"Hi," Becca said, not sure why the producer would be calling her phone unless they were looking for Brian. Or maybe they were looking for information on Brian. They always used each other as references. She figured that must be it.
"You have been chosen as a cast member on Fairytale Love," Gavin said in an almost comical-style announcer voice.
Becca wasn't sure if this was a joke or not. "Are you serious?"
She looked up at Brian, who still seemed as if he was having a serious internal battle raging inside of him as he stared down at the full plate of breakfast food. He wasn't eating; which meant he was not okay.
Brian had had to grow up way too fast. He'd had more responsibilities, before he had been legally allowed to drive, than most adults. The weight of the world had been on his shoulders then, and sadly, still was.
Becca hated seeing him like that. Every instinct inside of her just wanted to take all the stress and worry away from him. She used to just want to distract him by watching movies, playing board games, and hanging out. Now, she still wanted to distract him, but the methods she wanted to use weren't nearly as innocent.
"Am I serious? Of course I'm serious. I've already emailed you the contract and your call sheet."
"Call sheet?" Becca repeated as her mind began spinning like a pinwheel. She didn't have any idea what this Gavin was talking about. Her audition had been a fluke. She did not want to be on a reality show.
At the words ‘call sheet,' Brian's head snapped up and his eyes widened.
He mouthed, "Who is that?"
Gavin spoke quickly. "That's right, and I need you to get it back to me tonight by midnight, Eastern Standard Time. I'll see you tomorrow-"
"Hold on." Becca lowered the phone and covered the speaker with her hand as she whispered to Brian, "It's the show. They said I got cast."
Brian's face lit up like it used to when they had an unexpected assembly in elementary school. Or when he'd hit the ball over the fence in little league in middle school. Or when she'd show up at his house with cheesecake in high school.
Sounding happier than she'd heard him in she couldn't remember how long, he asked, "You did?"
Becca nodded. Seeing his mood change so drastically made her feel like she was going to throw up. How was she going to break it to him that she didn't want to do it? She'd broken out in hives during the audition; in front of the camera was not where she belonged. Plus, this was a dating show. She didn't want her business broadcast for everyone to see.
But the last thing she wanted to do was disappoint Brian, she had just been wishing that there was something she could do to cheer him up. Unfortunately, watching him romance some girl in front of her was not what she had in mind. Also, her sister's wedding was in a month. She needed to be here to help Krista.
That's it.
Putting the phone back to her ear, she said, "What is the schedule? My sister is getting married in a month."
If she could get out of this on a scheduling technicality, then yes, she would still be disappointing Brian but it would be out of her hands. Sure, she knew that she was being a big, fat, clucking chicken but … cluck, cluck.
"Perfect. We're filming for three weeks. Then there is a two-week break before the finale."
"Oh." Becca's mind was doing a mental Google search for any other reason-other than she really freaking did not want to do this-to get out of the show.
Before she could come up with anything, Gavin said he would talk to her soon and disconnected the call. As she placed her phone back in her purse, all she could think was, Crap, crap, crap.
When she looked back up at Bri, he was smiling from ear to ear. "Can you believe this?" he asked her excitedly.
"No," Becca answered honestly.
"We're going to be on a TV show together," Brian said with the same excitement Becca thought someone would have from winning the lottery.
She did not share his elation.
"Yep." She nodded.
Her mind was scrambling to come up with how she was going to get out of this. She hadn't signed anything yet. Technically, she hadn't even given her verbal agreement. Gavin had interpreted her "Oh" like it had been touchdown and spiked the ball when really they were still at the fifty-yard line and the game was far from over.
Brian stared at her in disbelief, shaking his head before saying, "Man, this is perfect." Then he picked up his fork and started shoveling food into his mouth like he didn't have a care in the world.
Seeing his face void of worry and turmoil, and that his appetite had not just come back but it had come back in full force, Becca knew that there was only one thing to do-pack the clothes she had just unpacked yesterday. It looked like she was going to be spending three weeks filming a dating reality show.
Chapter Eight
Brian leaned to the right as he took the sharp curve at a cautious twenty miles per hour even though the posted traffic sign suggested thirty. He straightened the car out and glanced over at Becca, who was seated beside him in his Jeep, white-knuckling the windy drive up to Whisper Lake. Literally¸ he could see the whites of her knuckles as she gripped the door handle.
When they'd received their contracts with all the filming details, his first reaction to seeing that they'd be filming up at Whisper Lake was nostalgic. He'd spent most of his summers up here, either with family and friends or at camps.
His second response was, Oh shit,-because Brian knew all too well how much Becca hated the windy, narrow, two-lane road that was the only way in and out of Whisper Lake.
His third thought was that they'd be returning to the scene of the crime-if you considered the kiss they'd shared criminal. Which, in Brian's opinion, that indiscretion had been so hot that, if it weren't illegal, it should have been. He still felt guilty over it. That was for damn sure.
Becca hadn't just been tipsy-she'd been toasted. Not three sheets to the wind either. It had been more like thirty sheets. But when she'd started kissing him, he hadn't been able to pull away from her. Even if he'd just been a passive participant, he might not feel as bad as he did about what had happened. But he'd been engaged in that kiss from the moment her soft lips had touched his.
Brian reminisced about the way that she'd slumped against him. He'd wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. Her soft body had sunk into the hard planes of his body, and his planes weren't the only things that were hard. He'd gone to full mast in a matter of seconds, and once she'd opened her mouth and her sweet, wet tongue had swept across, licking his bottom lip, Brian had defied the laws of physics and grown even more rock hard. Something had snapped inside of him, and as his tongue had plunged into the hot suction of her mouth, sensations he'd never felt before had rocketed through him to the point that he'd thought there'd been a very real possibility that he was going to explode in his pants.
Even now, six months later, he could still taste the sweetness of the girly drinks Becca had been drinking the entire night, which had led to her intoxication. He could still feel her lips pressed against his, her tongue meeting him lick for lick, her fingernails digging to the point of stinging through his dress shirt on his back. She'd kissed him like she needed him more than she needed oxygen. She'd clung to him as if he'd been the only thing she'd ever had or ever would need.
He hadn't ever messed with drugs after his short stint during his freshman year of high school, but Becca's kiss had made him higher than anything he'd ever smoked and drunker than anything he'd ever had to drink. Her kiss was potent.
Shifting uncomfortably in his chair and looking down at his lap, he saw the fairly impressive-if he did say so himself-bulge that was pressing behind his zipper. Brian hoped Becca wouldn't glance over and notice the visible proof of what he'd been thinking about. Not that she'd know what he was thinking about. Damn. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he got his kicks from driving on winding roads, which he was sure was some people's thing, but not his.
"What did your mom need?" Brian asked, hoping to distract his raging hormone soldiers from their march down south. He needed his troops to stand down.
That question was the first thing that had popped (no pun intended) into his head. They'd stopped by Mr. and Mrs. Sloan's house on the way out of town because Mrs. Sloan had called and said that she'd needed to see Becca.