Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Two Weeks Earlier
“So why did you apply? C’mon, be honest.” Raven slurred, “We can all say that we were here for the right reasons.” She raised her hands either side of her, making bunny ears with her fingers. Before filling up her wine glass from the bottle we just ordered.
Why did I apply? What was the right answer?
I had drunk so much, and I couldn’t think clearly with the particular set of blue eyes that were staring at me.
The blue eyes I had avoided, the blue eyes that were at the forefront of my mind and the blue eyes that I felt the pull from even without looking at them.
I held my glass out to Raven as she filled it up, emptying the last of the bottle into both mine and Lotte’s glasses.
Both the girls were flawlessly stunning.
Raven’s dark skin glowed against her lime green dress.
Lotte had golden eyes that matched her long blonde hair, staring back at the girls it really was a shock to me that they didn’t make it into the final round.
I was a plain jane, painted up in a bright pink dress and matching lipstick hoping that I could hide my boring brunette features from the judges.
But now I was regretting my colour choice, it really wasn’t for me.
“Honestly,” Lotte slurred back. We were all sitting down around the table, and she was still swaying.
I couldn’t help but laugh. And I shouldn’t have been judging, for all I knew I was slurring my words too.
“I didn’t want to go here, I didn’t want to turn tonight into a downer, but I came here purely for revenge.
” I spun to face Lotte, the blue eyes now completely out of my vision as Raven perked up, leaning across the table.
“Oh no, honey, revenge isn’t a downer at all. Revenge is a Goddamn good story, that’s what it is, please tell me!” She didn’t blink, keeping her eyes locked on Lotte as she sipped continuously from the wine.
“It was just to get back at my ex from cheating,” Lotte sighed, sinking back into to the long seat the two of us were sitting on.
Raven rolled her eyes. “Of course he did, all men cheat. Even on the hottest of girls. It really is crazy that you didn’t make it through tonight.
If there was anyone that was going to make it, my bets were on you.
” I agreed with Raven, I thought that Lotte was going to be the one that the producers sent through as well.
“But please, we need details? What did he do? Did you walk in on him with someone else? See messages on his iPad? Whoever it was he chose to fuck instead of you, I bet that she was uglier. It always astounds me how they always cheat with someone uglier, fucking men. Why are you all so stupid?” Raven turned towards the blue eyes that were sitting next to her, waiting for him to answer a question on behalf of his whole gender.
The blue eyes widened as I looked back at him.
His cheeks turned pink and the attention from the three of us was completely locked on him.
He shook his head, running his fingers through his dark hair, that always fell around the front of his face, even with the many times he tried to peel it back, bringing even more attention to his sharp jaw line.
This man was like a long-lost cousin to both Jacob Elordi and Jared Leto.
He opened his mouth, but nothing but a short stutter escaped.
I’d heard him give his broad opinion on many topics tonight.
I knew that he was short and brief, but succinct and smart. But now, he was completely speechless.
“No, Henry is not like the men that we are talking about. There are good ones out there and Henry is hope that there are more of them out there,” said Lotte.
“Naww,” Raven said sarcastically, reaching out and patting Henry on the back. “Well, thanks for giving that hope to all of us, Henry,” she said. “But back to your cheating ex…” Raven returned her attention back to Lotte.
“He was cheating on me for our whole two-year relationship with prostitutes, and I found out through an app that he accidentally opened on his phone, whilst I was looking,” said Lotte very matter-of-factly, confidently owning that the cheating trauma was now a part of her life story.
Raven’s jaw dropped open, but no words came out.
It was the first time all night anything had left her silent.
I watched Henry grimace and clench his jaw as Lotte told the story I was sure that he had already heard.
I wondered how close they really were. Lotte said they had been best friends since high school and I wondered if this was one of the boy loves girl, but girl wants to keep boy as a friend, even though boy would still hold onto hope that one day that would all change type of scenarios.
But that couldn’t be the truth, because if it was, why was he staring at me so intently?
My attention was still on Lotte, but I could see Henry from the corner of my eye, his energy piercing into me.
Without thinking I gazed over to him, our eyes locked.
No, not just our eyes, but our whole bodies.
God, what was in this drink? Why was I feeling like this?
I couldn’t look away if I tried. I was locked in his energy, his eyes staring into more of me that met the surface.
I knew nothing about this guy. He was a good friend of Lotte’s, and he decided to come and meet us out for a drink shortly after the three of us got rejected from the very last interview of what was going to be our way onto “The Bachelor.” Henry was quiet but he was intelligent.
And the only reason that I knew that was from the brief comments that he added between the girl chatter.
“What about you, Molly? Why did you decide to apply for ‘The Bachelor?’” he said, asking me directly, taking me out of the cheating conversation that Raven and Lotte were now deep in.
I let out a nervous laugh. Why did I apply? Why was I there? What the hell was I doing here now? “I um, I don’t know if I have a clear intentional answer for that,” I said. God, I sounded stupid, but it was the truth.
“What? You didn’t apply to find love?” he smirked as he bit his bottom lip, keeping his eyes on me, not blinking. And as much as I wanted to look away, I couldn’t. He was being a smart ass, but I couldn’t help but laugh.
“No, I can’t say that my intention was to find love.
Although I was open to the possibility of that happening…
.” I was a hopeless romantic and I wasn’t going to pretend otherwise.
The idea of meeting your one and only in the most unlikely of circumstances, like on a reality television show where you’re fighting against thirty other women to get the attention of one man, and somehow, he chooses you.
Well yes, of course I had that dream, and I didn’t know a single woman on the planet who deep down wouldn’t want to be chosen as the one who was a cut above the rest. “I can’t say that I was expecting that, or that it was my main intention, I mean with my dating history, getting a rose after the second date, I knew was always going to be a challenge for me.
Half the time I can’t get a man to even arrive at the first date on time and I’m guessing it’s because he is too busy swiping or looking for other options before he has even reached the bar.
” I was joking but at the same time, dating in New York was hopeless.
Henry cracked a smile, but he didn’t laugh. “A woman as beautiful as you, I really do find that hard to believe. But if love was the by product, then what was the real reason?”
“The real reason was I saw the advertisement after scrolling through my phone late one night having a couple of wines. I clicked on the advertisement, and, well, the next thing I knew I woke up early the next morning to a producer calling me and here we are,” I said.
Henry didn’t say a word as he kept his eyes on me, biting the inside of his cheeks to stop the smile from taking over his face.
I sipped on my wine, knowing full well I had already had enough.
But when I was this far deep, I wasn’t going to stop now.
“To be honest, I applied because I am currently bored to death of my life. I moved to Brooklyn a couple of years ago and I still haven’t been able to make any quality friends.
The job that I once loved is uninteresting.
I hate the way that my boss treats me, and the clients that we are attracting are just awful.
I’m not learning anything, and I’ve lost my passion.
Not to mention my dating life has been unsuccessful.
When I saw the advertisement for ‘The Bachelor,’ I thought what the hell.
This could be the very thing that could change it all.
It could give me three weeks off work, I’d be living with thirty other single girls so I would no doubt make some friends and well, the dating thing.
It was really going to be a win-win situation.
Well, that was until I didn’t actually make it through to the final stage…
so I guess that part fell through,” I sighed.
Talking through what had become my life plan made me realize how completely delusional I had become.
The plan to make changes to my life depended on whether I got on a reality television show.
“I think that makes sense,” said Henry, but I rolled my eyes.
“Really? Because saying it all out loud makes me feel really stupid.”
He shrugged. “Well, I think that you got something out of it,” he said as his eyes drifted over to Raven and Lotte. “Friends?”