Flavor of the Week

Claire felt her face grow flush the moment Jay spoke. As soon as the words fell from his lips, she knew that this challenge would be the one that would make everyone realize she wasn’t the dream girl she was pretending to be.

They were supposed to create a dance – a fully choreographed, perfectly executed dance – and she was so far from coordinated that dancing was nearly impossible for her. She’d been taught how to smile and look cute, but she hadn’t been taught how to dance and she wondered what kind of game the producers were playing. If they wanted her to steal any of the boys’ hearts, dancing certainly wasn’t the way for her to do it.

Liam’s eyes shifted between Claire, Tessa, and Victoria, who were all standing in front of him with their eyes wide.

“Do any of you know how to dance?” Liam asked, as he chuckled.

Tessa shrugged, her face scrunching up to make her look like the raging bitch she was supposed to be. “It’s your ass on the line, shouldn’t you be teaching us?”

Liam gave a nervous laugh, before his eyes fell to Claire’s. He looked desperate for help, and she wanted so badly to be the one to give it to him.

“I can dance,” Claire lied. Her face fell the moment she said it, instantly hating herself for telling the lie. She’d been lying about who she was for so long that she didn’t know when to stop them anymore, but she did know that was probably a lie she shouldn’t have told. She was going to get caught in a matter of seconds when everyone realized how truly terrible she was. The producers could mask a lot of things, but they couldn’t mask the fact that she couldn’t dance.

“Really?” Liam said, his face lighting up. His worried look turned into a bright grin, which only made Claire hate herself more.

Victoria and Tessa’s eyes were both on Claire in shock, knowing what she had said was a lie. She had gotten herself into a mess of trouble and she only had a few seconds to get out of it.

“Really,” Victoria responded for her, nodding her head eagerly. “She and I were twirling about in our room the other day and she’s really great. Watch.”

Victoria took Claire’s hand, pulling her a few feet away from Liam. Victoria’s back was turned away from him, so he couldn’t see her speak.

In her quietest voice, she whispered to Claire. “Pretend you’re hurt.”

“What?”

“Pretend you’re hurt,” Victoria whispered again. “I’m going to twirl you and you pretend to hurt your ankle.”

“I don’t think I can do that.”

Without responding, Victoria took Claire’s hand in hers, as if she were a boy performing a ballroom dance. Even with as little dance knowledge as Claire had, she knew what was going to come next. Victoria pulled Claire in, spinning her as she did, and just when Claire would have pressed against Victoria, she fell to the ground, instantly grabbing her ankle.

She let out a hiss, with her hand wrapped around her feigned injury, and Liam ran straight to her side. Falling to his knees in front of her, he moved his hands to her legs, ghosting over her ankle.

“Claire, are you alright?”

He looked up at her with his worried eyes and all she could do was nod.

“It’s fine. I think I just twisted my ankle.”

“It doesn’t look fine,” Victoria was quick to say, leaning over Claire as Liam was. “There’s no way you can dance like that.”

“It’ll be okay,” Claire said, as she faked another flood of pain. “I can push through it.”

Liam shook his head quickly, before scooping her up in his arms. One hand wrapped around her waist, while the other tucked under her knees. It was the closest they’d ever been to one another, and even though he only meant it to carry her from one place to the next, it sent Claire’s body racing.

“You don’t need to,” Liam said, smiling down at her as she lay in his arms. “It’s just a stupid challenge and I don’t want you hurt even more.”

“I don’t want you to lose for –“

“It’s okay,” he interrupted. “I really don’t mind.” He turned to Victoria. “Let Jay know we forfeit and that I’m gonna take Claire to ice her ankle.”

“You’ll miss the challenge,” Tessa said, her raging bitch coming through her gritted teeth. “And then you won’t be able to pick your teams.”

“That’s alright. Just let us know who wins, yeah?”

Tessa rolled her eyes, before nodding her head. “Have fun.”

Liam didn’t respond, as he carried Claire out of the challenge room and to the living room. He set her tenderly onto the nearest sofa, before propping up her foot on a pillow. He was being so gentle with her, and it only succeeded in making her feel worse about lying. He threw the challenge away to take care of her and she wasn’t even hurt. There was a special place in hell reserved for people who did things like that.

When he returned with a towel full of ice and pressed it to her ankle as softly as he could, she let out a deep breath, her body overwhelmed with lies and cold. Before she knew it, she couldn’t hold it in any longer and she was speaking more quickly than she could think.

“Liam,” she said, her voice cracking under the pressure. “My ankle’s fine.”

“It’s not fine, Claire.” He looked up at her with his soft eyes, giving her a half smile. “You’ve twisted it.”

“No, Li,” she said, her words barely coming out with the tightness of her throat. She wondered if the producers would ring her neck for what she was about to say. “I didn’t twist my ankle. I faked it.”

His face changed in seconds, his eyebrows furrowing beneath his shaved head. “What? Why’d you do that?”

He looked so hurt and Claire didn’t know what to do anymore. She didn’t see a way out of the situation and there was no one there to rescue her. She didn’t have anyone to help her trick him into thinking she was perfect anymore.

“I’m so sorry, Liam. I – I just – I.” She wanted to make up another lie to cover up the one before it, but her conscience got ahold of her, and she knew it was going to ruin everything. “I can’t dance.”

“What do you mean you can’t dance? You just said that you –“

“I lied, Li,” she interrupted. “I’m so so sorry, and I shouldn’t have done it. You just looked so worried and I wanted to be the one to fix it. It was all happening so fast and I thought if I could just win the challenge for you then everything would fall into place. I wasn’t thinking and I just wanted so badly for you to like me that –“

Liam stopped her, shaking his head to end her words. “Claire, you don’t have to win a challenge for me to like you. You don’t have to do anything to make me like you. I already do.”

Claire opened her mouth to speak, even though she wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to say next. Before she could, he spoke again.

“Don’t be something you’re not just to try to impress me,” he said, moving closer to her. “I like this Claire. I like the Claire that’s honest and kind and doesn’t realize how perfect she is. I like you just like this.”

At that moment, Claire could have sworn her heart broke. Liam was sitting in front of her, pouring his heart out, confessing his feelings about a girl who didn’t exist. He said he liked honest Claire, but the Claire he knew was anything about honest. If he knew the real Claire – the honest Claire – he wouldn’t like anything about her. He was falling for someone who didn’t exist, and she hated that one day he’d find out the truth. It didn’t seem fair that they were playing games with the boys’ hearts, but she knew they were too far gone to do anything about it.

She wanted to make this dream Claire real, for herself and for Liam, so they could both have something to fall for.