Stay With Me 3

by Jessica Aniston

  She takes a detour to the tiny convenience store up the street to buy a new box of Trojans and sneaks them into their bedroom like a thief in the night. They have to be careful, she knows that, but with drawn curtains and being mindful to not make any noise, they’ll be fine for the two nights they have left in the villa. Because celibacy is absolutely not in the cards there, they’re too keen for each other for that, too stupidly happy to keep their hands and mouths and bodies to themselves.

  Alas, their second to last day is so full, they don’t get to be irresponsible much anyway. The only silly thing they do between recording their final challenge-focused talking heads segments is a quick kissing session in their bedroom while changing outfits. It’s reckless because it wrecks Karin’s lipstick - and gets half of it on Declan - and they frantically have to fix it before Abigail, their makeup artist, can spot it and get suspicious but it’s still worth it. Thankfully, Karin has makeup remover wipes, so when they return to talk about that fun time Declan completely “for real” caught a fish in a lake on a deserted island, he looks flawless and completely unkissed.

  In the evening, Karin feels like her mouth is in tangles, she’s talked so much. She’s infinitely glad that Tag does most of the talking as they tape the last big evaluation segment and their host stands before them in a half-unbuttoned jeans-shirt and salmon colored pants, his sandy blonde hair combed back from his forehead. Tag’s hair is about the same length as Declan’s is now, Karin notices absentmindedly. Except Tag’s kind of stays where it is and Declan keeps complaining about his locks falling into his face. Production said he should keep it at the longer length, and Karin told him a while ago that she likes the way it’s growing out a little, so he’s decided to leave it as is, which is very nice of him, indeed. It’s hard to focus back on the happenings of the day, eyes glued to Declan’s flowing hair like that, but eventually she manages to return her attention back to their host doing his thing.

  “Welcome couples, to your last night on the island,” Tag says on the third and hopefully last take of his introductory speech. “Today, we’re going to look back at your time here and listen to your own recaps and guesses about the moles in your midst before the audience has the chance to make up their own minds for the big finale at the Stardium in Scanlon. We will start with Kaelan and Kaidan. Here’s your recap.”

  They cut, happy with the delivery, and set the cameras up to get Kaelan and Kaidan’s reaction to a montage of their highlight moments from the past four weeks and then move on to film the others reacting to their montages as well. Karin winces a little bit watching the footage, never happy to see herself on camera. But for the first time, with her newly acquired knowledge about Declan’s true feelings, she can see how he must look to people who don’t doubt that he loves her. He looks smitten, transfixed with everything she does. The way Gorman’s captured him looking at her standing with little Averi in her arms by the shore, it’s like he’s been a blind man, seeing the sun for the first time. She isn’t sure how she missed it before, how she was even able to hold his gaze when he looked at her like that but then again, when she looks at herself, she can see how she twinkled right back at him. His hand lands on hers, squeezing it lightly halfway through the clip and maybe he sees it, too. How they’re falling in love with each other all over again on camera.

  Before Karin can do anything stupid like cry, though, they are moved on to the second and last bit of their last night’s proceedings: the actual evaluation. Because there won’t be an elimination, the couples are each asked to point out which couple they believe is the fake one and to give their own statement to the public to convince them that they are the genuine article. Karin imagines those statements will be shown with those handy numbers for calling and texting in to the televote. “For Karin and Declan, send 02!” Because they started with the recap, Kaelan and Kaidan also get to go first with their verdict and speeches.

  “I think we already found our culprits,” Kaelan begins. “Honestly I wouldn’t want to accuse either Courtney and Bobby or Karin and Declan of faking it. Even if last week was kind of off for K and D.” Karin’s head snaps up to look at their fellow contenders. She knew this was coming, she just hadn’t expected it from them. She’d been steeling herself for Courtney to point out that the whole survival challenge had been off and awkward, but now that Kaelan has called them out on it, she’s afraid that if Courtney mentions it too, she and Declan might look really bad going into the finale.

  “It felt strange there, for a second,” Kaelan continues. “But I don’t think so, no, we don’t think they’re not in love. So, yes. We think the fakes are already gone.”

  “As for us, I think we’re just so happy to have had this amazing experience together,” Kaidan picks up the thread, mercifully moving on from scrutinizing Karin and Declan. “It was so much fun! We fell even deeper in love, I think, isn’t that right, honey?”

  “Oh yes, absolutely,” agrees Kaelan and takes his boyfriend’s hand, their smiles bright and similar after years of being together.

  When it comes to her and Declan next, Karin deliberates paying Kaelan and Kaidan their suspicion back in kind, but then decides against it, strategizing that they will look nicer and more wholesome if they don’t point fingers. Besides, the viewers love nice and wholesome.

  “I think we’ll have to agree with Kaelan here,” she ends up saying. “I think we sent the fakes home weeks ago. So now Declan and I, we’re just in it to win that wonderful trip around the world.”

