The Final Rose

14. 12.

12.

Callie

My fingers hover over the keyboard, but my eyes never leave the screen.

Rewind.

“I believe in love, Sebastian. I believe in right on your face, chemistry off the charts, romance novel kind of love.”

I blink, Isla’s statement going through my skull like a sledgehammer. The girl is a fairy-looking thing. Even though we were of similar height, she has something delicate and undeniably cute about her.

I should think how annoying it’s going to be to pull all of Isla’s footage to make this change of storyline make sense. I know we can do it, but we need to sit down and redirect our team. I should have rolled my eyes to such a line, but instead…

Instead, I’m frozen in place. My fingers on the keyboard, rewinding, watching the kiss over and over again.

It’s a sweet type of kiss. Perfect for Prince Charming and his Princess.

Not the hot mess, tongues, and hands everywhere while an Uber driver witnesses it. Those kinds of kisses are for messy girls like me.

I squeeze my eyes shut. I can’t stand here and feel sorry for myself. I was drunk; he was drunk. We got caught up in the moment and I need to get my head back in the game. That was why I volunteered to arrive at the country house beforehand with part of the crew.

I ignore it’s his house I’m escaping to. His country, his domain.

As much as the house isn’t the warm home of childhood, I can’t stop myself from seeing him everywhere. And now, I can’t stop watching the footage of him kissing Isla.

On repeat. Again and again. Her hands went up his chest, his face bowing down to her. The beat that followed the kiss. Like goddamn wonder.

“Oh, have you seen this?”

A chuckle took me from my insanity, and I turned to find Dave, one of our tech guys, with a cigarette on the back of his ear.

“Yeah. Crazy stuff.” I say mildly, crossing my arms in front of my chest, hoping he wouldn’t see how much I was shaking.

Dave barks a laugh, coughing right after. I tsk, tilting my head right. “Dave, you told me you’re going to quit.”

Dave waves me off. “Anya is arriving soon. You better meet her quickly. She’s angry.”

I chance to look back at the screen, regretting straight away when it's Sebastian’s impossible blues frozen and staring at me. I gulp and turn to Dave. “Is she upset he’s not going for Vera?”

Dave's eyebrows disappear through his hairline. “Because he eliminated her.”

My spine went straight. “Vera?”

I never missed an elimination. I left a very unhappy Anya in London, but I convinced myself it was for the best. How did things get so crazy in so little time?

Twenty-four hours ago, his lips were on mine. Twenty-four hours ago, Vera and Abby were in the lead and the only hiccup we had was trying to convince him not to eliminate Mackenzie too quickly.

How the hell in twenty-four hours did he decide to spare Mackenzie and go for Vera?

“Kid,” Dave shakes his head, taking me back to the moment. “He eliminated Isla.”

I’m marching out of the room before I even understand where my feet are taking me. I pound the perfect wooden floors and stare at the front, ignoring the elegant floral wallpaper and the arched doorways.

Fuming, I’m almost outside when my radio beeps and I hear Anya’s voice saying only one word: “Callie.”

Of course, it’s my name she calls the second I’m at range. I open the front door as the headlights of three cars come to the front lawn gravel. I turn my radio off as Anya exits the first car; her face looks like murder.

“Did you know?”

“Dave told me just now,” I reply, ignoring the insinuation that I’d know about Sebastian’s plans.

“He keeps changing the script.” Anya heads to the house and I follow her steps. “The elimination came from nowhere. His date with Mackenzie was terrible. I knew while it was happening, we had no way to keep her. Not without making him look like a jerk.”

She curses in Polish under her breath. After years of working under Anya, I know Polish enough to understand none of the words she just used are pretty. The double doors open like she’s Moses, and then we are in the house. The crew respects Anya. They know even though Jeff is the director and Adam the showrunner, Anya is the shark you should fear.

Executives trust her to bring the money, make the season profitable, and keep the lights on. The respect of the crew she earned because she never stops. This is her world, and we all know how to read her expressions at this point.

Tonight, the ferocity in her eyes, and the set of her jaw make my hand tremble.

We move to the back of the house, to the small office I left minutes ago, but Dave is nowhere to be found. Smart man. But the footage of Isla and Sebastian still on pause on screen and I have to move my eyes to the floral walls to avoid looking at his lips on her.

“ This I can handle.” Anya points to the screen. “Eligibles coming off script, contestants becoming a favorite suddenly.”

“He eliminated Isla,” I say in my calming voice. “So, we are back to Vera.” There has to be an upside to this.

Anya brings her hand to her waist. “We’ll need to chop his date with Mackenzie to death because I can’t justify keeping her.”

I’m about to ask if it’s that bad, but the usual players arrive, silencing me. Jeff, Devi, and then Adam, followed by Nessa. With a soft click, Nessa closes the door.

Adam watches Anya with an arched brow. “It’s not that bad.”

Another Polish curse. It’s one of those days.

“I don’t like to be scrambling around. I don’t like improvising.”

“It’s reality TV.” Devi makes the mistake of pointing out.

The look Anya spares him burns even me on the other side of the room.

“Can someone explain to me what happened out there?” I ask, massaging my temple.

