Haley's POV
By the age of 21, I thought I would be about to graduate university, be living with a long-term boyfriend and expecting to have a wedding in the near future. That is not the case. My mother, Lydia James, also wanted this to happen for me, and my failure to do so has led to what she calls 'desperate measures'.
My mum phoned me a few weeks ago to tell me that she had entered me into a new MTV show called Are You The One? and that I had made it to the live shows. When the phone call came, I was anything if not extremely pissed. My mother was interfering in my love life yet again, merely because she wanted more grandchildren, even though three of my siblings had already provided her with seven.
So here I am, sat in a black stretch limo driving towards the house that I had to spend the next ten weeks in. The show was conveniently timed around summer break for college, and in the weeks ahead I was expected to find my 'true match'. My mother had travelled specifically to New York to see me off, which I knew meant that she would be taking me shopping and buying me an entire, and slightly slutty new wardrobe. I had been completely correct.
I secretly loved all the new clothes my mum had bought me, but the new underwear she had to buy for me was a bit too much, I was anything if not traditional and somehow I didn't see a see-through black lace baby-doll something anybody I had known, especially for less than ten weeks, should see.
My mother had even specifically chosen the outfit I should enter the house in, deciding that everyone would make a proper effort, I was now dress in a short lilac sun-dress, which flowed to my mid-thigh, paired with a pair of strappy white heels to complement my blonde hair and slightly tanned skin.
What I failed to mention earlier, and is the only reason why I agreed to partake in this charade, was the fact that my sister Quinn was also going to be on the show. Quinn, after a failed engagement with her long term boyfriend David, decided she was ready to find 'the one' she would settle down with. She was the reason my mum had got the idea for me in the first place. I was all for finding someone who I was ready to share the rest of my life with, but somehow I didn't think that would occur on a TV show. If everyone on the show found their match before the week ended, we were able to split $1 million between us. I guessed that this is why many people applied to the show, and at the very least would be a good conciliation prize if a relationship failed to materialise.
"Haley Bob, stop with the lip biting, you look hot!" Quinn said, whilst putting a comforting hand on my knee.
"If you call me that when we get there, I'll kill you!" I said flatly, no way was anyone allowed to know about my ridiculous middle name, "And no pitying boys into liking me, seriously let me do this on my own, people don't even need to know we're related."
"Whatever you say Bob," she smiled, earning a glare from me, "This is going to be so much fun!"
Somehow, I doubted the experience would be fun for very long.