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It was no secret that the Ashcroft family had money—from the extravagant jewelry Zara kept receiving to the brand names that all three Ashcroft boys wore. Even now, Jesse had an expensive-looking watch strapped around his wrist, which he fiddled with every so often. However, she’d never considered the publicity money could bring.
Jesse shrugged. “I guess so. I’ve grown up with it, so it’s not new to me or anything.”
“Everything is new when it’s not happening to you.”
“Fair.”
Raina turned, watching Theo walk around the room to test the range of the mic. “I think they want you over there,” she said, motioning to where Zara and Dean were beckoning.
“It’s starting,” Jesse answered with a grin.
Raina watched him leave, his red curls bouncing as he loped over to where the others were setting up the camera equipment. The camera was Nicole’s phone, but she had a million little parts and pieces that went into setting it up for a live, and so the dark haired girl was directing Raina’s friends to arrange them all to her liking.
“One minute!” someone called.
She took a deep breath. It was time.
* * *
Time moved very quickly when you were on camera. Jesse’s breaks seemed like seconds—he would dart off camera to grab a quick drink, before hurrying back to announce the next performer. Like now, when he put his cookie down mid-bite because the song had ended.
“Thank you to our lovely singer, Arianne, here!” Jesse bounced back into view and made a show of clapping. The sophomore bowed slightly before exiting, brushing her dyed blue curls out of her face. Adjusting the sleeves of his shirt, Jesse grinned slyly at the camera. “How ‘bout we add in a little incentive for our teenaged viewers here? For those of you who’ve been watching our live for a bit, you might know that I have two male cousins. Now, Dean is in a relationship, and to be honest, it’s quite sickening sometimes. You should see them all over each other. And me, well, let’s get back to that later. But that still leaves one of us who is completely single, so let’s welcome Theo to the camera!” Jesse exclaimed, waving his dark haired cousin over.
Theo laughed nervously as Jesse pulled him into the camera frame. “Hi guys,” he said, leaning in so Jesse’s mic could pick his voice up. “Um, Jes, what am I doing here?”
Jesse beamed at his cousin. “Well Theo, I’m glad you asked! See, we have some amazing viewers who, er, want to do things to me that I’d rather not repeat,” he finished weakly, catching sight of one of the comments. “So I figured if any one of us is going on a date with an extremely kinky but hopefully not serial killer from TikTok, it should be you, since you’re one of the smart ones.”
Out of the camera frame, Dean spat out the water he was drinking. Jesse ignored him, turning back to the phone and flashing a winning smile. “So what do you say, TikTok? For every $10 you donate, and put in the message #datewiththeo, you’ll be entered into a lottery to win a date with the one and only Theo Ashcroft!”
The next thing he knew, Jesse was being yanked out of the camera frame by a furious Dean. Nicole replaced him, launching into another speech.
“Hey, what’s the big deal?” Jesse complained. “I’ve got a successful video going on here.”
Dean glared at him. “Corner. Now.”
Grumbling, Jesse followed Dean and Theo to the opposite end of the room. Jesse’s cousins cornered him against the wall, identical upset expressions on their faces.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Jesse asked, crossing his arms. “Look, is it because I didn’t tell you guys in advance that I was going to raffle off Theo? It’s one date! And I literally had the idea three seconds ago.”
Dean groaned, covering his face with his hands. “Theo, I don’t know any other way to fix this. I’m so sorry.”
Jesse looked at his cousins. “Fix what? Is there something that I’m missing here?”
Over Jesse’s shoulder, he noticed a horrified look on Nicole’s face. Jesse turned his attention back to Theo. He could deal with Nicole and the broadcast later.
Theo sighed, a resigned expression on his face. “Jesse, I’m gay,” he said sharply. “Obviously, this isn’t how I wanted to tell you—”
“Shut up shut up shut up!” Nicole yelled, and all three boys turned to see her waving her arms frantically. “Jesse,” Nicole whispered once she had gotten their attention. “Your mic.”
It was only then that Jesse remembered the mic strapped to his chest. “No.”
“Yes,” Nicole said quietly. “Theo, hun, I’m so sorry.”
A strangled cry left Theo’s mouth as he glanced wildly around the hall.
“I thought it couldn’t reach!” Dean exclaimed. “It was a crappy mic! We literally just grabbed it from the music room!”
Nicole shrugged helplessly. “Theo—”
