Page 30 of Fan Favorite

I ’m not perfect!” Bailey protested while, honestly, looking pretty perfect.

After the disastrous group date, a distraught Edie had been deposited by the producers in an empty hospital cafeteria to wait out the crisis with Max and Bailey.

A sound guy had given Edie his Nike windbreaker to put on over her stupid swimsuit, and she had zipped it to her chin to distract from the fact that it barely covered her ass.

Bailey, however, never went to the beach without accoutrements and was once again beautiful, appropriate, covered in a simple caftan, her face spritzed with Evian facial mist.

“Bailey, look, I love you, but you don’t get it because this would never happen to you!

” Edie said with total certainty. After two hours in the cafeteria, Edie now knew that Bailey had been raised on a ranch in Santa Barbara with her parents, retired Olympic athletes Natalia (badminton) and Frank (triathlon), and her older brother Reynolds (sport climbing).

She was also kind, supportive, and patient.

Combined with her beauty and Bennett’s clear interest in her, she really should be vomitous.

In fact, Edie would hate Bailey if she didn’t like her so much.

“ I break people’s noses,” Edie continued. “Because I’m a total nightmare. You are not. You would never break someone’s nose.”

“I broke a nose once,” Max interjected from the aisle where she’d been doing various calisthenics to ease her boredom.

Even Max had packed a pair of track pants.

She cartwheeled into a handstand and continued upside down.

“Went for a header and took out number twelve’s nose. It’s all part of the game, Pepper.”

“Max,” Edie said, deadpan. “He wasn’t even playing.”

“Bennett’s an athlete!” Max propelled herself to her feet and then slid into the splits. “He knows scrapes and bruises. I’m telling you, he’s fine.”

“And you’re fine, too,” Bailey added.

But Edie knew none of this was fine . Not only had she embarrassed herself every single second she’d been on The Key , but she also knew that even if Charlie Bennett was a whole new person, scrapes and bruises were definitely not his thing.

She’d seen his face when his head was propped on Peter’s lap in the sand.

She knew that face—despair, self-pity, a total commitment to the tragedy of the experience. That was Charlie Bennett.

For an instant, seeing the real Charlie had been a comfort.

Like Edie knew exactly who he was and exactly what she should do.

How many times had Edie picked Charlie up with her pep talks and reasoned perspective?

But then he’d been put into that ambulance, and she was left to wonder, once again, what exactly she was doing here.

When Edie barreled her way onto The Key , she’d understood that at some point Charlie Bennett had become this new person: Bennett Charles.

But honestly, she didn’t think it would matter all that much.

She knew him. She’d always known him. Sure, there were all these external changes—the glow-up, the extreme sports, the influencer status—but didn’t all of that just make him a hotter version of himself?

Edie couldn’t help it—she was a child of Oprah.

Self-improvement and living your best life were concepts she’d metabolized wholeheartedly.

Wasn’t getting better each year a totally normal thing to do?

Sitting in the cafeteria now, though, Edie felt like she’d missed something major—like, not only did she really not understand the internal changes that had driven Charlie’s metamorphosis into Bennett Charles, but she had also never even considered them. Like, did he even read Tolkien anymore?

Edie thought again about their key ceremony kiss.

It had felt so romantic, after all these years, to be kissed like that by him.

He was a much better kisser than he’d been when they were younger.

She remembered him being more awkward then, their teeth clanking together.

The key ceremony kiss, though—that kiss had made her feel wanted, desired, like she was exactly where she was supposed to be.

But now she couldn’t stop thinking about how, when he’d leaned in, she’d noticed he was wearing makeup.

It hadn’t been blended well at his hairline, and some had smeared on his collar.

Everything felt slippery, like too many possibilities were playing out at once: He was Charlie Bennett, pitiful in the sand.

He was Bennett Charles, muscular, with this deep man voice, who knew how to kiss.

He was Charlie Bennett, the boy she’d always known. And Bennett Charles, a total stranger.

Edie looked at Bailey and Max. After Zo’s incredible bitchiness on the patio that first night, Edie had assumed the other girls would hate her just as viciously, but Bailey and Max had taken care of her all day.

They’d welcomed her onto their volleyball team and tried their best to make up for her lack of skills.

