Page 86 of Unscripted

“Poppy,” Harry said, motioning me over to the door and the front of the line.

“I’m going first?” I asked him. It came out as nothing more than a whisper.

“You’ll be great,” he said. But something about the way he was avoiding eye contact had my head spinning and my gut tightening. He didn’t linger by me any longer than necessary, instead moving off to line the other girls up. After me was Olivia and Samantha with their new matches, followed by Ella and then Chiara.

As we stood there, waiting for whatever the other side of the door held, it was dead silent. Even Ben and Harry, normally so chatty, were subdued. A collective anxiety simmered in the air, the pressure of the unknown almost tangible.

I tried to focus on my breathing, rocking back and forth on my heels as I took a big breath in and then let it out slowly.

“Okay,” Harry said after what felt like an eternity. “Poppy, you can go ahead.”

I took another deep breath and straightened my shoulders. I tried to hold on to the confidence I had in Callum. He would choose me, just like I had chosen him.

Everything would be okay.

And yet, as the door was pulled open and I crossed the threshold out into the warm night air, I found myself begging whatever higher being there was out there for that to be true.

37

The walk down the teak walkway and out to the large expanse of lawn is one that, in all reality, takes about ten seconds.

As I followed it now, trying to focus on simply breathing, it felt like an eternity.

This was one of those moments where I could feel massive change lingering just around the corner. When I turned to cross the grass, when the fire pit and Callum came into view, there would be no going back. We had promised to stick together, had chosen each other over others before, but for some reason this felt bigger than all that. It felt like more, and something in the air told me that, in ways big or small, everything would be different from this point on.

Taking one final breath, I turned the corner.

I stumbled in the grass for a second when my eyes landed on Callum across the way at the fire pit.

Standing alone.

I couldn’t help the bark of laughter that escaped my lips. I probably looked insane, but I felt such sweeping relief in that moment that all I could do was laugh out loud.

Callum and I locked eyes as I stepped closer, and the smile on his face told me everything I needed to know. He was massively relieved as well.

There would be time later to sort through my feelings, to wonder if he was relieved in a game-playing way or in a real way. For now, I simply let myself enjoy the sight of him.

I couldn’t look away. Couldn’t tear my eyes from his gaze. Everything else faded away, and it was just me and him and the lightness that came with being on the same page.

When I was finally in front of him, finally in his direct presence, I couldn’t help it. I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him close. He responded with equal fervor and wrapped his arms around my waist. We stood like that for a long, blissful moment, my head resting on his shoulder, his in the crook of my neck.

“Well,” Gemma eventually interrupted, “You two obviously missed each other.”

At the sound of her voice, everything around me clicked into place, and I remembered where I was.

Pulling away from Callum, I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment. I had let my emotions take over and ended up clinging to Callum like a koala. I needed to get it together.

Callum, however, had other ideas.

He kept one of his arms wrapped around my waist, kept me pulled in close to him as he replied to Gemma with a soft laugh. “I guess we did.”

He looked down at me, his gaze traveling from my eyes to my lips, and for a moment I thought he was going to kiss me then and there.

I wanted him to.

Wanted it very badly, actually. But as Gemma cleared her throat next to me, I snapped back to reality. There was a show to film and an entire Matching Ceremony to get through.

At the thought of the show, my heart sank with the stark reminder of our situation. Of our deal. Was Callum just playing his role? Putting on a good act and hamming it up for the cameras like we agreed to do?