Chapter 6
Still more from the Guppy Gabber, Sunday:
Danielle: Hello, fans! I’m so excited to be above the Queen Kelly this week. I met the delightful Jen from The Fishbowl by the pool this morning. I take back everything I said about her on the show. Did you know the drinks are only free for the reality stars, not their guests? Suck it, Dominic!
Rachel: I don’t trust Danielle farther than I can throw her. She may seem sweet as pie, but I’ll be watching her. But, hey, I won fifty bucks playing Texas Hold ’Em. Woo-hoo!
Danielle: *sips drink* Did I mention this drink is free? Free free free free free free free free free free free free free free free free free free free free free free free free free. In case it’s not clear my alliances have shifted, I’m 100 percent Team Jen and Justin. Yay young love!
Like a deer in headlights, I froze, glaring at Dominic. He stood tall, meeting my eyes squarely. The last time I’d seen him, he’d been naked, dragging me down his hallway to get me out of the house before his wife spotted me. He’d grown a beard, cut his dark, curly hair, but otherwise hadn’t changed.
“What’s wrong?” Justin whispered. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“It’s my ex-boyfriend,” I replied. “Danielle warned me that he paid for the cruise, but I didn’t want to believe it until I spotted him. And why is he holding a sign with my face on it if he’s here with Ariana?”
Before Justin replied, the cruise director came out on stage to introduce everyone. He recapped our season, with pictures flashing on a screen behind us. I cringed at some of the highlights, like me climbing up the bathroom wall to catch Ariana in a lie, but glowed at the ahhh passing through the crowd at the replay of Justin running down the driveway after me and our kiss. He squeezed my hand under the table.
Every picture of Justin in the entire slideshow included me or Ariana or both. The longer the show played, the worse I felt. The two of us overshadowed his identity without realizing it. The Network played up the love triangle for the drama, and Justin as a person disappeared into the show. He’d forever be defined by the moment he left the show.
Members of the cruise staff stood in the rows holding microphones. When the introduction finished, we said hello to the audience. Then the cruise director opened up the floor for questions.
“This question is for Jen and Justin.” A woman about my mom’s age went first. “The two of you lived in the house together, with all the scheming and lies. Jen thought Justin was using her to stay on the show. Justin, you thought the same thing. It took you eight weeks to learn to be honest with each other. Do you find that you still have problems with communication and trust, after returning to your regular lives?”
Justin’s face grew red. The woman couldn’t have planned a more perfectly worded question to push his buttons. Heck, for all we knew, maybe she had.
“Not at all,” I said. “The show was a different environment. We all wanted to win the money, but alliances still formed. Ed and Rachel supported me every step of the way, and so did Birdie, who unfortunately wasn’t able to make it this week. I let my own doubts shake me because my ex-boyfriend cheated on me before the show started. I didn’t trust my own instincts after being so wrong about someone I thought loved me.”
“And the other thing,” Justin said, “is that when you’re trapped in a house with someone for several weeks, you get to know them. Until the show pulled the stunt with the ‘serious boyfriend’ at the end, I never doubted Jen or her feelings for me. I was just focused more on winning the show than starting a relationship in front of fifteen million strangers.”
He referred to a mini-challenge near the end of the season, when we competed to bring a loved one to visit us on the show. When I found out Dominic waited in a nearby hotel in case I won, I’d refused to participate. Thankfully, Justin won, and when Sarah came into the house, she helped us work through the misunderstanding.
Justin’s eyes lingered on my face, his pupils dilated. A warm fuzzy feeling started low in my belly. That expression in his green eyes, combined with his dimples, usually led us straight to the bedroom. Where we couldn’t go any time soon, darn it. Stupid Network. Instead, I rubbed his thigh under the table. He pressed his leg up against mine, and I shivered.
He continued, “I always intended to call her the second I got eliminated. I knew she was something special as soon as we met.”
Awww. Leaning over, I kissed him. The crowd cheered.
We got stuck answering three more questions about our relationship before the audience moved on, directing their attention to the rest of the panel. Justin was right: neither of us had any identity on our own. Every question went “to Jen and Justin” or “to Justin and Jen.” We existed in this reality only as a couple.