“Well, you haven’t explained why you needed to be here earlier than everyone else.” Anya fires back, pointing her finger at me.”

“I wanted to–”

Thank God Adam interrupts me, trying to keep us on the right track. “Sebastian and Mackenzie had a horrible date. There wasn’t a way to salvage it. She’s a difficult person to edit.”

Jeff snorts. “She’s a self-obsessed bitch.” He offers. “And Sebastian wasn’t hiding how much he dislikes her.”

“As much as I like to keep her for the drama…” Adam shakes his head. “After that date, it would hurt Sebastian’s image.”

“She made comments about politics.” Nessa wrinkles her nose.

My eyebrows rise. So it's that bad. I should have watched their date but I was too annoyed at Sebastian and I hate Mackenzie’s guts.

Nessa bobs her head. “Oh yeah, it’s bad. Everything she said was at the same time misinformed, confused, and just plain….” She swallows something that was on the tip of her tongue. It’s bad.”

“It was tough to watch.” Adam concedes. “But it was ok. Sebastian wanted her gone for weeks now and we were finally on the same page until…” he trails off and looks at the screen.

Until Sebastian kissed Isla. And eliminated her right after.

I swallow the lump in my throat, refusing to be anything but professional. This nonsense already hurt me enough. They never had to update me on events. I’m always there with them. But today, of all days, I decided to wake up at the crack of dawn and head with the set crew to the country with a flimsy excuse.

“So, then we have to change the fucking narrative, so Isla is the main girl,” Anya explains, like it’s needed. “Which is fine… But then he goes and…” She waves at nothing, trailing off.

“Did they have a good date before…” I clear my throat.

“It was cute.” Nessa offers. “She’s a nice girl, she might just be a little camera shy, so she didn’t exactly shine a--”

“She’s a season filler.” Anya interrupts. “Nice enough, but a complete season filler, and we all need to take footage out of our asses to make this make sense.”

“We have footage of them all.” Jeff starts. “We did it before and we’ll do it again. You just hate when people don’t behave like your puppets, Anya.”

“And what about the elimination, uh?” she challenges. “It’s a kiss and then he sends her home? How can we make this ok? People are going to hate him.”

“We don’t need to show the kiss.” Adam ponders. “If we limited the date to something with little spark. We don’t need to act like this is a big deal.”

“Remember season six when Mark and Caroline got together off camera, and we needed to explain why he was choosing her?” Jeff laughs. “Anya went crazy.”

“Well, shit for brains, this job isn’t just filming it. We need to make the public buy the story. We need them to like the outcome. And how can we do this when this shithead goes off the rails?”

“He’s not off the rails, Anya–” Adam shakes his head, but it’s Nessa who interrupts.

“I think he eliminated Isla because she asked.”

We all look at her like she grew a second head or started talking with an English accent. Twisting her mouth, Nessa goes to the screen, rewinding the raw footage I was just using for self-harm.

We are silent while watching the last words they share after the kiss. My hands close in a fist, my nails digging into my palm, but I have no reaction besides that.

“See?” Nessa says when the clip ends. “She wanted a kiss to see if they were compatible. And then she says she believes in a fierce kind of love.” Nessa goes to the clip again, stopping in Isla’s close-up after the kiss. “This is not the face of a woman who was just kissed by someone she cares about.”

“Oh,” Anya scoffs. “And now we are here to analyze their faces and–”

“What I am saying, Anya,” Nessa continues over gritted teeth. “Is that you’re so afraid of what the public will think about this elimination, but this makes Sebastian the ultimate good guy.”

There’s a pause, and then Adam is nodding. “The exit interview. We can get Isla to confirm this version of the story on camera, and we do the same when Sebastian arrives.”

Everyone agrees, and Anya looks straight at me. “Go back to London and get that exit interview. I’d let Kara deal with it, but if it’s this important, I need you to talk to Isla.”

I open my mouth, not even sure why, but Anya is talking again. “If this is not the story? Make it be. Make her say she’s happy to be eliminated. Put Sebastian on a pedestal, you hear me?”

I’m only able to nod.

I should be happy to be in a car back to London. Isn't it just that Anya trusts me to run things in her absence, but I wanted to avoid Sebastian, and nothing better than going in the opposite direction than he’s heading, right?

It will delay our meeting by at least half a day, if I play my cards right, a full day.

I should be grateful, but instead, I’m wiggling my hands on top of my lap as the pastures of the English countryside run through the window.

The last thing I want is to have a lovely sit down with Isla and talk about the kiss. Whatever Nessa’s theory is, the reality is that Sebastian kissed Isla.

That’s that.

I’m being brought to the hotel where they filmed the elimination ceremony. Although it would be easier if we used the country house as the only and main location for our time in England, it made sense to the game to bring only the top five to his house.

I breathe through my nose and make a mental list of why this is the worst idea.

Sebastian has to be with one of the five girls. It’s just a fact. He doesn’t need to marry her, but he needs to be in a relationship for this to ring true.

We had couples before that didn’t last a week after production wrapped up, but I thought Sebastian was different.

