I turned to my partner. Her eyes were dull, and her left hand’s fingers were still tapping her thigh. As soon as the door clicked shut behind her sister, she took a deep breath, exhaled, and visibly shook herself a little, before turning back toward me with a small smile.
It felt off. Forced.
I had a moment of hesitation before telling Matilda my news,but I decided I should just get this over with. Better to set expectations now than have her assume otherwise and make it worse down the line.
“I’m not attending the week five press event, by the way.” My stomach hollowed as her smile immediately dropped. She pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut.
“Why?”
“Because I hate paparazzi and journalists.”
When she spoke again, there was a desperation in her tone that I hadn’t heard before. “Please, Luca.” I studied her. For the first time, she wasn’t hiding what she was really feeling. My words had upset her; it was written all over her face.
“Will my not attending affect our chances of winning?”
“Well, it’s important if we want to make a good impression, yes, but it’s not just that. It’s…I…I can’t…We can’t not go. My mother would have an aneurysm if we didn’t attend together.” She wanted to go because of hermom? My lips parted, ready to ask her to elaborate, but she continued. “Please. I get why you want your privacy, and why you don’t want to be friendly—but please, can we just attend this event together? It’sreallyimportant forme.”
Her voice wavered, soft and heavy. I shifted on my feet. She sounded…tired. It reminded me of my mother.
I didn’t like the way Lauren treated her sister so dismissively. Even if I didn’t exactly like Matilda, it bugged me enough that I knew I didn’t want to dismiss her like Laurendid.
“Fine, we’llgo.”
One event. I could manage that. Matilda hadn’t asked for much, not really.
Her shoulders sagged with relief and a smile finally graced her lips again. Despite my hesitations about her, I knew I had made the right decision.
“Thank you so much, Luca,” she gushed, and glanced to theclock on the wall. “Sorry, looking at the time, we might have to grab just a quick lunch now if that’sOK?”
“Sure. Meet back here in twenty?”
“Yeah, that works great.” I thought she’d try again to ask if we should grab lunch together, but she didn’t. Looking over her shoulder, she said, “See you in a sec” to Jack. I’d forgotten he was still there. It was unlike him to be quiet for so long.
He waved with a genuine smile, and an uncomfortable knot tightened in my stomach. I stared after her for a moment too long.
“Was that her sister?” Jack walked to where I stood.
“Yeah, she was weird.”
“Completely different to Matilda.”
“She’s something, all right…Did you hear their conversation? Matilda didn’t sound too happy.” I instantly regretted my words when Jack tilted his head playfully.
“Aww, do you feel bad for Matilda? First you agree to the press event, now you’re concerned for her.”
“No, I just noticed that she was marginally less annoying for a moment.”
His booming laugh echoed around the empty space.
“Man, you are fucking hilarious. Lighten up—Matilda’s a nice girl. She’s not Nancy; she’s just trying to do her job.”
“No one’s that fucking nice,” I argued, reaching down to grab a protein bar from my bag. Ripping the packet open, I took a bite.
“Are you so self-centered that you think she started her career on this show four years ago just hoping you’d be a contestant one day?” He was belly-laughingnow.
He has a point.
Still, she could have been an opportunist.
