Last Girl Standing

Kassandra bit her lip as she walked over to Abelia. She hadn’t known what Zayn was planning, hell she hadn’t even given him an answer, but she felt bad all the same. The girl was maybe an inch taller than her, but thinner and Kassandra was a bit jealous of her looks. She stood out for all the right reasons, while Kass was sure she stood out for the wrong ones.

A bandage was on the cut on her forehead, but the medics had said she didn’t have a concussion. She was lucky in that respect. Tapping her on the shoulder, Kass got her attention.

“Hey,” she said, “I just want to apologize for what Zayn did, I don’t think he meant for you to get hurt, but it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

“Oh… It’s alright,” she said in a quiet voice. Her eyes were down cast and Kass wondered why the girl seemed so self-conscious. She was gorgeous and seemed like a sweet-heart.

“It’s not though,” Kass replied with a frown. “I feel awful that you got hurt and I just want you to know that I didn’t know he was going to do that.”

Abelia simply nodded in response. After a moment Kass made a decision. She figured she didn’t have much time left on the show, she hadn’t really connected with any of the boys and the one boy she’d really thought had potential, she made a fool of herself in front of. If she was going to go down though, she was going to toss someone of her choosing the winners circle. Kass didn’t want to be kicked off knowing there were sneaky, uptight, rude bitches still in the running. She wanted to make sure at least one guy got a good girl. She blamed her ‘Minnesota nice’ roots for this way of thinking.

“Abelia,” Kass said, biting her lip. “Can I ask you something?”

“I guess,” the girl replied.

“Do you like Zayn?”

Abelia blushed such a bright red that Kass knew she’d hit the nail on the head. Giving the girl a smile, she knew exactly what she would be doing. It was her goal to get those two together; she already knew that Zayn had a thing for Abelia base on the way he looked at her before the challenge. If there was anything more fun than fucking with a reality dating competition, it was picking one of the couples before you got kicked off.

Before Kassandra could say anything else, Tanisha’s voice was heard beckoning the girls to the front room. It was time to announce the dates.

Lined up across from the boys, the girls fidgeted nervously. Kass was sure she wouldn’t be going, so she hadn’t bothered getting dressed up like some of the other girls. Standing beside a girl in a blue dress, she wondered if she should have put in a little more effort. Her jeans were ripped and the Billy Idol shirt she wore hung off her shoulders a size bigger than she was. Messing with the hem of the black cotton tee she wished she’d put on something a little nicer.

“Alright, I’ll be calling the girls names that have been chosen,” Tanisha said with a smile. “I tell those girls which boy they’ve been paired with, the rest of the ladies will be dismissed.”

Kass bit her lip as the nerves in her stomach did flip-flops. As she looked over to the boys she was surprised to see Liam looking over at her, but the way his eyes inspected her made her feel like she had done something wrong again. Swallowing hard, she turned her attention away from the boy. He probably thought she was a bitch.

“Abelia,” Tanisha called, “You’ll be with Louis.”

Abelia blushed, but moved to stand beside Louis. He gave her a warm smile, but stayed quiet while Tanisha called the rest of the names.

“Jenna, you’ll be with Niall.”

Jenna smiled, but something in the way she looked at the boy made Kass think it wasn’t her first choice. Shaking her head she hear two more names be called as Harry was paired with one of the other girls and Liam was paired with the blond he’d thought wrote down the necklace in the first challenge, Elizabeth.

“Kassandra, you’ll be with Zayn,” Tanisha stated. Kass gawked at her unsure as to whether she’d heard correctly, but from the looks on the other girl’s faces she had.

Tucking her bright red locks behind her ear, she walked over to the raven haired boy. Her eyes fell to Liam as she took her place between the two boys, she considered apologizing for what she’d said, but the second she opened her mouth, Tanisha was leading them out. Harry and his date got into a limo while Kass, Zayn, Jenna and Niall piled into one of two Audi’s. The sleek black vehicle pulled away from the mansion and started following the limo in front of them.

“Any guesses where we’re going?” Niall asked.

“Not a clue,” Kass replied her gaze focused outside the window on the scenery that flew by.

