And I won’t bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that Serafina organized a slight frog infestation in her room and “lost” all of Abigail’s makeup. Chiara accidentally cut a huge hole in her dinner dress when she told her she’d try to tailor it. I did research on her online, and dropped little tidbits of gossip about her previous relationships into the dinner conversation. The king didn’t feel well, and Rafe refused to come downstairs. Nico wouldn’t even look at her. Poor Queen Aria tried to fix things, but there was nothing she could do. I figure Abigail will probably cry in her interviews about how awful we all are, but most of the bad stuff happened off camera and I have an excellent PR woman to release a statement to the contrary.
Why has Dante kept this luna-chick around???
Miss you!
Part of me wanted to gloat when Abigail and Dante returned to the mansion, but I thought Kat had done a pretty good job of handling her for me.
Genesis and I were in the kitchen making lunch and talking about Monterra, carefully leaving out any personal details, when Harris came in with Abigail. “I need to speak to you ladies for a moment if I could.”
What now? Genesis and I sat on one side of the couch, and Abigail sat as far away as possible on the other end. She really was a good actress. I knew how badly things had gone for her in Monterra, but she sat there looking like she didn’t have a care in the world.
“As you probably already know, at this point in the show we would send you out to some exotic locations for one-on-one time with Dante, and then we would give you the opportunity at the end of the night to share a Romance Room together. But we’re not doing that this season.”
He paused for dramatic effect.
“Each night we have arranged for one of you to travel to a nearby four-star luxury hotel, where you will be given the option to stay with Dante in his suite or to spend the night alone in your own room.”
It sounded appealing mainly because I was tired of traveling. But something was definitely off. This was so unlike anything the show had ever done, that I didn’t know what else to think. They always went somewhere for these overnights. Always.
“You will be delivered an invitation at the very last minute, so none of you will know when the others have left. And, you may or may not receive an invitation before the next elimination.”
I could almost hear the gasping that would take place in living rooms across the country after that announcement. That had never happened before. Every girl who remained was always offered an invitation to the Romance Room.
“If you’re given an invitation, I hope you make the most of your alone time with Dante, and that you will think seriously about the future you might have together. Good luck, and I hope you all enjoy yourselves and make the decision that is right for you.”
He seemed to be looking right at me. After he finished his speech, the production assistants came to separate us, and asked us to stay in our rooms. They were keeping us apart so that none of us would know who got an invite and who didn’t. As a reward for being stuck in solitary confinement, they gave us old gossip magazines to read. At least it was something.
I spent most of the time packing up my things. I would be leaving soon to go home and fix the situation with Sterling, hopefully with the least possible amount of collateral damage.
It surprised me when a PA walked in with my invitation. First again. My initial instinct was to assume that he wanted me out of the way first so he could devote his time to the other girls. I took a deep breath and decided to be an optimist. Maybe he was doing it to so that he could reassure me of his intentions. Maybe he wouldn’t even give the other girls invitations, and I was receiving the only one.
I took my time getting ready, and put on a red dress that Taylor had bought me for the show. I knew he would like it. I finished putting together my overnight bag and sat down to wait.
A few minutes later they let me know that the limo had arrived, and a field producer was waiting for me in the car. He asked me if I was nervous, and what I intended to do about spending the night with Dante. I tried to give him generic answers, not letting him know how I was really feeling.