The Bachelorette ~ Chapter One
In a small coffee-shop, my best friend Alice Cullen and I are chatting about our favorite guilty pleasure, The Bachelorette.
"I'm just glad Ben F's season is over." I stated.
"You were warmed up to him by the end!" Alice accused, unfazed by my attitude. She bounced slightly with enthusiasm. "I wonder who the next Bachelorette will be now!" She says.
"The final two girl, no doubt. They always do that."
Again, unfazed by my reaction Alice wiggled her eyebrows "You know ABC is coming here for casting, right?"
"Yeah." This does elicit a smile from me. "But they're just driving past Forks."
"Still," Alice says "The hot guys they cast may be very close to us once they get booted off." She breaks into a grin, and I find it infectious.
"That would be something." I state.
"Hello?" I answered my phone.
"Hey, Bells." I hear my dad's gruff voice over the phone. My dad, Charlie, is the chief of police in our small town. "I have some good news."
"Oh yeah?" I cradle the phone on my neck as I shuffle with my paper-work. It's June, and I'm cleaning-up papers from the previous school-year still. I've been teaching high-school for the past 2 years and am a year away from earning my masters.
"You'd never guess who I pulled over for driving drunk." Charlie says.
My brow furrows. How could this be good news? "The producer for that show you and Alice like…the crazy one where they think they can find love on TV."
"The Bachelorette! Are you serious!" I can't help it. I'm excited. My dad practically met a celebrity!
"Yeah. Anyway, I negotiated with him because he didn't want this on his record. Bad for ratings and such."
"What'd you negotiate?"
"Well…" he says sheepishly, "You haven't really had a boyfriend since high-school—"
"You know how focused I've been on school." I defend myself.
"Right. And I'm so proud of where you are, Bells. But you need to have some. So, I secured you a spot as the next Bachelorette."
I almost drop the phone.
My mouth drops open.
I sputter. "Wh-Wha- WHAT did you do!" I don't know whether to be excited or terrified. I wasn't good enough to be the next Bachelorette. I didn't have the bubbly personality or the gorgeous looks. I was…well, rather plain actually.
"I thought you would be happy, Bells." Charlie says.
"Dad…I can't do that on national television!" How embarrassing!
"Well, I certainly hope you won't be acting like some of those women act on there." His voice is firm. I blush as I remember scenes of the contestants basically making babies with their love interest in front of the cameras. "A producer will meet with you soon, you'll thank me, Bella" Dad says.
The next month was a whirlwind. I've never been so pampered in my life. My head producer, Angela, was very kind with me through the whole process. I went through photo-shoots, filling out questioners for my profile on the website, and a lot of shopping.
I had a personal stylist as we were getting ready for filming and I had picked out outfits for all the dates. Alice helped me with that. After my various interviews and filming scenes of me walking around Forks, we were ready to begin shooting for the season.
When I first flew out to L.A. they had me in a small house in which I would be staying at while the men stood in the mansion. Every time I thought of the 20 men I would meet, my stomach would burst with butterflies from both excitement and nervousness.
I tried not to read into the fact that there were only 20 men on my season. Fleiss, the creator, probably wanted to finish my season as much as possible. Still, it would be more attention than I was every used to getting.
I had to admit; the new make-up and clothes did make me look pretty good.
They colored my hair too. I got light caramel highlights along my brown wavy hair and I'd have a hair-stylist coming in everyday along with a make-up artist. Alice Cullen just happened to be doing both professionally, so my best friend would be with me along this process. If it wasn't for her spewing enthusiasm and excitement to me daily, I don't think I'd be as relaxed as I was now.
Dressed in a light pink, strapless evening dress, I strapped on my silver heels and looked at myself in the mirror on last time. My eye make-up was silver and smoky to contrast the softness of my dress. The rest of my face was perfectly touched up and my brown eyes sparkled. Alice had curled my hair and it fell prettily on past my bare shoulders. I took a deep breath as I got into the limo that led me to the mansion.
Even though I was nervous, shy, and feeling a bit awkward I couldn't help the giggle that bubbled out of me. I was the Bachelorette. I was possibly going to find the love of my life. The giggle turned into a laugh. Okay, so I probably wasn't going to find love but damn it, I was surely going to have fun.
Chris Harrison greeted me and I greeted him warmly. He's always been my favorite.
"Ready?" He asked.
"Yes!"
"Stand right there, its marked by the tape." He instructed.
I did as he told me to do.
"The first limo will be coming shortly. I'll interview you in front of the camera really quick. All you have to say is you're nervous and—well, have you watched the show before?"
"Yes, I have." I couldn't wait to finish these technicalities.
"Then you know how to act I'm sure." Chris said, already turning the camera ready to deliver his lines.
Angela had previously briefed me on how to act and as the camera was away from me she smiled at me signaling that I had acted just fine for the camera.
"Alright, and here comes our first limo. This one will have only 5 guys for you, so you're not overwhelmed." Chris smiled encouragingly.
As the first limo pulled up, the hopeless romantic side of me couldn't deny that part of me was hoping I would find the love of my life somewhere in there.
A/N: Reviews are ridiculously appreciated! I'll update my other story before I update this…check that out as well! =)
Link to dress is on my profile too!