They’d kept her company at the hospital and let her rehash the accident over and over again.

Edie’s heart warmed a bit. If there was a silver lining to all this embarrassment, it was definitely making friends.

Edie double-checked that there were no cameras around before she took a deep breath and leaned in closer to Bailey. “The last time I broke his nose,” she said conspiratorially, “he didn’t speak to me for seventeen years.”

“Now that’s interesting,” Max said, finally taking a seat at the table. “Tell us more.”

Edie waved her hand. “It’s stupid—it was an accident. Still my fault, though, just like earlier. It was his going-away party and we were making out and we got sort of tangled up together and my head hit his nose. But anyway, after that we went to college, and I never heard from him again.”

“Wait, why not?” Max asked.

“I don’t know!” Edie said. “He just, like, disappeared . It was awful. And I was really hurt because even then I’d thought about us spending the rest of our lives together, you know? He was my boyfriend .”

“Ghosting is for pussies,” Max declared.

“Oh my god, I’ve never even thought about it that way.” Edie’s jaw dropped. “My first ghosting…”

“It’s so weird to me that you’ve known each other forever,” Max said. “I don’t know why—people know each other. But you just seem like you’re from two totally different worlds. You’re really down to earth. He’s… I mean, he’s Hollywood, right?”

“What was he like in high school?” Bailey asked. Her face took on a dreamy look and she ran her fingers through the ends of her long blond hair. “I bet he was homecoming king, a soccer star, National Honor Society…”

Max guffawed. “Please. Bennett’s a lot of things. National Honor Society he is not.”

“Actually, he was pretty nerdy in high school,” Edie admitted. “He wasn’t my boyfriend until senior year. The rest of the time we were just friends. But we did everything together. We were in the marching band. He was sweet. And rashy. He always had rashes.”

“Checks out,” Max said. “I’ve diagnosed him with psoriasis a million times in my head.”

Bailey smacked her on the arm, laughing. “Be nice.”

“I know you guys think I’m blowing this out of proportion,” Edie said, “but just hear me out: I think maybe I shouldn’t have come here.

Because, in what world does the same bad thing happen twice ?

I break his nose and he never speaks to me again.

And then seventeen years later, I show up and break his nose again ? ”

To Edie’s dismay, Max started laughing. “I think it’s pretty hilarious, actually.”

Edie gave her a look.

“It sounds like fate to me,” Bailey chimed in. “Sort of romantic! Like a chance to handle it differently or something?”

The dreamy part of Edie wanted to agree with Bailey and say it was fate.

Except Edie preferred when coincidence supported the romantic narrative she’d already cooked up in her head and didn’t involve her injuring anyone.

And there was something else bothering Edie.

Like she was beginning to understand why Lauren had told her not to come here in the first place.

“I think maybe I just made this completely insane, psychotically impulsive decision to come here because I wanted this one thing so badly. To be loved. No matter the cost.” What was it Peter had said?

The show’s the show. It’s got a format, and you either accept it or you don’t.

How could she not have known better? A TV show?

To find love? Really? Most people don’t take it so seriously.

She covered her face with her hands. “This is mortifying.”

Max leaned over and pulled Edie’s hands from her face.

“Pepper, come on,” she said, her face full of compassion and love. “How do you think any of us ended up here? No one thought this through. We all just want to be loved.”

Edie was thunderstruck. It seemed impossible that could be true.

Cool, strong, smart, independent Max and Bailey— every man’s dream—wanted love just as badly as Edie did?

Edie struggled to accept the idea that her romantic rivals, who were just so much better than her, could be fueled by a similar desperation.

“I’ve been looking for my true love forever,” Bailey said with a little sigh. “But you would not believe how many men out there are just not very… nice ?”

“Even in Santa Barbara?” Max asked.

“They’re probably even worse there! They’re all unemployed trust-fund surfers. And such know-it-alls! They lecture you about composting. As if I don’t know about composting!”

Edie put her hand on Bailey’s shoulder. “I’ve dated these men.

” They all laughed. “But you? You could marry anyone . I bet you could marry Alexander Skarsg?rd if you wanted to.” Mentioning marriage suddenly reminded Edie of something else.

“Wait. On the court, right before the accident, Zo told me something. She said Peter gave you a contract guaranteeing you a spot at the end.”