"I need a Makers and ginger, and three specials," Daisy instructed the bartender, digging some cash out of her pocket.
"Anything for you," he smiled at her and she rolled her eyes. She and the rest of the producers came to this bar after each elimination ceremony to celebrate the end of another successful episode. The place was a total dive well off of the beaten path. It held very little appeal except for super cheap drinks and surprisingly decent hot wings. It also didn't hurt that Jim seemed to detest the place.
"He's cute, you know?"
Daisy laughed when Amy appeared next to her, leaning her elbows on the bar.
"He is," Daisy agreed. "Very. He's also an out of work actor. No thank you."
Daisy wasn't about to go anywhere near a guy without an actual career. She didn't have that kind of patience.
"Can you grab us two shots of chilled Patron, hon?" Amy added to their order, flashing the other bartender a flirtatious smile.
"What are the shots for?" Daisy asked as they were quickly placed in front of them.
"To you," Amy grinned, holding up one of the glasses. "Your girl went from being called last to called first tonight. That deserves to be celebrated."
Daisy couldn't hide the proud smile as she lifted the other shot. She thought that Seth would call Elle's name first but she was still excited when it happened. She'd never felt so good about her chances before.
The women downed their shots and Amy stacked their glasses, neatly, "Genius move sneaking Elle out of the house last night."
Daisy felt her eyes bug out and she stared at her friend, barely noticing the rest of her order being placed on the bar. She thought she managed to pull it off undetected. She called Seth and demanded that they come back when a few of the girls started to head to bed. Elle was usually one of the last to go to sleep so it was going to become more and more noticeable that she wasn't around. She'd bribed one of the techs to keep him from reporting that Elle's mic was off but she didn't want Harper or Jules to find the pack under Elle's pillow before she got back. Fortunately, Seth brought her back quickly and Daisy snuck her in through the pool area, claiming she'd been outside reading, just beyond the camera line. She even brought a book she knew Elle had read and one of those little clip on lights to make it believable.
When Jim tried to question her, Elle blew him off as she normally would and declared that she was going to bed, heading straight to her room before he could ask any questions. It was business as usual.
"Don't freak out," Amy laughed at Daisy's panicked expression. "I have no intention of ratting you out. I'm just going to sit by in silent jealousy and hope that Seth doesn't send my only remaining girl home for being more excited for the guest stars than she is for him."
Amy had taken a blow at elimination losing 2 of her girls, Brittany and Kayla. Jules was her only remaining hope. Normally, Amy always had people around to the end but she was having an off year.
"Have you talked to her about that?" Daisy asked. "Because she's really got to reign it in."
"I haven't really," Amy admitted. "At first, I thought he might find her fangirling endearing but I'm realizing now that I should've coached her sooner. Oh well, can't win 'em all."
"You're really not going to say anything about last night?" Daisy asked. She trusted Amy. They were friends outside of work but she still had to ask.
"Cross my heart," Amy swore, picking up one of the bar's bright blue 'special' drinks and taking a sip. "I'm even going to offer you a little advice."
Daisy waited patiently. Amy had been in the business a lot longer and had even worked on shows like The Bachelor. Her advice was already appreciated.
"Jim is about to make a big push with Mia," Amy scooted closer, speaking as quietly as she could in the loud bar. "He's gonna try to give that tin man a heart. Have her make some romantic plea to Seth about how she's here for him and really push to build a relationship."
Daisy wasn't really surprised. Mia was obviously the girl that Jim was hanging his hopes on. She made fantastic TV.
"My point is that we need to see more emotion from Elle," Amy explained. "I appreciate that Elle is sort of above it all, I really do. But if she can show a little vulnerability, the fans will fall head over heels in love with her and if you increase her fanbase, you increase her favor with the higher ups and Seth won't be able to send her home even if he wants to."
She knew that Amy was absolutely right. The audience was already loving the chemistry between Seth and Elle but a little emotion could go a long way. Daisy just had to figure out a way to get it out of her.
Seth had to have some of the worst luck in the world when it came to flights being on time. It seemed that whenever he was going home, no matter where he departed from, his flight got delayed. There had to be some kind of conspiracy against him. He'd rushed to the airport after the elimination ceremony, barely stopping to say goodbye to anyone and now here he was, sitting at a mostly empty gate, 30 minutes past when he was supposed to board. He would have preferred to just stay at the house, maybe try to sneak Elle out again. He hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her very much outside of giving her a necklace. They had a shorter cocktail party than usual and Mia and Emily kept him occupied almost the entire time. He called her first, hoping to make up for calling her last the week before. Things had definitely turned around after he gave her that ultimatum. He never needed any convincing that she was there for him but now she didn't either. He had no idea where any of this was going. He was still technically supposed to be courting an entire group of other women and she was contractually prohibited from officially breaking up with her boyfriend. They weren't exactly in a fairytale situation. He understood her reservations about the show and he wasn't sure he was in the market for a serious relationship anytime soon but he knew that he liked her. He was having fun and he wanted to get to know her more. If they had to do that within the confines of a reality show for a few more weeks, he could deal with that.
