“Are you nervous?” I asked Kile as I straightened his collar.

“Believe it or not, yeah, I am,” he said and I smiled before pecking him on the lips.

“Don’t be. It’s going to be great. You’re going to be great. We’re as prepared as we can be and the people that are out there waiting for us love us. We’ve got nothing to worry about,” I said.

“I know you’re right but I’m still scared. What if they ask some off-the-wall questions about us?” he asked. “Like, what if they want to know if I swallow or something gross like that?”

“Kile, calm down. Whatever they ask us, we’ll figure it out. If we don’t have an answer, we’ll just say so. That’s all there is to it. Besides, we’re going to be talking about something we have quite a bit of experience in,” I reminded him as I checked my makeup and clothes in the mirror. The navy-blue suit I’d been given to wear for the first episode cost more than my entire wardrobe at home and it looked fantastic, perfectly cut to match the shape and curves of my body. It didn’t hurt that it made me look ten years younger than I was.

“You’re right,” he said and took a deep breath. I turned to find him with his eyes closed so I took his hand in mine. His suit was a match to my own, though I had to admit he looked better in it.

“I’ve never seen you so nervous like this,” I said.

“Neither have I,” he laughed, his eyes opening again.

“We’re live in five,” Dylan called from the door to the dressing room. Wade and the rest of the crew had really gone above and beyond to build the set we had now for the show, and they’d done it in record time. It was almost like they still felt sorry about what Lee had done and everything that had happened to Kile and me as a result of it.

“Thanks, we’ll be out in a minute,” I said. He smiled, nodded, and closed the door behind him. Kile squeezed my hand.

“I still can’t believe we’re about to launch our own show,” he said. “On love, no less.”

“Believe it, baby. It’s happening,” I said. “Come on, let’s get out there.” With his hand in mine, we walked out of the dressing room and met Dylan behind the curtain. There was chatter in the live audience outside and for the first time I felt my own nerves spike. I’d been on TV for almost as long as I’d been an adult, but it’d never been in a live setting, and it’d never been so personal as this show was set to be. Worse yet, the show was the first to be broadcast on NewSpin’s new cable TV channel, which had been given the stunningly original title of NewSpin TV.

Still, as scared as I felt, I couldn’t imagine doing it with anyone else. I’d wanted something like this for my entire life, and I’d found it in Kile when I’d least expected it. Our relationship still didn’t make much sense to me, but I’d stopped caring about that the moment I’d apologized to him and told him I loved him—because I did love him. I loved us, every weird, opposite, quirky part of us. Our differences were what made us work so well.

When we were all wired up by a member of the production crew, Dylan held a microphone to his mouth and warmed up the audience by teasing us and asking how excited people were. Then he turned to us and mouthed, “Are you ready?” I nodded, squeezing Kile’s hand.

“Alright, everyone! Please welcome Jeff Taylor and Kile Avery!” Dylan said into the microphone and I stepped out onto the stage with Kile, waving and smiling as bright as I could—but it was genuine. As I stood there with him, I felt happier than I’d ever felt in my entire life. I had everything I’d ever wanted, and despite the odds, despite everything that’d happened, Kile and I had made it through the fire and come out better than we were when we’d entered it.

We stepped to the two basic, modern-style chairs that’d been installed on the raised platform. Sitting down and looking out at the faces of the people in rows that raised in a colosseum style to the very back of the room gave me the jitters, but I was excited nonetheless. Kile looked stunned.

“Thank you so much for being here, everyone, and thanks for your enthusiasm,” I said and the crowd cheered. “As you know, I’m Jeff Taylor, your host.”

“And I’m Kile Avery, your other host,” Kile chimed in to laughter.

“And this is Clickbait. This show is a little different from the rest of the programs that are set to air on NewSpin TV. First and foremost, we aren’t going to be talking about the news here—or at least, not unless it has something to do with love and relationships. We’d like for this show to serve as a sort of dialogue about love, what it means to be in love, and how we can all navigate it,” I said.

