Ghosts (A Christian Yelich Story)

Chapter Ten: Be Careful

Author's note: I'm thinking about changing to Christian's perspective for a few chapters, but that also seems like a lazy move. We'll see!

***

Christian and I got to the meeting a little before 4:00 pm. Only about half of the cast was present. I sat next to Thomas, the Silicon Valley stoner, and Christian sat on my other side. I was relieved – now Asher couldn't grab a seat next to me.

"Hey," Thomas said as I got situated in my chair. "I don't think we've formally met. I'm Thomas." He smiled at me and shook my hand. I guess he was able to put the weed down for the day. "I'm Annie," I responded.

"I know," he said. "You do realize you're the most well-known person here, right? Most people with any pop culture knowledge know who you are . . ."

I shook my head to gesture disagreement. "Nah, that's Asher Michels."

"I've seen you in a bunch more stuff than Asher. You have that manic pixie dream girl thing going on."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "I've never played that sort of role."

Thomas laughed. "You sure? You definitely look the part."

At this point, I noticed that Christian was talking to Kaylie, who had settled in by his side. She was sitting close to him and laughing deeply at something he said. Christian seemed unaware of her flirtation because the next thing he asked her was, "So, where's your partner? We had a bit of a scuffle with him earlier." 

"He should be here soon," Kaylie said – seemingly annoyed that Christian had changed the topic on her.

Christian turned to me, "You gonna be okay?" he whispered.

"Yeah, don't worry about me," I whispered back to reassure him I wasn't going to lose it.

"Okay," he said – nodding his head to indicate he was trying to believe me. To her annoyance, he never redirected his attention back to Kaylie. 

A few minutes later, Asher entered the room and plopped himself into the chair across from me.

"Hey, everyone," he muttered. "Annie, Christian," he called us out specifically.

We opted not to respond.

Ellen and the crew, which had expanded a bit, made their way into the room. "Welcome back, guys. I hope you all had a nice day getting to know your partner. Does anyone have any questions before we collect your phones and explain how tonight is going to go?"

"How do I get a partner change?" Asher asked. Kaylie scoffed, and I resisted the urge to place my head in my hands in frustration. Cameras were rolling now, so I had to be mindful about how my actions would come off to an audience.

"There will be no partner changes at this point in time," Ellen stated sternly.

"Later then?" Asher asked.

"We'll see," Ellen said – a bit too mysteriously for my liking.

I sighed. Christian whispered, "I won't let that happen," even though we both knew he had no control over the system.

Ellen explained how the evening was going to work. Each team would explore a different part of the castle until 1:00 AM. We would be taught how to use some equipment, and cameras would be present at all times and not shut down until 4:00 AM. A production staff member would be with each team through the process.

I realized pretty quickly that I was starting to value my time with Christian because the idea of other people following us around felt like a kick in the stomach. Because the day had been so nice and calm, I was starting to forget I was on a reality show, but reality was settling back in . . .

Christian's face made it seem like he felt the same way, but maybe that's how I wanted to see it.

He smiled at me, and I felt better. 

I needed to be careful.