Eleven
Nate
The next week, Preston is down to twelve girls, and Becca is still among them. I’m at once glad that I can see her and crushed that the producers are keeping her around. I understand why—they haven’t gotten her to open up about her husband yet, and Levi is starting to pressure me to deliver “the goods” he’s sure I can get from her. I have no intention of abusing my friendship with Becca to get her to say things on the air that she doesn’t want to say, but even if I did, I don’t think it would do any good. Since the moment I met her, every time I ask about her husband, Becca puts on a fake smile and talks about what a wonderful father he was to the girls.
I don’t know what she’s covering—a broken heart? Complicated grief that she doesn’t want onTV? But whatever it is, Becca’s not giving it up, and I’m sure as hell not going to try to trick her into it. If I disappoint my boss, so be it.
With only twelve women left, though, we’re headed out of the castle and on the road. After the tiara ceremony, Preston tells the women that we’re headed to Bern, Switzerland, and the girls all cheer.
I think he could have announced they were going to Cleveland and they would have been excited, cooped up as they’ve been without phones or internet or any kind of entertainment besides complaining about each other.That’s been great for the show—Addison and Madison especially have been providing some great drama, sure as they both are that the other isn’t here for the right reasons. Londyn had a particularly spectacular meltdown on her one-on-one date with Preston, wherein she hinted at some daddy issues that Levi is bent on getting her to expound upon.
Thankfully, Becca isn’t avoiding me after my own meltdown in her bedroom, and the girls get packed and board the plane for Switzerland without coming to blows, so all seems to be going well.
Until we arrive in Switzerland, and Levi pulls me aside. “Hey, they lost some of our team’s luggage. Can you head over to baggage claim and find out where it is and how long the wait will be?”
“Sure thing.” I take our very long printout of baggage claim tickets and head over.
Preston is already there when I arrive, leaning against a support column next to the baggage claim customer service window. For all that we’re in a foreign country, there are a lot of signs in English.
“Hey,” Preston says to me. “Do you know what happened to my luggage?”
I wave the papers at him. “Going to find out right now. I’ll let you know.”
I haven’t spent a lot of time with Preston—he has his own producers who have developed relationships with him, and I’m not on that team. He seems like a decent enough guy, if a little bland, and he definitely plays the prince the way he’s supposed to. Still, I don’t like being around the guy, and I think no small part of that is because he’s dating the girl I wish was interested in me.
Preston scrutinizes me, like he’s not sure that I’m qualified to handle a customer service counter. “This is ridiculous,” Preston mutters. I’m not sure what he means by that. I just told him I was going to find out what happened to his luggage. Literally anyone could ask this question—including him.
But I’m also not going to pick a fight with Prince Charming just because I’m jealous, so I try to smile reassuringly. “Let me talk to these people and get back to you.”
Preston doesn’t respond, but he leans back against the post, pulls a magazine out of his pocket, and starts reading it.
I’m not sure where he got that—the entertainment rules are a lot more lax for him than they are for the girls, but they do try to keep him away from any gossip about the show that might be circulating, for the “purity of the experience.”
Still, I’ve been given a job, and it wasn’t to take away Preston’s copy ofPeople.
I go up to the counter, where I am greeted by a woman in German who immediately switches to English when I ask about our luggage. I give her the list of baggage claim numbers, and she sets about plugging the numbers into the computer.
“I’m sorry, sir,” she says when she finishes. “It looks like one of the baggage carts containing your group’s luggage was loaded onto the wrong plane and the bags are now in New York.They’ll come in on the next flight. We’ll bring the luggage to your hotel when it arrives, but it may not be until morning.”
“Thanks,” I say. I don’t know yet if my own bags are among those that were lost, but I can survive until morning without the contents of them.The show has travel insurance to cover us if there are any delays, but Levi hadn’t seemed panicked about essential equipment being lost, and a lot of the cameras and such are rented on location, anyway.
When I turn around, though, I find Preston standing directly behind me. “That’s unacceptable,” he says to the baggage clerk. “Whose mistake was this? We don’t have to put up with this kind of service.”
The woman was perfectly friendly with me, but she gives him an icy stare. “I’m sorry, sir,” she says in a clipped tone. “We will have your luggage to you as soon as—”
“That’s not good enough,” Preston says, and then he gives me a look, like he expects me to back him up.
I’m not going to chew this woman out. She was on a different continent when the mistake was made. “It’ll be fine,” I tell Preston. “Anything you need before your bags arrive, we’ll make sure you get.” Some of the women might be told to make do—though I imagine if their luggage was lost, we’ll at least be supplying them with toothbrushes. We aren’t filming until tomorrow afternoon, and that’s just a one-on-one, so only one girl will have to replace her date wear before filming, and she can probably borrow from the other girls. Assuming it’s not Daisy, who seems to have alienated most of the girls in the house.
If the team can manage it, they are going to manipulate it so that it’s Daisy.
Preston, on the other hand, is the star. If he needs something, we’ll find it for him.
“That’s it?” Preston leans over the counter, getting in this woman’s space. “Do you know who we are?”
Shit. Right now, clearly what he needs is to chill out. “Hey, Preston,” I say. “Let’s go find your team, okay? I’m sure they’ll help us figure out what to do.”
Preston gives me a look like I’m stupid, which gets my hackles up. I know Preston is stressed—it’s not like I think dating a dozen girls at once is an easy thing. And traveling doesn’t bring out the best in anyone—god knows I’m ready to close myself in my hotel room with theTV on and be done.
