BACHELOR [ JACHARY ]

-chapter two

JACK AVERY smiled lightly at the driver as he got out of his limousine. taking a deep breath, he walked over to chris harrison, the host of all shows related to the bachelor. the older man smiled at him, the corners of his eyes crinkling invitingly. "the man of the hour has arrived!"

jack laughed and nodded, shaking chris' hand and getting into position as the cameras continued to roll, capturing every moment of their greeting. "nice to see you again, chris," he stood to the right of the taller man.

"you too, jack. so, on a scale of one to ten, how excited are you to meet these lovely...people?" chris asked, smiling, knowing the viewers weren't aware of the male contestant who would be arriving in a few short hours.

"definitely a ten, i can't wait to meet all these new faces," jack smiled back weakly. he knew the audience would be blown away by the final person he would meet today...

"alright then jack, i won't keep you waiting any longer. let's meet these contestants."

❦

throughout the evening, jack met a large number of girls, many of whom tried much too hard to impress him. he resisted the urge to roll his eyes at a lot of them that were far too over-the-top. a couple girls even got a chuckle out of him as they showered him in bad pickup lines. no girl really stood out to him, they all seemed relatively the same.

trying to make it as an influencer, coming from a middle class-wealthy family. it was the same thing, repeated over and over again.

only halfway through the introductions, jack thought he could really fall asleep, when a leggy curly-haired girl stepped out of a limo. he immediately recognized gabriela, and smiled at the sight of a familiar face.

"jack!" she squealed, approaching him to give him a hug, "how are you, it feels like it's been forever!"

jack could clearly make out the sounds of disappointed girls, screaming inside that the ex-bachelorette had indeed arrived to talk to him.

"i'm great gabbie, how about you? how's brandon?" jack grinned at her, showing off his perfect smile.

"he's doing great, but this isn't about him. this is about you! i'm so excited for you to finally find the girl of your dreams," the short girl smiled brightly at him.

"yeah..." jack couldn't exactly tell her who would be arriving soon.

"anyways, i came here to give you this," she held out a little bracelet, the charm of a skateboard hanging off of it. "i thought you could use it for good luck, just like it brought me when you gifted it to me on the night of my first cocktail party."

jack let the girl hook it on his wrist, the charm dangling daintily from the chain, making him smile.  "thank you so much, gabs. it really means a lot," he pulled her into another tight hug.