thing nice was dinner itself and that’s it,“ she answered to Keiko’s question. In hindsight, she dodged a bullet and that was what made it amusing. “Apparently he was a cult member who’s recruiting on Tinder, which makes me glad that didn’t go further. Remind me that the next time I mention something about signing up for another dating app.“

☄

“Oh my god,” Merrick was about to lose it - “if you tell me his name was Calvin, I’m going to absolutely lose it. Works at the pier? Very into tie die, which you were willing to overlook because he was just so gorgeous it might have been something you could ignore?” That had been the cult hooker for her, at least, though the idea that there were more of them was just as entertaining. “Even if it wasn’t him, that means they’re on tinder trying to recruit. Talk about flirty fishing, honestly. This is the best thing I’ve heard all day” 

💋

“Shut up, that was him.“ Alma couldn’t believe both her and Merrick had a date with the same guy, the same person who was apparently looking for new members for a new cult. Things would have been less amusing if she had ended up sleeping with him after dinner, but at least she could laugh about it with a friend. “The only good thing about the date was the dinner I got out of it, but I can’t believe I almost had sex with him. He has those vibes all over him, right?“ 

open starter || @hooplastart​

“The model has finally arrived,” Ford looked up from changing lenses as he saw them walk in for their staff photo. “Twelve minutes late… Don’t tell me there is other diva behavior I should be expecting.” The brightened smile on his face proved to show his words were playful.

💋

“I’m here!“ Alma spoke with a smile on her lips as he stepped into Ford’s studio. For some reason, someone told her to get her staff photo done and he wasn’t even sure why when she was just working the gift shop. “Not sure why someone would want a photo staff of the cashier at the gift shop, but hey, if I need to model I’ll be happy to do that.“

“Babe, if you’re trying to date someone, you can’t use Tinder. That’s strictly smash or pass territory. Dating is for shit like, I don’t know, Bumblr.” 

Mason said, lifting his head from his notebook. He squinted at the girl in front of him, a slight frown tugging at his lips. He knew he was in the break room of the gift shop downstairs from his office, but he liked to think he at least recognized most faces.

“Also who even are you?”

💋

“I wasn’t trying to find a date date in there, everyone knows that’s for fuck buddies, and unfortunately, the guy didn’t even pass the test for that. Hell, he didn’t even try,“ she turned her face to find Mason Zedler, the host of one of the video series Hoopla produced. Alma was a big fan of the series, but what she didn’t understand was why he was there, in the break room of the gift shop.

“I can’t believe I’ve been here for two years and you don’t even know who I am. I’m Alma, the cashier of the gift shop,” she introduced herself and signalled to the door that led to the shop, “but my question is: what are you doing here? Isn’t there an even nicer break room upstairs?” 

“Okay, but, like, I need to know the details,” Merrick said, grinning from ear to ear. Dating disasters were her forte - the last date she’d been on, she had literally been asked to join a cult, and half the articles to her name were about such insane antics. “I promise I won’t write about it. Or, I almost promise. I promise I won’t name you?” 

💋

“As long as you use a fake name for it...“ Alma cleared her throat before she started telling the details of her last failed Tinder date. “He was cute, hot and all of that, like I would have slept with him if he hadn’t be a weirdo,“ she started. Just the memory of it gave her chills. “Like all he talked about was about mindfullness and people he hangs out with that sounded more like a cult of those you write about. Like, go to hell, I don’t have time for all of that.” 

“I swear I’m done with Tinder,“ Alma spoke after she set her coffee on the table. “Last night’s date was a disaster and I’m done with all of it. Please hit me in my head if I ever mention the idea of signing up for another dating app.“