He stretched out his legs on the seats beside him, figuring it was time to get comfortable. He was going to be there at least another half hour.
His phone started to vibrate in his pocket and he wondered if whoever it was could sense his airport misery. He smiled when he saw the incoming FaceTime from Sasha.
"Tell me everything," she said as soon as he answered.
"Don't you have anything better to do?" he laughed. It was their off day. She was more than likely at home until Friday.
"If I did, would I be calling you?" she challenged. "Come on, I want to know how the challenge went. What was the date?"
"Which one?" he smirked.
"What do you mean which one?" her eyebrows shot up to her hairline.
He'd spoken without thinking. Seth didn't particularly feel like sharing about the alone time he got to spend with Elle. The actual alone time, not the date where they were surrounded by cameras and producers. That greasy burger stand was just for the two of them.
"Nothing," he shook his head. "The date was good."
"Okay, I don't know why you're being vague right now but I don't appreciate it," She glared at him.
"I'm being vague because I'm not supposed to spoil the show," Seth laughed. "It's a part of the deal."
"Oh like you haven't spoiled it before," she rolled her eyes. "Since when do you care about rules?"
"You have a point there," he agreed. He had the perfect thing to distract her. "I have a spoiler that I think you'll really like."
"Did you finally get rid of Mia?" she perked up. "That better be it because I'm all excited about it now."
"I found out when you get to be on the show," he explained.
Her jaw dropped and then she let out a strange squeal. Her magenta hair started flying around her face as she jumped up and down, "Finally! Tell me, tell me, tell me."
"Calm down, Sash," he laughed. "I don't know who the next guest is but you guys will be the week after them."
"You guys?" she stopped bouncing. "I don't get my own episode?"
He shook his head, "'Fraid I couldn't swing that. It's you, Bayley, Nia, and Alexa. Maybe Becky, depending on her schedule."
She rolled her eyes, "This feels like a 'too many cooks in the kitchen' scenario to me."
"Don't shoot the messenger," Seth shrugged. "You're on the show. That's what you wanted, right?"
"Am I the first one to find out?" she narrowed her eyes.
"Yes, Sasha," he laughed. It was such a strange thing to care about but he knew it would matter to her. She was the only person he knew more competitive than himself.
"At least I have that," she fought a smile. "So, what are we going to be doing?"
"You'll find out, don't you worry," he smiled. "And I promise you'll like it."
Tuesday
"Why the hell did I have to befriend the most athletic girl in the house?" Elle breathed, leaning over and catching her breath. Jules had somehow convinced her to start getting up early to work out. That was how boring it was living in the hen house. "And how the hell did Harper get out of this?"
Elle complained but at least the working out would help to counteract the copious amounts of wine she was drinking. She'd always been in good shape but this house could definitely wreak havoc on her body if she let it.
"Harper still has a bum knee after that football game," Jules answered, cracking open a water bottle. "And you need to learn to stop being such a cranky ass bitch in the morning."
Elle laughed, "This is not making me any less of a cranky ass bitch."
"It will, trust me," Jules assured her. "Eventually."
"There she is!"
Elle looked over her shoulder, rolling her eyes when she saw Emily stalking toward them with Abigail and Mia in tow. They had a cameraman rushing to keep up with them.
"Jesus take the wheel, what now?" Jules put down her water.
Elle crossed her arms, awaiting the blonde army's onslaught. She wasn't hiding any more phones so she didn't know what they were coming at her for this time.
"Are you kidding me?" Abigail stepped forward, standing in front of Jules.
Elle raised an eyebrow, confused.
"Can I help you?" Jules laughed.
"You can explain to me when you decided it was okay to be a thief?" Abigail responded, stepping even closer to Jules. Mia and Emily were close behind her like bodyguards.
Elle wondered if she'd gone to bed and woken up in the Bad Girls Club.
"What are you talking about?" Jules frowned.
"I've been looking for my watch for days," Abigail explained. "Emily told me to look in your room and there it was."
"I haven't borrowed anything from you since you decided to join the dark side," Jules pointed at Mia and Emily.
"Oh I know," Abigail's volume rose. "You didn't borrow it. You took it."
