After my stomach growled again, I got up out of bed and pulled on a vintage sweatshirt and black leggings. I slipped into my fuzzy slippers that sat by the door and hesitated, my hand over the doorknob. There were no outright rules against leaving the rooms at night, but Brady had told us all to stay there whenever we weren’t filming. He hadn’t said it like it was a hard and fast rule, though. When we gave up our phones,for instance, they had threatened us with a fine if they found that someone was hiding an extra.
The pain in my stomach eventually won out. I poked my head out of my room and looked up and down the dimly lit hallway. Blinking a few times, I let my eyes adjust to the new surroundings, then stepped into the hall and carefully closed the door behind me. Glancing up, I saw one of the cameras angled toward my door and I froze.
Those probably weren’t even on at this hour, and even if they were, it wasn’t like someone would be monitoring them. Instead of turning toward the main lounge where we usually congregated, I turned the other direction—the one the waitstaff usually brought food from. We hadn’t ever been shown the kitchen, but it couldn’t be far, right?
I crept down the hallway and turned a corner. It was just another set of rooms. I continued down this one, moving faster now, before turning left at the next corner.
“Ahh!” I let out a muffled cry as I collided with a hard chest. A warm hand covered my mouth.
Eli stared down at me.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed once he took his hand away.
“I could ask you the same question. It’s the middle of the night,” he whispered.
“I need food,” I admitted. “My stomach growled so loudly it woke me up and now it’s not letting me get back to sleep.”
“We can’t have that. Follow me,” he said, before turning and moving silently down the hall.
“Can we get in trouble for this?” I asked, keeping pace with him.
“For eating?” he asked with a grin.
“For lurking around late at night. Brady told us not toleave our rooms.” We turned another corner, and found a small sitting area with a few couches and tables.
“I don’t think letting contestants starve to death is best practice for a reality show,” Eli said.
“I didn’t say I wasstarvingto death. I just said I was hungry.”
“The dinner on yourdatewasn’t good?” He said the word ‘date’ mockingly. I should have just lied about my feelings for Arnie. Maybe this whole weird energy we had going on could have been completely avoided if I’d just told him I had a crush on Arnie.
Eli stopped at a set of double doors just off the sitting room and pushed one side open, gesturing for me to enter first.
“What are you doing up anyway?” I asked as he turned on the lights and I took in the room. It was a small commercial kitchen with large silver appliances and a long countertop down the middle that separated the workspaces on both sides. At the end, there were two industrial-sized fridges.
He stepped in and walked to the end of the room. “I can’t sleep on this schedule they’re forcing us to keep. I’m typically a night owl, so forcing us to bed at ten just has me pacing my room for hours.”
He threw open the fridge and I peeked at its contents from behind him.
“How did you know where the kitchen was?” I asked, my stomach gurgling as he produced a tinfoil-covered baking dish.
“Found it while wandering around on the first night,” he admitted. Peeling back the tinfoil revealed it was the fried rice we had been served for lunch today. Eli rummaged through the drawers and produced two forks, handing me one. “Do you want to try to warm it up, or?—”
I had already snatched the fork away from him and starteddigging into the cold rice. I nearly moaned with relief as the first bite hit my stomach.
Eli chuckled. “I guess cold is fine, then.”
“Do you know they don’t feed us on the dates?” I said, taking another forkful. “They didn’t feed us in our rooms because it was a dinner date, and then they only let us eat two bites of the food—which was disgusting, let me add—and forced us to talk or do interviews the entire time. The whole thing was ridiculous.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Sounds romantic.”
I already regretted my choice of words. Me admitting the date was bad wasn’t going to get Eli off my back.
“I mean, we kind of opened up to each other,” I deflected, taking another bite.
Eli tapped his fork against his chin, looking thoughtful. “You know, somehow, I don’t quite believe that.”
“Have you opened up to Sofia?” I challenged.
