“Two of you will receive gold bracelets from Deluxe this evening, during this cocktail party. Bellamy will give them to the two ladies who make the biggest impression on him. If you receive a bracelet, you will be safe from elimination. At the end of the evening, there will be an elimination ceremony. Anyone not receiving a bracelet by that point will be going home. Three of you will be leaving tonight. Alright! Let’s get this party started!”
Shar wrestled her way through the crowd and took Bellamy’s arm. Vanessa and Shyla were on either side of me. We watched Bellamy and Shar disappear towards the pool.
“I am so drunk,” whispered Shyla.
“Me too,” I admitted.
“Me too,” said Vanessa.
“Did you see Nickie’s head?” I asked them.
“Which one is Nickie?” asked Vanessa.
“I’m not sure where she went… She was in the limo with me. She crushed a beer can on her head when she first met Bellamy,” I said.
“Tell me that kind of thing doesn’t impress him,” said Shyla.
“Speaking of Nickie, I think she might be going home already,” said Marissa, appearing in front of us with a worried look on her face.
“Really?” asked Shyla.
“Yeppers,” said Marissa. She flashed her teeth in a nervous, equine smile before turning serious again. “She was barfing in the bathroom and they think she might have a concussion, so they took her away.”
“Oh, cool,” said Shyla.
“That’s great news,” said Vanessa.
“I’ve gotta use the little girls’ room. Tootaloo,” said Marissa. She wiggled her fingers and ran away with her knees pressed together as if she might have an accident.
“Is it the dress or do you think she’s going to wet her pants?” I wondered aloud.
“It’s probably just that her dress is too tight. Have you noticed that her teeth are taller than she is,” said Shyla.
“Shhh! Stop being stupid, y’all! Here comes Bellamy,” said Vanessa.
“Hi ladies,” he said.
“Hi,” said Vanessa and Shyla. I just smiled a pitiful, crooked smile, having suddenly lost my confidence. Now, standing before us, he suddenly looked taller and more like the Bellamy of my dreams. Intimidating. Out of my league. I began to sweat. He was looking right at me. “Would you like to take a little walk with me, Emma?” He held out his hand.
“Sure, I’d love that,” I said. I was shocked that he was choosing me.
“How are you doing?” he asked, leading me away.
“Good. What about you?” I asked. He was holding my hand. This guy, the same guy I had just been watching on Betsy’s tiny television, was now holding my hand and we were walking along, being filmed, creating a television show of our own. I thought I might hyperventilate.
“I’m great. This is all pretty overwhelming, but I can’t complain,” he said. It seemed like we were having a normal conversation, but we weren’t. It was hard to ignore the camera people who were walking backwards in front of us as well as off to our side. One of them stumbled over a rock and fell on his butt, and we just kept walking like none of it was happening. “Let me tell you, Emma, you made quite the first impression!”
I smiled at Bellamy, unsure what to say. It was so much harder to talk with all these cameras on us. “I can’t take all the credit for that. Really, I can’t take any credit for that,” I added, laughing.
“But you handled it so well.”
“Oh really? Well, thanks. Um, so, did you like Patches? He can be a little intimidating when you first meet him. But he’s a real sweetie once he warms up to you.”
Bellamy laughed. “Patches? You are so funny! I think he would get along really well with my dog, Smurf.”
“Smurf. What a clever name,” I lied.
“Thanks,” he said, nodding enthusiastically.