Elle frowned deeply at the exchange unfolding before her. This was so obviously forced. Abigail was playing for the cheap seats. It actually offended Elle's sensibilities as an actress. Jim's grimy mitts were all over this.
"Look, this is obviously a misunderstanding," Elle stepped in, gently tugging the back of Jules' shirt to get her a little space. "We're a group of women living together. Our shit gets mixed up all the time. You found your watch. End of story."
Abigail dramatically rolled her eyes, "You don't run the house, Elle. You can't just shut me down."
"I'm not saying I run anything," Elle clarified. "This just seems like an incredibly dumb thing to fight over. If you really want to go crazy, though, have at it, girl. You're only making yourself look worse."
"Look, I don't know what you want," Jules scoffed. "I don't know how that ended up in my room. Did you ask Kai? It's her room too."
"I don't need to ask Kai because I know it was you," Abigail sneered. "And what I want is an apology."
"Well you aren't gonna get one so maybe you should go find something else to do," Jules shrugged.
"Oh I'm going to get my apology," Abigail demanded. "Bitch."
Before Elle had time to react, the two women were engaged in a full blown shouting match. Abigail was pointing aggressively in Jules' face. Jules had a vein popping out of her neck that had never appeared before. When Abigail's finger grazed Jules' face, the New Yorker reared her fist back and Elle jumped in, grabbing her arm before she could take a real swing.
"Okay, that's enough," she gripped her friend's arm tightly, pulling hard and dragging her away from Abigail's barking. Abigail started throwing out more insults and Jules tried to get away but Elle held firm, "Stop! Turn around and walk away."
Jules struggled for another moment before allowing Elle to drag her off. Elle didn't stop pulling until they were safely up in her room.
Harper looked alarmed when she saw them, "What's going on? I heard everybody screamin'."
"Abigail went psycho and Mike Tyson here tried to fight her," Elle explained, pressing her back against the door. Jules looked toward the door when Abigail's muffled voice could be heard from the bottom of the stairs. "If you try to go out there, I swear I will put you in a cold shower."
The brunette paced, her fists clenching and flexing.
"What is wrong with you, Jules?" Elle questioned. "You can't hit someone."
"I didn't want to," Jules insisted. "I just...I don't do well with people getting in my face. I fought a lot growing up and I have worked really hard on controlling my emotions. All kinds of therapy stuff. I haven't had anyone jump at me like that in a long time."
Jules hands were beginning to tremble and Elle felt awful for her. She reached out, taking her hand. Harper took the other.
"Just take a deep breath," Elle squeezed her hand. "We know you didn't take anything. They're just trying to get screen time. Don't give it to them."
They were still shouting and Elle had half a mind to go down there and tell them where they could shove their baseless accusations but that wouldn't help to keep Jules calm.
"We'll send Harper down there to fight them if they don't shut up," she tried for a joke instead.
Harper shrugged with a sweet smile, "I can handle 'em."
Daisy felt a sense of relief as she watched the house cameras from a production truck. She feared the contestants were going to come to blows. Drama was great but they didn't want any actual physical violence. That wasn't the type of show they were going for. Fortunately, Elle got Jules out of danger of any confrontation. Amy came into the truck, eyes full of fury, pushing her headphones down around her neck, "God damn it."
Daisy turned her eye back to the monitors, brow furrowing when she saw the gym area. Abigail, Emily, and Mia were high fiving each other and laughing.
"What the hell is that about?" Daisy questioned.
"Jim," Amy fumed. "Jules spent some time in juvenile detention as a teenager. Jim found out about it. He must have told Texas to get in her face and try to trigger her."
Daisy was simultaneously disgusted and impressed. Trying to trigger a physical altercation was a pretty low tactic but it had two potential outcomes that were great for Jim. Either he created a big ratings moment or he got another producer's girl kicked out.
Producing a reality show required walking a fine moral line. Truthfully, a history of anger management issues and juvenile detention probably should have disqualified a contestant. Most people would think it was a bad idea to put a potentially volatile person in a situation like this but for a producer, a hothead could mean a season full of ratings. They frequently overlooked or outright buried things to get their contestants cast. They all convinced themselves that everyone signed waivers so nothing that happened was really a producer's fault. They knew what they were getting into.
"He hasn't been this catty in a long time," Amy shook her head.
"He's obviously feeling threatened," Daisy explained. Abigail was still technically one of Daisy's contestants so it was a little annoying to find out that Jim was putting any ideas in her ear.
Jim was shameless. He would do anything he could to edge Daisy out and she needed to make sure that didn't happen.