Page 27 of Fan Favorite

W hat-the-fuck-what-the-fuck-what-the-fuck!”Peter yelled. “How could you let this happen?”

“Me?” Jessa yelled back. “How could I let this happen?”

“I knew this girl would ruin everything!” Peter kicked the vending machine and then hopped around the hospital corridor on one foot, his Prada loafer not designed to withstand such outbursts.

“Fuck! This is why you can’t put regular people on the show, Jessa.

You can’t have earnest love seekers all up in their feelings. How many times have I told you—”

“Peter, calm down.”

“Calm down? Calm down? Our lead is lying in a hospital bed with his face smashed in. His face , Jessa. What do you think this show is about? It’s about his face .”

“And also his abs—”

Peter stopped hopping. “Do you know how many people work on this show?” he demanded.

Before she could answer, he continued, “Two hundred and fifty-three people. But of course you don’t know that.

You’re not the showrunner. You can make jokes and laugh it up while I worry about the two hundred and fifty-three people who are about to lose their jobs. ”

“Seriously, Peter, stop. No one’s losing their jobs.” Jessa swiped her debit card through the vending machine PIN pad. “Let’s just get you a Coke and—”

“Sugar makes me anxious!” Peter said, throwing his arms in the air in exasperation. “You know that. Seriously, do you ever listen to me?”

“When you say something interesting,” Jessa muttered, still facing the vending machine.

She took a deep breath and turned to him with a soothing smile.

“Have you eaten anything today? Exactly. So we’ll just get you a Coke—you love a Coke.

Why don’t you just sit down for a second? And then we’ll come up with a plan.”

Peter looked around the hospital corridor vaguely before collapsing in a plastic chair outside Bennett’s hospital room.

He held his head in his hands and stared at the faux wood floor.

“We’re losing control of this thing, Jessa,” Peter said quietly.

“Every time I think we’ve righted the ship, dealt with Wyatt Cash, found a new lead, placated the network, it all falls apart again. ”

Jessa handed him the drink and sat down in a chair on the other side of the door. She sighed. “Accidents happen. And he’s gonna be fine. It could’ve happened with or without Edie. It’s not her fault.”

“Isn’t it?” Peter gulped down some of the Coke. The effervescence instantly insulted his reflux.

“Besides,” Jessa continued, “Bennett’s rugged. That’s, like, his whole thing. Think of it like an action movie. What if we got him an eye patch or something? That would be hot.”

“This isn’t Die Hard , Jessa. Pretty sure our target audience isn’t trying to fuck a guy in an eye patch.

” Peter chugged the rest of the Coke and threw the bottle toward the recycling.

It hit the rim and bounced one, two, three times, before hitting the floor and rolling down the hallway.

“You should leave this godforsaken town. Trust me, you’ll be happier. ”

“I’m not unhappy,” Jessa said. “And, newsflash, the women of America can still get wet over a guy with some facial lacerations. Our target audience basically had their sexual awakening to Game of Thrones . And it’s the entire reason I watch Jack Ryan .

I have no idea what’s happening on that show.

But when John Krasinski is all tormented and then an assassin pops out of the bushes and Jack’s polo shirt gets tight because he’s not just a guy with a PhD anymore, he’s a counterterrorist machine? Bitch, I’m here for it.”

“Who would’ve thought Jim Halpert could carry an action show.”

“It’s hot, trust me.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Peter said, getting up to retrieve the Coke bottle. “Where is she now?”

“Edie? Max and Bailey took her to the cafeteria for some tea.” Before Peter could react, Jessa added, “Don’t worry, Amy and Dan are with them. No one will escape.”

Peter tossed the bottle into the recycling. “Is she going to pull it together?”

“Of course she is.”

“I think that’s optimistic.”

“Nah, we’ll get her there.” Jessa paused. “You should talk to her, though. You guys have a thing.”

“We don’t have a thing.”

“She trusts you.”

“Well.” He paused. “She shouldn’t.”

“Besides, he’s going to take her to the end, all on his own. You just wait.”

Peter guffawed. “You’re insane.”

“You don’t understand Bennett,” Jessa said, casually scrolling Twitter. “Really, he’s just a chunky kid who’s never felt loved. She adores him in just the way he needs. Unconditionally.” Jessa shrugged. “It’s not that deep.”

Peter stopped pacing and looked at her. Unbelievable. For all her wins this season, Jessa still completely misunderstood the fundamentals. “If people were smart enough to choose the people who adored them unconditionally, Jessa,” he said, “we wouldn’t have a show at all.”

