The One That Got Away.

Romanticizing or Reality?

Tucked into a gorgeous hotel, Kelly slips out of a hot shower and into a thick, white, fluffy hotel robe. Stretching out on the oversized bed, she feels safe and cared for. She used to hate coming to five-star hotels. They felt obscene and pretentious, and she felt very out of place. Now she is relieved to be off that damn bus, away from the noise and cramped quarters, and away from Shayla, Cade, Lindy, and Shayne. Desmond, in the adjoining room,  is enjoying a hot shower of his own, no doubt. Kelly grabs a book and nestles down.

Jared walks in, unexpectedly, heaves his backpack and his guitar onto a chair, and smiles at her.

She lays her book face-down. "Where's Josh?"

His smile drops. "That's what you say to me? He's still with Tomo and Shannon doing more band photos, and whatever the hell else they are doing."

"Shouldn't you be there for that?"

"They took enough pictures of me today. Whatcha got under here...?" He climbs onto the bed, pulling at her robe.

She intercepts the groping. "Maybe we should save that for when we're living together. Did you know there are pictures of your Las Vegas house all over the internet?"

"Doesn't surprise me."

"Doesn't it concern you?" 

"There's nothing I can do about it. Anyway, the place looks... a little differently now."

"But people have the address!" The pitch of her voice increases with every sentence. "And can't you have the website remove the pictures? The house has been sold, why are the pictures still there?" 

Jared, calm as always is unaffected by her squealing. "There's security. They can't get to the front door or anything. Plus, the community is gated."

"Yeah. No one has ever gotten into a gated community before!"

"Desmond will be there. He's employed for as long as you want or need a bodyguard."

She tosses her book aside and whips open her laptop. The photos of his house are already open because she has been staring at them and obsessing at regular intervals. It's so normal compared to the compound. The Compound is a place where you fully expect to run into a ghost or a boogeyman, and you kind of want to. There is mystery and magic there, and she wants to discover more. Secretly, she already misses it. This Las Vegas place, while ultra high-end and fancy, doesn't seem so magical. Sterile is more like it. 

It's sterile, masculine, and if she's being honest, a bit dull. It seems out of character for Jared. She can hardly picture him living, and being happy in a place like this. 

"What do you mean it looks different now?"

"I... uh... had things changed around, a bit. Hard to explain, you'll see. But don't expect it to look like what you've seen in those pictures. If that makes you feel any better."

"You can put different furniture in there, or rearrange things but the basic layout remains the same if you wanted to pull some devious stunt."

Jared laughs, he is genuinely amused. "You know, I think you're really going to love it there."

"Why here, why not the compound?"

"It's not inhabitable right now."

Kelly scrunches her face, "What does that mean? What happened to it?"

"Nothing. I'm just having a lot of work done there right now. It's a really old place, it needs maintenance."

"Yeah, but like, there are several other rooms and places in there to live. You can't be having work done to all 100k square feet of it."

"Trust me, this is far better. You are going to like this house. I predict you will never want to leave."

Kelly is more skeptical than she's ever been. The Compound feels like the place to be. "Maybe if you weren't so accessible people like Betty wouldn't get obsessed with you. The compound feels more... maybe not secure per se but more intimidating to stalkers."