Page 78 of Heart to Heart
“Really? Because you don’t seem too pleased.”
“Would you be pleased to be spending time with the ex who helped put you in the predicament I’m in right now?”
“I thought you two worked through that? Besides, Tristan, having her on your side again can’t hurt you. You’re a shoo-in for that new William Phillips movie now.”
I thought back to the evening Jessica showed up at my hotel room door. I’d opened it to see her hopeful face staring back at me, her red hair styled in the waves that used to drive me crazy. Key phrase there being ‘used to’. My kneejerk reaction had been to slam the door in her face and climb out the window, but she’d been stealth, blocking the door with her leg before I’d had the chance. Resigned, I’d agreed to give her five minutes.
Five minutes that turned into thirty.
Jessica started off with an apology, taking me aback because she had never apologized for anything in her life. But she’d appeared to be genuinely remorseful, and at the end of our conversation, admitted to me that she’d been thinking about me, even leaning in at one point to kiss me, only to come back empty-handed, surprised and doleful when I leaned away from her. No one leaned away from Jessica Davis, and it had given me a sick satisfaction to have been the first.
When I ushered her out the door to meet Avery, she’d asked me whether she could join the show. Another surprise, because appearing on reality television shows would have been beneath her when we were together. My initial thought was to tell her to go home. But I knew she wouldn’t give up that easily, and if things went well with Avery, there would be no show for her to join, anyway. So, I left things off by telling her that I would think about it as I rushed out the door and ran all the way to the beach, where Avery was nowhere in sight.
And then there was that conversation with Avery. That blow gave me the answer I needed yet shattered me all the same. Everything I felt when I was with her had been one-sided. I’d have to submit her scenes for consideration to the Academy come award season because she was a much better actress than even Jessica. Yet, I couldn’t blame her. She’d made her intentions clear. I was the idiot who’d caught feelings that weren’t reciprocated.
On my walk from Avery’s room, a frantic assistant found me, demanding an answer as to whether Jessica should be allowed to join the season. I’d shrugged and muttered, “Sure.” It didn’t matter if Jessica was there or not. Wanda was going to get exactly what she wanted, considering I wasn’t going to fall for any of the other women in the house.
“Just keep your head up. We’re only four more episodes from sealing the deal.”
I ended the call, flinging my phone on the seat next to me as I leaned back in my seat, burying my face in my hands.
“What happened with Avery?” John asked.
“Absolutely nothing and everything all at once.”
John eyed me like a father waiting for his son to fess up to doing something he’d caught him red-handed doing. “That’s cryptic as hell.”
“She turned me down,” I answered, the sting still as sharp as it had been when she’d first delivered it.
John shook his head. “No. Nope, I don’t believe that at all,” he added, doubling down.
“Believe it, because it happened.”
“The disappointment on her face when she opened the door and saw me instead of you was almost insulting.” He laughed. “And the way she snatched that note from my hand, knowing it was from you, there’s no way she doesn’t feel some kind of way for you.”
“She feels some kind of way. Just not the kind of way I want her to.”
I looked out the window in time to see a plane flying low on its descent into LAX. We were headed to pick up Rachel for today’s outings with the remaining six contestant’s families. My parents preferred to stay out of the spotlight at all costs, so Rachel was filling in for them. Older than me, she’d always been protective over me, including giving her honest opinion of the women I dated.
Long story short, she hated Jessica.
I’d looked forward to her meeting Avery, seeing if she saw in her what I did and still do. She would have. Or will, I should say. Which was going to make this day even harder.
It had occurred to me that I could still quit the show, but if I did that, I’d be saying goodbye to Avery right then, and I wasn’t ready for that. Even though being around her was a punch to thegut, I couldn’t let her go. There were four episodes left, and no matter how foolish it may seem, I wanted to spend every episode I could with her before she was out of my life forever.
CHAPTER 44
AVERY
To the surpriseof absolutely no one in the house, Jessica was given her own bedroom in the mansion. Despite our group being cut down to five OG contestants, instead of bunking in separate bedrooms, we’d all decided to band together in one, even though it was crowded and felt like adult summer camp—if adult summer camp smelled like Dior mixed with wine. And it was in our bedroom that the five of us sat, waiting to be whisked away to our individual top-secret dates with Tristan.
The order of these dates was unknown. All we knew was that every hour, one of us was called to get ready to leave. Eventually, only Bianca and I remained, along with Jessica, who kept to herself in her own bedroom when she wasn’t lounging by the pool or complaining about the food.
Bianca laid on her stomach, sprawled across my bed, thumbing through a six-month-old edition ofVoguemagazine, taking our newfound friendship to high school levels of closeness. Like the rest of us had done all day, she periodically glanced up at the clock on the wall. Bianca had tells that I hadn’t picked up on until we started hanging around each other more. For example, the subtle frown she gave to the clock, mixed withhow she furrowed her brows, told me she was concerned about who would be called next and most likely hoped it wouldn’t be her. “Please don’t let Jessica be the last date of the night,” she muttered, confirming my observations.
“Why?” I asked, inspecting my clothes hanging on the portable hanger provided to each of us for our wardrobes. Bianca looked at me as though she were disappointed in me. Apparently, some things weren’t going to change.
“Because if she’s the last one, she can milk more time out of the date. There won’t be any pressure to make good time to fit us all in.”