It wasn’t long before they pulled up in front of an elegant little building. The entrance had beautiful white columns that held a balcony and a sign near the door said, ‘Le Bistro’. Kass smiled, she loved the way the place looked and couldn’t wait to find out what they were doing.

Tanisha was waiting for them as got out of the vehicles and joined her beneath the balcony. She smiled as a camera zoomed in on her face. A hand was squarely on hip as she turned to face the couples.

“Welcome to Le Bistro,” she said, “Today you will be taking a cooking lesson with Chef Michel Jarmond. Harry has the ability to switch dates at any time, he will also have a little special treatment as his table has been set up in the courtyard. Have fun.”

Kass followed the others in as they made their way to a kitchen to meet Chef Jarmond. She loved cooking and this was a date she knew she’d enjoy, even if the boy she was there with couldn’t stop his eyes from flashing to two of the other girls. By the end of the night though, she wanted him to have eyes for only one girl. Of course that was going to be a challenge in and of itself.

Chef Jarmond started their lesson once each pair was placed at a station, explaining what they need to do for the dish they were making. Kass spent her time chopping ingredients while Zayn tossed them in pans and pots as needed. It was actually a good system.

“So,” Kass said, trying to make conversation. “That was an interesting challenge.”

“Yeah, and I managed to look like a prick,” he grumbled. “I didn’t mean to get that girl hurt, you know?”

“I didn’t think you did,” Kass replied as she finished chopping a few carrots. “Have you apologized to Abelia?”

“No, not yet… I should though shouldn’t I,” he said as his eyes glanced over to the pretty brunette beside Louis.

“It might be a good start.” Looking over to the couple at the other side of the room, she wasn’t surprised to see a blush on the girl’s cheeks or the smile on Louis’ face. “Maybe when we finish this you should go over?”

“Yeah, maybe.” Zayn quieted for a minute as he stirred the contents of a pot. “Anyway, why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

“Oh, um… Well, I’m a manager at Station 4 in St. Paul, Minnesota. It’s a little concert venue bar type place. One day, though, I’m gonna open my own place,” she told him with a small smile.

“A venue?” He asked finding the response interesting it seemed. “That’s pretty cool. Why do you want to do that?”

“Well, I’ve grown up in venues,” she explained. “My dad was a merch guy and he would tour with bands a lot, which meant when I went out to see him it was at concert venues. I guess, they just remind me of him…”

“Does your dad still do merch?” Zayn asked as they finished the adding ingredients.

“Uh, no,” Kass replied her eyes falling to the counter top. “He passed away two years ago.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.” Bringing her eyes to the handsome boy, she smiled. “Anyway, why don’t you tell me about how you met the boys? What the success story?”

Zayn gave her the story without hesitation and by the time he’d finished their food was ready and they were headed to their table, which Kass was a bit disappointed over when she saw Jenna and Niall would be sitting with them. Taking the seat across from Zayn, as it was the only one open, she wished she had grabbed the seat next to Jenna before he did. The girl had given the raven haired boy a big smile and Kass would swear that the girl had a hand on his knee. It was almost too rude to believe. He wasn’t even her date.

“Hi, Zayn,” Jenna greeted with excitement.

Kass wanted to remind the girl she was supposed to be Niall’s date, but couldn’t get the words out of her mouth in such a blunt manner. Instead she turned to the blond blue eyed boy.

“Hi, how’s your date with Jenna going?” Kass asked her eyes falling pointedly on the other girl.

“Fine,” Niall replied giving her a smile, but Kass was more interested in Jenna’s response. The girl smiled at Kass, but didn’t make any movement and suddenly Kass knew that this was going to be a very long night. She already wasn’t a Jenna fan and now that she was messing with Kass’ plan to get Zayn’s attention on Abelia, she liked her even less. Still, she murmured a, “good” to Niall and discretely mentioned apologizing to Abelia again.

“Why don’t we go visit the other table?” Kass said giving Zayn as sweet of a smile as possible.

Zayn glanced over to the table where Liam and Louis sat with their dates and after a moment of thought, he agreed and the two walked over. Kass shot Jenna a look over her shoulder and caught the pretty girl glaring at her.

“Well, there’s enemy number two,” she thought.