Page 21 of Skye's Fall

“What do you do?”

“Computer programming,” he replies. I somehow knew he was into computers. It’s the man bun.

“That sounds interesting,” I hum. I hear Mallory and Snow snicker, and I shoot them a glare. I want to laugh too, but I don’t.

“It is,” and he starts to go off on a tangent, trying to explain the computer world to me. I tune him out for a while. I might have fallen asleep halfway through his speech about wires.

Mallory takes pity on me. “Zack, can I borrow Skye? We’re going to get drinks for everyone.”

“Oh, I only do lemonade, and it has to be freshly squeezed,” and I tune out again. Didn’t he just drink tea at the bar?

Where did Sal find this guy? What the hell? I’m in for a hell of a day.

“Come on,” she drags me across the carnival to the drink stands. I know we’re selling cider, but I needed time to breathe and she saw that.

“Regretting your choice?” Mallory chuckles.

“You have no idea,” I nod. My eyes are drawn to the arena, where we can see the guys are doing their competition. Jimmy is riding and he is magnificent on top of that huge beast.

“Wow,” Mallory whistles. I have to agree . . . wow.

“He went the whole eight seconds, ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer booms as the crowd goes wild.

“It will be a tight race between those three,” I say, meaning Lincoln, Mason, and Jimmy. I take one last look at the arena as we grab drinks and head back to the tent. I grabbed two beers, I need them.

“Wonder when we see the guys,” Snow ponders.

“Ladies, the last man just rode. One by one, they will head for the woman of their choosing, between these two tents,” Sal announces. So that’s where the others are.

Mason comes in first and chooses Mallory, Jimmy pokes his head in and nods at Snow but disappears. Guess he chose someone new. I kind of want to laugh, because no one has chosen Shelley.

Dayton comes in and sits next to Snow and I want to ‘aww’ at them. Those two are so cute.

And then Shelley is sitting alone.

“That’s it for the guys,” Sal announces and I watch her face contort in anger.

“Who went home?” I ask Mason.

“Larry.”

“That’s good.” I wonder who Linc picked.

“Ladies, it’s time to bake. Due to lack of kitchen space, a few trailers have been brought in. You’ll cook in pairs,” Sal looks at me.

He puts me and Snow together, and I want to kiss him.

“Shelley, no matter what, since you weren’t chosen, you’re automatically in the bottom two,” Sal tells her.

“Fuck this shit. I’m better than anyone here,” she yells.

“Put your money where your mouth is,” Mallory goads her on.

“I can cook better than the three of you,” Shelley points at us.

I look at Sal, who is trying not to laugh. I also know he is eating this up, television gold right now.

“Okay, Shelley, you’re on your own team,” he tells her, “and the competition is between Team Snowy and you. The rest of you can rejoin your partners.” Sal is loving this.