The Bachelor

Copyright © 2011 by J.D Ruiz

It all started with a bet.

“I’m serious man, if you ditch twenty-five women, I will believe everything you said,” Liam uttered, looking his friend in the eyes. “You’re telling me love is trash, right?”

“Exactly,” Zach nodded, tipping his bottle of beer towards his friend. “And that’s why I’m going to take your bet seriously.”

Liam raised his eyebrows. “You are?”

“You bet I will,” he said proudly. “Okay, you don’t believe me?” he straightened on his chair, but before he turned his full attention back on the topic, he winked at the blonde lady sitting just three stools away from them. “Okay, you don’t believe me?” he repeated, turning his head back towards his friend.

“Sort of,” Liam answered, more like provoking him than doubting his words though.

He leaned closer, his head bent. “I’m going to prove to you that I can ditch women without glancing back at any of them. And I’m going to do that on national television,” he grinned at his friend’s appalled look.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m going to be the next Bachelor,” he pointed at the television screen at the bar. “Hell, I’ll embarrass myself—and probably lose a few gals for it—just to prove to you, that I, Zachary Astor, can ditch twenty-five women.”

“You’re not really kidding, are you?” Liam seemed to have finally realized that he was not fooling around.

“Of course I’m not. In fact, I will set the rules myself,” he grinned wickedly and counted with his fingers, “There will be twenty-five women in that damn competition, right?” his friend nodded and he continued, “I will not choose anyone by the end of the season—not one—and I will not go after any of the girls after the show ends.” He looked at his friend straight in the eye to show how serious he was. “You hear me? I’m going to ditch those women and I will not meet one of them after I’m done. And you know how hot the women who join, right?”

“I don’t know man, I think you’re going to lose this one,” Liam said after a while.

“Why?”

“Because you might just meet The One?”

“Oh, come on, that’s why I’m doing this, right? To prove to you that there is no The One,” he smiled and gulped down his beer and when he saw his friend’s doubtful look, he sighed and took his phone from the back of his jeans pocket. “See this? I’m going to call some people.”

“Okay, I was just joking around, man. You don’t have to be serious—”

He held up one finger to silence his friend, placing his phone against his ear. “Yes, Jeffrey, this is Zach Astor, yes, yes, I’m fine. So, I’m wondering if you have any idea about who the next Bachelor is. Yes, I’m talking about the show…” he winked at his gaping friend as the man on the other end answered his questions. Just for suspense, he stood up and walked away for a few moments, talking with Jeffrey.

He was grinning from ear to ear when he came back and sat back on his stool. He held his beer to his mouth, as his friend asked, “Well?”

“My friend, I will be the next Bachelor. And I’m going to ditch twenty-five women.”

***Just to make things clear, this story was not inspired by ONE NIGHT WITH THE PRINCE though I heard it's amazing despite the fact that I haven't read it yet. 

***And yes, this was inspired by the real show with the same title, but only the concept, okay? Other things are purely from my own imagination, so please don't expect things to be exactly the way the show should be. (AND, no, I am not a fan of the show. So, peace to those who love watching it!) :))

 ***Someone already tried to copy this work and posted it on another site as their own. I don't want it to happen again so please, know more about plagiarism! :)

***I haven't edited a chapter of this story so forgive the errors!