Real(ity) Feelings

Chapter 12

Dianne groaned as the voice over the mansion speaker announced the weekly date competition would start in 40 minutes. She rolled over and buried her face in Joe's chest, who was still sound asleep. She felt a dull pain in her head and clamped her eyes shut, trying to remember why she had insisted on taking three shots of tequila in the middle of the afternoon. She had a hazy memory of being angry at Marisol - and then it clicked. After the emotional rollercoaster she had been on the last few days, and Marisol claiming she and Joe didn't have enough spark on camera, she, in all her infinite wisdom, had decided to concoct some sparks and burn off some steam with a little alcohol. The only problem was, she couldn't remember if her plan had worked - she couldn't really remember anything.

She felt Joe shift against her as he reached his arms up to stretch, his eyes flickering open and meeting hers, a small smirk playing on his lips. "Good morning, my darling drunk."

Dianne groaned, lifting her arms to cover her face. "I'm not a drunk. I only did three shots."

"Three? Try six."

Dianne looked up at him in shock. "Six?! Why did you let me do that?"

Joe feigned outrage, "Well, it was hard to stop you after you chased me across the yard, threatening to dump a bag of chips on my head after I tried to take your precious bottle of tequila away!"

Dianne looked at him, eyes wide. "Oh no...oh no, no, no...Drunk Dianne strikes again."

Joe laughed out loud, "Drunk Dianne? So, this is a normal occurrence?"

"No," Dianne mumbled against his chest. "I swear I'm not an alcoholic...Drunk Dianne hasn't come out to play for at least two years. But last time she did, I threatened to dump a bowl of salsa on my friend's head. Apparently I like dumping things."

Joe wrapped his arm around her, burying his nose in her hair. "I won't hold it against you."

"Did you have to carry me inside? I don't remember anything after shot number three."

"Oh yes...I carried you in, changed your clothes, took off your makeup -" Joe started, before Dianne interrupted.

"You took off my makeup?"

Joe shrugged, "Yeah. I remember you saying you get really bad breakouts if you don't take off your makeup."

Dianne felt her heart swell as she reached up and rubbed her thumb over the stubble on his chin that had popped up overnight. "That is maybe the sweetest thing that anyone has ever done for me."

Joe smiled shyly, his cheeks turning pink under her hand. "No big deal," he mumbled.

She grinned, leaning in to peck his lips before rolling away from his warmth to get up and get ready for the competition. She was glad he hadn't questioned why she had gotten hammered alone - she wasn't ready to dive into the conversation between her and Marisol just yet.

She grabbed her head as she made her way to the bathroom. "You're the sweetest Joseph...but you know how you could be even sweeter?" she called out behind her.

"I left you painkillers on the sink counter," Joe called back, laughing as he watched her shoot him a weak thumbs-up as she stumbled out of the room.

---

Joe felt the sun beaming down on him as they stood in a line in the backyard. He glanced down at Dianne, slightly worried how the hangover was affecting her, but thankfully she seemed okay now, the tablets definitely having worked some magic in the last half hour.

He focused his attention back to the host who was explaining the rules of the game they were about to play. It was a trivia game, full of questions about the other contestants. Joe felt confident - he and Dianne had done their fair share of listening over the last seven days. He was just hoping Dianne was fully focused. He was determined to win a date and get out of the mansion for a few hours with her.