C17 Chapter 17

Peyton’s eyes widened and he watched her swallow. She looked like she was facing a firing squad. Her lips tilted up in a good attempt at a smile as she answered.

“Well, I came home from a very long day at work to discover that my fiancé of two years had married someone else.”

“And how did you find out this troubling news?” the male presenter asked.

“My best friend showed me his updated Facebook status,” Peyton said.

“Son of a bitch,” Finn murmured. He didn't know that part of the story. In fact, for someone who was supposed to be doing a story on her, he didn't know much about her at all.

“That must have been a bit of a shock,” the old guy - Butch, Finn thought his name was - said.

“Yeah,” she replied with a nervous laugh.

“So then what happened?” the too-perky blonde asked.

“I got drunk,” Peyton answered. “And my girlfriend and I thought it would be a great idea for me to tell Dale exactly what I thought of him.”

Finn grinned at the spark that lit her eyes. Having some context for that video made her seem a little less crazy, or he could be biased after having met her and realizing that she wasn't as crazy as everyone had been making her out to be.

“Your ex-fiancé’s new wife filmed a rebuttal video, have you watched it?”

Finn did not like the way the blonde was eyeing Peyton. She was up to something and Peyton had no idea.

“No, I haven't,” Peyton answered. “I—”

“Well that's okay,” the blonde said with a predatory smile, “because we have her right here.”

“Oh shit,” Finn breathed as the new wife in question appeared via satellite link from Las Vegas (if the banner at the bottom of the television was to be believed.)

“Thanks for being here, Starr,” the blonde woman said.

The camera flashed quickly to Peyton who looked like she had seen a ghost. The shot changed back to Starr who smiled brightly, stage makeup in place and wearing full showgirl regalia, including the feathered headdress that looked to weigh a tonne.

Finn’s phone rang and he answered it distractedly, his eyes not leaving the screen.

“Are you watching this?” Carter crowed gleefully in his ear.

“Yeah, yeah,” Finn replied, “now shut up so I can hear what they are saying.”

Peyton shot a quick glance to Cassie who was standing off-camera, but she was no help. Cassie was just as side-swiped as Peyton was. No one had deemed it pertinent to mention that Starr Sparkles would be taking part in this interview. Cassie looked like she wanted to jump up on set and wring Sunnie’s skinny neck. Peyton would gladly hold Sunnie down so Cassie could do just that.

“It's just such a romantic story,” Starr was saying when Peyton tuned back in. “My dear Dale came to every performance for a week before he got up the nerve to speak to me.”

Peyton snorted. She couldn't help it. Sunnie zeroed in on her.

“Would you like to add something, Peyton?”

Peyton returned Sunnie’s sickly sweet smile with one of her own. “Well, Sunnie,” she said, “I just can't bring myself to think of it as romantic when dear Dale was already engaged to someone else.”

“But when it's love,” Starr simpered, “you just can't deny it.”

Peyton snorted again. “Love? Lust maybe.”

Starr pouted and Peyton had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. She hated it when women pulled that dumb-blonde bullshit. It just contributed to the mass of stereotypes and gave all women a bad name.

“You don't believe in love at first sight?” Butch asked.

“I was with Dale for two years,” Peyton said. “We were in love, or so I thought, and it certainly didn't happen at first sight.”

“What about you, Starr? Was it love at first sight?”

Starr squinched her nose up in that cute way that some women could. “Maybe not at first sight but it was definitely within the month.”

Peyton coughed into her hand. “Bullshit.”

“You don't believe her?” Sunnie asked, pleasantly.

“Love doesn't work that way,” Peyton said. “Not in my experience, anyway. I would be more likely to believe that Starr here saw dear Dale and she fell in love with his wallet.”

Starr gasped and Peyton could see the unparalleled glee in Sunnie’s eyes.

“How dare you!” Starr cried. “You're just bitter because Dale never loved you like he loves me.”

Peyton took a deep breath. “I feel sorry for you, Starr. You seem like a lovely person, if a bit naïve. It is just not possible to fall in love with someone that fast.”

“Is that a challenge?” Butch asked.

Peyton swung her head towards him. “What? No. No, of course not.”

“It sounds to me like you just issued a challenge to the Australia-wide population of males.”

Peyton laughed humourlessly. “Men will say anything to get you to sleep with them,” she said, “including telling you they love you.”

“Is that what Dale did to you?” Sunnie asked.

“No, but it's probably what he did to Starr,” she retorted.

“How dare you!” Starr cried again, and Peyton did roll her eyes that time.

“So are you saying that there isn't a man out there that could make you fall in love within the month?” Butch asked.

Peyton looked right at him without flinching. “There is no way in hell that it is possible to fall in love - forever, happily-ever-after love - within a month.”

“Well, you heard it here first, folks,” Butch said, turning to the camera. “Peyton here just issued you all a challenge. Is there a man out there who can make her fall in love within the month? Tweet us here at Wake Up, Australia with your comments.”

“Finn!” Carter screamed in his ear. “This is perfect. Abso-fucking-lutely perfect!”

“I'm sorry?” Finn asked, still reeling from the train wreck of an interview that he had just witnessed.

“The angle for your article - series of articles. You need to date her and make her fall in love with you within the month.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Finn said, holding his hands up in the international sign of surrender even though Carter couldn't see him. “I am not going to try and get Peyton to fall in love with me.”

“No, but you have to,” Carter went on. “It's exactly what your blog needs. There is a whole demographic of men out there looking to learn how to make women fall in love with them, not just fall into their beds. You're the perfect guy to show them how it's done.”

“Don't you think it's just slightly unethical?” Finn asked, convinced that Carter had lost his fucking mind.

“How is it unethical? She issued the challenge—”

“That's not how I heard it—”

“Look at it as a socio-psychological experiment—”

“I don't think that is even a word—”

“She has posed a theory and you are going to attempt to disprove it.”

“Scientifically,” Finn muttered sarcastically.

“Exactly,” Carter enthused, completely missing the derision in Finn’s voice.

“Carter, I really don't think this is a good—”

“It's so perfect I couldn't have written a better script myself,” Carter said. “If you don't believe me, poll your readers and ask them.”

“Ask them what?”

“Ask them if they want to know a play-by-play of how to get a woman to fall in love with them.”

Finn raked his hand through his hair and bit down on the swear words that wanted to erupt from his lips. There was no talking Carter down when he was like this. He had his heart and mind set on this whole ill-advised direction and there was not much Finn could do to change it. His only hope was to go ahead with it and fail…miserably. The last thing he wanted was for Peyton to fall in love with him. The easiest course of action was to do everything in his power to make sure that didn't happen.

“Fine,” he said.

“You'll do it?”

“I’ll poll my readers and then—”

“You'll do it.”

and only if, my readers think it's a good idea will I do it.”

“Yes!” Carter crowed and Finn rolled his eyes.

“I'm hanging up now,” Finn said, disconnecting the call with a push of a button.

Fucking hell. What did he just get himself into?