He said he was here for love and I believed him. And idiotically, I still do. After meeting his sister, it was confirmed what he said. His family was always in the public eye. His parents raised him and Bea to be the perfect children. Every encounter he had with women was calculated and planned.

The Final Rose is his rebellion. Sure, many people will think he’s full of it, but Sebastian really thinks this is his only way to meet someone.

I recline my head on the backrest of the passenger seat and take a calming breath. I want to be angry at Sebastian for kissing Isla right after kissing me. In a way, I’m very much so. But this thing was already a mess.

Sebastian and I crossed a line, and we were in the wrong. Him kissing one of the contestants is right. That should be a sign my future isn’t completely lost. I just have to be smart about it.

I’m ready for a promotion and I thought this season I was going to prove to everyone I can do more. Get a bigger salary, take the project of mom’s new home off the ground, and hopefully, start planning for my own house.

That’s the plan. That has always been the plan.

And yet… Sebastian Riggs.

“I’m so happy you’re here!” Isla jumps on me, and we hug.

I arrive back in London late. Kara then tells me Isla’s interview is scheduled first thing the next morning. So here I am, in the most horrible first hours of the morning, being jumped by Isla when my coffee isn’t even ready. I asked an assistant to fetch me a cup, but he’s still not back yet.

“I thought I was going to go before saying goodbye. They told me you were in the country house already.”

“I was,” I agree. Tapping awkwardly on her back until she releases me. “But it was better for me to, you know…” I clear my throat.

It was better for me, of all people, to come here so we could talk about that time you kissed my man.

Not my man. Sebastian Fucking Riggs.

Isla folds her arms over her chest and makes a face. She watches me so intently I feel like she watched my kiss with Sebastian, too. I shake my head, feeling stupid.

“We need to talk about the unexpected elimination.” I turn the conversation back to work and point to the chair in the middle of the room.

I take my spot beside the director’s chair, today filled by Jeff’s second assistant. This is the last thing we need to film, so of course all the main crew is preparing for our next location. An exit interview should be simple, but suddenly we are balancing an entire season on it.

Nick, the assistant, is back with my black coffee and I almost kiss him in gratitude. It’s horribly weak, but this is England, and I take what I can get.

“I wouldn’t think it’s so unexpected. I wasn’t a favorite, Callie.”

I sip my coffee and rein in my grimace as the cameras turn on. I can’t waste this conversation off-camera.

Andrew gives me a thumbs up and I nod to Isla, letting her know she’s being filmed now. I massage my temple, putting my head back in the game. As much as I’d love to know why Isla felt she wasn’t a favorite, this isn’t about that.

This is about the damn kiss.

I clear my throat and think about management control. “What do you think of the elimination?”

I start with the regular questions.

Isla smiles big. “I think Sebastian and I weren’t meant to be. I’m still looking for my Prince Charming.”

“But after the kiss, aren’t you surprised he eliminated you?”

Isla is still smiling. Maybe Nessa’s theory has something to it because she’s looking too happy for someone who just got dumped.

“Sebastian eliminated me because he knew it wasn’t meant to be.”

Great, we got into it quickly enough. “Can you just tell us about the date?”

“Or you just want to know about the kiss?” She tilts her head to the side, wiggling her eyebrows.

“That would be nice.” I can’t help but chuckle.

Isla readjusts on the chair, rolling her shoulder back and it’s story time. “I’m a romantic, and I like the idea of getting to know someone before the first kiss. But I also think a first kiss can say a lot about a couple. Compatibility, passion. I came here because I wanted to find someone who completed me. Mind and body. Sebastian is amazing. He’s handsome, funny, a total dreamboat!” she giggles. “But I wanted to feel the ultimate spark. That punch in the gut, you know?”

I nod because what else can I do?

“Tingling sensation.” As Isla talks, her eyes lose focus. “I wanted to be surprised, and I needed to know it for sure.”

I wait a couple of seconds until I’m allowed to talk again so I don’t mess up the editing, but even when I can talk, I’m not sure what to say.

“So, you don’t think the kiss was all that?” I manage to ask.

Isla sighs. “I knew Sebastian wasn’t for me. But I really wanted him to be, you know? A handsome man who is looking for love. Why not me? Why couldn’t I be the one for him? But the thing is that we don’t choose.”

I must have made a face because she rushed to keep talking. “I couldn’t make myself be the girl he was going to notice. And he couldn’t make my heart beat faster.”

I take a breath. “So, when you asked him to kiss you?”

“I asked him to kiss me, so we’d know for sure it wasn’t it. Sebastian knew I was underwhelmed, and he knew I was ready to love. He’s a great guy like that.” She shrugs. “He released me to the wild, I guess. But I’m grateful for this opportunity. I got to travel, and I know myself better than I knew months ago. And you know, now I have a friend who is practically English royalty.”

She chuckles and a few people follow. Even when they should be quiet on the set, I understand how captivating Isla can be. She’s the best friend you never knew you needed, the nicest girl around.

“And you’re going home because you deserve to find true love?”

“I deserve to find true love.” Isla agrees. “But Sebastian deserves it, too. He needs to find someone who he can’t take his eyes off.”

And she winks at me.