Page 7 of All the Drama from New York

As she bent to retrieve the tray of perfectly formed sushi which had been delivered a little earlier from the nearby Royal Resorts Manhattan hotel, something caught her eye, and she stopped. Camille’s gaze took in her clothes. Her bare feet.

Seven weeks in the US and she had already grown comfortable with loose t-shirts and leisure pants. If her parents could see her now, they would be shocked at the transformation. Paris chic to New York City comfort.

She snapped a quick picture and messaged it to her twin sister, Sophie.

Not sure if they will let me in the EU line at airport customs in these baggy pants.

Sophie’s reply came back quickfire.

Who are you and what have you done with my sister?

It was after midnight in France, but knowing Sophie she’d be out partying in a nightclub somewhere in central Paris. They might be twins, but the differences between the two of them were stark. Camille loved to bop along to modern pop music, while Sophie was all about classic 80’s and 90’s dance tracks.

Next step is wearing a baseball cap backwards. Thoughts?

Sorry wrong number.

I’ll pay you 50 euros to show up on the island at Christmas wearing a I NYC t-shirt

Camille laughed softly. “Maybe I will go to the island at Christmas. Stir up the family.”

It would be worth it just to see their father’s face when he took in the sight of his wayward daughter in her tacky tourist shirt.

Worth every damn penny.

Thoughts of her father and his repeated demands for her to give up on her American dream and come home to France would just have to wait.

“Sorry Papa, but two hunky American men are waiting for me.”

Tonight was the night for the live televised finale ofBachelors on the Beach,and for Camille nothing else mattered.

“And welcome to the grand finale ofBachelors on the Beach!Tonight one lucky gentleman will be going home with the delightful Kaylee, while the other…well let’s just say it’s going to be a long and lonely night for our runner up,” cooed Derick Stad’s voice over the airwaves.

Ryan shivered as the cool evening breeze blew in from over the water. Dressed in a sage linen suit and white button down shirt, he was standing on a beach somewhere in the wilds of Florida. He wasn’t entirely sure where, as the producers had gone to great lengths to keep the location a secret. They were doing everything they could in order to keep the show’s enormous and at times rabid fan base well away from where they were filming.

His cell phone had been taken from him earlier this morning, and no one on the live set was permitted to use any electronic devices.

These people could have faked the moon landing, and no one would have been the wiser.

Early June was oppressively warm, and it had rained most days since he and the remaining members of the tv crew had arrived back in Florida to shoot the grand finale. An assistant was standing just out of camera shot with a large photographers reflector pointed at him. They didn’t want to use artificial lighting as the generators made too much noise.

In his earpiece Ryan could hear Derick Stad rambling on about the show, and doing yet another recap of all thecontestants who’d been voted off previously. No doubt the viewers at home would be getting treated to a tear jerker montage of the fallen tributes. Sometimes this whole show had felt like an episode of theHunger Games. Derick had even perfected the host with a lunatic laugh thing.

How the hell did I end up here as one of the two final contestants?

The showrunner had thought to make a joke out of him, but viewer responses had shown the public loved Ryan. During the several months of downtime between recording the early shows and tonight’s live event, he’d had time to check his social media.

Ryan was well versed in all the funny Thor memes. And then there had been the Tik Tok hair dye challenge which had apparently gone viral. All across America young guys, and quite a few girls had gone with the Ryan Collins is Thor, blond hair look.

If he won tonight—if a yacht appeared around the nearby head of the small cove, and Kaylee chose him—he would be contractually bound to keep his hair like this for the next twelve months.

Liam who was standing a few yards away gave Ryan a friendly wave. His brother wasn’t allowed to get any closer, otherwise they would have to brush away his footprints from the sand.

Win or lose tonight, he and his older sibling would soon both be out of debt. Liam had made a ton of great business connections over the past months, and his photographic assignment diary was booked well into the new year.

But the money and his brother’s career were no longer the most important things about tonight. The beautiful Kaylee was constantly in Ryan’s thoughts.

A producer’s voice clicked into Ryan’s ear piece. “Ok, now Ryan. We need you to turn and face the sea. A look of hopefullove needs to be on your face the whole time. Just remember that moment when you and Kaylee kissed last episode. I want to see that glint of forever love in your eyes.”

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