Sitting there, I savored the silence for a few minutes. In a moment, inevitably, my life was going to become a lot more complicated.
I tried to fight off the numbness that threatened to infiltrate my heart and my mind. I owed it to Piper to give this a real chance. She and Mom had done everything for me over the past two years. They had been my rocks—the only things that kept the darkness at bay. But now it was time to work on myself. I needed to be my own support. While I was confident I wouldn’t meet someone on this show, maybe it could be the start of my healing journey.
A triple knock at the door warned me before Brady stuck his head back in. He shot me a questioning look.
“I’ll do it,” I said.
Chapter Three
As soon asI emerged from the interview room, the cameras were on top of me. I tried to discreetly rub my face, but I’m sure it was clear that I had been bawling like a newborn baby in there.
Great. Can’t wait for this to air.
Apparently, I had missed the rest of the matching ceremony. Brady said they could have waited, but it added to the drama this way. He wouldn’t tell me who I had been paired up with. I just hoped it wasn’t Grant.
When I stepped back into the lounge, I scanned the room. Three couples sat in different corners, likely getting to know each other. First, I spotted Sofia and Eli. No surprise there. She had been drooling over him from the moment he’d walked in. As if sensing my eyes on him, he looked up. He gave me a half-smile, but in my panic at being caught staring, I jerked my gaze away before returning the kind gesture.
Smooth.
In the opposite corner sat Trace and Grant. He appearedto be talking incessantly while Trace wore a tired smile that didn’t even come close to meeting her eyes.
Near them were Rachel and Danny. I’m not sure which of the two of them looked more pissed off. If compatibility could be determined by levels of frustration at the thought of finding a relationship, Rachel and Danny were perfect together.
Which only left one person.
Arnie sat closest to me and waved shyly. Breathing a sigh of relief, I approached the chair opposite him and sank in.
“Hey, it’s Calla, right?” he asked as soon as I sat down.
“Right,” I confirmed. “And you’re Arnie. Sorry I ran out like that.”
He waved a hand. “Don’t even worry about it. You looked about as nervous as I felt. Sorry you got stuck with me, by the way.”
“Don’t apologize. You’re the only one I wanted as a partner,” I said, meaning it.
“Really? I find that hard to believe.” His ears turned pink as he fidgeted with his glasses.
“No, really,” I insisted. “You seem nice.” The compliment was weak, but in this environment, something as simple as ‘nice’ felt hard to come by.
“So do you. Honestly, when you ran off, I thought we must be compatible; before we came in, a producer had to convince me to stay.”
My lip turned up as my nerves started to dissolve. “Sounds like we’re perfect for each other.”
A silence settled over us, only awkward because we had just met. But he seemed like the kind of person I could sit peacefully with for hours. After a few moments, he ran his hands up and down his thighs and searched the room. “Did you want me to fill you in on what you missed?”
“Please,” I said, grateful for the shift in conversation.
“Well, after you ran out, Rita had the rest of the girls pick. Sofia chose Eli, and then Trace picked Grant. Rachel picked Danny because she said she would eat me alive—she’s probably right.” He gulped at the memory. “Then Rita went over the rules. There’ll be daily competitions where we test our compatibility in some sort of physical challenge. At the beginning of each challenge, we can switch partners. Girls pick the guys for one, then for the next one the guys pick the girls. There will also be multiple interviews throughout the day, which just sound like opportunities for them to force us to talk about our feelings and get good sound bites.” He shook his head. “I’m sure it’s all a tactic to get in our heads.”
“Everything is so fake,” I said, my microphone feeling unnatural around my neck. “I can’t believe they expect us to find love like this.”
“I know.” Arnie frowned. “Before the reveal, what did you think you’d be here for?”
“Writing. I’m an author.” I felt shy admitting that.
“Wow, that’s a lot cooler than robotics.”
“No way,” I said. “Yours sounds way more impressive.”
