The Contestant#24

Before you dive into this story, have you read ‘The Airport’

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Adriana stared up at the wall containing the headshots of all of the remaining contestants. 

Every Friday, she would stand in the study of the mansion and reflect on all her connections and eliminate the ones she felt where the weakest.  

Dwindling twenty-one contestants down to sixteen, and then sixteen down to ten was pretty easy; and now standing in front of the wall again, preparing to cut the ten down even more, Adriana was a little shocked. Originally, when Noah and the company running this competition, told her that she would be eliminating people each week, Adriana thought this whole ordeal would be much harder. She’d never even dated two people at once, let alone twenty-one, so Adriana didn’t have any idea what this whole process would be like.  

Scanning over each photo, Adriana thought back on some of her connections. 

She and Jess had connected over their love of film and travel; conversations between the pair flowed easily and effortlessly, like water rolling down a hill. 

And then there was Racheal; while Adriana enjoyed talking with her, Racheal was a bit standoffish and seemed a little unsure.  

Every time Adriana and Racheal had a one on one, it was like someone had hit the reset button on their entire relationship. Though Adriana always had a great time with her, there was still this warmup period, kind of  like they were meeting for the very first time. Which made Adriana feel like nothing was really brewing between the two.  But when Racheal was warmed up, they had great talks; the pair had lots in common, and Racheal always had Adriana in  stitches; she just needed Racheal to get out of her shell more. 

And then there was Alex. Adriana’s relationship with Alex was strange. The two operated on two extremes; they were either awkwardly staring at one another from across the room, or making out. The pair didn’t talk much, and while he was a good kisser, Adriana didn’t know much about him beyond that. She could tell that there was more to Alex, but getting him to open up was like trying to pry open a car door; And Adriana couldn’t lie, a part of her liked that. But that part of her wasn’t large enough to actually want to pry him open. And now that the competition was approaching its midpoint, she was beginning to grow tired of this game between them.  

Then there was Brock… While Corey had quickly claimed the number one spot, the pass month and a half, Brock was giving Corey a run for their money. No longer did the late-night conversations belong solely to Corey. 

“Ahh, looks like someone’s running a little late tonight” Brock said one night, as he and Adriana sat talking in the backyard. 

Adriana followed Brock’s gaze to the patio door, were Corey seemed to be making their way out into the backyard. 

While the daytime was reserved for planned activities and dates, at night, things where a little less structured structured.

Of course, on some nights, they had to head to bed early so that they could arise for whatever activities the producers had planned for the following day, but on nights like tonight, when they had nothing lined up for the next day, Adriana found herself staying up rather late, talking in hushed tones with one of the contestants. 

“Ahh, not tonight Smiley, you’re too late.” Brock said with a grin as Corey turned around and faced them. 

“Really Broccoli? You hid my freakin’ sandals so you could beat me to the couch?” Corey said, throwing their hands in the air. 

Brock nodded his head as a smile took over his entire face; he looked quite proud of himself. 

Ever since Adriana’s one on one date with Corey, Brock and Corey had been in heavy competition. They were constantly vying for one-on-one time and bragging and boasting to one another about how great their dates with Adriana had been.  

Adriana had expected the contestants to get competitive, and she wasn’t sure how she would feel about it when they did; But somehow Brock and Corey managed to make it look, and more importantly feel, extremely hot.   

“Sucks to suck Cornelius.” Brock said as he puffed out his chest.  

Adriana shook her head.  

“You two really know how to make a girl feel like a piece of meat.” She said, waving her wine glass between the pair.  

“A sexy piece of meat!” They both said at the same time.   

Adriana shook her head again as she did her best to keep her laughter at bay.  

“Go back inside Smiley!” She said with a laugh.  

“Yeah Smiley, go back inside.” Brock repeated, shooing Corey away as if they were a fly.  

Corey stuck their tongue out at Brock before turning around and heading back inside. 

As Corey pulled the door shut, Brock turned his attention back to Adriana.  

“What was I saying again?” He asked, brows bunching together as he looked at her. 

“Your grandfather, the boat, there was a storm coming.” She said, attempting to jog his memory.   

“Oh yeah. So I’m just standing there, watching this wave rush towards me, and I’m just thinking to myself ‘what the hell’, I thought God said he wasn’t gonna flood the earth this time!” 

As Brock continued with his story, Adriana tried her hardest to stay focus, but it was hard to focus on anything when Corey was always in the back of her mind.  

Thanks to the complete glass back door of the house, Adriana could see right inside.

Though she tried to keep her eyes fixed on Brock, she couldn’t help but sneak glances over to the kitchen where Corey and the kitchen staff stood talking.   

The house staff weren’t at all shy about their favoritism of Corey, and if Adriana was being completely honest with herself, she was a little jealous that they got to be so open about it.  

Staring into the house, Adriana watched as Corey said something to Joey, causing him to begin swatting them with the towel on his shoulder as the rest of the staff laughed at the pair. 

“And so the fish and I just start making out, like real heavy. I’m talking tougues EVERYWHERE.” Adriana heard Brock say. 

“Wait what?” She said, turning her attention back to him.  

The look on his face said ‘gotcha’, and Adriana could feel the blood rushing to her face. 

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t listening.” She confessed, offering up a timid smile. 

“Should I start over?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow up at her.   

She nodded her head slowly. 

“Please?” She said sheepishly. 

And so he started his story from the top, and thankfully, just as he did so, Corey had gone off to another part of the house, allowing Adriana to give Brock her undivided attention. 

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So what do you think, does Corey have this competition in the bag, or is it still anyone’s game? Leave a comment and let me know. 

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