“And of course, we’re going to screw this up, probably more than once,” Kile said, making the audience laugh. I loved that he served as my comedic counterpoint.

“So, for this first episode, we’re going to be talking about dating opposites,” I said.

“Seems appropriate, doesn’t it?” Kile asked.

“Amen!” someone shouted in the crowd and we all laughed.

“Right. Presumably you all know our story and how we came to be where we are now, so it only makes sense that we’d use our own experience to shed light on what it’s like to date someone who’s completely opposite to you—and how you can make it work,” I said.

“Differences play a big part in that, and navigating them can be tricky—especially when you’re living together with someone for the first time,” Kile said. “Jeff and I have learned recently that this often brings things to the surface that neither person might’ve been aware of before.”

“You mean like the clothes you leave scattered all around the floor?” I asked.

“Hey, at least mine don’t smell like a gym locker,” he quipped and I laughed along with the audience. “Jeff’s taken to going running in the mornings before work and though he’s better than me in that he puts his clothes in the hamper, the smell carries throughout the entire house.”

“We’ve only been living together for about a month and already we’re airing each other’s dirty laundry,” I said to more laughter. “Alright, anyway, like I said, we want this show to be a dialogue and interactive. So, to that end, let’s open it up to the floor,” I said and immediately half or more of the fifty or so people in the audience raised their hands.

“OK, we’ll start with you in the back there,” I said, pointing to a middle-aged woman with glasses and golden-brown hair. One of the crew dashed to her with a microphone and passed it to her. “What’s your question?” I asked.

“Hi there, my name’s Tammy. I’m here visiting my son from Florida, he loves you two,” she said, pointing to the young man sitting next to her. “My question is, with so many differences between you, do you ever see yourselves getting married?”

“Yes,” Kile and I answered in unison, to more laughter and loud whoops and applause.

“Look, the differences really aren’t that challenging. In fact, I’d say that they make us stronger together, wouldn’t you?” Kile asked, turning to me.

“Definitely. It’s not really much different than being in a relationship with someone you have a lot in common with. Every relationship has points of contention, we just agree to avoid them or not talk about them if they’re too bad,” I laughed.

“In other words, he lets me win every argument and that way we both end up happy,” Kile said.

“Alright, thanks, Tammy. Let’s move on to the next question. How about you, young man?” I asked, pointing to a familiar face with curly blond hair in the front row. He stood up and took the mic from the crewman.

“Hi Jeff. It’s Liam, remember me?”

“Of course I remember you, Liam. Everyone, this is Liam. He was head of my makeup crew when I was doing The Edge for GNN,” I explained and the audience clapped. “Good to see you again, I was just thinking about you the other day.”

“Likewise. I’ve missed you,” he said.

“It’s mutual. What’s your question?”

“Can I come and work for you on this show?” he asked and I burst out laughing with the rest of the audience.

“I’d love to have you, Liam. Of course,” I said when I could talk again. “Stick around after the show and we can talk it over.”

“Can’t wait,” Liam said, his blond curls bobbing as he sat back down.

“Alright, sorry about the question out of left field there, everyone. Let’s move on. What’s your question?” I asked, pointing to a balding man who was around my age.

“Hey, there. My name’s David. My question is this… Do either of you ever feel like hypocrites for where you are now and how you got here?” he asked and I let out a long, low sigh.

“Great question. Jeff, you want to take that one?” Kile asked, looking over at me with wide eyes.

“Sure. Look, there’s nothing hypocritical about being with the guy I love and doing what I love with him,” I said and the audience cheered. Though I’d been low on courage at the start, the encouragement from the audience spurred me on.

“Beyond that, there’s nothing better than using my own experience, which has been troubled at best, to help others avoid making the same mistakes in love that I have. It’s not easy to be in love or in a relationship, especially when you’re people like us who are very much in the public eye,” I said.

“Look, I’ve gotta be honest, I lost a lot of respect for both of you when I found out that you’d been dating the entire time you were filming For the Record,” Derek said.

“We weren’t together for the entire time,” Kile clarified.

