The Last Goodbye

Erica sat down on the couch next to Patrick, wanting to spend a little time with just her brother. She had specifically come over to the house early, wanting to spend time just the two of them, not having had much bonding time with him since he had moved to Chicago. “So, tell me about this Delaney girl,” Erica began with a smile on her face, and Patrick spun his head around to look at her.

“What do you know?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at her, knowing there was some reason that she had brought Delaney up.

“What is there to know?” she inquired.

Patrick thought about it for a moment before everything became clear to him. “What did Burish tell you?” he questioned, knowing Adam had to have told her something for her to be asking about Delaney right now.

“Do you have feelings for her?” Erica asked, intentionally not answering Patrick’s question.

“Why are we talking about this?” Patrick whined. “Can’t we talk about something else?”

“No,” Erica shook her head. “Pat, do you have feelings for Delaney?” she asked once again.

“Yes…no…I don’t know!” he exclaimed loudly. Erica just continued looking at him, waiting on him to get his thoughts in order. “I did,” Patrick tried once again. “I mean, we kissed and I felt something. But, then she kept telling me we couldn’t date, and then she went out with Bur. And, why am I telling you all of this?” he asked suddenly, remembering he was talking to his sister.

“Why did she keep saying you couldn’t date?” Erica asked, focusing in on his one sentence.

“She said she wasn’t going to date with someone she worked with. But, then she went out with Bur, so I don’t know,” he shook his head.

“If that was the case, then why didn’t you just quit the show?” Erica asked, and Patrick looked at her. How did she have the power to make everything seem simple? When she realized he didn’t have an answer, she decided to just move on. “Do you still like her?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Patrick mumbled. “Can we please just talk about something else?” he begged.

“Fine, let’s talk about the contestants,” Erica suggested. “Tell me what you think of them. Do you honestly see yourself with any of them?” she questioned. “Because if we’re being honest, I don’t think any of them are right for you.”

“Erica, if we’re being real right now, then I better let you in on the truth. I never came on this show expecting to find love. I came on here to be surrounded by a bunch of hot women, not to find the one for me,” he said, leaning back against the couch, putting his hands behind his head.

Erica rolled her eyes at her brother. “You sound just like Brady,” she told him.

Patrick laughed. “He is my best friend, after all.”

“Seriously, though, is there any girl that you want me to keep around, or could you care less?”

“Are you giving me a say in who you kick off?” Patrick asked, turning his head to look at her.

“I’m just asking if there’s someone in particular that you wouldn’t like to leave,” Erica said smiling.

Patrick thought about it for a moment before saying, “Nahhh, you kick off whoever you want.”

***

The contestants walked into the room, seeing Patrick, Adam, Brady, Erica, and Jonathan standing at the front, knowing that it was elimination time. “Okay, everyone, let’s find out who Erica, Jon, and Brady have decided to eliminate,” Adam announced, and all the girls began getting restless, knowing that three of them were going home. “Okay, first, let’s here from Brady, who will tell us who is staying just a little bit longer in the house.”

Brady took a step forward, looking at all of the girls. It had been hard for him to choose someone to eliminate tonight, as all of the girls were attractive. He had tried to make it so that Patrick would still have the best looking girls in the house, but Erica had quickly yelled at him for that method for deciding which girls should stay and which ones should go. “First up, we’d like to ask Kristalyn to stay,” he announced, and Patrick quickly looked at Jonathan, shocked that he had not chosen her to be eliminated. He thought for sure that Kristalyn’s sorority girl stories would have driven him crazy, but apparently there was someone else that had irritated him even more.

“Of course!” she exclaimed, running up and hugging Brady before going over to hug Patrick, giving him a quick kiss before stepping to the side, awaiting the announcement of the other girls.

“Erica,” Adam said, and she and Brady switched spots. She quickly glanced at Patrick, giving him a small smile, before she turned back around to the girls.

“Okay, I’ll make this short and sweet. Next, we’d like to ask Leah to stay,” she said, and the woman ran forward excitedly, snatching the rose from Erica before making her way to Patrick to kiss him, and then going to stand next to Kristalyn.

“Tazer,” Adam called, and Jonathan stepped forward, looking at the remaining six girls.

“Raylene,” he announced right away, and the blonde looked up at him, a shocked look in her eyes. She smiled at him before accepting the rose and making her way over to the other girls.

“Two more to go,” Adam stated the obvious. “Let’s have Brady come up again and let the next girl know,” he said.

“Okay, next, will Rosie step up here,” he said, and Patrick couldn’t help but smile, knowing that Brady thought she was the hottest one of the contestants, and he was sure that Brady thought he was helping Patrick out the most by keeping her here. Patrick glanced at Adam, who had his mouth slightly agape, obviously shocked that they had kept her here, but he quickly returned to normal, knowing he was still live on air.

“Finally, let’s have Erica come up here one last time to announce the final girl,” Adam said, and Erica took a step forward.

“Marissa,” she announced, and now it was Patrick’s turn to have his mouth wide open. He was shocked that Marissa was the last one chosen, and that Erica was the one to announce it. She hadn’t made it a secret that she disliked Marissa, and he was shocked that she kept her around. He made a mental note to ask her about it later, but he couldn’t think about it now, as Marissa sauntered over to him, shoving her tongue down his throat.

“That’s it, folks,” Adam announced. “Sorry, Leah, Bethann, and Juliette, but you are out of the running.” He said a few more words before the cameras shut off and everyone was allowed to leave.

“Erica, can I talk to you for a minute?” Patrick requested, and she nodded at her brother, who guided her into the kitchen, motioning for her to sit down at the table.

“So, what do you think of our choices?” she asked him.

“I’m shocked,” he admitted.

“Why?” she asked.

“You kept Marissa and Rosie,” he said. “You made it well known that you weren’t a fan of either of theirs, especially Marissa. So, why’d you choose to keep them around?” he asked.

“Brady convinced me of it,” Erica shrugged her shoulders. Patrick stared at her for a minute, knowing she wasn’t telling him everything, but he let it go, figuring she wasn’t going tell him the whole truth anyways.

“Okay,” Patrick said, standing up and walking out of the room, only to be replaced by Adam, who took a seat across from her. He stared at her, and Erica began to squirm in her seat.

“What?” she asked.

“What the hell was that?” he questioned.

“What was what?”

“I know that you hate those two just as much as I do,” he said, not even needing to say Marissa and Rosie’s names for Erica to know who he was talking about. “And yet, they’re still here. What gives?”

“Brady wanted to keep them here,” she shrugged her shoulders.

“Okay, but you could have still chosen one of them to get rid of. But, they’re both still here. Explain that one.”

“I’m looking out for Pat here.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Adam began.

“He likes Delaney,” she blurted out.

“Okay,” Adam said. “And, that has to do with keeping Marissa and Rosie around how exactly?”

“He said that the only reason why Delaney won’t go out with him is because she works with him,” she said, and Adam nodded his head, already knowing all of this. “I asked him why he doesn’t just quit, and he didn’t answer me.”

“So, you’re trying to make him quit this show?” Adam asked, trying to figure out her twisted logic.

“If being with Delaney would make him happy, then he shouldn’t be on this show,” Erica told him.

“So, you’re trying to make him quit this show,” Adam repeated. He still didn’t understand her logic fully, but he knew she was just trying to help Patrick out, even if it didn’t make sense.

“I want him to be happy,” she stated as Adam continued to try to figure out her plan.