A stern-looking nurse in pink scrubs and a name badge that read “Yolanda, Nurse Supervisor,” approached.

“I’ve seen a lot, but an entire waiting room filled with cameramen and girls in bikinis?

It’s like an episode of Love Island out there.

” She crossed her arms over her chest and peered at them through bifocals perched at the end of her nose. “What show is this anyway?”

Jessa jumped up. “You watch Love Island ? I love that! Love Island is sort of a trashier version of our show. This is The Key .”

“Never heard of it.”

“Are you serious?” Peter exclaimed, eyes widening.

Nurse Yolanda shrugged and walked back to the nurses’ station, calling over her shoulder, “Best get those cameras out of my waiting room.”

“We’re on it!” Jessa said with a big thumbs-up.

Peter sighed dramatically, blowing a great gust of air out of puffed cheeks. “You’ve got to be kidding me. We’re getting replaced by Love Island in the fifty-five-plus demo?” He collapsed in the chair again and massaged the muscles at the base of his neck. “Truly unbelievable.”

“We don’t need the entire crew,” Jessa said, poking at her phone and thinking out loud.

“I’ll have Chuck bring the vans around. But the girls should stay—what if we get a chance to shoot with them?

Maybe we should get them some robes or something.

Oh my god, let’s get them hospital gowns, that would be hilarious. ” She waggled her brows at Peter.

“If we lose the fifty-five-plus demo, our ratings will be in the toilet.”

“They’ll probably let us bring one camera in, so let’s keep Greg…”

“Jessa.” Peter looked at her seriously. “I know you think I’m just some high-strung asshole who worries too much.

But you don’t get it. This season, this could end my career.

You’ll be fine, but me—Carole Steele is going to ruin me.

And then what? I’m going to be some high-strung asshole who failed at some shit he didn’t want to do anyway? ”

Jessa looked up from her phone. “Then why does it matter?”

She really wasn’t hearing him. “You’re really not hearing me.

Everything is fucked. We’ve got an injured suitor.

We’ve got hysterical contestants. We’ve got insurance liabilities and a completely fucked production schedule, which continues to fuck our already fucked budget.

Not to mention this impossible love story.

It’s an impossible love story. How the fuck are we supposed to get Bennett Charles to propose to this girl on a mountaintop in five weeks when in her very first week in the field, she derails the entire show and breaks his fucking face? ”

“God, Peter!” Jessa yelled. “We made amazing TV today! That game was insane . Not only do we have endless slo-mo of gorgeous girls in bikinis tearing each other apart, we’ve got Zo’s bare tits, ambulances and paramedics, sobbing contestants, a bleeding Bennett Charles, and you won’t shut the fuck up about Carole Steele and insurance liabilities?

Who are you? The Peter Kennedy I know would’ve already been plotting our next move by now.

” Jessa took a breath and softened her tone.

She put a hand on his shoulder. “Honestly, I’m worried about you, P.

You haven’t been acting like yourself. I can’t figure it out.

Is it Wyatt? Because that whole thing is behind us, and we have our show.

This is it. Last week the nerdiest girl in school got kissed by the most popular guy in school and all the mean girls went crazy.

And then today, the most popular guy in school fell off a lifeguard tower, and this little brush with death made everyone realize that it’s more than just a crush— they are in love with him —so what happens next, huh?

This is literally the most dramatic season ever, and I want to know where the hell Peter Kennedy is, because he’s supposed to be my partner in all of this. ”

Peter sighed. He picked at a smear of Bennett Charles’s blood on his jeans.

Peter and Jessa were a team. And everything she was saying was right.

He was a story guy—he’d always been a story guy—so why was he acting like such an administrator?

Peter thought about how he couldn’t come with Siobhan riding him, and then for some reason, his mind pulled back into his spotless apartment with the ocean lurking, dark and roiling like an abyss.

Wasn’t there a time when he would have loved this?

But he couldn’t shake the feeling that what they were doing was wrong—and not wrong in any clear way that he could understand or parse.

Like, wrong how? Morally wrong? But since when? Had Peter grown a conscience? But why?

Peter ran a hand through his hair and tugged at the ends to bring himself back to the moment. He tried to explain. “Listen, I know you’re right. I do. It’s just—”

The door to Bennett’s hospital room opened and a doctor so attractive he looked like an actor on a Netflix show stepped into the hall. Peter and Jessa jumped to their feet.

“How is he?” Peter demanded.