She leaned in close, her lips almost touching my ear. ‘Trust me, Mandie,’ she said. ‘The way you look? He’s going to remember you.’
Some of her hair brushed my shoulder. It tickled. I shivered.
‘How many is he cutting tonight?’ the Mandie Clone asked.
‘Z will tell you that before the Necklace Ceremony,’Murray said. ‘Remember: when Z comes back into the First Night Party, the party ends. Because we have to film everything tonight, the party is going to be much shorter than it would normally be, so take your chances. If you haven’t taken the Romeo aside by the time the party ends, chances are you’ll get cut because he won’t remember you.’
‘Do you really think someone could forget me, Murray?’ Lily said, batting her eyelashes at him again.
‘Yes,’ Murray said. ‘Some of the Romeos we’ve had have been pretty dense.’
Was this Romeo going to be dense? I could work with that. My taste in men ran in a pretty distinct himbo direction.
It would drive Dylan absolutely up the wall, though. What were the chances that the Romeo was going to be some kind of magical unicorn who we were both interested in? Who was interested in two women as different as we were?
I had no doubt that my friendship with Dylan would survive the show. I wasn’t sureI’dsurvive the show without Dylan, though.
‘You’ve been working on this show for a few seasons, right, Murray?’ I asked. ‘Do you have any tips? Apart from making him remember us?’
He looked contemplative for a second. ‘Just don’t get too drunk,’ he said at last. ‘And try not to fall in the pool with your mic pack on. They’re expensive.’
Well, that was something. Even I could probably manage that.
‘Right, we’re approaching the property,’ he said. ‘One of our guys is going to open the door. Dylan G, you’re out first.’
‘Right,’ Dylan said.
The fact that they were giving her an initial meant there must be another Dylan on the show. Interesting. It wasn’t the most common women’s name ever, so it was a bit surprising that there were two of them.
‘Shit, really?’
It took me a second to realise Murray was talking to someone in his earpiece. ‘Really what?’ Cece asked.
‘Brief Z,’ Murray said, ignoring her. ‘Give me half an hour to get my girls through intros, and I’ll come and troubleshoot.’
‘Brief Z about what?’ Cece asked. Her leg started to jiggle even more violently.
‘We’re here,’ Murray said, still ignoring her as the limo slowed and then stopped. ‘Get ready, Dylan.’
‘I’m ready,’ she said. ‘And it’s “women”.’
That snapped him out of whatever was happening in his earpiece, because he looked right at her. ‘What?’
‘You called us “girls”. It’s women. We’re all adult women.’
‘You’re right,’ Murray said. ‘Sorry about that. Bad habit.’
That’s what I’m talking about, Mandie,Jac would say, gesturing wildly.If you’d just stand up to people once in a while, things might change.
My mouth went dry.Don’t you have any self-respect?
‘You good to go?’ Murray asked.
Dylan glanced at me, smiled, and squeezed my hand again quickly. ‘Yes,’ she said.
‘Open the door,’ Murray said into his radio.
Like magic, it opened. ‘See you in there, Mandie,’ Dylan whispered.
