The Detective and Her Bachelor

Chapter 43

There was something about large groups of girls that give me high levels of anxiety. I wasn't a sharer of feelings, or comfortable talking about lists of movie men I crushed on, or the high pitch levels to which such emotions were verbally expressed. 

So I always had a good excuse ready in my pocket to help me steer clear of large groups of women because feelings and large decibels left me itching to run away screaming. But as I sat in the kitchen with two reality tv contestants, suddenly being around women didn't seem so scary,  and I was reminded of why women were so awesome.

Smaller groups gave a chance at deeper conversations filled with honesty instead of scrambling for common ground, and gave you looks into the details that made people beautiful.

I worked in lies and analyzing feelings, so I preferred to spend time connecting about what mattered when I could. To understand the puzzle of a person. And finally, after weeks of being forced into mind games and glittery events, I was getting my chance at a hint of normal.  

And nothing brought people together like a common enemy. Or ice cream. A WHOLE lot of ice cream. And in my case, I had access to both and I was going to use it. 

I sat surrounded by tule, melted ice cream and a high level of anger. All normal to me— other than the tule— and all a welcome, yet strange sight when thrown on the two women with me, Prism and Mary Grey.

It would have made Michale scream if he saw all of us, risking ruining our beautiful gowns for mint chocolate chip ice cream, but to me it was no contest. We all needed that ice cream. It was not just for our own sanity, but to keep ourselves from going on an angry rampage. So it was really for the safety of everyone else. 

You're welcome world. 

So, to keep everyone alive, we stood around the kitchen island, each of us eating straight from our own pint of ice cream, spoons burrowing deep, striking out against our frozen heaven like we were out for revenge. 

"This place is insane," Prism muttered as she shoved a spoon full of ice cream into her mouth. 

Mary Grey nodded. "I really don't think Ace knew." 

Prism sighed, tapping the tip of her spoon into the pint of ice cream with a thoughtful expression. "If that man wasn't so dang hot I would have run out of here screaming by now."

I looked between them, finding the entire conversation to be one of the strangest one's I had ever been apart of. "This is weird right?" 

Prism snorted. "Everything here is weird."

I shook my head. "No, I mean..." I waved my spoon in a circle to signify the three of us. "...all of us trying to win over the same guy." 

Mary Grey smiled a soft, embarrassed smile down at her pint of ice cream. "A little. But if you think about it, we do this in real life. This situation is just a more... sped up, rubbed in our faces, and a weirdly violent process." 

I tilted my head, taking in Mary Grey, surprised by her thought process. "So, do you often fight with other women in real life for a guys affection?" 

Mary Grey looked up at me, startled, face burning red. "Goodness no! I just mean..." she paused, thinking. "I just mean that we tend to find certain men attractive and we go into a panic to snatch them up first. And the producers just took that idea and made a show out of it." 

Prism shook her head, frowning. "Sure to a degree. But I think it comes down to what a challenge it is to find love. We have more tech and apps than ever before but we struggle just as much to make real connections. It's exhausting."