The Contestant#11
Hold up, wait a minute, have you read ‘Places We Call Home‘?
“No, you didn’t! Tell me you didn’t fucking feed her a frog!” Adriana said.
She couldn’t even get the words out with how hard she was laughing.
“Of course not! I just put it on her plate. She’s the one that scooped it up and ate it.” Corey said.
Corey and Adriana sat on the large U-shaped couch, a roaring fire crackling as they traded stories back and forth.
A question about Corey’s family’s chain of restaurants caused Corey to launch into the story of how they ended up serving their older sister and her boyfriend live frogs rather than the chicken they had ordered.
“Oh my gosh Corey, what if he was allergic?!” Adriana asked.
“But he wasn’t.” Corey said, pointing their glass at her.
Adriana shook her head.
“Well now we know why your parents wouldn’t let you cook after that.” She said.
Corey shook their head.
“Oh no, mom and dad were fine with me almost killing Mads’s boyfriend. It was the fact that I lost the frog and wasted ten grand worth of wine that made them not trust me.” Corey said as they turned and looked at her.
“Wait, ten grand worth of wine? You didn’t say anything about ten grand worth of wine.” Adriana said with wide eyes.
Corey opened their mouth to respond when a tall bald man approached the pair.
“Miss Romano, your brother wanted me to remind you of that meeting you have in the morning.” The man said.
“Oh shit, I forgot about that! What time is it now?” She asked.
“About nine thirty.” Said the man as he looked up from his watch.
“Thanks Jeffery.” She said, earning a nod from him.
Twisting on his heels, Jeffery walked off as Adriana turned her attention back to Corey
“So I guess it’s bedtime then.” Said Corey.
“Cornelius! We just met!” Adriana said, gasping as she placed a hand over her heart.
It took a second, but Corey laughed as realization washed over them.
“Oh no, I’m a five-date minimum kind of guy.” Corey said.
Adriana’s brows shot up as she looked at them.
“Wow, five whole dates?” She laughed.
“Well yeah, can’t have people thinking I’m some kind of floosy.” Corey said.
“Hang on, when you say five dates, what kind of dates are we talking?” She asked.
“Five proper dinner dates.” Corey said.
Adriana let out a low whistle.
“So you wanna be wined and dined. Good to know.” She said, causing them both to laugh.
The pair rose up from the couch and made their way back inside.
Adriana pulled the large glass door closed, before turning around and watching as the long line of contestants made their way to the second floor.
She hadn’t even gotten around to half of them. God, this would for sure be a long process; but if she played her cards right, this process would end with her finding the person she’d spend the rest of her life with.
After saying goodbye to Marshall, a landscaper from Florida, with whom Adriana only spent a moment, she slipped into her room. Shuffling over to the on-suite bathroom, Adriana managed to muster up the strength to brush her teeth and wash her face before collapsing onto her bed.
Corey woke up to the sight of blinding lights pouring in through the thin curtains. As the bright light shined in their face, Corey was jolted awake.
“Oh shit, what time is it?” Corey all but shouted as they looked around the room.
It was Friday, which meant that Corey was supposed to help their uncle Zed with the food truck.
There was nothing Zed loved more than the morning breakfast rush, and judging by the sunlight that was coming through the window, Corey was late, like really late.
“My shoes! Where the fuck are my shoes?!” Corey said as they frantically rushed around the room.
There was suitcases and clothes everywhere! Where the fuck had all these suitcases come from? And where the hell was Buster?!
Normally Buster, Corey’s midnight colored Cane Carso, would’ve come into the room and woken them up at the ass crack of dawn to get Corey to take him for a….
“Dude! What the hell are you doing?” Said a groggy voice.
Corey, who was now digging through the open suit case on the floor, halted their actions and looked up at a red headed man.
The man’s hair looked like a bird’s nest, and he could barely keep his eyes open as he looked at Corey.
It was only then, as Corey looked at the man, and the man looked back at them, that realization began to wash over Corey. This was not their bedroom; the walls of Corey’s room where a grayish black, not cream, and the windows weren’t the floor to ceiling ones that Corey was used to waking up to.
As they took in the room around them, the memories of arriving at the mansion, meeting the other contestants, and talking with Adriana came floating back to them.
Looking down at the hot pink thong and the black Panic At The Disco shirt in their hands, Corey realized that the suitcase they had been rummaging through was in fact not their suitcase
“This is your suitcase, isn’t it?” Corey said slowly.
The man nodded, and Corey’s lips curled inward, almost as if they were attempting to hide from this shameful situation.
“Great band by the way.” Corey said as they dropped the articles of clothing.
The man laughed as Corey apologized and backed away from his suitcase.
“It’s all good man.” He said.
Too embarrassed to say anything else, or even remain in the room, Corey offered up a tight smile before turning on their heels and slipping out into the hall.
Making their way down to the kitchen, Corey found Jess sitting at the kitchen counter with a bald man, and Edwin, a finance bro who couldn’t seem to shut up about Crypto the other night.
“Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Edwin asked, pointing his spoon at Corey.
“Let’s just say my morning is starting off pretty interestingly.” Corey said.
“Oh did you wake up thinking you were late for work too?” Edwin asked.
“Yeah, I did.” Corey said, earning a laugh from the bald man.
“I showered, shaved, and got dressed and then when I came down here and ran into Adriana that’s when I remembered where the hell I was.” He laughed.
Corey and Jess let out a laugh, and after making themself a bowl of cereal, Corey joined the pair at the kitchen island.
Thanks so much for reading this installment, and until next time-C.
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