‘One of the areas we want to move into is about positive relationships with women,’ he went on. ‘A lot of men have massive issues about looking weak in front of women. I won’t bore you with all the details, but long story short: the main reason I came onMarry Me, Julietwas so I could promote the charity, raise awareness and build our platform, especially as we move into this new campaign. I want to demonstrate that men don’t have to worry about putting on some macho front to impress women all the time. I want to show that they can be real people with them, even if they’re interested in them.’
‘But you’re not interested in me,’ I said. ‘I don’t know if you remember, but you dumped me last night.’
‘Ha ha,’ he said dryly. ‘The thing is, you’re definitely going to be a big part of the first episode. I mean, you got pushed into the pool, and then you fainted.’
‘Then you carried me down here like a princess and it was very embarrassing, I remember.’
‘The audiences are going to want to know about you,’ he said. ‘They’re going to be interested in you. That’s the whole reason they brought me down here today – so you and I could talk, on camera. So what if we just… kept doing it?’
‘Kept talking on camera?’
He nodded.
I took a deep breath, trying to process what he was asking. ‘But you eliminated me,’ I said at last. ‘I’m gone. I’m off theshow. I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for the pandemic. I’d be in a limo to the airport.’
‘You’re not in a limo to the airport, though, are you?’ he said. ‘You’re here. So why not take advantage of it?’
‘And do what?’
‘Ties Out is all about talking,’ he said. ‘About your feelings, specifically. So why don’t we tell a story about that?’
He ran a hand through his hair. ‘It could be a different kind of story to the ones we’re telling up at the Villa,’ he said. ‘Those stories are about how you can be vulnerable and real with potential partners. But we could tell a story about being vulnerable and real with a friend. There could be a whole new angle here, about how men and women can be important and valuable people in each other’s lives without there being a romantic or sexual component to their relationship.’
Talking.
About vulnerable subjects.
In front of thousands and thousands and thousands of people.
My therapist had once asked me to describe my worst-case scenario. I’d told her that it was being back in the position I was when I was eighteen, kicked out of the system with no money and no one and nowhere to go.
But maybe I’d been wrong. This proposition might be my actual worst nightmare.
‘Let me get this straight,’ I said slowly. ‘You want to be fake friends with me?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘I’d like to be real friends with you. Youseem like a really cool and interesting person, now you’re not freaking out.’
I blinked, surprisingly flattered.
‘But we could tell a story about being friends for the show,’ he went on. ‘Really make a point of it.’
‘Like, you’d come down here after some of your dates and we’d debrief and I’d give you advice?’
If we were only talking abouthisfeelings and vulnerabilities and whatnot, I could downgrade this a whole bunch of notches on the actual-worst-nightmare scale.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘That’d be perfect. It’d be a real point of interest for the season. No one’s ever done something like this before. It could be super heartwarming.’
‘Like, we had a rocky beginning, and we’re obviously not a match romantically, but we can still be there for each other?’
‘Exactly,’ he said.
Little crinkles formed at the corners of his eyes when he smiled. He was already extremely handsome, but that smile dialled it up to unbelievable levels.
Maybe his smile had some kind of magical power. He’d somehow managed to make having a feelings chat on national television into something I might want to do.
‘Plus, from a purely selfish angle, I would love to have a friend to talk through things with,’ he said. ‘Being the Romeo is a lot. There’s a ton of pressure on me. Having someone without an agenda I can talk to can only be good for my mental health.’
‘I do have an agenda, though,’ I said. ‘Money.’
