Page 13 of House of Deceit

“That is too risky of a plan, and breaking in a new best friend is tedious. Do you realize how hard it is to find someone that understands sarcasm and dark humor? I have a toddler. I don’t have time for that shit. Don’t be selfish.”

“You’re right, you’re right.”

An incoming call from an unknown number pops up on my screen, covering the top half of Courtney’s face. While I usually ignore those, the possibility of someone calling me about a job makes me giddy with excitement.

“Hey, babe, I have to let you go. Someone’s calling. Maybe it’s about a job.”

“Okay, good luck! I hope it’s not the AARP or a telemarketer. Hate you.”

“Hate you more.”

I click over to the call.

“Hello, this is Charlie.”

“Hi, I’m looking for Charles Price?” a young female voice asks. I sit up in my chair and put a smile on my face, my mother’s voice reminding me that your tone can reflect these things through the phone.

“Hi, this is Charlie Price.”

“Oh, great. Hi! I’m Kayla with Cost Communications and I would like to congratulate you on being selected!”

Confusion grips me. Selected? I’ve sent out more resumes than I can count, but I don’t remember applying for anything with a communications company. The state of my bank account reminds me not to be picky, even if I can’t remember anything about the company.

“I’m so sorry, selected for what? Is this regarding a job I applied for?”

“A job? No, you’ve been selected to be a part of the tenth season of House of Deceit!” It seems like every sentence she says ends in an exclamation point. “We start filming soon and there is a long list of things that you’ll need to get in order to prepare for your time in the mansion. What—”

“Sorry to interrupt and again, apologies, but I feel like I’m a thousand steps behind here.”

“Maybe I’m not doing this right.” Unease enters the girl’s voice. “This is the first time I’ve had to make these calls. The normal person is out sick and yesterday was my first day. He said that everyone is always excited or they think it’s a prank, but it’s not a prank. I promise.”

“I’m sure it’s not.” I take a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds. “Okay, let’s take a pause. It’s Kayla, right?”

“Yeah,” she says in a dejected tone.

“So Kayla, you’re with Cox Communications and you’d like me to be a contestant on House of Deceit?”

“Cost Communications,” she says, emphasizing the first word, “and yes. We received your application back in April and we think you’d be a great addition.”

“I didn’t apply to be on House of Deceit.”

“Well, if that’s the case, someone applied for you, which is technically illegal and you wouldn’t be eligible. It pays five thousand dollars just for agreeing to participate and then you can win the prize of half a million dollars, so maybe you did apply?”

A flash of Courtney and me lying on my floor with my computer between the two of us, Courtney typing furiously as I look on, bubbles up from the deep well of my memory.

“Did you say five thousand dollars?”

“Yes, with the opportunity to win five hundred thousand!”

“That’s cool, but the five thousand. Do we get that before the show starts or at the end?”

“Oh! At the beginning. If you agree, we will forward the contracts to an attorney local to you. You’ll sign them and then we will wire the money to your account after your first full day on the show. Of course, if anything were to happen and you don’t appear on the show for at least twenty-four hours, you will have to repay the money.”

Seeing no other viable options to my money woes, I agree.

“I’m in. I applied, I just forgot. I never thought I’d be picked and so I just pushed it from my brain,” I tell the girl. She doesn’t need to know all the specifics.

“Awesome! I’ll send you an email to the address we have on file here and you’ll be able to respond with the attorney’s information that you’d like to use. You have a week from today to sign the contract and have them returned to us.”

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