Flavor of the Week

Ava had the hardest time focusing on the lunch conversation, as her thoughts were anywhere but the lame story that Payton was telling. She didn’t much care how wasted she had gotten one Spring Break in Miami, and she was sure that she was doing an awful job pretending that she did. She had other things to think about.

When Liam had won the challenge and picked Ava to be on Harry’s team, she was shocked to say the least. Liam was usually the one to put the girls with the boy who liked them the most, so she was almost certain she would be on Louis’s team again. After all, she’d spent the majority of her time in the house with Louis. She’d even slept with them, though it was anybody’s guess whether or not Liam actually knew that.

Ava found herself worrying over whether or not she’d done something to screw things up with Louis. It seemed likely that any one of the boys could beg the other not to put a girl on his team, and Ava wondered if that was the case. It wasn’t exactly a longshot, even though she didn’t know what she would have done wrong.

“Is everything alright?” Harry asked, looking over at her with a faint smile. He had practically interrupted Payton’s story, but he didn’t seem to care.

“What?” Ava said, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. “Yes, of course. Everything’s fine.”

“You looked like you were on another planet.” Harry chuckled, while smirking at her. Ava was struggling with all sorts of emotions at that moment – what her heart was telling her it felt, what her head was screaming would happen if she got too close, and what her character was telling her needed to be done – and she could hardly form a coherent thought.

“Just worried about the date challenge, I suppose,” Ava said, shrugging her shoulders. “We’re getting down to the wire.”

Harry nodded, smiling at her. “I know you’re going to do great.”

Ava could feel the other girls glaring at her, but she didn’t give it much thought. Of course they would be angry when any one of the girls got any attention, just as Ava would have been if Harry had been paying attention to someone else. Not to mention the fact that he had a smile that made her heart melt.

“It’s about that time, isn’t it?” Harry continued, looking more at Ava than anyone else. “We should probably head over for the date challenge. I can’t be late again.”

Ava chuckled, standing up from her seat, while Payton furrowed her eyebrows.

“But I didn’t finish my story,” Payton groaned, as she tossed her napkin onto the table.

“Some other time, yeah?”

Harry smiled at Payton as he spoke, but his attention was quickly pulled away from her as he slipped on his shoes. The group was ready in just seconds, but when they arrived in the challenge room, they found that they were the last ones there, yet again.

The room was empty aside from the other contestants, and each of them had a worried look on their faces. Something about that moment felt different, but Ava couldn’t quite place what. It was probably because there was supposed to be a date challenge, but the room had no evidence as to what it would be.

“Where’s Jay?” Harry asked.

At that, Jay stepped from behind his infamous curtain, standing in front of them with a mischievous grin on his face. He nearly startled Ava, and she was immediately worried, because that look was never followed by anything good.

“Hello, contestants,” Jay announced, folding his hands in front of him. “As you may have learned by now, Love Direction’s producers enjoy putting you through as much shit as they possibly can, but luckily for you, they have decided to give you a bit of a break.”

Ava bit her lip nervously. What Jay was saying appeared to be good news, but she knew how much they liked to twist things around. It was a game, and the producers were very good at playing it.

“From this point on, there will be no date challenges. Boys, you will be given the option to choose your date from any one of the girls on your team.”

Ava could feel the tensions in the room rising. She knew that this meant both good and bad news. It was good because now the boys would be able to pick the girls they wanted, but it was bad because now everyone would know who they wanted. Before, everything was up to chance, but now it was all based on feelings, emotion, and whatever kind of games the boys were playing. It made Ava nervous to say the least.

“Since we will be having the dates in just a few moments, this is the perfect time to try out this new format,” Jay said with a devilish grin on his face. “Boys, from the girls on your team, pick the girl that you would like to accompany you on your date.”

Ava could feel Harry’s eyes looking down on her, but she was scared to look up. More than anything, she wanted to be the one that Harry picked to go on his date, but she was afraid of the implications it would have. She couldn’t deny the way that Harry made her feel, and she knew that it would be bad news at the end. She was supposed to be acting; she wasn’t supposed to feel anything, but Harry made that impossibly hard.

“Ava,” Harry whispered, looking down at her. She forced herself to look up and meet his emerald green eyes. “Would you like to be my date?”

Despite trying to hide it, Ava couldn’t mask the large smile that fell to her face. She nodded her head before jay motioned for them all to go to the front of the room.

Harry’s hand wrapped around Ava’s and she couldn’t help but think how amazing it felt to have him leading her out the door and towards the limo. There was no telling what kind of date the producers were going to send them on this time, but Ava was certain that she’d never forget it.