  “For our statement, the last one,” Declan begins, turning to face her. “I just want to say that I love Karin. This wonderful person sitting beside me.” The way he fixes his eyes on her is like a magnet, she can’t help but turn to him, too. Something peculiar happens when she does, where the world around them blurs into white background noise, her vision zeroing in on Declan and his almost amber eyes, the way he makes her feel like she’s precious. Nothing matters but him, everything fades into the periphery. The others, the cameras, her control over her facial features, it’s all forgotten as he talks. “She makes everything better, everything ... brighter, and I hope every day that I won’t let her down. I hope I didn’t so far, did I?” he leans in, furrowing his brow in question.

  “No, never,” she blurts out, raw and honest, before she can moderate herself. This is the most honest she has been in front of the cameras so far. She just loves him so much, he could never let her down. It’s not possible. Declan laughs a bit at her eager answer but she can’t blame him, she must’ve sounded so smitten. It isn’t until Courtney starts speaking that Karin snaps out of it.

  “Well, I do have to say, and I’m really sorry,” Courtney starts sweetly but still making a face like she’s eating a lemon, “but I do have to say that we don’t really think Kaelan and Kaidan are for real. Hey, we’re so sorry. It’s just that we don’t really see the spark, right?” Courtney shrugs, an image of regret that Karin is actually inclined to believe.

  Courtney is playing the game, and she believes this is the only way to play it, apparently. “So our last vote, if we had one, would go to you being the fake couple. Sorry.”

  “Yes, sorry,” Bobby agrees and Karin shoots Declan a look that he acknowledges with a curt nod. ‘They’re being unwise throwing people under the bus at this stage,’ is what they’re agreeing on without needing words.

  “It’s just when you have a love like Courtney and I do, you kind of see when it’s the real deal, you know?” Bobby continues, smiling graciously at Karin and Declan. “We figure we want to win for us and all the other real couples. It’s because we want to share in that happiness with them. That happiness of a perfect, fulfilling, strong relationship like we have.”

  Karin smiles gratefully at him, downright beaming, and makes a note in her mind to never be actual friends with them after this. It’s not like they aren’t nice people ... but the way they compete, it doesn’t sit right with her. It’s saying a lot coming from her, who’s been lying all this time. I
t’s just something about that saccharine sweetness that rings so terribly untrue, even if she knows they are really a thing. It makes her question the quality of that relationship, honestly, if not the fact that there is one. After all, people so eager to demonstrate how they have the greatest love of all time, seem like they indeed have something to prove. But to be fair, this show kind of requires them to. Just maybe, they don’t need to be quite as extra about it.

  Of course she doesn’t share any of this at the subsequent wrap party for the cast and crew, or even the next day at lunch before they’re each taken to the airport at their different flight times. Karin and Declan leave first, their flight outbound for the Scanlon airport at one in the afternoon. It takes two hours on the plane, wedged between Declan and a lady with a baby, to realize that their time on the Caymans is truly over. Mindlessly watching Declan nap with his head lolling back against the window, she remembers saying goodbye to Gorman, who ultimately turned out to be the hardest new friend to part with.

  “You and Declan seem fine,” he had said, his camera switched off and sitting beside his feet in the front yard of the villa, waiting for the car to take them to the airport. “It feels fine to let you go back now.”

  “We are fine,” Karin had smiled, not really understanding why he would keep them there had they not been fine.

  “I was a bit worried there for a bit,” Gorman told her, as if he had heard her thoughts.

  “We had a bit of a tough stretch,” she admitted, because if it was no use pretending that everything was just peachy all the time with anybody, it was with Gorman. “But the island made us have to work together, so we pulled ourselves through, I guess.” She shrugs nonchalantly and he smiles kindly, letting her act like it’s all not a big deal after the fact.

  “Look, I know you’re the fakes, right?” he'd said after a while, his grave tone making Karin tense up. “I know you’ve got good chances of winning this thing, but if I can just overstep every boundary for a second, think about it.” He put a firm, imploring grip on her forearm, searching in her eyes for something she was very loathe to give up. “You know I watched you two probably the most out of everybody here. I think you’ve got something special. Maybe that’s worth more than some money.”

  “That’s really sweet,” Karin had said and set her face in a tight smile, one that she didn’t know then will eventually turn into her public mask in the future, as mask that says what she said to Gorman next: “But Declan and I, we’re really just the best of friends. Completely platonic, you know?” She had topped this with a small nod, slight enough to seem unconscious.

  She’d always been a good liar when it comes to her feelings regarding Declan, at least she firmly believes she was. So this surely wasn’t going to be a problem.

  Gorman had let her go to the car after a long, fatherly hug and then went on to Declan, sending them on their way. But as he had watched Tucker pull their car out of the driveway, Karin could feel his eyes following them until the very last moment. She doesn’t know if he suspects anything, but she figures it doesn’t really matter now either way. He can’t know anything for sure, and if anybody doubts if Declan and her actually love each other for real after all, she can always just put it on the acting. If they make people believe, it’s only because they did their job right. That’s a good response, isn’t it? She is musing about that when Declan opens his eyes and blinks at her.

  “What are you thinking about?” He mumbles.

