The Charm Offensive(99)

Scene: Interviews with Angie Griffin, Lauren Long, and Daphne Reynolds at the live finale Location: Studio in Burbank Mark: Are you disappointed at all with the way things turned out?

Angie: Disappointed? Ha, hardly. Look, I auditioned for this show on a dare. Don’t look at me like that, Mark. I’ve done worse things for free alcohol. I figured best-case scenario, I’d get to travel to some cool places with some cool people before starting med school. And I was right—that part was amazing. But I never believed any of the couples on this show actually fell in love. I guess I still don’t, since we were all faking the whole time, but also, the truth is, I did fall in love on this show. I fell in love with Charlie. I fell in love with Daphne, who has become one of my closest friends. It’s not romantic love, but I think it matters just as much.

Mark: What have you learned from this process, if anything?

Lauren: I’ve learned it’s possible to be so in love with an idea of something, you can be blinded to the reality. And I’ve learned I want something real.

Mark: If you could go back and give advice to the version of yourself that started your journey on this show six months ago, what would it be?

Daphne: I would tell her to stop chasing someone else’s idea of love. And I would tell her she deserves the kind of love she truly wants.





THE LIVE FINALE


Burbank, California—Monday, November 15, 2021





Charlie


“Can I please, please take off this fucking crown?”

Jules smooths out a crease in his purple tie, then tilts her head up at him. “Absolutely not.”

“I’m not even a prince anymore,” he argues. “I’m just a man, about to talk to another man, about how a third man broke my heart on national television.”

“You can do that in a fucking crown.” She stops grooming him long enough to fuss over his emotional state instead. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yes, Jules.”

“Did you rehearse the questions I sent you?”

“I did.”

“And you know if at any time, you’re feeling uncomfortable, or need a break, all you have to do is—”

“I know.”

“You’re really okay?”

“I’m really okay.”

He really is. In five minutes, Charlie is going to sit on a couch in this Burbank studio across from Mark Davenport in front of four cameras, a studio audience, and twenty million live viewers to debrief the season that has aired for the past nine weeks. He will be forced to rehash it, and he’ll be forced to relive the heartbreak. He’s had three months to cope with what happened in Macon, but for the people across the country who tuned in, it just happened when the episode aired last week. He’ll have to reopen all those old wounds for the sake of entertaining reality television, but he really is fine. Totally fine.

Charlie can see from his position tucked behind some risers that things are about to get started. The studio lights are all in place, and Mark’s assistants have positioned him in his chair. He can hear Skylar’s voice announce, “We’re live in thirty!” Then she counts it down, swallowing the last three numbers as Charlie’s heart pummels against his chest.

Three… two… one…

“Welcome, Fairy-Tale Family, to the live finale of the most unusual season of Ever After in the show’s history.” The studio audience applauds on cue, and a makeup artist quickly touches up Charlie’s face. “Tonight, we are going to sit down with our prince and see how he’s been doing since filming ended unexpectedly in Macon. We know he came on this show with less-than-noble intentions in terms of finding his princess, but in the end, our prince found something much better. Take a look.”

On a monitor in front of him, Charlie watches as the show plays a supercut of every scene he and Dev appeared in together. Their entire relationship, set to a Leland Barlow song, arranged in a beautiful montage. Charlie imagines turning his entire body to stone, to something implacable, so the memories can’t penetrate him.

“Let’s bring him out. Charlie Winshaw everybody!”

Jules gives him a quick pat on the back, and he steps out into the lights. The audience goes nuts. He can’t see them—the studio lights generously paint everyone in silhouette—but he can hear their screams. A high-pitched voice shouts, “Charlie, we love you!” A deeper one: “I’ll be your prince!”

He does a shy, double-handed wave in the direction of the darkened crowd. He knows he looks awkward. For once, he doesn’t care. “Oh, wow. Thank you, everyone! Thank you so much.”

He trips over the single step leading to the platform where Mark is waiting. The audience laughs, but he knows this time they’re laughing with him.

“Well, I’d say they’re excited to see you,” Mark Davenport jokes as they take their seats.

Charlie unfastens the button on his blazer and leans back casually on the couch. “Uh, are they?”

His nervousness is met with more applause, and isn’t it wild that his true self is the version of Charlie Winshaw people like the most?

“Welcome back to the show after being away for a while. How’s it been for you since the show finished filming?”

“It’s been…” Charlie starts. He takes a second, inhales three times. On the third exhale: “Well, for a while there, it was pretty shit, wasn’t it?”