“I already know he won,” I tell them. “I haven’t started watching the episodes yet though. Maybe I’ll do that tonight.”
“So, um, have you talked to Beck?” Zora asks.
“Talked to Beck? When, this morning?’
“Or last night.”
“No, he texted but I was already asleep. Did something happen?” My phone’s upstairs in my room. “You’re starting to freak me out. What’s going on?”
“Maybe you should talk to Beck about it.” The hesitancy in Zora’s voice is so unlike her. “What did he tell you about the filming anyway? You said he told you a couple girls came on to him but he didn’t hook up with them, right?”
I start to nod, but there’s a loud knock on our door. We all glance at each other and shrug. No one’s expecting anyone. I’m the closest to the door so I check the peep hole and find Beck himself on the other side. My mood instantly improves as I open the door.
“Morning,” I greet him with a smile.
He gives me a once over as I lean up on my toes for a kiss, but the expression on his face has me frowning.
“All right, what happened? What’s going on? Why are you looking at me like a ticking time bomb?” As the questions leave my mouth, possible answers start to form and panic begins to settle in my stomach. I take a step backward.
“Uh, you know what? I really need a shower. Can you wait like ten minutes? I’ll be right back.” As I practically sprint up the stairs and into the bathroom, it hits me what I’m doing. I’m running. This time, literally. I almost turn around and confront him, face my friends. But they’ll still be there after I’ve had a minute to regroup. I just don’t like being caught off guard like this. Showering and changing first gives me this tiny illusion of control, over what exactly, I’m not so sure. Whatever I’m about to find out, it can’t be good.
Beck
My eyes move from the top of the stairs to the scene in the kitchen. Awesome. She’s left me with her friends, who have definitely watched the season finale, if the expressions on their faces mean anything.
Lucy’s drips with disappointment, Ellie’s disapproval, and Zora’s got some fierce mixture of anger and annoyance. I don’t know the other one, Sydney, well enough to read her. If anything, she looks simply curious.
Zora’s the first to walk around the kitchen island and get in my face. “So, what really happened with Camila Gonzales on Shred Live? Let’s hear it.”
I’ve gotten this question or a different version of it with another girl’s name so many times since the show started airing a couple months ago, I almost recite the same response I’ve memorized. “You know I can’t discuss those details. The contract prohibits it.” But there’s no way that’s going to fly with these girls, and besides, they deserve more.
“She was all over me, but I didn’t hook up with her.”
“What about when she came into your room at night?”
“Yeah, that was fucking scary to watch. I had no idea she came in my room. All I can think is maybe it happened when I still had a roommate, before Romeo got kicked off. Maybe she was going in for him and I didn’t wake up or something.”
Zora’s eyes remain narrowed, even as her expression softens just a touch. “It doesn’t look good. At all. I mean, she was wearing the same thing that she was wearing when she said goodnight to you earlier. When it was just the two of you left in the house.”
“Yeah, but then why would she wait until later to come in my room if we were supposedly together? No one else was at the house by then.”
“Duh. Because like they showed, you two were trying to keep it a secret and didn’t know that the cameras following you around weren’t the only ones. They had them placed all over the house.”
“I know it looked bad. I watched it too and was just as shocked. Even my mom wasn’t sure what to think at first. But there was nothing going on with Camila, besides her offering to meet me somewhere like three times a day,” I add. That’s what all those little “secret” conversations were. Her walking by whispering she was about to take a shower. Her dropping me a note telling me her roommate would be gone for the next hour. Shit like that.
“You and Jordan were broken up then, weren’t you?” Sydney, the one I’ve only just met this past week, asks.
I don’t really want to share my private business with this girl.
“Look, I don’t want to talk about all this with someone I don’t know very well,” I tell her. I trust Lucy, Ellie, and Zora. I know them. And sure they trust this Sydney girl, maybe, but she’s already given me the vibe she’s jealous of Jordan. It’s understandable, Jordan basically took her spot in the group, is acting as her replacement in a way or whatever. I’ve got serious radar when it comes to jealous girls, after dealing with Kelly and then Camila on the show, so I’m not taking chances with this one.
“So honorable,” she says, rolling her eyes. “I already know all the ‘confidential’ details from these guys, and Jordan.” She air-quotes “confidential” as if my relationship with Jordan isn’t nearly as sacred as I’m making it out to be.
“It doesn’t really matter what the official status of things has been between me and Jordan since filming started. Or even since I met her. I know it’s only been her from the moment I saw her skating at Riptide that first day we met. That’s all that should matter.”
I put an end to the questions and skepticism I see brewing from her friends. After my statement, they don’t try to stop me as I take a step to go around Zora. She gives me the tiniest nod, showing a glimpse of respect. Ignoring Sydney, I glance at Lucy and Ellie before going up the stairs. They don’t hound me with questions about the filming details. Maybe they’re saving it for later. I do see some understanding and acceptance cross their features, even if it’s shaded by the earlier disapproval and disappointment.
Sure, this is between me and Jordan first and foremost. The opinions of others will come, and we’ll be ready to dismiss them. But some opinions, like her friends’ down there, I can’t pretend they don’t matter.
I hesitate a second as I hear the shower turn off, but opt to go wait in her bedroom. I might want to bust in there and make my case, but she wants to do this on her terms and I can give her that.
Chapter Twenty
Jordan
I already know he’s going to be inside when I open my bedroom door. He wasn’t in the kitchen when I glanced downstairs, and while there’s a chance my roommates kicked him out, I just don’t see Beck letting that happen. Besides, my friends have always been Team Beck, or Team Beck and Jordan I guess. Not including before they knew about him and wanted me to get kissing practice with Griff.
Right, my mind is spinning as I prepare myself for whatever is coming. Sure enough, Beck is pacing my tiny bedroom when I step inside, shutting the door behind me.
He comes to a stop and his eyes meet mine. That’s the first cue something is up, because normally the sight of me in a towel would have him doing a sweep, and then he’d have trouble focusing. Instead, Beck is all business.