Reality Check

7. List On, List Off

Holy. Effing. Shit.

The villa is insane. Faded white porches wrap around the first two of its three pale turquoise stories. A sloped roof with a row of tall windows offering ocean views gives the third floor a chill sort of vibe. If Sarah, Henry, and Danny don't kick me off, and I'm pretty sure I just have to swallow my pride and write down Max's name to stay, I hope my room is up there.

The interior is just as impressive as the exterior. A massive chandelier adorned with seashells spills from the ceiling, illuminating a spacious living room. Armchairs, loveseats, and plushy beanbag-esque chairs, all seafoam green and coral pink, form a 'U' shape that faces the largest TV I've ever seen.

I was wrong when I told Noelle embarrassing myself on television wasn't worth the five-star vacation. I'll deal with public humiliation for a couple weeks in this place.

"Mia!"

I turn around to see Maddie striding towards me, her arm linked with a dazed-looking Noelle.

"Hi, friends!" Earlier this afternoon, I decided that Maddie and I are friends. She's an absolute delight.

One thing I like about Enlisted so far is that the show doesn't seem to be pitting contestants against one another. That's one of my biggest issues with reality TV. Don't get me wrong; I love juicy drama as much as the next person, but I've always felt that the producers seem to manufacture conflict, especially between female contestants.

I know what you're thinking. Well, Mia, that's great and all, but I'm pretty sure you fabricated animosity between you and Claire. Yeah, a little. I'm not going to pretend I'm perfect. She intimidates me, alright? That's maybe a third of it. I also don't like the way she handled herself during the introductions. The sign very clearly said "LOOK HERE." Plus, she seized the chance to interrupt my conversation with Julian real fast.

Moral of the story, I'm only kind of a hypocrite.

Anyway, back to the programming you signed up for.

For the first time tonight, I'm hyperaware of the cameras on me. A minute or two into the mixer, I pretty much forgot they were present, only remembering when I was seconds away from blurting out something not TV appropriate.

I should probably credit my communications major for that. In college, I took a couple classes in broadcast journalism. I hated the journalism part, but I loved the talking part. Noelle and I ran a successful podcast for a semester as part of the radio course we took together.

So, being recorded isn't completely new for me. The national television part is very much new, however, and I'm entirely unprepared to talk about the men I just met, knowing my mom's book club will most likely view clips of my conversation with Noelle and Maddie.

"Did you get to chat with Tyler?" I ask Noelle as we squeeze onto a squishy loveseat.

"For almost the whole time," she breathes.

Maddie snorts. "Girl, you're smitten."

"Yeah," Noelle agrees.

Maddie seems to realize that Noelle isn't going to be a willing participant in this conversation, so she moves her eyes to me. 

"How was your night?" I ask.

"So much fun! I talked to Julian and Elijah. They're both so nice. Julian is definitely going on my list. Elijah had me cracking up the whole time, and Oliver was super easy to talk to. I think I'm going to put one of them down."

"Who else are you thinking?" Noelle asks, apparently having snapped herself out of her daze.

"I didn't get the chance to talk to Aiden, but I really liked his intro. Is that a bad idea? I don't know if he'll put me since we didn't talk, but I feel like I should be honest on the list, you know?"