“Um? Yeah.” He shrugged but kept his eyes on the phone.
“Look at me.” I reached over and snatched the phone out of his hand.
“Hey!” He reached for it, but I rolled down the window.
“You can put this thing away for the night or I can toss it—your choice.”
“Fine...” He grumbled and reached for it again.
“You’ll put it away?” I held it just out of his reach.
“Yeah.” He nodded quickly.
“Okay.” I handed it back to him and he stuffed it in his pocket, folding his arms across his chest like a disappointed child who had their favorite toy taken away.
What the hell is wrong with this guy?
“You wanted to ask me something?” He looked away, but he was speaking to me at least.
“Why are you here? I don’t get it! You haven’t shown any interest since the beginning. What was the point of coming on Seven Roses in the first place?” I felt my emotions unleash in words that were louder than normal.
“Fucking hell...” He shook his head. “If you want to talk, the cameras have to be shut off.”
“That isn’t how it works.” I looked at the camera that was blinking in the car. “But—fine.” I hit the button on it and waited for it to go off.
“I shouldn’t be here.” He stared at the camera to make sure it was off and tapped the privacy glass which blocked the driver from seeing or hearing us. “This was just a fucking joke.”
“A joke?” My blood started to boil. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Chapter 16: Anders
Remember the kid you picked on in high school? He grew up to be a bad motherfucker—online.
Seven Roses was the abyss of everything I hated. The traditional relationship parade left me with an intense hatred of love. I grew up skinny-fat, never having enough muscle for sports and not being quite skinny enough to attract the girls into that sort of guy. The fact my body didn’t catch up to the growth spurt that took my arms and legs by storm at an early age didn’t help matters at all. I had to work twice as hard at the gym as everyone else for half the reward. I had managed to fill out my form with years of hard work, but by the time I got to the point I was attractive enough to make eye contact, I found that my social skills were shit. I wasn’t the life of the party—I couldn’t make people laugh. I was just the guy in the corner most people ignored.
I learned to accept that role and retreated into the online world where I could get lost in cyberspace. I could be anyone I wanted there and my awkwardness didn’t hinder me. I had a close circle of friends spread out around the world and a few girls that I talked to, but there was no way I was going to put myself out there and try to meet them in real life. The few dates I had proved I didn’t have the charm to take them home. Seven Roses was the epitome of that burning hatred. It was never meant to actually happy—the whole thing was an inside joke that only a select few would get when it aired. Then they changed the rules—and I got stuck.
“Yeah...” I muttered and shook my head. “This whole thing was supposed to be a joke.”
“You got a perfect match with me. How is that a joke?” Lyn tilted her head in confusion but I could see that she was upset.
“I’m a hacker.” I turned towards her and sighed. “I hacked the Seven Roses database and set myself up to be a perfect match with the next contestant. I thought I would come on the show, get rejected after the date, and be on my way. Perfect matches are supposed to have the first date.”
“You...” She stammered over her words. “You hacked the show? Why? I don’t get it.”
“I hate this show. This show and all the others like it create a false sense of what love actually is. Because of shit like this and all the dating apps, people get judged in a matter of minutes. Nobody gets a fair shot unless they look like Markus or Brando.” I shook my head in disgust.
“So you hacked the show to become a contestant because you hate it?” She tilted her head the opposite direction. “I still don’t get it.”
“Like I said, it was a joke. My friends and I started talking one night, all of us expressing how much we hated the reality television era, and how it ruined the world for people like us. We started joking about being contestants and showing the world that we were perfect matches—yet we would never be chosen.” I looked at her and sighed again. “You don’t get it. You’re beautiful. Every guy you meet just falls at your feet.”
“Hardly!” She exhaled angrily. “You have no idea how difficult it is out there for someone to find the right person, regardless of how they look. Underneath all this makeup and this fancy dress is a girl from the South Side of Chicago that grew up getting shit on her whole life.”
“Being glamorous—how awful for you.” I narrowed my eyes at her.
“What you did doesn’t prove anything. What good is being a perfect match with someone if it is something you faked?” She leaned against the window but kept the burning hatred in her eyes focused on me.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Except it wasn’t fake—it was supposed to be—but when I put my information into the system, it really did match me with you.”