Reuniting Reality

by Nikki LeClair

  Jill lets out a hearty laugh that forces Adam to give her a dirty scowl.

  I can’t help but look over at Diana, whose blue eyes have now landed on her loving husband. Her mouth twists, “Is he lying?”

  “Course he’s lying,” Adam retorts, he motions at Declan angrily. “Who's going to believe him after everything he’s done to me?”

  “You mean, messing with your head and suggesting you and Diana hook up?” Reagan asks quickly. Adam opens his mouth to answer but Reagan points a finger at him. “You told Julie that, four years ago, because you knew how he felt about her. And you knew how she felt about him. Then you told me, and Brooke, and Jill. But you lied. We know you fell for Diana’s charms all on your own.”

  “Wait a second,” Diana shouts out. She grabs a hold of Adam’s arm, “Where you lying? When you told me Declan messed with your head, that he was the reason your marriage was failing, was that a lie?”

  Unbelievable.

  I let out a sarcastic laugh as I lock eyes with Adam. “Is that what you told her?”

  “Diana, of course it was a lie,” Reagan tells her with a frown. “He and Julie were having problems that had nothing to do with Declan, you or the show. And when he found out how Declan felt about her, he spread that stupid rumor knowing Julie wouldn’t want anything to do with him. He’s the one who messed with her head, not Declan. Just like he’s messing with yours.”

  Jill lets out another laugh and she shakes her head as she looks over at Adam. “So, what? You found out they lip locked and threw a hissy fit, while you were screwing around behind her back? Typical.”

  “What?” The word curls from Adam’s mouth viciously, and his green eyes slide from me to Declan, back to me. “What the hell does she mean, lip-locked?”

  Oh, right. He didn’t know about that.

  “Nothing,” I say. “It’s none of your—”

  “I kissed her,” Declan confesses. He keeps his eyes on Adam, looking far from intimidated by Adam’s awry fury. “Before she walked in on you and Diana, we had drinks one night, and I kissed her.”

  I watch Adam, his eyes move from Declan to me where they stay. “So, let me get this straight...you cheat on me, all the while pointing at me as the evil bastard during this entire—”

  “There’s a difference between a kiss and sleeping with someone else for over four months, Adam,” I declare, stunned I even have to clarify it. “I’m not saying what I did was okay, it wasn’t. I had emotionally checked out of our marriages months before. And you? You had clearly checked out of our marriage months before I kissed Declan too.”

  His face contorts into a dark frown. “If I checked out of our marriage earlier maybe it was because I knew you had checked out too.”

  “Oh, what a load of crap,” Jill hurls out. “Absolutely pathetic.”

  “Stay out of this,” Diana barks, she steps around Adam and points a finger at Jill. “I’m going to sue you. I’m going to sue you and your private eye and anybody else that knew about what you were doing!”

  “With whose money are you going to afford an attorney?” Jill laughs with a shrug. We watch her as she opens her clutch and takes out her phone. “Your husband’s? Even if you forgive him being in love with his ex-wife, I don’t know if he’ll be able to forgive you and, what’s his name?” Jill frowns at her phone for a moment then smiles. “Ah, yes, here it is. Anthony Confortola. Am I saying it right? Or is there a heavy accent on the surname?”

  Adam glares down at Diana, who buries her face in her hands. “The goddamn personal trainer, Diana? You’re sleeping with our personal trainer? Could you be more cliché?”

  I hide my smirk by covering my mouth with my hand.

  So it isn’t Adam, its Diana!

  Well, what do you know? Adam was telling the truth about something.

  “She’s also the one who took your clothes, Julie, and locked you in the spa room,” Jill says, her eyes glide over to me. “But I think we all suspected that.”

  Diana’s back is to us all, and her hands still over her face.

  “And that girl, the one who threw snowballs at us?” Jill continues, she points at Diana’s back as she looks at me. “She came to the lodge to drop off her dry cleaning bill and Diana bribed her to mess with us. Diana planned the snowmobile thing which backfired for her, and told them to follow you. My P.I. says those were the girls who stole the segways you and Declan where on. He saw it happen.”

  “What was the purpose of that?” Reagan asks, her question directed at Diana.

  “My guess is she wanted to get Declan and Julie in trouble,” Jill chuckles sarcastically. “For whatever reason.”