  “You,” she says, not strictly lying. Deliberating what to tell people should they inquire on their chemistry in the aftermath of the show is something they’ll deal with later. It’s not that important. She doesn’t expect anyone to really care about them anyway. After all, who really gives a damn about two kids from the country who took part in an admittedly rather trashy reality TV show?

  A lot of people, apparently.

  She learns that once they arrive at the airport, and aside from Hank and Scarlett, there’s also three real life paparazzi waiting for them to snap pictures and a gaggle of people forming a noisy crowd around them as soon as the first person recognizes them with the words “That’s Karin and Declan from Heart Roulette!”

  Truthfully, Karin is completely overwhelmed with the attention and doesn’t really know how to handle either the little girls asking for her autograph, or the requests for photos - the ones where she’s supposed to just pose with Declan are the weirdest of them all. That’s only topped by the onslaught of “So, you can tell us, are you a real couple? You so are, right? Oh, I hope you win! You’re a real couple, aren’t you?” She doesn’t know how to answer that.

  “You’re going to have to watch the finale,” Declan says on a wink and then pulls her in by the shoulder, wonderfully vague and charming and her ribs tighten around her heart with affection for him, catching Scarlett’s wondering glance as she slots into her son’s firm grip. “Thanks so much everyone for the support,” Declan continues. “But we still have a bit of a drive ahead of us and it’s been a long day.” Friendly and approachable as ever, he compliments them away from the attention they attracted all on his own and Karin relaxes, even if a couple of them follow them semi-inconspicuously all the way to short-term parking.

  “You’re going to get a lot more of that in the future,” Hank says, as soon as he makes the right onto the highway. It’s a bit strange being back in Declan’s parents’ car as if nothing has happened, both of them not having talked at all about if their families are supposed to know that a whole lot of things have changed since their last drive between Tennessee and Scanlon.

  “Is it really that big of a deal?” Declan asks, catching Karin’s eye briefly, before turning to his parents in the front. He doesn’t seem decided on whether or not to tell them, either.

  “Oh, Declan, you have no idea,” Scarlett sighs. “Even people in Bronstown who know the truth are speculating, at the viewing parties at the fire station - ”

  “You had viewing parties?” Declan cuts in, sounding mortified.

  “Certainly,” Scarlett nods. “There’s chatter even at home, and we had so many questions from outside. The interview requests started coming in after the second episode aired ... we fielded them all, but people want to know ... stuff.”

  Karin wants to hear more about that, but then the conversation is derailed by Hank indicating the bus they are overtaking, specifically the ad on the side. Karin and Declan find their faces from the promo photo shoot grinning back at them, slapped next to the logo of the show, all plastic-photoshopped grins. Oh boy.

  “We have questions, too, you know,” Scarlett admits, eventually. They’ve been in the car for the better part of an hour, talking about the shoot, the island, the other couples and the friends that they made among the crew. But suddenly the car seems far too small for that new leg of the conversation, because Karin can tell by the sound of Declan’s mother’s voice what she is getting at.

  “Questions about what?” Declan asks.

  “You know,” Hank replies vaguely, like Karin predicted he would. “I mean, we know you kids.”

  “And you’ve always loved each other,” Scarlett agrees. “You’re best friends. But your father and I, and Darla and your siblings for that matter, we couldn’t help but wonder…”

  “Do we have to talk about this right now?” Declan groans and inches closer to Karin, which might be the last thing he should have done if he wanted to put a stop to this line of questioning.

  “Oh, so you are,” Scarlett says and turns all the way around in the front, which makes Karin focus very diligently on her knees, bare and tan under her short shorts.

  “Mom,” Declan whines and squirms.

  “See, I told you,” Scarlett says to Hank and Karin knows she’s smirking without needing to look.

  “Mother!” Declan repeats, sounding twelve and she can hear how he’s blushing, feels it on her own cheeks.

  “Well, am I right or am I right?” his mother challenges.

  “Maybe, yes,
alright, alright,” Declan grumbles and the heat of embarrassment closes in around Karin’s neck like someone just put a collar on her. Is he really going to talk to his parents about them getting together – in a biblical sense - while they are going to be stuck in a car for another hour? “But we can’t really tell anyone, alright?”

  There is a loaded silence afterwards, in which Karin only feels Scarlett turn to face them again because she can’t bear to look up at her lover’s – or boyfriend’s - mother.

  “We’re very happy for you,” says Scarlett after a long while. “You should tell the family, though. Just so everybody knows it’s important to keep their mouths shut. God knows your cousin Bas could use the input.”

  “What did that little punk do?” Declan asks, perking up.

  “He tweeted something about how girls should come and marry him, because they will be related to the two of you then,” Scarlett says. Declan groans.

  “Well, it’s not bad for the show,” Karin mutters sheepishly. “Makes us sound legitimate.”

  “Except we’re not supposed to be,” Declan says. “This stuff is giving me a headache.”

  “Don’t worry,” Hank hurries. “It’s all good, just a bit more attention than we expected. We really are happy for you two, though. Everyone will be.”

  “Honestly, just really don’t tell,” Declan reiterates. “One million dollars is riding on us being ... us from before, you know.”

  “Knuckleheads, you mean,” Hank muses and Scarlett grunts out a laugh.