One To Watch(13)

“People think fame makes your life easier,” Lauren reflected, “but everyone who’s been in the limelight knows how hard it can be. People project their insecurities onto you—especially men, the fragile little shits.”

“Not exactly reassuring,” Bea said pointedly.

“But think of it this way: You went through all that garbage as a relatively anonymous person, with no one to protect you. If you do our show, you’ll have our whole team at your disposal—not to mention millions of fans, all the celebrities who watch the show, the feminist journalists who’ll write thinkpieces in your honor, bless their hearts.” Lauren peered at Bea. “Besides, you wouldn’t actually let pathetic Internet misogynists keep you from doing something you wanted to do, right? That doesn’t seem like you.”

“It definitely isn’t—but I’m not actually sure I want to do this.”

“Why, Bea? Why would you turn down a chance that could be so huge for your career?”

“How about because I don’t trust you?” Bea responded. “I’ve watched this show from the beginning, and I’ve seen you make fools of people who didn’t deserve it. You have your own agenda, and you have the ability to manipulate anything I say or do in the way you edit me. Why would I hand you the power to destroy my reputation?”

Lauren couldn’t help chuckling at this—though Bea didn’t understand what was funny.

“Sorry,” Lauren apologized, “I’m just so used to people begging me to put them on camera, grabbing at fame for fame’s sake. It’s kind of a pleasure that you’re actually thinking about the step that comes after that. But listen, Bea, our interests are aligned here. I need to breathe life into a flagging franchise, and if I make you the new face of Main Squeeze, it does me no good whatsoever to do anything that would harm your image. If you agree to do this, it will be my job to make sure everyone in America loves you—that means magazine covers, endorsement deals, millions of followers, an entire lifetime of career security in exchange for just two months of filming.”

“That doesn’t sound … terrible,” Bea conceded, her anxiety rising as she realized she was running out of plausible reasons to say no.

“So why are you still hesitant?” Lauren put down her drink. “Why don’t you tell me what’s actually bothering you?”

Bea looked at this beautiful stranger—how was she supposed to confess to Lauren the things she could barely admit to herself? Her creeping notion—often dormant, never gone—that the reason she’d never had a proper boyfriend was that there was something fundamentally wrong with her, and that Ray’s disappearance was, finally, the proof that this notion was true?

“I don’t have the easiest time with dating,” she said carefully.

Lauren nodded, unfazed. “You’ve been single for a while now.”

“Well, I’m always busy with work—and fashion, you know. Not a ton of straight guys in that world. Unless they’re trying to sleep with models.”

“You’re on the apps, though.”

Bea narrowed her eyes—exactly how extensive (or legal) had Lauren’s background check been?

Lauren laughed, as if reading Bea’s thoughts. “You blogged about your Tinder date last fall.”

“Oh.” Bea flushed, feeling silly. “I thought maybe you’d hacked my phone.”

“No, definitely don’t put that past me. So it hasn’t gone well?”

“Are you on them?”

Lauren tossed her shiny hair. “Yeah, but you know, more for a laugh than anything else. I work so much, it’s nice to have someone around if I get bored.”

“You don’t have a boyfriend?”

“And spend my fifteen seconds of free time every week handling some man’s emotions because he’s not capable of dealing with them himself? Um, no.”

“I know. It would be one thing if I ever met anyone who made me want to settle down, but …” Bea trailed off, hoping this would put the conversation to rest.

“Do you want to get married at all?” Lauren asked.

“Am I allowed to say no?”

Lauren let out a bark of laughter. “Of course! I don’t need you to actually want to get married to be on this show—I just need you to be willing to say that’s what you want.”

“I mean, it’s not that I don’t want that eventually—marriage, kids, a family—I want all those things. It’s just that dating has been so bad lately, I’ve kind of sworn off it altogether. Doesn’t really seem like the best time for me to star on a dating show, does it?”

“You know what?” Lauren pondered, working something through, “I actually think this could work really well.”

“How?” Bea blurted despite herself.

“The most annoying part of my job is dealing with the mess of people’s actual emotions. All these desperate husband hunters—you watch the show, you know how high-strung and impossible they are. But if you’re not really looking for a relationship right now, we can keep this simple. You’ll meet your men, you’ll have fun with them, go on all the fabulous dates, but you’ll take things slow. We’ll monitor audience reaction and keep the most popular guys around, and toward the end, you can pick your favorites for the overnight trips, saying ‘I love you,’ and the engagement, obviously.”