The Contestant#13  

Have you read ‘Bigot Among Us’ yet?

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After spending a bit of time in the pool and the hot tub, Adriana and the contestants headed back into the house. As they did so, Adriana pulled Alex aside. 

 

“Most people haven’t even ever knowingly come across a trans person before. And when they do, they just spew bullshit they’ve heard on social media. I just let it roll off me.” Alex said, when she asked him about the remarks. 

 

“Alright, but you’ll let me know if it escalates, right?” Adriana said, looking him square in the eye, to which Alex gave a nod. 

 

Even though Alex assured her that it was no big deal, Adriana still couldn’t help but think about it.  

 

Aside from simply not wanting to be around a bigoted jerk, whether or not a contestant was transphobic was pretty important to her. Adriana associated with lots of trans people, both in her personal and professional life; so having a transphobic partner simply would not do.  

 

But unfortunately, she didn’t have the time to stop and get Edwin’s side of the story; at least not at that very moment. 

 

After making their way back inside, everyone headed upstairs and changed. Adriana was the first one back downstairs, and after a couple of minutes, Corey came down as well. 

 

“Damn Smiley, you clean up well.” Adriana said. 

 

 

“Thanks.” Corey said as they looked down at their light blue linen shorts and their matching button up.  

 

Fashion was not Corey’s strong suit; usually if they weren’t in their chef’s uniform, then they were in jeans and a t-shirt. On a few rare occasions, when their sisters Maddie and Chloe were in town, the two would rummage through Corey’s closet, going on and on about Corey’s horrible wardrobe. 

 

“No, but seriously Neily, how do you even get laid?” Chloe, Corey’s twin sister asked one day as she rummaged through their closet.

 

While Corey loved their sisters to death, sometimes having two models for sisters really did suck. 

 

“Firstly, quit going through my shit! And secondly, it doesn’t matter what I wear, because it’s just going to end up on the floor of some girl’s bedroom anyways.” Corey said with a smirk.

 

Chloe and Maddie looked at one another and gagged. 

 

“You’re disgusting!” The women said in unison. 

 

The day after Corey found out that their grandfather had signed them up to be in this competition, a massive box from Chloe arrived at their front door. In the box was a shit ton of clothes, and for the last few days that Corey was in New York, they spent every waking moment on FaceTime with their twin sister, listening to her go on and on about pant-shirt and short-shirt combinations.  

 

It all sounded like a foreign language to Corey, but they took notes anyways.  

 

“I’ve gotta be honest, I normally don’t clean up this well.” Corey said as they turned to face Adriana. 

 

“I take it your chef’s uniform is your go to fit?” She said. 

 

“Either that, or jeans and a t-shirt.” Corey said. 

 

Adriana  laughed. 

 

“You can never go wrong with jeans and a t-shirt.” Adriana said. 

 

“That’s what I said!” Corey all but shouted, clearly feeling vindicated. 

 

“But when your sisters walk runways for a living, everyone’s always gotta be fashion show ready all the time.” Corey said, rolling their eyes as they said that last part. 

 

“Your sisters  are models?” Adriana asked, her interest peeked.    

 

That hadn’t come up during their couch conversation the other night. 

 

Corey smiled from ear to ear, the light of pride that came from them made Adriana’s heart melt. 

 

“Yep, both Chloe and Maddie are models. Although I think Chloe just became a model for the free shit.” Corey said. 

 

“Hey, free shit is nice!” She said, causing them both to laugh. 

 

“So what’s the plan for the evening?” Dennis, one of the contestants asked as he entered the living room. 

 

Adriana twisted around to face all the contestants who had gathered around. 

 

“Well, I have a dinner that I have to go to tonight, and I need a date. But before I take anyone anywhere, I’ve gotta get a sense of how well you all can put together an outfit.” Adriana said, looking from one contestant to the next. 

 

“So head back upstairs, pull on your finest threads, and meet me back down here in an hour.” She said. 

 

“Wait, what’s the vibe of this dinner?” Jess asked. 

 

Adriana paused for a moment to think about it, the event was just a little dinner to celebrate Adriana having signed a couple of models to her agency.  

 

Like always, Adriana let the models choose the spot, so she wasn’t even sure of the dress code.  

 

“Good question, hang on.” She said, whipping out her phone. 

 

Adriana sent a quick text over to her business partner, and a moment later, her phone pinged with a reply. 

 

“Business casual.” She said. 

 

Satisfied, the contestants began making their way towards the stairs as Adriana’s phone rang with a FaceTime call from her brother Noah. 

 

But when she answered, rather than seeing her brother’s face, Adriana was met with the sight of her twin nephews, Cameron and Cain. 

 

“Hi auntie Adriana!” The boys chorused into the phone. 

 

It didn’t matter what kind of day Adriana was having, seeing her nephews always made the worst days bearable, and the best days, even better.  

 

“Hi boys!” She said excitedly into the phone. 

 

The twins where spitting images of her brother; their family often joked that Noah went back in time, cloned his baby self, and brought his baby self and his clone to the present.  

 

“We miss you aunt Aiddy. When are you coming to see us?” They asked. 

 

Between her brother living in New York, and Adriana being all the way in LA, and both of them being so damn busy, she only ever got to see her nephews around the holidays.  

 

Jake, Noah’s husband, was from New York, and so was his massive family.  

 

While the Romano’s were pretty good at keeping in touch, they weren’t nearly as good as Jake and his family.  

 

Jake and Noah were constantly having dinner, going on vacations, and just hanging around with Jake’s family, meanwhile, Noah, Adriana, and their parents couldn’t even manage to get all four of their schedules to match up for coffee, let alone spend a whole day together. 

 

But never the less, Adriana was happy for them, and was hoping that after this competition ended, regardless of the outcome, she would finally start moving some things around on her schedule so that she could spend some time with Noah and his family. 

 

The twins talked Adriana’s ear off, telling her all about the club house they were building in their backyard, the cool adventures they were getting up to, and all the things they were learning in daycare.  

 

Despite not always being able to be with them, Noah’s family always kept her up to date on the happenings in their world, and Adriana loved that. 

 

“Alright kiddos, it’s bedtime.” Jake said, causing the boys to groan. 

 

Adriana couldn’t help but laugh as they began pouting and protesting. But atlas, after saying goodnight to her brother and his family, Adriana hung up, allowing Jake and Noah to get their boys to bed. 

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Thanks for reading-C

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