is done. We got a whole bunch of stuff—video spots and still photos—with the four judges and each of their assigned mentors. Also, with each judge/mentor pair. As it turns out, my hunch about Colin was spot-on. He’s Laila’s mentor this season, fuck my life, while Fish is Aloha’s. And now, we’re back out on Reed’s patio, having a legit party with the entire cast and their dates, some producers and crew, and some of Reed’s friends. We’re all letting it rip in recognition that tomorrow the grind will officially begin. Kicking off with tomorrow’s press conference, followed the next day, on Monday, by our first official day of shooting.
At present, I’m sitting on one end of the patio with Kendrick, who’s been talking me off the ledge about Laila and Colin, while Laila is sitting in a group by a large fire feature on the other end of the patio—a group that naturally includes Colin, since he’s close friends with all Laila’s closest friends. And I’m slowly losing my mind.
“Did you see the way Colin flirted with Laila during the entire photo shoot?” I say to Kendrick. It’s a running theme. I’ve been obsessing about Laila’s chemistry with Colin for the past hour. Ever since they looked at each other during their judge/mentor photo shoot like they wanted to rip each other’s clothes off.
“He wasn’t flirting with her,” Kendrick says, his annoyance with me plainly escalating. “He and Laila did what the photographer asked him to do. The guy said, ‘Smile at each other.’ And that’s what they did. It was the same thing we did in our photo shoot. Were you flirting with me, big boy?” He walks his fingertips up my arm, like a cartoon character would do when flirting, making me laugh, despite my foul mood.
I wink at him flirtatiously. “Maybe a little bit.”
Kendrick chuckles and drops his flirty flingers.
“Seriously, KC. I’m not imagining this. They have insane amounts of chemistry.”
“So what? All that proves is he’s not blind and neither is she. You’ve seen his underwear campaign, right? He’s a good looking dude.”
I take a sip of my drink. “That’s my point. He’s a good-looking dude and she mentioned him on Sylvia, right before mentioning me. So, I can’t help thinking this must be a set-up. Did the show hire Colin to set the stage for a love triangle plot twist midway through the season? Are they gonna pay him a little bonus if he breaks up the happy couple? Because I’m not doing that shit, Kendrick. Laila’s supposed to be my faithful girlfriend who’s totally in love with me. I’m not gonna look like the fool who turned down that Instagrammer, so she could drool over Colin Beretta on national TV.”
“Calm down, Tiger. She’s not gonna do that to you.”
“She’s already doing it to me, right this very second! Not to mention, she did it to me, repeatedly, during the tour!”
He looks at me like I’m crazy. “Laila didn’t do anything to you during the tour. Malik was her boyfriend during the tour, Savage. You weren’t. Have you forgotten what a prick you were to her?”
I exhale and guzzle my drink. He’s right, of course. But I can’t help the way I feel, even if it’s irrational. Throughout the tour, I felt the same way I do right now. Jealous. Like Malik, and then Charlie, were horning in on my woman. I realize I acted like a prick to her, unfortunately, but only because . . . I’m a flaming idiot. Why’d I do that again? Shit. I run my hand through my hair. “I can’t keep watching her do this to me, Kendrick. Every time I turn around, I’ve got to compete for her attention. It’s driving me fucking insane.”
“You’re your own worst enemy. Get out of your own way, man. Stop lashing out and chill.”
I take another sip of my drink. “The thing I’m worried about is Colin setting his sights on Laila, not because he genuinely likes her, but to get back at me for having that fling with his ex.”
Kendrick pulls a face that says, Quite possibly. But what he says is, “Laila’s not stupid. And she’s totally into you.”
“First off, Laila is stupid—she dated Malik Wallace for how long? Also, she’s emphatically not into me. She thinks I’m Satan’s spawn.”
“Yeah, and lucky you, her celebrity crush is Satan.”
I can’t help chuckling at that, despite how tightly wound I’m feeling in this moment.
Kendrick says, “Whatever you do tonight, do not