The vacuum lines lingering on the pink carpet under my feet do something to calm my nerves. The books lining the wall shelves bring me a comfort I’ve never really felt before, and I just feel lucky that I’m able to do this at home, where I feel like myself. Where I don’t feel like I have to be someone else.
This whole situation is overwhelming—soon, interviews will determine who I marry in a few weeks.
Marriage.
My heart starts to sink. What’s going to happen to my place?
A solid mass of fur brushes up against my leg, and I smile.
“Well, Mr. Fluffernutter, things are about to change around here.”
“Mrrrrow,”he purrs.
I bend down to pick his massive body off the ground. His white hair covers my face, and I bury it in the fluff.
“You want a dad?”
He gags, his rancid fish breath hitting me straight on.
“Okay, well, sometimes we don’t get a decision in life.” I put him down and move some plants around until I’m happy with them.
The mid-day sun casts an incandescent glow onto my walls, the pink of my apartment only adding to the luminous warmth.
My buzzer rings, and I head out to let everyone in.
The gaffer is the first to get here. He greets me with a smile, and I lead him through the brick entrance before entering my apartment. He immediately gets to work setting up the lighting.
I grab Fluffernutter and place him in the bathroom of my bedroom with no less than five kisses before closing the door. He regards me with what I can only describe as the most evil side-eye I’ve ever seen.
It doesn’t take long for them to finish setting up, and sometime around four, a woman shows up at my doorstep with two more people.
She extends her hand, her brown hair falling around her shoulders. “Hi, Amara! My name is Lindsey Wells, and I’m a producer assigned to you. This is Joanna and Dylan Day, they’re the experts here to interview you!”
I smile warmly in an attempt not to let my nerves get to me. “It’s so nice to meet you both!” I say with a smile as I extend my hand.
“Likewise,” Joanna smiles. It’s warm, but there’s something under it that I can’t quite pinpoint just yet. Something that doesn’t exactly keep me calm.
I show them in and sit on the couch.
Production had moved two of my statement chairs in front of my TV stand, where Joanna and Dylan sit. They’re whispering to each other as I sit down, smoothing my dress. It’s about ten more minutes before cameras start rolling.
They get right into it.
It starts off simple. How was your family life? Where did you grow up? The further they get into the questions, the more red flags get waved in my head. The two of them keep looking at each other, their eyes bright, but not in a way that makes me believe they’re happy, wonderful people who want me to feel safe.
More like sharks that see chum in the water and know they’re about to have a feast.
“What would you say was the most challenging part of moving here from your hometown?” Joanna asks.
I consider the question for a second, picking at my nails. Obviously, I know the answer to that, but it’s not something I really want to get into, and especially not on camera. There are people who don’t know. Important people that I’m going to have to sit down and explain things to. Things that will only result in them digging into my past, and that’s not something I really want to deal with at the moment. Or ever.
“Just starting over,” I shrug. “I had one connection here, and she introduced me to my best friends. We’re all still really close to this day.”
“And who are they?” Dylan asks.
“Well, there’s Mila, who’s probably the most normal of all of us, Isla, who’s an artist, and Heidi, who’s a really badass photographer.”
“You all have creative jobs, that’s cool.”