  Diana spins back around to us, her deathly gaze on Jill. “Because when she’s on the show, I come off as an evil monster! I’m the villain. I wanted her gone.”

  “You come off as a villain because you have a poor attitude,” Brooke shakes her head at her. “You need to control the green eyed monster.”

  Diana screams, “Shut up, Brooke!”

  “I was wondering where everyone went!” We all turn to see Simon approach us, he strides towards me casually.

  I completely forgot about him.

  Oh God.

  I can see everyone watching him as he gets to me, and he looks at Adam and Diana with a frown over his glistening face. “What’s the matter with the two of you?”

  “Ask your girlfriend,” Diana retorts.

  Simon looks down at me, confused and obviously thrown by the unmoved tension surrounding us all.

  “It’s nothing,” I say quickly. “I think you should go back into the room. We’ll be there in a few minutes. We just have to sort some stuff out.”

  “I’m not going back in there,” Adam says. “I’m done with all of this. All of you.” But as he looks at me, I realize that’s a lie. He’s done with everyone, but me.

  “What the hell happened?” Simon steps to my side and looks over at Reagan, Jill and Brooke. “Why does everyone look like they want to bloody kill each other?”

  Declan smirks behind me, “Because they do.”

  I look over at him, and when our eyes meet he gives me a small smile.

  “I want to talk to Julie, privately,” Adam suddenly declares. He swats at Oscar’s cameras, “Without any cameras, or microphones.”

  “No,” I shake my head. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

  “Why? Why do you want to talk to her?” Diana demands to Adam. She sends a gasping shock through us when she pushes her hands against Adam’s chest angrily. “Tell me why!”

  “I think everybody needs to relax. Let bygones be bygones. We should be celebrating! We’ve finished this fantastic reunion,” Simon says, but nobody moves or speaks.

  Instead, they all stare him down annoyingly.

  “Whoa, okay,” Simon exhales. “Never mind then.” I feel his hand touch mine tenderly. “I was going to wait to do this after dinner, but seeing as everyone here may part ways sooner this evening than planned…” He pulls a small black box out of his pocket, and sets his right knee on the ground in front of me.

  What, the hell, is he doing?

  “Oh Jesus Christ,” I hear Adam snap.

  “Julie. My darling, Julie.” Simon gives me his perfect smile, his one dimple shows elegantly against his cheek as he grabs my hand with his. “I have been in love with you since Jillian told me about you. Before I even met you, I knew you were going to be a game changer. I knew you were going to, one day, be my wife.”

  Oh, no, no, no…

  He pops open the small black box in his right hand, and I find myself staring down at a massive pear shaped diamond. It sparkles in the dim lighting of the hallway, and I can see Reagan, Jill and Brooke inch closer to get a better look at the ring.

  “Are you kidding me?” Adam snorts arrogantly.

  “What do you care if he’s proposing to her?” Diana cries, and I see her sla
m a fist into Adam’s chest.

  “Please, be quiet,” Simon orders, giving them a peeved glance from the corner of his eye. “Don’t ruin this moment for me—us.”

  I—How do I stop this?

  I can’t help but look over at Declan. He stands still watching us, with one hand cupped over his mouth. As if he’s trying to figure something out.

  “Julie?” Simon says my name as tenderly as he holds my name, and I have to glance down at him.

  My mother is going to kill me.

  “Simon.” I feel my lips twitch into a nervous smile and before I chicken out, I pull my hand from his. “No. Sorry.”

  Brooke gasps loudly behind Simon and my insides rock as I see his crushed expression.

  “Simon, get up,” I tell him, but he doesn’t move. “Simon?”

  His eyes shoot up to me, and he whispers sharply at me. “I can’t believe you’ve done this to me…”

  I sigh and with it, my shoulders un-tense. I look from him to the rest of the cast and throw my hands up in the air. “Were not together, he’s not my boyfriend. He’s not, really anything, to me. It’s all an act. Until a few days ago, we never even knew each other. Jill’s been lying for me too.”

  “I knew it!” Diana screams pointing at me. “I knew it! I knew she made everything up! Didn’t I say it, Reagan? Didn’t I say she was lying about him?” Reagan rolls her eyes but remains silent, looking at me for an explanation.

  Adam chuckles, running a hand through his hair, “I knew he wasn’t your type.”

