Holding a clipboard in her hands, Erin freezes when she sees me and does a double take. “Allie, is that you?”
I roll my eyes. “Ha-ha.”
Giggling, she holds the clipboard to her chest. “Just kidding. You look amazing.” She taps her watch. “It’s time to go. You ready?”
All the other contestants in the room start heading toward the door. Taking a deep breath, I nod and follow Erin and the other women out. The resort lobby is wide open to where you can feel the breeze blowing through. We walk out the back to the pool area and then over to a large courtyard that’s surrounded by twinkling lights in the palm trees and tiki torches in the sand. A stage is in the middle of it all and surrounding it is the camera crew. Off to the side of the stage is a table with all the eggs on it.
“Here we go,” I mumble.
Erin bumps me with her shoulder. “You’ll do great. All you have to do is breathe. Once you meet your match, it’ll be easy sailing from there.”
Yeah, right. There’s a man by the egg table, directing the women to pick up their eggs. I’m at the back of the line, but I watch each woman as they pick theirs up. Some glitter and sparkle, and I have to admit, they are kind of cute. They look like normal Easter eggs, but much larger. I used to love dying and decorating them with my sister when we were younger. By the time I get to the table, there’s only one egg left with my name on a small tag in front of it. I pick it up and it shimmers in the firelight of the tiki torches. The egg is aqua colored with glittery flowers painted all over it. I look over at Erin and she smiles. She knows I love gardens and flowers. She motions for me to turn the egg over and when I do, that’s when I see the small medical pharmacy symbol on the bottom, painted in bright green and blue glitter paint.
Erin winks at me before I’m directed to stand on the stage while holding my egg. She comes down to the stage and says a few things to the show host who I’ve seen on numerous other reality TV shows. His name is Ryan Cruise, a former NFL quarterback who got hurt and turned to television because he definitely has a face for the TV with his devilish smile. By looking at the way the other women are staring at him, I’m starting to think the bachelors should be worried about their matches running off with the former athlete.
All in all, I’m in awe of my sister. She gets to meet all these famous people. Once she’s done talking to Ryan, she waves at all of us and points to the cameras. “You ready, ladies?”
Everyone screams yes, except for me and the woman standing to my right. When she picked up her egg, the name tag in her spot said her name is Makayla. She’s a beautiful woman with dark red hair and bright green eyes. The people in wardrobe put her in a sleek green dress that looks amazing with her skin tone. She tilts her head toward me. “Am I the only one who’s nervous?”
That makes me smile. “No. I’m terrified.”
She snickers. “Good. We should stick together then. I’m Makayla.”
“Allison,” I whisper back. “But you can call me Allie.”
The camera lights flash on and Ryan takes his place in front of them. The time has come. He introduces himself and my cheeks are already hurting from smiling so much. I know the cameras are on us and I don’t want to look like I’m miserable. I feel silly.
When it comes time for me to be introduced, I smile at the camera. The other ladies had such amazing introductions. Several of them have traveled the world, been in movies, know how to speak ten languages, and so forth. All mine is going to be is my name, where I live, what I do for a living, and that my interests are gardening when I have the time. Basically, anything outdoors is what I love to do. There are plenty of other things, but I didn’t want to bore the viewers. I’m pretty sure I will now that my life doesn’t sound as spectacular as all the other women. To my surprise, that’s not the case at all. There’s a mention of how adventurous I am, and how I love bridge and rock jumping. I almost forgot about that time in my life. Seems so long ago. Not that I did crazy things all the time, but I had my moments. In Vermont, I jumped off a covered bridge into the river below. And in Mexico, I jumped off a cliff into the ocean. The only person to know that stuff about me is Erin. I should’ve known she’d hype up my introduction somehow.
Once Ryan’s done with my introduction, he motions for us to leave the stage. It’s time to hide our eggs. All the other ladies take off in the courtyard, searching around for the perfect spot. Makayla waits for me to get off the stage. “Want to be hiding buddies?” she asks.
It’s actually a relief to have someone with me. Maybe then I won’t feel so stupid. Nodding, I stop right beside her. “Sounds good to me. Let’s go.”
We only have fifteen minutes to hide our eggs, so we don’t have much time to converse. There really aren’t many hiding places in the courtyard. All we have are palm trees, several bushes by the walkways, and tons of sand. It was written in the agenda that
