Falling Into Love with You (The Hate-Love Duet #2) - Lauren Rowe Page 0,54
the house this morning to find out if Laila did, in fact, screw him during the tour, then so what? Would that have been such a horrendous crime? Yes, it would have been a bit immature of me. Obsessive, maybe. But would it have been enough of a misstep to undo all the goodwill and trust I’ve built with Laila since living with her? If so, then I guess what we’ve been building is a whole lot less sturdy then I’ve been thinking.
“Okay, judges, let’s have you get up and greet your respective mentors,” the director calls out. And we four judges dutifully spring into action.
When I reach Kendrick, he grips my palm in a sideways handshake, the same greeting he usually gives me, and I can’t help sneaking a peek at Laila to find out how she’s greeting Colin. Well, that figures. She’s kissing Colin’s cheek. Probably trying to get a rise out of me. Classic Laila.
I look away, and by chance, discover Aloha greeting Fish with a kiss to his cheek. See? I say to myself. There’s no reason to panic. Laila doesn’t want to jump Colin’s bones any more than Aloha wants to jump Fish’s.
“Okay, got it,” the director says. “Now, everyone take seats at the round table, with judges and mentors next to each other, and we’ll do a few minutes of trash-talking about the teams before breaking for lunch.”
All eight of us take seats, as instructed, and proceed to banter and hype up our teams for the next fifteen minutes or so. Until, finally, the director yells cut. “Before I release you for lunch,” he says, “let’s get some pickups and close-ups with each judge-mentor duo. Laila and Colin, you’re up first!” The director points toward a mark on the other side of the soundstage, and Laila and Colin get up and head to where he’s indicated, with Laila not even bothering to look at me before she leaves.
“You’re freaking out about Colin again, huh?” Kendrick says in a whisper, the minute Laila and Colin are gone. “Dude, Laila’s only doing what the director tells her to do. The same as the photographer during that photo shoot.”
I run my palm down my face. “I messed up today, KC.” I tell him the gist of this morning’s stunt involving Charlie, and then add, “I thought I was helping Laila and now she’s pissed at me in a way that feels disproportionate. For a while, I thought she had to be playing along, but now it seems she’s genuinely pissed at me. She keeps saying she’s ‘hurt’ and that she’s trying not to burst into ‘tears.’ And I’m like, ‘What the fuck is going on?’”
Kendrick shakes his head. “I told you not to do anything with that information about Charlie. I told you to let bygones be bygones, Savage! But did you listen to me? No.”
“I was helping her, man.”
“No, you were being a vindictive dick.”
“Not this time! I swear to God.”
The director yells, “Okay, let’s have Kendrick and Savage over here next!”
With a long exhale, I get up with Kendrick and walk to the middle of the soundstage, passing Laila and Colin as they return to the table. Of course, Laila doesn’t look at me as she passes. On the contrary, she pretends to be deep in conversation with her assigned mentor who just so happens to be an underwear model, as well as a kickass, tatted drummer. And suddenly, I feel like everything I’ve ever done to show Laila who I really am doesn’t matter. I’m right back at square one with her. So why even bother to try?
When we reach our mark, the director tells Kendrick and me what to do, and we go through the motions, after which the director moves on to shooting the other two remaining judge-mentor duos while I resume my seat next to Laila. Finally, lunchtime is called. The director shouts, “After lunch, let’s start with Laila and Colin and Laila’s team, while the other judges and mentors rotate through some B-roll with their teams. Take forty-five, people!”
There’s a commotion around us, as people begin scattering, and Aloha and Fish head over to Colin and Laila sitting to my right. There’s a brief conversation I can’t make out because that Penelope fucker—Jon’s mentor—has waltzed over to Kendrick on my left and is talking way too loudly to him in my ear.
“Yeah, sounds good,” I hear Laila saying, just before she and Colin rise from the table.