  “I googled him,” I admit looking at Reagan. “I wanted to seem as if I was over what happened during the show. Over Adam, over my failed marriage, over—over Declan. I give him a quick glance, and it’s enough to send my cheeks on fire. “Somebody at the resort tweeted me talking about Simon during the spa retreat, and Simon saw it. He came here agreeing to act like my boyfriend.”

  Finally Simon stands up. His bitter scowl disappears into a mortified grimace as he faces everyone. He shrugs, his arms dropping to his sides slowly. “What can I say? I felt for Julie. My heart bled for the way she had been treated, cast aside like a second rate character on a soap opera. Battered and bruised, living a hermit’s life. I wanted to help her. She’s a genuine soul, one of a kind, and I agreed to play the boyfriend she deserved, no strings attached.”

  No strings attached my foot.

  I look over at Brooke who smiles kindly at him, nodding her head as if she’s staring at some mystical creature. Neither Reagan nor Jill shares her admiration though.

  “No strings attached? Give me a break, bud,” Adam suddenly utters. “You came on this show to get your fifteen minutes of fame.”

  “Isn’t that why you agreed to come back on the show?” Simon shoots back. “Isn’t that why you wanted to get your own show back during the first season?”

  It’s as if a bomb goes off. Adam begins to talk over Simon, and Diana tries but fails to scream over the both of them. Within an instant, Diana stalks away from Simon and Adam, to Jill. I watch as Brooke and Reagan try to keep the two women apart, Diana with her flailing arms and Jill with her haughty laughter which just seems to enrage Diana more.

  Someone’s fingers curl around my wrist and I look down to see Declan’s hand wrapped around me tightly. He pulls me towards the elevator doors, open again, and I follow him without a word.

  Hoping nobody sees me go, I step as close to the side of the elevator as possible, waiting for the doors to close. As they do, Declan’s hands rush to my waist and I wriggle under his touch. He pulls me away from the wall and steps up behind me.

  “I’m turning your microphone off,” he says, his breath hitting my ear softly.

  “Oh, right.”

  I feel his hands work over my dress, and once he touches the on/off switch, I feel him push it the other direction.

  “Okay,” he says, still close to me, “you’re good.”

  I turn around to face him and he leans an arm against the wall of the elevator. It shifts beneath our feet, and begins to move slowly.

  “So…” he sighs. His eyes run over my face, and my chest tightens.

  “So…” I feel my feet sway back and forth in my heels.

  His arm drops and he crosses his arms over his chest. “Do you have something to tell me?”

  I frown at him. “Where you listening to me and Reagan at the bar?”

  He glimpses down at the headset still hanging off a belt loop and then raises his eyebrows at me. “I told you, I’m always listening.”

  “I thought you were always watching?” I jest back.

  He smirks, his smile crooked as he un-crosses his arms and steps closer to me. “Both.”

  I feel his hand brush against the side of my face, and the other slip around my waist. My hands land on his chest, and I step as close to him as I can. His lips touch mine softly and I hold onto him, wanting this moment to last forever.

  We part as the elevator stops abruptly beneath our feet, and the doors swing open behind Declan.

  “Now what?” I manage to ask.

  He lets out a breath but keeps a hand around my waist as we leave the elevator. “Now, we go wait for Oscar in his suite. Because I am definitely getting fired this time around.” I’d be concerned if his tone wasn’t full of amusement.

  “You don’t seem very disappointed,” I say as the elevator doors shut behind us, and leave us in the long empty hallway of suites.

  “I got a sweet gig lined up in a few weeks,” Declan brags.

  “The hermit,” I recall as we start walking down the hallway.

  He jerks his head back a little. “How do you know about that?”

  I shrug, smiling arrogantly. “I’m always watching.”

  He lets out a laugh and pulls me closer, “That’s kind of creepy.”

  “See,” I exclaim, nudging him playfully in the ribs. “I told you its creepy!”

  He lets out a laugh and stops me. As he kisses me, all I can think about is how wrong I was.

  I guess some good can come from reality TV shows.

  THE END

  AUTHORS NOTE

  Thank you SO much for reading Reuniting Reality and I hoped you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! If you could spare a minute to write a review on Amazon.com and/or Goodreads I would be so very appreciative. It doesn’t have to be a long review, even one line or a few words suffices! Reviewers are essential to authors as they help get our book out there and attract new readers.

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  Thank you once again for reading my book and I hope you take a chance on the other books I’ve written as well.