‘Even though they were clearly trying to get him to be in some weird incest throuple with them.’
I sipped at my coffee. ‘Then there was Taylor as well. I felt so bad for her. First, her Romeo was clearly angling for a threesome, and then she went onJuliet on the Beachand got in that love triangle with Penny and Seth and they gave her the worst edit in the world.’
‘Ah yes,’ Dylan said. ‘Pansexual Taylor, Evil Slut Queen, Ruiner of Lives.’
‘I remember watching an Insta Live Taylor did where she talked about all the death threats and hate mail she got,’ I said. ‘I’m not ashamed to be bi. At all. I’ve been out to most people in my life since I was a teenager, and it’s honestly not that big a deal. But… if I can avoid getting death threats and hate mail, then I’d like to. Maybe that makes me weak or spineless, but—’
‘Hey,’ Dylan said. ‘I would never think that. You know I would never think that. Right?’
‘Thank you.’
‘I mean it,’ she said. ‘You’re not weak. You’re not spineless.’
‘I guess we’ll see,’ I said, trying to keep my voice light. I put my coffee down on the ground beside me, afraid my hands would shake and I would spill it. ‘I’m about ninety-five per cent sure production knows I’m bi. If I don’t out myself, they might do it for me, just to create some drama.’
Dylan exhaled. ‘I wish I could tell you that they wouldn’t do that, but we both know they would.’
‘I know,’ I said. ‘I did my best to scrub my social media, but it wouldn’t take much digging to figure it out. Like I said, I’ve been out to pretty much everyone for pretty much ever. It’s not a secret.’
‘Can I ask you another question?’
‘Of course.’
‘If it’s not a secret,’ Dylan said, looking over at me, ‘then why didn’t you tell me?’
I picked up my coffee and took another sip, just to give myself time to think of a good enough answer.
‘Well, I didn’t want to be out on the show,’ I said eventually. ‘Like I said. Just trying to avoid… you know. Everything.’
‘I get that,’ she said. ‘But you know you could have told me, right? There’s no universe where this would make me think about you any different.’
‘I know,’ I said.
She didn’t say anything. She just kept looking at me.
‘I wish I had a good answer for you, Dylan,’ I said. ‘I wish I had some clear-cut thing that I could point to, like, “Oh, I didn’t tell you because an ancient witch put me under a curse to never let me speak of it.”’
That drew a snort of laughter.
‘It wasn’t that I thought you’d react badly or weirdly or anything,’ I said. ‘Or that you’d out me on purpose. Although you remember how Taylor got outed on her original season, right?’
‘Where she told her friend in front of the cameras and then producersabsolutelyleaked it to the Romeo? Of course I do,’ Dylan said, taking a swig of her coffee. ‘I promise I’ll never talk about this when there’s even a tiny chance there are cameras and mics around, okay? I wouldn’t do that to you.’
‘I know you wouldn’t,’ I said. ‘Although it probably doesn’t matter now. I’m almost positive they already know.’
‘For what it’s worth, I don’t think man-Dylan would be a dick about it,’ she said. ‘It wouldn’t be an Andrew and Gracie situation or anything.’
I nodded.
‘And if it got out to the rest of the women in the Villa, I’d have your back.’
I nodded again.
‘Is there –’ she hesitated. ‘Is there any other reason you didn’t tell me?’
Mandie 1.0 would have cracked.If I told you, you might ask me how I feel about you, and I might tell you, and then I might I lose you.
But Mandie 2.0 could restrain her impulses, if she put her mind to it. ‘It just never really came up,’ I said, taking another mouthful of cereal. ‘I left it too late after we met, and it’s an awkward thing to shoehorn into conversation, you know? Like, we’re messaging aboutReal Housewivesor whatever, and what am I supposed to do? Just be like, “Oh, by the way, just FYI, I’m bi.”’
