“Who cares if he’s rich when he looks like that?” Ashley M. giggled, and to be honest, I could not disagree.
“I don’t think money matters. I think you should be with someone because you really like them,” Genesis said, and about half the girls side-eyed her like she’d just announced that spray tans would cause cancer.
A peaceful ceasefire and weird camaraderie existed, but the strangeness was compounded by the fact that all of these women wanted the same man. They’d all be dating him and possibly kissing him and maybe more, but I didn’t want to think about that part.
My evil witch senses started tingling, and sure enough, Abigail came floating into the room looking entirely too smug.
I wondered how she could breathe in a dress that tight.
“In case any of you were wondering, he is amazing. In every physical sense of the word.” She slowly and carefully enunciated each word in her last sentence.
She pivoted on her heels, leaving a cloud of floral-scented perfume behind. How did she know what to say that would piss me off the most?
Everyone sat silently, probably wondering, like me, if what she’d said was true. Had she and Dante actually . . . he wouldn’t, would he? That was foul.
I would seriously lose all respect for him if he had. He would be tainted. Because that girl was so stuck-up, she’d drown in a rainstorm. I decided to ignore the waves of jealousy that threatened to choke me. Even though they were also making me want to choke her.
There were cameras pointed at me. I refused to dignify her vileness with a reaction. I wished I could telepathically communicate with the other girls to tell them not to react either, but most of them already looked so disappointed.
An assistant brought in another heart-shaped card. This one had my name on it.
And only my name.
I opened the card, and saw that the “audience” had selected me to go on a “Fairy Tale Come True” date with Dante.
Just me. And Dante.
Oh, sugar sticks.
It was one thing to be “on” for a few minutes at a time. It would be another thing entirely to act that way for a whole evening.
“What does it say?” someone asked, but I couldn’t deal with the other contestants right then.
I jumped up and ran down to the production room, looking for Taylor. She was there. I wondered when she ever slept.
All the producers and their assistants looked at me funny. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
She followed me out of the room, closing the door. We went back into the bathroom again. It seemed like a strange meeting place, but whatever.
“I know I told Burdette I would do what I could, and I want to help you out, but what is this?”
“They’ve screened the first couple of episodes for focus groups, and you were overwhelmingly picked as the favorite.”
“Me? Why?” I wasn’t even really in the running. I was not supposed to be the one the focus groups liked.
“They liked that you wore your jersey the first night. Said it made you seem relatable and down-to-earth. And there were a lot of words thrown around about you and Dante. Like, chemistry. Heat. Obvious attraction.”
I could think of some words to throw around too. Like, engaged. Off the market. Never going to happen.
But my opinion apparently didn’t matter. I would do what I’d been doing—stay quiet, do as I was told, and make Matthew Burdette happy.
And all I could do was hope to keep my real life as intact as possible.
The show provided a dress for me, a strapless pale blue ball gown that made me feel like I was going to somebody’s prom. It cinched in at the waist, and it had an overlay of delicate silver flowers. I had matching silver heels. I had also spent more time on my makeup and hair than I would care to admit.
I was going to be on television. I had to look good.
And as long as I kept believing that was the reason, everything would be okay.
Genesis watched me get ready. “I don’t need a purse, I have the dress, the shoes—what am I forgetting?”
“The mice? The pumpkin? Fairy godmother?”
“Ha-ha,” I said as I touched up my lipstick.
“Looks like you’re all ready for your hot date.”
I was planning on more lukewarm than hot. But I smiled at Genesis and told her I’d see her later.