5
From his seatat the end of the row, Evan watched as the filming of the second part of the segment continued. In part one, the contestants had been separated, the person who remained on stage asked a question. Now, for part two, the person who’d been in isolation returned to the stage. The other couples, including him and Amber, had already been put through their paces. Amber had done brilliantly, a lot of her responses pretty much echoing the answers he’d given while she’d been offstage, although a couple had been way off base. However, the questions weren’t too serious, and the quiz seemed to be designed to elicit humorous responses. Luckily, he and Amber both had thick skins and had laughed at the more ridiculous ones. He’d been tense when the attention had been on him, but now he relaxed, at least as much as possible while on a stage in front of a large audience—not to mention, cameras—and focused on Harry and John as they took their turn in the hot seat.
“Welcome back, John,” Brian said. “So how do you think Harry went with his answers? Are you confident you two know each other inside and out?”
John straightened in his chair. “I think so, Brian.”
“You guys have been together for about a year, right? So this should be a shoo-in.”
John glanced at Harry, then back at the host. “Absolutely, Brian. We’ve got this.”
Harry looked uncomfortable, his smile forced, and Evan felt for the poor guy. It wasn’t easy being up on stage, under bright lights, and being asked fairly personal questions in front of an audience of strangers. Evan himself had been nervous as hell, but he’d been mostly worried his answers were going to be way off base, considering he and Amber weren’t really dating.Harry shouldn’t have that problem.
“Let’s get on with it then,” Brian said. “The first question we asked Harry was about your first time.” The audience tittered, and Brian played up on the innuendo with an exaggerated wink before continuing. “We asked, ‘what movie title best describes the first time you got together as a couple?’ Was itDeep Impact,Fast & Furious, orFailure To Launch?”
As the audience laughed at each movie title and the obvious sexual innuendo, John’s brows drew together. Obviously, it wasn’t a question he’d been expecting, although he should have had some idea of the tone of the questions from observing the earlier groups.
“Oh, well, uh… I’m not, um—”
“Having trouble remembering that first date, are you, John?”
“Ahh…”
“Harry didn’t have too much trouble recalling that evening,” Brian continued.
John’s gaze flew to Harry. Harry shuffled uneasily in his seat. John sat up straighter. “I think we made a real connection that night, Brian.”
“I bet you did. A real connection.” Brian faced the audience and waggled his brows.
“Not like—” Harry started to speak, but his objection was cut off by Brian, who spun around and held up a hand in his direction.
“No more stories, Harry. Although I think the audience would looove to hear more about your first night together.” He faced the audience again. “Isn’t that right, folks?”
Brian succeeded in revving up the audience, who yelled in the affirmative, accompanied by a few wolf-whistles. Evan couldn’t help but laugh along.Brian’s jokes were cheap and reliant on sexual innuendo but achieved their goal; the crowd loved it. But even as he chuckled, Evan felt slightly sorry for Harry, who was on the receiving end of one of John’s glares. God, that man had the ability to convey a hell of a lot in one pointed stare. Even in the short time he’d known John, he’d come to recognise that look.
Poor Harry.
Brian focused his attention back on John. “All right, John. What’s your answer? What movie best describes your first night with Harry?Deep Impact,Fast & Furious, orFailure To Launch?”
“Well, Brian. I’d have to say it wasDeep Impact.” The crowd roared, obviously at the sexual suggestion. John narrowed his eyes but continued. “Harry and I met on a blind date, but I made quite an impression. It was love at first sight.” John leaned over and grabbed Harry’s hand, giving it an obvious squeeze. “Right, babe?”
Bah bow.
Harry gave a half-smile as a buzzer sounded, his eyes darting to Brian, who broke the bad news. “I’m afraid that’s not quite how Harry saw it, John. Harry actually choseFailure to Launch.”
“I, uh…”
Oh my God.Evan didn’t think he’d ever seen someone go so red. It wouldn’t have surprised him if steam hadn’t started rising from John’s ears, the guy was so pissed off. Evan suppressed a chuckle.
“I believe your date that night was cut short,” Brian prompted.
Evan could see the moment John’s mask fell back into place. John plastered on a smile and appeared to laugh along with the audience, but Evan noticed he’d dropped Harry’s hand.
“Oh, that’s right. We’d had such a great time, it was a shame that Harry got sick and needed to leave early, but it was still a memorable evening, and Harry was only too happy to jump at the chance of a second date, so I’m okay to stick with my original answer even if it isn’t a winner in this round, Brian.”
“Okay then. So let’s move onto the next question.” Brian looked at the card in his hand. “We asked Harry to tell us, if you were a natural disaster, what disaster would that be?”
“That’s an easy one.” This time John’s smile was real and the confidence obvious. “I’m absolutely positive that Harry would say I’m a bush fire, because I’m hot, wild, and hard to control.”
