It's Called Acting

Round Three. Fifteen Contestants Remain. Appearance Fee: $9,000.

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Kristina lounged on her bed in a bathrobe, scrolling through the list of bachelors she’d eliminated on a tablet. She lingered on the entries for Kyle and Spike. Kyle actually teared up when he didn’t get invited to stay.

Spike she’d ejected the moment he’d answered her ‘Tell the Truth’ card. No need to let him drag things out.

Her finger flicked down to Jules. That stupid moron. He’d been right about both of them. It would’ve been so easy to just boot his stupid butt!

Diane knocked on the bedroom door and peeked in. “Kristina? Are you alright?”

“Hm? Yeah, just tired.” She yawned. “Almost halfway done and I’m already wanting this to end. Any one-on-ones coming up?”

“One second, I need to check that tablet. Toss it over?”

Kristina immediately recoiled as she imagined Diane dropping it and shattering the screen. “M-Maybe just come over here and I’ll hand it to you.”

Within moments, Diane was by her side and sorting through the schedule. “You’ll attend a basketball game with James in box seating, Christian will take you on a tour of the set for a movie that we’ll be doing a sponsored segment with... and then everyone will go to the beach.”

Kristina’s eyebrows shot up. “A movie set?” That smelled like a networking opportunity. Especially if things went south with this show. She’d have to thank him.

“Yes. Tyone has offered to get a full pig for us to cook at the beach for dinner.”

Ah. Tyrone. Kristina still wasn’t sure what to make of his surprise arrival. She’d never noticed his interest. He was a good friend back in Wyoming. But she wasn’t sure she could get past that.

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The next morning, Jules found himself sat down for another round of confessionals.

This time, it looked like someone slightly higher in the production company food chain was asking the questions. He wondered if it was because they’d noticed him.

“You seem to have turned a corner with Kristina. Do you think the other bachelors have noticed?”

Jules admitted, “Christian saw that me and Kristina hit it off a bit at the party. We already don’t get along, so me getting any kind of headway is going to rile him up.” He then added a bit more of a dig to help boost himself with the production. “And that’s just fine with me.”

He’d been getting more of these questions the further he got in the show. Sean and Derek said that they tended to focus on some of the contestants as ‘narrators’ for the story they wanted to tell. Point of view characters that an audience could see the show through.

“Are you worried Kristina’s going to catch you in a lie?”

“What’s there to lie about,” asked Jules. “I’ve never told her I was there for love. I don’t think she’d ever see me that way.”

“Could you?”

For the first time, Jules’s cocky show persona cracked. It was never something he’d considered, allowed himself to consider. Because only a fool went on a dating show to find love.

The questioner repeated himself.

“…I shouldn’t, should I.” He chuckled. There was no way he could let himself be that fool.

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Kristina was like a kid in a candy shop.

She’d been looking forward to Christan’s date so much that she’d barely paid attention to James during his date. The only thing she remembered was deftly dodging his attempt to make out with her when the kiss cam focused on their seats.

She would enjoy watching that if it ever made the air.

But now, Kristina was walking around the set of an upcoming film! The title One Week Under the Tuscan Sun was embroidered on some of the crew’s outfits, as all manner of assistants and staff ran around to accomplish their assigned tasks.

The controlled chaos, it was everything Kristina could have dreamed of. This was what she had imagined when she thought of coming to LA.

Christian gently slid his hand into Kristina’s, gesturing to a gentleman that Bruce the producer was speaking to. “I wanted to introduce you to the director, Mr. –”

“Oh my god.” Everyone around Kristina saw a towering, muscular woman squeal like a schoolgirl. Even Diane looked surprised at Kristina’s reaction.

Bruce saw Kristina bound over at speed and quickly got out of the way. Christian was pulled in after her, almost flapping in the air like a kite.

“You’re Skylar Linear!” gasped Kristina. She nearly sent Christian flying in an attempt to shake the director’s hand, only remembering he was there at the last moment and offering her free hand. “I’m a huge fan of your work. The Next Round’s on Me, Your Lost Pen Pal, Six Yards for a Senior, your romance movies are amazing!”

Skylar was an older man, the lines on his face seemingly etching it into a stoic figure. And yet, his mastery of the heightened emotions of his chosen genre were undeniable to Kristina. She’d grown up wanting to be in those films, wanting to be the girl who got asked to dance.

“Miss Harlowe.” True to his reputation, his expression was unreadable. “Our new celebrity. And Mister Brook.” His head tilted ever so slightly to Christian. “Our actors are currently off to lunch, so we have the set cleared. Would you two like to play out a scene together?”

Kristina’s head nearly exploded from the question. She couldn’t say ‘yes’ fast enough, and was handed a two-page excerpt from the day’s shooting script.

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Diane watched Kristina and Christian take their places on the set, Kristina trying to work out her jittery excitement and Christian running a hand through his hair as he read the script. She knew this would be the highlight of an episode. Especially with the sponsor money involved.

She was ready to watch the two go at it when she saw Bruce and Skylar move to a different spot. Diane wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but Bruce was sending Elena away – that woman never left his side.

Curious, she climbed into a cameraman’s seat. With a bit of fumbling around she found the seat elevating into the air, rotating around – ending up right over the two men.

“…exactly a typical heroine,” she heard Skylar say. “She’s not bad, though. Look at her”

“But that’s the problem,” Bruce whispered. “Look at Christian. Then…”

Diane’s eyes widened the more she heard. The conversation lasted another minute before the two they started going back to watch the rest of the scene. She couldn’t believe what she’d heard, leaning to follow them and hitting the controls to move back towards Kristina and Christian in the process.

The scene built to a crescendo, the two locking lips in a display of passion for all to see. Moments later, Bruce and Skylar clapped.

Diane kept staring at the two, unsure if the passion was acting or something more. But she didn’t have a way to think on that much more. She’d leaned so far over the cameraman’s seat that she fell over, getting herself caught hanging upside-down.

Everyone stared at her in shock as she giggled nervously. “Eh-heh-heh… can someone please get me down?”

“Elena! Get her down from there before she damages the equipment.”

Diane blinked and she saw Elena standing on the dolly seat. Moments later she fell to the floor, head spinning.

---

Jules was getting frustrated.

The production team had told everyone to assemble downstairs to prepare for a trip to the beach. At the last moment however, he was approached by Craig.

“Can you go into my room and get my sunscreen?

“Won’t the production staff provide some?”

Craig looked around, nervous. “I get a reaction to some kinds and I don’t want to run the risk. I’d do it myself, but they’re calling me in for a confessional.”

So there Jules was, searching in Craig’s room for a bottle of special sunscreen. Craig was a surprisingly unorganized guy. The place was a mess, and it was just him in here. His roommate Sebastian got eliminated last round.

How Craig’s sunscreen ended up under his roommate’s bed, Jules didn’t know. But he felt like a damn genius finding it.

He turned towards the door in stride, only to slip on something and fall face first into the door. As he slid by his cheek down towards the ground, he saw a folded piece of paper that hadn’t been there before. Had someone slipped it through the crack?

Jules was ready to toss it in the trash when he saw some names listed in a table with two columns. Some of them were crossed out.

~Hans~. Garret. Parker. ~Sebastian~. Christian.

Wait a moment. Hans was that guy he’d thrown under the bus the first night. And he’d just remembered Sebastian was Craig’s roommate. This wasn’t just a list of contestants, this was a list of everyone who was in it for the money!