The Storm
1061 Words
Just like clockwork at 2pm, I saw Josh's BMW pull into the parking lot across the street. Then I saw 2 black SUVs pull in behind him. Must be the attorneys, I thought. I knew Chris wasn't in any meetings so I called him and let him know Josh had arrived.
Chris and I were waiting in the open reception area when Josh and another man walked through the door.
"There are my 2 stars!" Josh said, gesturing to Chris and myself.
I had a small moment of panic. Karen was sitting right there. She definitely heard that comment. I looked at her and she was looking at us, smiling. I looked up at Josh.
"Relax, we had your whole office sign confidentiality agreements," Josh assured me.
"I got them all in my email this morning, thanks for your help with that, Karen," said the man with Josh.
"This is one of my attorneys, Justin Camp. Justin, this is Stacey Jensen and Chris Davis," Josh introduced us.
"Nice to meet you both," Justin said as he shook our hands.
"Why don't we get started," Chris suggested.
We headed to the larger conference room. Justin and Josh sat on one side of the table and Chris and I sat on the other. Justin opened his briefcase and slid stapled contracts across the table. He kept one in his hand.
"I understand you have already reviewed the contracts, do you have any questions, concerns, modifications?" asked Justin.
I shook my head no.
"Just one, this is a pretty air tight contract. What if one of us decides we want to leave before the end of the contract?" Chris asked.
"Then you forfeit and compensation that is negotiated and we still have rights to any filming we have already completed, to be used however we see fit." Justin responded.
Chris hesitated.
Josh spoke up, "I have planned an amazing adventure for you both. You're going to be enjoying yourselves so much in paradise neither of you are going to want to go home."
Chris took a deep breath and picked up his pen. He turned to the last page and signed. Everyone in the room turned to look at me.
"I forgot my pen," I said, shrugging.
Chris handed me his pen. I turned to the last page. The paper felt so dry. I signed. I slid my paper across the table. Then chaos ensued.
"The contract is effective immediately," Justin said as he was putting our signed contracts in his briefcase. He stood up.
Josh was already on his phone. "The signatures are secured. Proceed."
Who was he talking to, I wondered. We all stood up to leave the room. When we opened the door, there was a light and a camera pointed at us.
"What's going on?" I asked.
Chris looked at Josh, "Why are they here now?"
"To document your journey. The show starts now. I need you two to come with me right away. We fly out tonight. In one week you'll be meeting your potential soulmates in paradise," Josh replied.
"We can't, we have clients and meetings next week," Chris interjected.
"I haven't packed," I said.
"All taken care of. You two are all set to go. We have been moving meetings and taking care of this since Josh was here last time," Karen replied.
She handed me my laptop bag and purse. She handed Chris his laptop bag and phone.
"I'm so excited for you both. I can't wait to watch you on TV. You two are going to be super famous soon, and I knew you before the fame," Karens said.
I gave her a hug.
"I'll be in touch," I assured her.
And just like that, Chris and I were in the back of two separate SUV's with camera men in the passenger seats filming us. Asking us questions. I had no idea what they were asking Chris but may camera guy was asking me some deep and personal questions about my exes.
"Who was your most recent ex?" he asked.
"Kyle," I replied.
"Tell me about the relationship," he asked.
"Well, I went to school with him. I ran into him at a coffee shop a few years ago. We exchanged numbers. He called me and asked me out a few days later. We hit it off and ended up dating for a year," I responded.
"What went wrong?" he asked.
"I'm not sure exactly, we are still friends on social media. It wasn't a bad break up or anything. I guess if I had to say, I'd say other than going to the same school we had nothing in common. We just kind of quit calling each other one day. Then he sent me a text and said I think we should just be friends," I explained.
"How did you feel?" he asked.
"Relieved, honestly," I replied.
"Tell me about Damon" he said.
"How do you know about Damon?" I asked.
Then I remembered. Josh knew about Damon... that's how he knew.
"Resources," he replied.
"I don't really want to talk about Damon right now," I responded.
"We'll get to it later, we are here now." he informed me.
We had arrived at the airport. Chris and a team of people were dropped off at the airport. Chris and I were together again. Since we were in a busy airport, they were no longer recording us.
"They asked me about Damon," I told Chris.
"Ouch, yeah they brought up Christie. I think they are just trying to see who we will be compatible with. They know who they have chosen for use to date. They are probably just trying to get an idea of what didn't work," he assured me.
"Yeah, maybe." I said.
I looked outside. It was starting to rain. I'm afraid to fly and now there is rain.
"It's raining," I said to Chris.
"You'll be fine. I'll sit with you on the plane and distract you," Chris assured me.
The camera men took a few videos of Chris and I sitting in the airport. They asked us to smile and look excited. An hour ago, I was in my office just a normal girl. Now I'm in the airport, in a rain storm, pretending to be happy about getting on a plane. Paradise, you better be worth it, I thought.
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