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  I looked over at the nurse’s desk where Mr. Medic was standing with a clipboard. With heavy feet I made my way over to him. This day had exhausted me—and I desperately needed coffee.

  “I take it you’re going to fill these out?” he asked me as I approached, holding the clipboard out for me.

  “I’ve filled hundreds of them out already. Why not one more?” I said taking it from him and sinking down in the nearest chair. Clicking the pen open, I got to work on filling in Travis’ medical information.

  Kathy banished me to the cafeteria once she showed up. I had wanted to wait for Travis to get done with his x-rays, but she walked in, took one look at me, and declared I needed coffee.

  Which, I was completely grateful for; it had been a really long day. And honestly, what good was I just pacing the hallways?

  I had decided to stay in the cafeteria longer than needed, since I knew his mom would be fawning all over him and it embarrassed Travis to no end. I’d seen it numerous times, and didn’t have it in me to make fun of Travis for blushing when his mom would declare it was sponge bath time. You had to find something to joke about, right?

  I took another sip of my coffee, when my phone vibrated in my back pocket. I grabbed it and saw I had a new text from Travis.

  Trav: Where are you?

  Me: Cafeteria

  Trav: You abandoned me!!

  Me: Psht. Coffee > you.

  Trav: Ouch... and I thought my leg hurt

  Me: Haha… what’s up? You done?

  Trav: Yeah getting discharged right now.

  Me: Anything broken?

  Trav: Hairline fracture. In a walking boot for a couple weeks.

  Me: Well it could have been worse.

  Trav: Yeah… we’ve been there before.

  Trav: Bring me some coffee!!!

  Me: Sigh... The things I do for you.

  Trav: :) Thanks, Doll!!

  I grabbed Travis a coffee and headed up to his room and found that Kathy was out of mom mode, and into complete manager mode.

  “You will have to put out a statement telling your fans you’re okay and only have a hairline fracture. We have to rework your schedule though, so you can heal. No riding on it for at least eight weeks. You really did get out lucky this time, only having to wear a walking boot. Also, have you thought anymore about that offer from the TV show?” Without even giving him a chance to answer, she rambled on. I rolled my eyes, and handed Travis his coffee. He smiled up at me gratefully with his left leg propped up on the bed in the boot.

  As much as I loved Kathy, she was a bit overbearing in manager mode. I would take her in mom mode any day.

  “Mom, seriously, I don’t want to do a dating show!”

  I choked on my coffee. “A dating show? Excuse me?!”

  Travis laughed. “Yeah, some new age sports station wants to try their hand at reality dating. Apparently I was at the top of their list for eligible bachelors.”

  I couldn’t help the snort that escaped. “There are people out there who think you’re hot?”

  Kathy let out a laugh, and Travis smacked my leg. “I’ll have you know, people find me incredibly sexy.” He stared up at me under his long eyelashes and gave me his signature grin.

  Okay, so he was kind of good looking. He pulled off the “just rolled out of bed” hair very well. And damn it, the guy literally rolled out of bed, ran a hand through his dark brown hair, and went on with his day. He was tall and lean — with just the right amount of muscle, in all the right places. But the best feature on him? His eyes. Those damn green eyes, with a brown sunburst in the middle, could make you fall all over yourself to get a closer look. Not that I would know… but I’ve seen it firsthand. Girls go crazy over those eyes. So, I guess, if you put it all together, he’s pretty hot.

  Shit, did I just call Travis hot?! What the hell?

  Shaking my head to get the creepy vision of my best friend out of my head, I caught the end of what Kathy was saying.

  “You’re 26, it’s time to settle down and give me grand-babies. Maybe this will help get things moving.”

  “Mom, seriously, you can’t expect me to fall in love on a TV show!” Travis whined.

  “Of course I don’t,” she sighed, “but maybe, just maybe, you will meet someone who you can become serious with. Where else are you going to meet someone? You’ve been busy since you went pro at 16. You’ve barely had time to breathe, let alone date. Maybe it’s time to put the career on hold, and deal with your personal life.”

  Kathy did have a point. Since his career started, Travis had never had a girlfriend. He was much too focused to let anything come between him and his bike.

  “You have what? Eight weeks for your leg to heal, then rehab, right?” I waited for Travis’ confirmation nod before continuing. “I mean, really, what else are you going to do with your time? And plus, I could really use a break from you — I’ve been traveling non-stop with you since you started this damn thing. I’m ready for my own bed and catching up on all my TV shows.” I grinned at him over my coffee cup.

  Travis sighed. “Fine. Okay, I’ll do it. On one condition.”

  Kathy beamed at him. “Whatever you want, honey.”

  “Riley goes where I go and has input on the girls – and I can discuss anything with her.” He gave me that damn smirk again.

  All eyes were on me, waiting for a response. I rolled mine and shrugged, “As long as I still get to watch my TV shows.”

  Kathy clapped her hand excitedly, and quickly went back into manager mode.

  Crap. What had I just gotten myself into?

  Me: You are so dead.

  Trav: If I go down, you go down.

  Travis had been released from the hospital and we were in the SUV on the way to the airport to head home. Thanks to the joys of modern technology, Travis and I could have this conversation without his mom hearing from the front seat.

  Right after I agreed to… whatever I had agreed to, Kathy jumped into the details that she clearly had been holding back. And apparently, from the start, it was clear I was always supposed to be part of this – whether I agreed to it or not.

