Anything For Rachel

Chapter Twenty One.

The crowd was highly animated as they waited for Calvin to come make his choice.

I've been here before, I know what to expect now. The council had just expertly killed my shot at a date tonight by putting forth a pretty nice smear campaign on me. I may know that Calvin loves me, and wants to go with me and not Lexton, but I also know he has to do the right thing for his people and after the show they'd just pulled, I knew he'd have to pick Lexton.

I waited, keeping a calm expression as he walked passed me, stone faced, and stood in front of Lexton. I was surprised by how he wasn't even pretending to be happy about it as he held out his hand to her.

"Accompany me." He said bluntly.

The audience cheered happily as she curtsied to him and then smiled, taking his hand. I noticed him turn his face towards me, but I kept my eyes straight forward. I've been embarrassed enough for one night. Giving in and looking over at him would only lead to people speculating what the look between us meant. I waited until they were both gone before I glanced over at Marco, giving him back the fake smile he was giving me.

He ran his hand through his thin hair and held the mic back up to his mouth. "Rachel," He said into it. "How do you feel?"

"Fine." I lied.

"Really?" He asked. "You feel fine?" He smiled. "Hear that everyone? She's fine." The crowd laughed and he turned back to me. "Oh, I'm not sure I remembered to mention this earlier, but this year's dates will be overnight dates." He grinned wickedly and I tried not to let it show that I felt like I'd just been kicked in the gut and then spat on. "This way both contestants have a fair chance to win over the King. I know last time we only had single dates, but this is what we saw after the dates with other girls were ended." He said, pointing back to the screens as a video of Calvin kissing Lexton on the hand at her door after their first date, and then you see him run off into another direction where the camera shows him catch up with me. We talked for a moment, and then I followed him onto the elevator. "The playing field is being evened out this year." Marco crooned.

I tilted my head and smiled at him. "What a fantastic idea."

"You think so?"

"Of course." I bluffed, but he just chuckled to himself.

"The dates will also have extended video that will be broadcast live." Marco informed everyone. "We wanted to do full date video, but our King thought that may be disrespectful to the feelings of these two dear girls, so we will only being doing a couple of hours, but I am sure they will be juicy nonetheless." I felt like the world was spinning around me and I didn't know how much longer Marco planned to keep me up here to torture me in front of all of these people. "Shall we take a look at what Miss Lexton and our King are up to right now?" He asked and the crowd was ear-piercing in their response.

I didn't want to look at the screens. I tried to just keep my head down as I heard Calvin's strained voice come over the speakers.

"I believe so, yes." He was saying.

"I've never played this before." Lexton giggled.

I was tempted to look, but I wasn't sure that I could take it. I jumped slightly when I felt hands on my face. Marco was lifting my face, forcing me to look to the screen and witness the love of my life spending time with another. They were in a dimly lit room and sitting at a small table with a green top with some cards out in front of them and little chips in the center of the table. Lexton was smiling brightly and asking all kinds of questions related to the game and at first Calvin was being brisk with his responses, but eventually he seemed to warm up and get into the game they were playing.