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I study Isaac, who’s still standing in the center of the room. “Isaac, do you think Jordy’s a good guy?”

Isaac bursts out laughing and falls back into the couch. “Maya.”

“Isaac.”

“I have been there on every date, yeah?Every. Date.Do you think I like Jordy?”

I break into an interested smile now, and prop my head up on my hand, leaning on the table. “I guess I hadn’t thought about that.”

“That guy,” Isaac says, “does not have a nice word to say about me oranyof my coworkers. He’s sweetness and light to you girls, then trashes you to each other behind your backs. But it’s always in a way where he can’t be called out for it, you know?”

“Oh, I know.”

“If it comes out one day that he’s got a history of being a racist homophobe, I am not going to be even alittlesurprised. You can see it in his eyes. Honestly, I kept hoping one of you girls would give him a piece of your mind. But you never did.”

I smile grimly. “I tried. You told me I’d be edited into a villain.”

He pauses. “That’s true. I did, and you would’ve. But it would’ve been satisfying to me.”

“So satisfying. Imagine if someone could’ve given him a piece of their mind during a live show. That would’ve been the best of both worlds.”

Isaac nods, half smiling, then my words finally register and he snaps his head up. “Maya!”

“Isaac.”

He scans me from head to toe, his expression a sort of mixture between appalled and excited. So, I figure my chances of getting his blessing have got to be about fifty-fifty at this rate. Hell yeah, go team Fuck Up the Fuck Boy!

“I’m gonna need you to leave this with me,” he says, and I am a popped balloon. “I need to think.”

“I’m not asking for permission.”

“Please. You go out there if I say you go out there.”

“Isaac!”

“I didn’t say you can’t. I said I need tothink.” He pauses, then sighs. “In the meantime… you want to talk to Skye that badly?”

It’s probably the only thing he could’ve said that’d distract me from arguing my case. I shoot upright, my heart catching in my throat, and nod desperately.

“Okay. I’ll see if I can get ahold of her.”

He calls Wai—who’s on the current shift at the Loser Hotel—on her cell phone, so she can traipse down the hall and knock on Skye’s door. To my relief, Skye agrees to take the call. Isaac announces he’s going to the vending machine, and leaves me alone in his room, clutching his cell phone in shaking hands.

“Hi,” she says in a cool voice, and I know two things straight up. One, I’m in deep shit with her. Two, I need to fix thatrightthe hell now.

“Hi, hi,” I burst out. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you. I didn’t realize I wouldn’t be able to explain, or—”

“Or you wouldn’t have done it?” she asks.

“I… hold on, let me explain.”

“Yeah, please do.”

“I realized when we got to the finale that they’d just edit everything. They wanted their big, romantic ending, Skye. If I’d rejected Jordy, they would’ve just had him pick you or Perrie, and if you rejected him, he would’ve picked Perrie, whowouldn’t have.Then I realized they couldn’t edit the live show, so, when he picked me… I just… I had to make a call.”

“So, you made the call to accept him.”

“I thought you’d understand when I explained.”