In Episode 6, Rafa is not present. But while that would have been a major blow due to the majority of the cast being very unlikable, the great thing about Rafa’s absence is that David and Alastair are still heavily present.
Yes, Alastair has scenes that focus solely on him and his world without any of the other cast members, making his friend-of credit feel like that biggest casting mistake ever (especially when you have Estuardo Alvizures and Alex Paredes, who give us absolutely nothing). It's almost as if the casting credits themselves were the Season 1 villain. 😭 But hey, if VH1 can do that, so can first-run syndication.
On a really, REALLY hot day at 12pm, Alastair and his fiancé Zachary are going on a trail in one of the largest parks in Los Angeles O'Melveny Park in Granada Hills. Clearly, he's still not over Zach beating him in their race to the Alfonsos Furniture & Mattress store. And you can tell because he’s speed-walking past Zach in the trail and you can hear Zach go, "Baby, slow down! I'm getting tired!" And Alastair goes, "We're almost done Zachy."
And finally they reach top of the mountain, with great views of civilization from afar. Alastair yells, "I WIN! I WIN!" For the whole world to hear. Zachary is a few feet behind Alastair, catching his breath, staring at Alastair, and rolling his eyes, sarcastically saying, "Congratulations," while coughing. Lol, poor Zach.
And on a hot day?! You must be out of your mind!
In his confessional, Alastair tells us, "I just had to win this time. Who knew that by walking instead of running, I move faster?" Back in the scene, Alastair giggles while walking back to Zach to help him walk up to the top. Thank God they got plenty of ice cold water in their canteens. And Alastair goes, "Ain't this a great view, babe?" And a worn-out Zach says, "Oh... yeah... fabulous," which makes Alastair giggle and say, "I'm sorry babe. Don't be mad at me." Zach lets out a laugh while out of breath, and says, "I'll tell you what give me some time to catch my breath, and then you can walk me back down, and I'll forgive you. Deal?" And Alastair gives him a kiss on the lips and says, "Deal."
In his confessional, Alastair says, "I think when Zach suggested I take the weekend off from work because he saw that I was stressed out and not in the mood, he probably thought that we were just gonna kick it at home and just do nothing. And yeah... I'll do that. But I gotta be on my feet, I'm sorry [laughs]."
When the two corny lovebirds make it back to the beginning od the trail, Zach says, "YES! Home sweet home! Hallelujah!" Alastair laughs at this and says, "You're ready to get out of here and eat, aren't ya?" And Zachary quickly says, "Hell yeah! But hey, talk about quality time, right? It's never a dull moment with you." And the two kiss and take a walk towards their car. They walk hand in hand with warm smiles on their faces.
They must've forgotten that Alastair's car was parked in an outdoor parking lot, because once they finally make it to the parking lot and get in the car... PAIN, lol. It doesn't help that they were wearing short shorts. Poor lovebirds.
Zach goes, "OW! OW! Ooh..." And Alastair says, "It certainly didn't take us long to burn up, eh?" And Zach says, "AH! It's fucking hot. My thighs..." which makes both young men laugh. And Alastair goes, "Don't worry babe, when we get home I'll make your thighs get better" and giggles at Zach wincing. Zach says, "I would absolutely love that. I can't believe it; we're Mexican and we can't handle this fuckin' heat!" And Alastair says, "I don't know which is more painfully hot: Texas or California?" Zach says, "Good question." Something tells me that California heat ain't got nothin' on Texas heat. Just ridiculous [chuckles and snorts]."
Later we see them in a Farmer Boys restaurant in Chatsworth. And as they're dining, Alastair says, "I'm so ready for this heat to die down and we can some rain." Zach says, "Me too. I still can't get over that random thubderstorm we had in July. Never thought I'd jumpy over a thunderclap waking me up, and we grew up in Texas." The two laugh at that random storm and hold each other's hands from across the table. And then Zach asks Alastair, "What's the difference between being in love and being infatuated, in your opinion?" Alastair takes a few seconds to think about that, and eventually he softly says, "I think when someone is infatuated, they don't really see a future with the person they're infatuated with. In my case, however, I see a future with you... because I'm in love with you every day. I... I connect with you in so many ways, that I never connected with any other guy I dated in the past. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you." Zach blushes at Alastair’s answer, and says, "I definitely feel anything but infatuated with you. It's absolutely love. I don't see you as a shiny new toy, if you know what I mean [winks and gets a chuckle from Alastair]. And I hope and pray that what we have together can evolve... and last a lifetime."
-------------------
Episode 8
