Page 57 of Unscripted

Taking a step back, I turned to Sara and smiled at her.

“Have a great date,” I said, before sidestepping around the pair and booking it for the kitchen.

I was steps away from the pantry, where I had planned to barricade myself for a long while to try and get my racing heart and flip-flopping emotions under control, when Harry’s voice called out through the speakers in the kitchen’s ceiling.

“Poppy to the Love Shack, please,” he said. I swear he was practically singing his words. He was probably thrilled at my outburst.

It would certainly make good television.

***

It had been hours since Callum and Sara left for their date.

Hours in which I had been grilled by Harry about all things Callum. I didn’t know there were so many ways to ask a person how they were feeling, but Harry managed to hit them all.

“Do you fancy him?” he asked me for the tenth time since I’d entered the small confessional room.

I crossed and re-crossed my legs under me, looking everywhere but at him and the camera I knew was, at the very moment, broadcasting my fidgety self to the producer’s villa where no less than ten people were waiting for my reply to splice into bits and play over the tape of me kissing Callum.

Kissing Callum.

I knew we had a deal, that we would have had to kiss at some point to make the whole thing realistic, but I thought I’d be a little more prepared for it, not have it happen in such dramatic fashion.

Settling myself against the loveseat, I finally met Harry’s eye.

“I—" I began.

“Into the camera, Pop,” Harry instructed me, not for the first time.

I let out a breath and looked down the lens of the camera.

“Yes, I like him,” I said. If Callum and I were going to be together, I’d have to take my own directive and start selling it. My confessional was an easy enough way to control the narrative. “I know we’ve been a bit of a slow burn, but I wanted to make it clear that I like him.”

“Were you trying to send Sara a message?” Harry asked, a smirk on his face. He knew exactly what I was doing when I kissed Callum. Now, he was trying to make me say it out loud.

“I just thought people should know that we’re together.”

I smiled at the camera, hoping to convey that I was both marking my territory while also remaining light and happy and on the cusp of finding love. All the things the viewers wanted to see.

It must have worked to some degree because Harry wrapped up our interview soon after.

As he walked me down the hallway and back toward the cocktail party, he squeezed my arm playfully. “That kiss is going to do crazy things for the ratings,” he said, his brows wiggling excitedly. My heart squeezed with anxiety at the thought of anyone watching it, let alone large swaths of people.

We stopped at the door to the yard, and I leaned against the door frame, trying to prolong my off-camera time. I knew I was still being recorded, but anything with Harry in it would obviously never make it to air so I could bask in the illusion of freedom a few minutes longer.

“Cecilia was thrilled,” Harry continued.

“Was she?” I asked, wondering if her approval would better my odds of a good edit.

“Majorly,” he said. “Everyone in the Hut was screeching. We were so excited.”

At least my public display of affection brought someone joy.

Harry reached for my hand then and squeezed it in his.

“Don’t get in your head, Pop. I can see your cute little walls hiking themselves up already. Just enjoy having made a bit of great TV and leave it at that.”

“I will,” I said, straightening my shoulders and trying to will myself to follow his advice.