Brady just waved his hand for me to follow him. “Don’t be so dramatic. What does that even mean?”
My heart sank into my stomach the second I stepped outside the sanctity of my room. I couldn’t even call the nerves twisting in my gut butterflies any more. They felt more like wasps.
Brady led me down the hallway to the main lounge, but instead of depositing me there, we moved past it.
“You’ll wait here with the rest of the girls before we come and get you for your entrance. We’re filming outside on the patio. Yes, you will be chilly in that dress, but you’re going to have to suck it up and smile.”
Just before Brady opened the door, I stopped him, grabbing his arm.
“Wait,” I said, flustered. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“You’ll be fine,” he cooed. “You have your speech ready, right? And it’s not a hit piece?”
I held up a piece of paper. “It’s short. I couldn’t make it too long without wanting to rip into him.”
“Short is fine. We can work with short. We’ll edit in an adorable montage of you two getting to know each other to make up for the bland speech.”
I sucked in a quick breath. “Okay.”
“You’re ready? You aren’t going to bolt on me again?”
Shaking my head, I forced a determined look onto my face. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Good.” He held up a hand for a high five but dropped it when I ignored it. “Oh, and don’t tell the girls everything. We’re going to need all this to be kept hush-hush. Can’t have it getting leaked to the media or the whole thing is ruined, you know?”
“Of course,” I said, through gritted teeth.
He opened the door and I brushed past him. The other girls were already there and greeted me with squeals.
“You look amazing!” Trace rushed over and hugged me. She looked drop-dead gorgeous, in a slinky red number that left little to the imagination. Something told me she wanted Danny to know exactly what he’d be missing.
“You clean up alright,” Rachel said to me. She was lovely, too. Her braids were piled on top of her head to showcase the low neckline of the burnt orange dress she wore.
I put on my besteverything is normalsmile and faced them. “Um, you two look incredible. Arnie is going to freak when he sees you. And Danny is going to be regretting losing you, Trace, that’s for sure.”
Trace snapped her fingers. “Yes! Exactly what I’m going for. This is my revenge moment.”
Sofia lounged off to the side in a glitzy blue number. “You’ll definitely get it. His eyes are going to bulge out of his head when he sees you in that.”
“You look great too, Sofia,” I added.
She waved off my compliment. “Whatever, I know today isn’t about me. I’m ready to be out of here.”
“Weird that we’re filming the finale so early in the morning,” Trace said.
Rachel paced to the other side of the small room. She was barefoot, likely waiting until the last moment to put on her heels. “I’m glad they moved it up. I just want to get it over with.” She paused. “We all know the outcome of today,anyway. Calla and Eli are going to win. Look at that white dress. They want everyone to be thinking ‘wedding bells’ when they see you.”
My face faltered. “I don’t know about that...”
Trace shook her head. “No, we all know it’s true. You’re definitely going to win.”
The corners of my lips suddenly felt heavy.
Trace immediately clocked the change in my demeanor and she frowned at me. “Is everything okay?”
“Fine,” I responded weakly, taking a seat in one of the chairs along the wall of the sparse room.
Sofia snorted. “You don’t seem fine. Your face is all wrong.”
