Page 61 of Alice Chen's Reality Check

DANIEL CHO:I’m ready to take on anything with Alice by my side.

Chapter Twelve

Hell Is the Prisoner’s Dilemma

The next day, I wake up to the covers being violently yanked off me.

“Up, up, up!” Leah drops them on the floor. “Looks like you two got cozy overnight,” she observes.

As I blink away the dazzle of morning sun, I realize that my head is tucked into Daniel’s shoulder, and his arms are wrapped around me. I let out a squeak and roll away, but it isn’t easy. Our legs were tangled together, our bare skin touching in a way that I really don’t have time to think about right now.

Daniel clears his throat. I jump out of the bed. We both don’t look at each other.

“Guess I spoke too soon.” Leah heaves a sigh. “Come on, we’re already late.”

I check the digital clock on the bedside table. “What? We’re early.”

“Dixon’s pet PA, Anton, botched the call sheets. Plus, we have a lot of catch-up to do since we lost so much time dealing with the vomit fest yesterday.” Leah unzips my suitcase and starts flipping through my clothes. “Cute, but given your new story arc with Daniel, what you have isn’t going to cut it. Here, try this.” She reaches into her own bag and produces a red sundress that she tosses to me.

“Uh.” I hold up the dress. It’s fire-engine red.

“Just try it on,” she says. “I know, it’s very look-at-me, and your wardrobe is more about blending in with the walls, but it’ll help viewersremember who you are. And the editors will have an easier time with the color balance in your scenes.”

“Got it,” I say, ducking into the bathroom. Once the dress is on, I check myself out in the mirror. With the plunging neckline, barely-there straps, and flared skirt, this is the kind of look that Cindy would call a “fuck-me” dress. I’ll admit that it does look good, especially paired with my jade necklace.

I emerge from the bathroom to find Daniel wearing jeans and a maroon button-down with the sleeves rolled up to show off his forearms.

“Hey there,” Daniel says, turning to me, and then his eyes widen.

“What is it?” I smooth my skirt down. “Did I get toothpaste on myself?”

“No, you—” He blinks, then reaches for my hand. His voice drops, taking on a slight rasp. “You look perfect.”

“You’re not so bad yourself,” I say.

“All right, save the flirting for when the camera’s rolling,” Leah says, herding us out of the room.

“We’re not flirting!” Daniel and I yell in unison, and Leah cackles.

As we follow Leah down a winding staircase, then past the living room where the other contestants have been sleeping and a stunning bay window that looks out onto the ocean, I ask Leah about our wardrobe people. She laughs at that, telling us that our “stylists” were only here for the Lust Challenge. Apparently our producers are expected to do double duty as our wardrobe people.

From the set of her shoulders, it’s clear that Leah is feeling the pressure of landing that extra budget from FlixCast. There’s a lot riding on the next few episodes, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

“What about breakfast?” I ask.

“I’ve got you covered,” Leah says. Then she sees Anton at the end of the hall, lounging against a wall, and groans. “Let me guess, Anton. You didn’t get the smoothies I asked you to fetch for our lovely contestants.”

“Didn’t feel like it,” Anton says, yawning.

Leah glares at him with a fire hot enough to melt lead. “Anton. Do you see how busy everyone is? Can you at least pretend that you’re here to do your actual job?”

Anton pushes off the wall and heads to the kitchen, but not before calling over his shoulder, “You know, technically I don’t report to you!”

“Technically, every single person on this set outranks you!” Leah yells back.

We end up back on the beach, where a whole new setup has been constructed. The crew has built bamboo walls to hide what the challenge of the day is going to be. Eventually we’re escorted around the walls, where we’re greeted by the sight of two empty barrels in the sand, one painted red and one painted blue. The camera crew is standing at attention, covering every possible angle of the barrels. Behind the barrels is a small trailer painted with bright red and orange flames, looking like it blasted out of Flavortown.

I’m puzzling over what the competition could possibly be when Seth runs up with our smoothies.

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