Ed talked about the difficulty of coming out on the show and his move to Los Angeles to work as a gay rights activist and comedian. He did not mention his relationship with one of the crew members. Not a single member of the audience asked him about sneaking off to have sex during the show (which I knew for a fact he did, unlike me and Justin) or whether his relationship was a sham for ratings. Lucky.
Rachel explained her plans to open a cheerleading camp for underprivileged kids with her grand prize money. No one asked how I spent my fifty thousand. Perhaps I’d have gotten some questions about it if I spread rumors about spending all the cash on my boyfriend. Or on the two of us buying a house together. For almost an hour, I sorely missed having my own identity.
Then the cruise director announced the last question. To my horror, my ex stood up. When we’d been dating, I thought Dominic the most handsome guy in the world, with his bronze skin, curly dark hair, and always-smiling brown eyes. Now, my stomach churned at the sight of him. When one of the crew members handed him a microphone, I groaned internally.
“This question is for Jen. Do you believe in second chances? Do you think the two of us could ever be together again?”
A chill ran down my spine. Ariana’s date, my ass. She’d brought him for one reason and one reason only: to torment me. So much for turning over a new leaf.
I took a long moment to collect myself before answering. Justin squeezed my hand under the table. “Everyone, I’d like to introduce you to my ex-boyfriend, who you may remember from several conversations on The Fishbowl about how he forgot to mention being married.”
The resulting boos throughout the audience made me feel better. But when they died down, the cruise director turned to me. “Jen? The question?”
Right. Here I’d been hoping to ignore my ex and move on to another question instead of answering him.
“First: No, Dominic and I could never be together again. I’m in love with Justin.” I paused to gaze at my boyfriend. The love shining out of his eyes nearly made me forget the rest of the question. He kissed me briefly, and I returned my attention to the crowd. “Generally, I don’t think it would be fair to say no one is ever entitled to a second chance. People make mistakes, and forgiveness is part of being human. But even if I hadn’t moved on, you are the last person I would ever go out with again. I can forgive a lot, but I won’t tolerate cheating—and I shouldn’t have to.”
Dominic opened his mouth, but the audience burst out in applause, and the person holding the microphone swept away down the aisle. I was happy enough not to be able to hear his words. Even at this distance, I could see my ex mouthing, “I love you.”
I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him.
Instead, I turned to Ariana and whispered under the cover of the clapping. “If you’re so sorry, what’s he doing here?”
“My agent set it up,” she whispered back. “He didn’t tell me until few days ago, after it was too late to cancel. Trust me, the last thing I wanted was to spend the entire cruise watching Justin and my fake date drool all over you.”
That was the most sincere-sounding thing she’d ever said to me, but I still didn’t trust her. The whole story seemed too pat, too rehearsed. What possible reason would she have for bringing Dominic on the cruise if she wasn’t trying to stir things up?
The director thanked everyone for coming, and we waited while the audience cleared the aisles. To my horror, Dominic stayed behind as the rows of seats emptied, then approached the stairs at the side of the stage.
“Everything okay?” Justin asked, pulling me toward him. “Great final answer, by the way.”
“Thanks. Don’t look, but Dominic is walking this way,” I said. “Is there another exit?”
“I don’t know, but don’t worry about him. We’re a team, remember? We can deal with this guy. Although I may throttle whoever set up the room assignments.”
“Seriously.” I rolled my eyes. “Can you stay somewhere else?”
“Not without spending a lot of money we don’t have right now. But how much time are we really going to spend in the rooms? I’ll be fine. And if he gets out of line, we’ll sic Ed on him. No problem.”
“What am I doing?” Ed asked.
We explained the situation, but before I finished, I realized Dominic had vanished from the side of the stage. Did security take him away?
A swish of long, dark hair caught my eye. On the far side of the theater, Ariana walked up the aisle toward the doors with Dominic. His arm wrapped around her waist, almost as if he were supporting her, and she leaned her head on his shoulder.
Ariana said she turned over a new leaf. She claimed she didn’t invite Dominic on the cruise, and he wasn’t really a date. But then why was he here? Dominic said he wanted me back. Both were demonstrated liars. And now they walked off together, arm-in-arm, appearing like any other devoted couple. What was going on?
And why did I care?