“Whatever, close enough,” Derek said. “My point here is that I think you both lost a ton of credibility when that news broke. I mean, Jeff, you’re a reporter, I used to watch your show all the time, and yet there you were caught up in this giant conflict of interest. And Kile, I loved your videos and The Flame, but then I find out you’re in love with someone all along? And now you’re both up there on that stage like some happy, loving couple. Forgive me, but it still feels and seems a little fake and too good to be true. It’s almost like you both manufactured it all to save your careers and build something out of the ashes,” he said.

“Wow, what a doozy,” I said. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Derek. But the truth is that Kile and I are very much in love with each other. Everything we’ve said and everything you’ve seen since filming wrapped on For the Record has been genuine. I’m not sure what else I can say or do to convince you,” I said.

“I’m not sure what you can do, either,” he said with a shrug before sitting back down and handing the microphone to the crewman.

“You know what? I was going to move on to the next question, but that last one’s gotten under my skin a bit, and now seems like the perfect time to say and do what I’ve been wanting to do for weeks. Maybe this will convince you, Derek,” I said. Kile looked at me with his brow furrowed, totally unsure of where I was going with this. Given my history of unscripted meltdowns on live TV, I couldn’t blame him for being nervous.

Still, I walked over to Kile and took one of his hands in mine. With the other, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a ring box. Kile’s eyes went wide and he gave me a stern look that seemed to scream, no, don’t do this here, not like this. But I didn’t care. The fact that there was any lingering doubt at all about how real, how passionate and life-changing my relationship with Kile was, burned in my gut.

I sank to one knee, still holding Kile’s hand in mine, and a collective gasp tore through the audience. Kile was already crying before I’d even said anything.

“Kile, when I found out I was going to be working with you on For the Record, I told a friend of mine that I’d sooner live under a bridge than work with you,” I said and Kile laughed through his tears. “Now, I can’t imagine my life without you in it. Working with you has been one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. You’ve changed me in ways that even I don’t understand, and brought out the best part of me that I’d forgotten existed because it’d been buried under loneliness and bitterness for so long,” I said. Kile sniffled and wiped his eyes with the back of his free hand.

“I don’t understand us, I really don’t, but I know that what we have is real and honest and everything I’ve ever wanted. I can’t wait to see what the future brings for us with this show and everything else that comes our way, and I can’t wait to face it all with you at my side,” I said, and if Kile had been crying before, he was a mess of bawling tears now.

“Don’t you think it’s a little crazy to be doing this so quickly?” he choked out and I laughed along with the audience.

“No. I’ve never done anything more sane in my life. So, Kile Avery, will you marry me?” I asked, releasing his hand to open the box and present the ring I’d bought a week prior. It was a dark, heavy band made of tungsten, that gleamed and sparkled in the studio lights from overhead.

“Absolutely,” he said. I took the ring from the box and gently slipped it onto his finger before I leapt from my knee to throw my arms around him. He buried his face in my neck, his sobs barely audible over the clapping and cheering of the audience.

“I love you so much,” I whispered into his ear.

“I love you too, but this is so extra,” he laughed.

“We’re celebrities. If we’re not extra, what else are we?” I asked and he pulled back to look at me, positively beaming. We kissed and the audience went wild. When we broke, and their cheering finally died down, Kile sat back down in his chair and I sat in mine.

“Well, that was certainly not how I envisioned this first episode to go. I knew there’d be fireworks, but I didn’t know there’d be this much,” Kile said to laughter. I watched him close out the show with nothing but love in my heart, completely in awe of the man who’d just agreed to be my husband.

“Thank you all so much for being here and for being witness to this. I wouldn’t believe it myself if it hadn’t been recorded,” Kile said, his eyes puffy and red from crying. “We’ll be back next Monday with another half-hour slice of love and advice. Until then, I’m Kile Avery,” he said.

“I’m Jeff Taylor,” I said.

“And this has been Clickbait,” we said together. As the curtain fell in front of us, and Kile’s hand found mine, the ring I’d placed on his finger cool against my skin, I realized that though I had no idea what we’d face together, with Kile at my side, I feared nothing.