“You weren’t kidding about being a sleepy drunk, were you?” I ask.
She yawns. “Can we go home yet?”
“Becks,” I tell her, “you are home. Come on. Just the tiara ceremony to go, and then you can get some sleep.”
She looks up at me with this world-weary expression, and I laugh. I take her hand to pull her up, and she leans forward a bit, resting against me for a half second before she gets her feet under her.
My whole body warms up—not in a sexual rush like it did when she ran into me earlier, but in this pleasant way that makes me long to take her in my arms and just hold her. I want to tell her it’s okay to go to sleep, to let her lie down on the settee and put a blanket over her the way people do in romantic comedies.
I take a deep breath and a big step back, once I’m sure Becca’s going to stand okay on her own. “Come on,” I say. “Time for the big moment.”
I realize I’ve told her she can go to sleep after this like I know what’s going to happen, and the truth is, I don’t. Preston is in a meeting right now with Levi and the senior producers, making decisions about who stays and who goes. I expect Becca to stay, but I don’t know for sure if she will.
I’m torn between hoping she does, so that I can see her more, and hoping she doesn’t, so that after all this is over, I can ask her out and see if she feels differently about me when she’s not dating Prince Charming.
If someone amazing doesn’t snap her up before the show’s over and sweep her off her feet for her happily ever after. A woman like Becca isn’t going to stay unattached for long, not if she’s decided she’s ready to give relationships a shot.
I lead her out onto the terrace, while a couple of the other producers usher in the other stragglers. She isn’t the only one who looks like she’s ready to fall asleep, but when they get a look at the tiara table and the pedestal next to it where Preston will stand, the women all grow more alert. One of the producers, Olivia, is helping them to stand the correct distances from one another so they look good on camera, fussing with their hair, making sure the lighting is right. Becca gives me a look of panic—she’s also awake now—and moves to her place in the second row. Cameras are set up around the edges of the room, and as soon as Olivia is done with the girls, Levi instructs them all to wait while the cameras record.
They stand there for a good twenty minutes, cameras catching every fidget, every uncomfortable twitch, all of which will be used when they need reaction shots.
“Nate, Levi wants you with Preston,” Olivia says to me, and I head back down the hall to a shelving unit where all thirty of the women’s pictures are set up in frames. Preston stands before the shelves, his hands behind his back, perusing the images and pretending to consider them for the camera, manned by Dustin.
“All right,” Dustin tells Preston. “We got it.”
Preston immediately deflates, looking even more tired than the girls did. “Okay. Who is in this first batch?”
Levi hands him a list. “These are your first five. Memorize them, then go hand the tiaras out. Come back and we’ll give you a new list, okay? If you forget some of them, just come back early. Nate here will walk you up and back.” Levi gestures to me, and I wave to Preston in greeting. I’m not assigned to interview him, so I’ve barely spoken to him. Apparently my newfound favor with Levi means I get the job of literally walking the guy up and down a hall, but at four AM, Preston is probably capable of forgetting hisownname, so maybe it’s necessary.
“Great,” Preston says. He goes over the list, then hands it back to Levi.They don’t want him referring to it on camera or—more importantly—in front of the girls.
As I walk Preston up the hall, he takes a deep breath. “If I mess up in interviews, no one sees it but you guys,” he says. “I really don’t want to fumble in front of the women. One of them could be my future wife.”
“You’ll be fine,” I say. “They’re all so nervous, it would probably make them feel better.”
Preston chuckles. It’s good to know, I guess, that he really is here to find love. It’s not as if he needs to pretend forme.Though maybe he worries that the producers will be upset with him if he admits he’s doing this for notoriety or Instagram followers.
They can’t kick him out for it at this point, and he’s too worn out to be calculating, so I think he’s probably being honest.
Preston steps up to the pedestal, and all the girls are suddenly paying attention.There’s not a sleepy face among them as they look at Preston with varying levels of adoration and terror. I wonder if it’s the spirit of competition or the weight of expectation or just the atmosphere that makes them capable of feeling so much desperation after just one night.
Whatever it is, it’s definitely not only for show.
“Thank you so much for being here,” Preston says, his voice full of sincerity.
From the second row, Becca catches my eye and makes a nervous face. I smile at her, giving her a thumbs up, and she nods and turns her attention to Preston.
Where it belongs, I tell myself. At best, I’m the supportive friend.
In the real world, I would never put myself in a position to be in the friend zone with a woman like her, and yet, here I am.
“I am so thankful,” Preston continues, “that you all took time out of your lives to come here to meet me, and I have cherished our time together.” I have to give this to the guy, he sounds like he means it. “But, for some of us, our time will be cut short.” He looks dramatically over to the tiaras.
Someone instructed him how to do this.They’ll layer that shot with some pre-prepared footage panning over the tiaras.
Thirty women and twenty tiaras, including the one already on Madison’s head. A third of these girls are going home tonight, and I can tell they all feel the pressure. Preston steps forward and picks up the first tiara, looking down at it.
“That’s good, Preston,” Olivia says. “Hold it there.”
