Jasmine & Elijah: a Catfish Story

Chapter Five: Brownies

Contrary to my expectations, the first night of filming flew by. The half-hour in front of the cameras was intimidating, but as soon as I allowed myself to relax and "be myself" as Henry suggested, things were significantly easier and almost casual. Nev and Max were great at asking questions and carrying the conversation with little to no effort necessary on my end. All I had to do was recall the details of my relationship with Elijah and answer the occasional question. Everything else was handled by the stars, both of whom were naturals in front of the camera.

As filming that night was reaching its end, Nev and Max instructed me to email them any information I had about Elijah so that they could do their usual research. To wrap things up, we filmed a scene of goodbyes where the guys pretended to go on their way. However, as soon as the cameras were off, Nev and Max returned inside while the crew started packing things up. After so many hours of filming, the two of them were beginning to feel like good friends.

As several crew members started leaving to their hotels for the night, I offered Nev and Max to stay for some dessert. I wasn't sure about them, but I had skipped both lunch and dinner and desired nothing more than something sweet to eat. Sure enough, the two agreed and made themselves comfortable in the nearly deserted couch area. "Do you have anything with chocolate?" Max asked eagerly, stomach obviously doing the talking.

"Lucky for you," I began, pulling a box of brownies from the pantry, "chocolate is my favorite food group."

After a few minutes of prepping the brownie mix and tossing it in the oven, I returned to the living room to Nev and Max's company. Although the initial star-struck awe had worn off, the feeling of having two celebrities over for dessert was indescribable. Max showed no hesitation at making himself comfortable; he'd taken the liberty of stretching across my entire couch while I pulled together the brownies. Alternatively, Nev remained quite poised on love-seat, leaving room for me to join him at the opposite end.

"So how have you liked being on the show?" Nev asked with a look of genuine interest. Unsure of whether to be polite or completely honest, I hesitated to answer. As though reading my thoughts, Nev continued, "And please, feel free to be totally honest."

With permission to speak my mind, I answered truthfully, "It was overwhelming at first, but you guys were really good at calming me down. I just hope I didn't make a total idiot of myself in front of millions."

I laughed a little toward the end of my response, but the fear of public humiliation was all too real. I could only hope that the film editors were on my side. Nev, on the other hand, seemed to have no fear of such a thing.

"Seriously? You have nothing to worry about," he laughed, hitting me with a bright smile that made my heart skip a beat. He really knew how to turn on the charm.

"I beg to differ. I could hardly get a sentence out in the first half-hour of filming." This time, I didn't bother to hide the distress I felt over my performance. Nev had proven to be remarkably empathic, making my attempts to feign indifference useless. There was no point trying to hide my emotions with him.

"You're totally over-thinking it. In fact, me and Max thought you were great in front of the cameras. You adjusted far quicker than most of the people we've had on the show, right Max?" Nev turned to Max, expecting his friend to offer some sort of validation. Max, who had been looking at his phone for the previous ten minutes, was caught of guard and simply mumbled an "mm". Nev waved his friend off in annoyance.

"Trust me," he continued, smile unceasing. "You were impressive."

As Nev finished providing me with a much-needed dose of assurance, a ding from the kitchen let me know that the brownies where ready to come out. Racing to save them from burning, I opened the oven door and allowed the warm, chocolatey scent to fill the air. Hopefully my cooking would be enough for the well-seasoned palates of the celebrities I was hosting.

"Thank goodness," Max exclaimed, mouth watering at the sight of something edible and chocolate. Nev looked at the brownies hungrily himself, eyes following the pan as I sat it down at the coffee table. I laughed inwardly, amused by their childlike enthusiasm over brownies from a box. Nevertheless, I was quite likely giving the desert a similar look.

As soon as the brownies hit the table, Max was digging in with a knife and serving himself about a quarter of the pan. Nev and I had barely finished serving ourselves before Max dove back in for seconds, his hunger seemingly unquenchable. I couldn't help but laugh at Max as he downed the brownies in single gulps, showing an uncanny resemblance to a golden retriever. Nev seemed to be seeing something similar, for he started laughing beside me but with no effort to conceal it. Max ignored us, too enthralled with my baking to care.

The night flew by as any night spent with friends would. The guys stayed for a couple of hours before retiring to their hotel, only because an early morning of filming threatened their hours of sleep. As I sent them on their way, I couldn't help the excitement I felt at welcoming them back the next day. Each time they came around, the closer I would be to finally be meeting Elijah.

Elijah. I hadn't thought of him the entire evening. The decision to contact and work with Catfish already had me feeling guilty, so ignoring my boyfriend would likely only add to the feeling. Reaching for my phone at the edge of the coffee table, I tapped on my lock-screen to reveal three text messages Elijah.

Elijah Lee: hows your day going, babe?
...

i hope youre having a good evening :) i'd love to hear your voice later
...

are you ok love? haven't heard from you all day.
...

Sighing, I exited the message app and went to my favorited contacts. Clicking the call button next to his name, I listened to the ring tone in anticipation. Just another phone-call of ample lies to my boyfriend.