Flavor of the Week

Stretching out on the sofa, Rory made a point of showing off her belly ring. The charm had a blinged out lettering of “Princess” that just made her feel silly, but she’d do whatever she needed to. Niall was sitting over by another girl, but she could see his eyes flicking to her every so often. It was pretty clear that her looks had won the boy over, but she wondered how long he would let her persona slide.

“Why Mr. Horan,” she said as she rested her arms behind her head. “Are you sneaking glances?”

A light blush creeped over the boy’s face as he smiled at her. His blue eyes met hers and after a moment, he got up to sit beside her. She couldn’t help the grin that ran across her lips as she turned over on to her stomach and peered up at the boy.

“Maybe just a wee bit, but can you blame me?”

“No,” Rory replied, batting her heavy fake lashes at him. “I can’t say that I do.”

“Please,” Tessa snorted from the sofa across from them. “I’ve seen pigs that look better.”

“Excuse you?”

Niall stiffened beside Rory, clearly uncomfortable with the confrontation that was about to happen. Standing, Rory hoped she could play the victim in the situation and still be obnoxious. It was a serious test of her abilities and for a moment, she doubted herself.

“Well, clearly you heard me,” the girl said with an eye roll as she leaned into her seat. “Maybe if you weren’t so full of yourself, you’d see what I mean, 'cause I can see you clearly.”

“Ha, sure and Diana has better vision than you,” Rory snapped.

“Diana is blind.”

“Yeah, that’s the point.”

“Girls, won’t you settle down,” Niall said as he stood, placing a hand on Rory’s elbow. “There’s no need to fight.”

“She’s the one that’s being rude,” Rory told him with a pout on her pink lips. She didn’t like the way she had to act, especially when the cute blond boy was being so nice.

“I am not being rude, I’m just telling the truth,” the other girl said. “And the truth is, you’re an ugly whore.”

“Jealousy isn’t attractive,” Niall said as Rory’s eyes started to tear up. His hand moved up her arm slightly as he led her away from the catty girl. “Are you okay?”

“I will be,” Rory said as they stepped outside towards the pool. “I just can’t believe she said that. I am not a whore.”

Niall gave her a sad smile as they found a little bench. “I know, you don’t come off like one.”

Suddenly Rory couldn’t breathe. He saw through the act. Somehow he saw through her mask. She was sure of it. The way he looked at her it seemed he didn’t believe the act. Taking in a breath, she tossed out the thoughts. Maybe he just thought it was a defense mechanism. He couldn’t know she was an actress. No way.

“You’re just beautiful and I think she’s intimidated,” he continued as they sat down and he wrapped an arm around her. “Don’t let her get to you.”

“Thank you,” Rory said leaning closer to him to press her lips to his cheek. “You’re too sweet to me.”

For the first time, she felt bad. She felt guilty about lying to this sweet boy that seemed to genuinely care about her. She felt horrible that this whole thing was a lie.

“You probably don’t see it, but I think you’re worth it,” he whispered as she rested her head against his shoulder. “You’re more than meets the eye, I can tell.”

Biting her lips, Rory looked up at the boy, his blue eyes already on her. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because you’re eyes say that you just want to find love, but your words push people away. I just think you’re scared is all,” Niall replied. “But you don’t need to be. I think if you just be yourself, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for.”

Rory’s eyes fell to the denim of his jeans as she listened to him. She could find love if she was herself, but that wasn’t what she was there for. It was far from her reason for being there and his sincere words were like knives that cut through her. She wished she was just there to fall in love, it would have been the easiest thing to just let herself fall for the boy with golden hair, but she was there to crush them all. Even if she fell for the handsome Irish man, she had a job to do.

“It’s not that easy,” Rory mumbled as her fingers played with the cotton of his shirt. “It’s not that easy.”

“Sure it is,” he said a hand finding her chin to lift her gaze to his. “Just let everyone see you. Let them see Rory and not a one will dislike you.”

“What if I don’t know who Rory is?” she asked trying to hide the quiver in her voice as she whispered. She hoped this would get her kicked off, but she couldn’t be obnoxious in this situation, the conversation didn’t call for it and frankly, Rory preferred this kind of talking. She needed the break from her obnoxious cover.

“Then I guess we’ll just have to find her,” Niall replied with a kind smile before he pressed his lips to her forehead.

“What if she doesn’t want to be found?”

“Then we wait till she’s ready,” he said. “Rory, you’re a wonderful girl and I just hope you can see that.”

“When I’m with you, I feel like it,” Rory stated biting her lip. “You’re so sweet and nice. I just… I don’t think I’m good enough for you.”

The last bit of her sentence had become so quiet she was certain that even the mics couldn’t make out what she said, but Niall had heard her perfectly. A hand pushed back her hair as he touched his forehead to hers. All she could see were his blue eyes and the sincerity and kindness that lay behind them.

“You’re more than good enough,” he whispered. “Don’t let anybody tell you differently.” Niall pressed a quick kiss to her lips before he pulled away. “I better be getting back, but you come in when you’re ready alright?”

“Alright,” Rory replied as the Irish man left the bench and walked back into the house. Sighing, she turned to see a producer hurrying towards her. The woman’s dark hair was in a tight ponytail, while her eyes looked fierce with annoyance.

“What the hell was that?” the woman hissed.

“That was me trying my damnedest not to get fucking caught,” Rory snapped. “He doesn’t believe I’m really that obnoxious, he thinks I’m some super insecure girl that just projects herself obnoxiously to hide it. What the fuck did you want me to do?”

“Fine, you wanna play it that way,” the woman said as she pressed a clipboard to her chest. “We can run with it, but you still have a part to play. Don’t mess this up.”

“I won’t.”

With that the woman walked away leaving Rory on the bench to groan and put her head in her hands. What was she going to do now that the producers were watching her like a hawk? How was she gonna pull this one off?