Page 77 of D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding

I followed Kevin into the empty room and took a seat in the sole chair that was in the center of the room. After a few weeks of this, I just about knew the drill by now, but in addition to the usual setup of camera facing the interview chair, there was a twenty-inch television sitting on a stand next to the camera.

“What’s this?” I questioned, shooting Kevin a look as he dropped down into the chair behind the camera.

“You’re going to watch a quick video before our final Jitter Cam.”

“Aight, cool.”

Kevin fiddled with a few buttons on the camera before the screen of the television lit up and an image of D’Vaughn appeared. That caused me to straighten in my seat and pay more attention. The video started and the voice I now looked forward to hearing every day poured from the television’s speakers.

“I’m D’Vaughn Miller. I’m thirty years old, five feet five inches, and two hundred and fifty-five pounds. I live in Houston but I was born and raised in Mo City where the girls are all pretty. I’m single—have been single for a while, actually—and I’m a lesbian.”

I realized then what I was looking at. It was D’Vaughn’s audition tape! Sitting forward, I balanced one elbow on my knees and propped my chin on my fist.

“I think I’d be a great contestant for Instant I Do because y’all need to diversify your contestants. The show is amazing, but every year y’all have these slim, racially ambiguous, aggressively heterosexual girls and I promise it’s okay to switch things up. Guess what? The gays can marry legally, now. Put us in, Coach!”

I laughed at how she clapped with each word of her last sentence. She was so animated in her audition video and I loved it. In the beginning, D’Vaughn came off more quiet and reserved, and I remember thinking that she was too shy for us to pull this thing off, but the more I got to know her, I realized that wasn’t it. Shy didn’t even belong in D’Vaughn’s vocabulary. I learned that she waited until she felt someone out before deciding they were worthy of her full personality.

“I’m ranting, sorry not sorry, but obviously I feel strongly about this. Mostly because going on the show would push me to come out to my family. Yep, that was me heaving a large, ancestral sigh. As close as my family is and as much as I love them, they have no idea I’m a lesbian.”

Her smile fell and she looked off camera, twisting her lips to the side. I felt a pang in my chest at her expression. Yeah, I’d witnessed how difficult that moment was for her, but seeing it on her face however long before she was able to change that narrative was hard. I wanted to reach through the screen and pull her into a hug. I wanted to kiss her temple and tell her how I’d support her through that moment.

“Anyways, I’m very, very single, and while it’s incredibly likely that’s because I would never introduce my girlfriends to my mama, I also have this fear that I’m...I don’t know. Like, maybe there’s something about me that’s not worth sticking it out for? I don’t know why I phrased that as a question. My best friend just stepped out of the room because whenever I say this she always starts cussin’. Look, I’ve never asked anyone to jump in the closet with me. All I’ve ever asked of anyone is that they respect my decision. It’s always fine at first but then they start getting restless a few months in, and I just wonder if it’s deeper than just wanting my family to know we’re sleeping together.

“So anyway, this is only supposed to be half an hour long and I’m already over time, so I’m gonna wrap it up. Put me on your show so that I can serve some beautiful, Black, lesbian hotness, and also so that you can help me come out to my family!”

She blew a kiss at the camera and then the video ended. Immediately, I shifted my gaze to Kevin, who was watching me with an unreadable expression on his face.

“What was watching that supposed to do?”

Blinking slowly, he just stared at me.

I huffed a laugh and shook my head. “You gotta be the worst e.p. on the planet, bruh.”

“Worked with many of us, have you, dearheart?”

“That’s not the point.”

He shrugged. “For someone who has said—multiple times, mind you—that they’ve seen the show before, you sure do ask a lot of questions that could be answered by just...watching the show.”

Groaning, I dragged my hands down my face, stretching my legs out in front of me as I slunk down in the chair. “You’re worse than my brother.”

Canting his head, he eyed me. “Which one?”

Lifting my head, I glared at him. “Raymond.”

Throwing his head back, he let off a bark of laughter. “That’s a damn lie and you know it!”

His laughter was contagious and I started cracking up. “Your ass hasn’t been around long enough to know that. You trippin’!” He was right, but I didn’t like how confidently he’d said it.

“And yet, somehow, I know it. Funny how that works.”

“Yo, kill all that and answer my question.”

He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and shook his head disappointedly before facing me once more. “It’s just to remind you of her motivation.”

Frowning, I chewed my bottom lip for a second as I contemplated that. “Okay, but how does that—”

“That’s enough questions for the night. You can go now.”