‘What do you mean?’
‘I get the feeling it’s easy to get swept up in things in here,’ she said. ‘I know he’s great, but… I just don’t want you to get hurt, Mandie.’
‘It’s Day Two,’ I said, a little confused. ‘I’ve known him for twelve hours. I’m not about to get down on my knees and propose. I just want to talk to him some more.’
‘I know, I know,’ she said, laughing. ‘Sorry. That wasn’t, like, a “hands off my man” warning or anything. It was more a “you just went through a big break-up, ease yourself back into things” kind of deal.’
‘Thank you for worrying,’ I said. ‘But I promise you: this is an emotionally healthy decision zone. No rushing intothings. No falling head over heels. Good choices only.’
She laughed again and then changed the subject, and for the rest of the way down the hill, we planned ways to overcome the strong resistance some of the other women had put up against the chore wheel Kumiko and I had developed.
Part of me, though, was still stuck on what she’d said.
Three years ago,Marry Me, Julietdid this gimmick-y season where they cast contestants in pairs. There were sets of sisters and cousins and friends (and one mother-daughter pair, which was… interesting), all competing for the one Romeo.
Everyone was super happy at first. ‘It’s so nice to have someone to lean on during this experience!’ they’d say in their talking head interviews. ‘This is such a tough process, so it’s nice not to have to go through it alone!’
But it wasn’t likebothmembers of the pair could end up with the Romeo. (I wasn’t dating Jac when the season aired, but I could imagine the exact lecture about mononormativity that would have prompted from her.) At some point, the pair had to split up. Inevitably, the Romeo would come between them.
I liked Romeo-Dylan. If I could get my brain to cooperate with me, I was planning toreallylike him. He seemed to like me back.
But he clearly liked Dylan too. And she didn’t have a hopeless crush or the lingering memory of an ex standing between her and him.
Some contestants’ relationships had been damaged foreverby thatMarry Me, Julietseason. Friends never spoke to each other again. Sisters cut each other off.
If Romeo-Dylan came between me and Dylan, I didn’t know what I would do.
No, I realised suddenly. There was something I could do. If Romeo-Dylan looked like he was coming between me and Dylan, all I had to do was leave.
It really was that easy. If I had to – if it looked like Dylan was falling hard for him – I could just pull the ripcord, head down to the Convent, wait for it all to be over, and then resume being friends with her on the other side.
Of course, I might feel differently in a few weeks’ time, I thought, as we reached a big marquee and the crew started fussing around us. If my plan worked too well and I somehow fell madly in love with Romeo-Dylan, things would probably become a lot less clear.
‘Turn this way, love,’ a make-up artist said to me. ‘We just need to give you a few touch-ups before we start shooting.’
‘Just a few touch-ups’ was a lot more involved than it sounded, especially given the ratio of hair and make-up people to contestants. They spent about twenty minutes working on the eight of us who were on the group date. Murray was there too, typing notes in his phone, scribbling on a clipboard, and talking to the crew. ‘Kanda!’ he said at one point, summoning her. She spoke to him briefly, then disappeared and came back wearing a new shirt. It was apple green, very different from the deep purple one she’d been wearing.
Lily was wearing a dress in that same shade of purple.How dare you wear my colour?I remembered.
Huh. Was Murray trying to protect Kanda, or was he just as scared of Lily as the rest of us?
Well, not all of us, I thought, glancing over at Dylan, who was laughing with one of the make-up artists. Some of us didn’t put up with bullshit.
Dylan caught me looking at her and winked.
Oh dear. I should not have found that wink as sexy as I did.
I was giving myself a very stern lecture about how I was a new, improved Mandie who absolutelywas not allowing this to happenwhen filming started. ‘Welcome to your first group date!’ Z announced.
I’d been so busy giving myself the Mandie 2.0 talk that I’d totally missed that Romeo-Dylan had turned up. He was standing beside Z, wearing a more casual outfit than the night before, jeans and a teal polo shirt. He had his hands clasped in front of him, making itveryapparent that he had the arms of a Greek god.
I focused on those arms, which were 1) undeniably sexy, and 2) a much, much safer thing to find undeniably sexy.
‘As I’m sure most of you are aware, the first date ofMarry Me, Julietis always a photo shoot,’ Z said. ‘We’ve done a lot of themes in these shoots over the seasons. Our Romeos and Juliets have been photographed as everyone from Johnny and Baby to Sid and Nancy to… well, Romeo and Juliet.’
We had to stop for a few moments and go back, because none of us laughed hard enough at the joke.
‘But this year’s theme might be my favourite one of all,’Z finally announced. ‘Famous love triangles!’
