The woman who’d been sitting beside Lily in our limobeamed. ‘You had me worried,’ she said to him. ‘Don’t do that to me again, please.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘Heather, I really enjoyed meeting you tonight, and I want to know if your heart is the other half of mine. Will you take this necklace and commit to finding out with me?’
‘Of course.’
Coloured dots started swimming in front of my eyes. I thought for a minute that I was delirious, but then I saw the white light peeking from just behind the drawn curtains. The sun must be coming up.
‘Juliets, this is the last necklace for this evening,’ Z said. ‘If you don’t receive it, then I’m sorry, but your journey ends here.’
Dylan picked it up. My mouth was so dry I thought I might choke.
There were four of us left. Me. Two women I hadn’t met.
And Lily Fireball.
My breath was shaking. My hands were shaking. Even my feet were shaking, so much that I thought I might fall off my heels.
‘I thought long and hard about who to give this last necklace to,’ Dylan said. ‘I told you at the beginning of tonight that I like strong women. Ballsy women. Women who aren’t afraid to go for what they want.’
I saw Lily smirk. I started shaking even worse.
Fingers twined around my hand. Amanda. I gripped her fingers back, just as tight.
‘Sometimes, though,’ Dylan said, ‘it’s possible to take things too far.’
My heart leaped in my chest.
‘I like a woman who stands up for herself,’ he said. ‘Someone who stands up for what she believes in. Someone with a strong sense of justice. Someone who fights for what she wants.’
I was going to buy Murray the most enormous bunch of flowers with my sponcon money. That man was a genius.
‘And I believe in second chances,’ Dylan said. ‘Which is why I’d like to give this last necklace to… Lily Fireball.’
What.
The.
Fuck.
‘Lily, you didn’t go about things the right way tonight,’ Dylan said, ‘but I like your spirit. I want to know if your heart is the other half of mine. Will you take this necklace and commit to finding out with me?’
‘Of course I will,’ Lily said. ‘Thank you, Dylan.’
I wanted to scream. I wanted to yell.No,I wanted to shout,you don’t understand, I’m not like this normally, I swear!
But all the cameras swung round to focus on me, and I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t breathe in calm or anxiety or anything Jenifer had said. How far could I stretch $1400? What was I going to do? There were no jobs!There were no jobs!
‘Samantha, Rani, Cecilia, I’m so sorry,’ Z said, ‘but this is the end of your journey.’
Amanda was hugging me and whispering something into my ear, but I couldn’t hear it. My blood was pounding and my heart was racing and the coloured dots were swarming now, swarming, hundreds of them, thousands.
How big a part of the first episode was my dunk into the pool going to be? Surely I could still get some sponcon money out of that, right? I’d made a splash – a literal splash! – and there had to be someone who’d pay me to advertise their… I don’t know, what did people advertise on Instagram? What if none of them had any money either because of the pandemic? What if—what if—what if—
‘Ordinarily, this is where you’d leave the Juliet Villa,’ Z said, ‘but as we all know, this isn’t an ordinary year, and this isn’t an ordinary season ofMarry Me, Juliet.’
The sensible part of my brain was vaguely aware that I was beginning to hyperventilate.
‘We’ve been informed that, as we filmed tonight’s First Night Party, Stage Four restrictions were implemented by the government in order to control the spread of the pandemic,’ Z said. ‘Those restrictions mean that wherever you spent the night last night is where you need to stay for the next six weeks.’