  Me: Seriously, I have to hang out with these random girls?

  Trav: That’s the plan, how else am I supposed to get inside details?

  Me: TRAVIS – I don’t get along with girls! I will probably smack them all before the day is over!

  Trav: Sweet, chick fight! Hope I get to watch.

  I looked over at him and rolled my eyes. He grinned and started to laugh. “It’ll be fun Riles. I get to hang out with hot girls all day — and you get to use your girly-sense to tell me who isn’t good.”

  “Girly-sense? Really Trav?” I groaned. “I can guarantee I won’t like any of the girls. And since when do you ever listen to what I have to say?” I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed for effect, then turned my body to watch the city fly by.

  “Kids — stop the arguing,” Kathy said from the front seat as she turned to look at us. “You both know you would never do anything without each other. It’s been that way since you first met. Riley, you know Travis holds your opinion near to his heart, even if he doesn’t always listen to you.” I glanced over at Travis who gave me the biggest toothy smile he could. I couldn’t help but laugh at him and relax a little.

  “Fine,” I said. “I’ll do what is asked from me. But seriously, if a girl is a complete bitch, she’s out, yeah?” I looked back out the window, relieved to see the airport in the distance. I definitely needed to breathe and step away from this situation for a bit.

  “That’s why you’re here, Riles. You’ll be my inside line to the girls. I mean, you’ll be living with them, so you’ll know everything that goes on behind my back.”

  I whipped my head back around to Travis, causing a crick in my neck. “Shit.” I started to rub the pain away as I looked between Travis and his mom. “What did you say? You said I would be living with the girls?” They nodded. “But… that would mean…..”


  Travis cleared his throat. “The only way I even agreed to do this, is if I have an insider. I’m not just going to do it for the heck of dating women. If I do it, I want the best person for me. Not some person putting on a front.”

  I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. I stared, mouth open at Travis — waiting for him to tell me I was being punked. Haha, this was all just a “Let’s get Riley really good” game. I mean, he couldn’t actually think I would be willing to put myself on TV, in front of millions of people—and pretend I was trying to win his heart. He couldn’t be that stupid. This was just crazy.

  “I think we need to go back to the hospital. You clearly hit your head harder than we thought.” I started to reach forward to tap the driver on his shoulder and give him instructions to get us to the nearest hospital.

  Travis reached out and grabbed my arm. “Riles, I know this is not an ideal situation…”

  “Travis, no. No, I am not doing this! I did not agree to this!” I was shaking my head. “No. Not happening. Nope. Find a new best friend to do this for you.” Travis started laughing and I glared at him. “So glad you find this humorous.”

  “Riles, it’s not like you have to do much of anything. Just lay low, get to know the girls. I’ll keep you around until, I don’t know, until the top five. By then we should have a feel for the girls, know who isn’t fake.”

  “I just… Travis!!” I whined. I stuck my lip out in an attempt to pout, which I knew did nothing to him – but I had to give it a try. Travis ignored me, like usual, and started gathering his belongings as we had just pulled into the airport parking lot.

  “Riles, this is happening. You can either be happy and enjoy the adventure, or you can be a downer and hate every moment. Regardless, you’re doing it.” He grinned at me as he hobbled out of the car.

  I grabbed up my purse and followed him out. “You’re saying I don’t have a say in this? I’m 25 years old – I’m an adult. I have a say!” I yelled, causing people to stop and stare at us.

  “Riles, you made a pact.” He turned to face me, crossing his arms and giving me a smirk.

  Crap, I was hoping he wouldn’t bring that up. We were 16 – and he had just gone pro. We made a pact to never leave the other behind in what we did. That meant go wherever, do whatever, even if the other didn’t want to do it. And we had. I went on every tour Travis did. He went along with me whenever I wanted to see a concert he didn’t care for, or even one time, when I demanded we go get pedicures together. I think I was secretly trying to see if he would bail and break the pact, but he didn’t.

  “Fine.” I sighed, knowing I had no choice. “I’ll do this with you.” Travis pumped his fist in the air in victory. “But know, if you even attempt to kiss me, I’ll knee you so hard.”

  Travis laughed and slung his arm around my shoulder. We walked, well hobbled, to the terminal as Kathy chattered away about even more details of what we would be going through, what we needed to sign, and most importantly, for me to try and stay under the radar as much as possible so the other girls wouldn’t figure out who I am.

  “That seems like a tough feat. If these girls know anything about Travis, they would know I’m with him all the time. There are so many pictures of us out there.”

  “We’re banking on the fact that the girls are just in this for my incredibly sexy good looks.”

  Great. Not only was I going to have to pretend I was trying to win Travis’ heart. I also had to deal with a bunch of girls who were there for the most superficial thing.

  It was going to be a long summer.

  We landed back home in Wisconsin and as soon as I stepped out of the plane, I breathed in the fresh air.

  “It’s good to be home,” I said to Travis, who was doing the same as me.

  We had been traveling on tour for the last 3 months with no breaks. Traveling from one big city to the next, over and over and over again… I missed my apartment. I missed my family. But really, I missed home—I missed Wisconsin. It was abnormally cold here for the beginning of May, so I pulled my hoodie over my head and puffed out a breath of air. I could see snow piles littering the ground around the airport. Always expect the unexpected with the weather in these parts.

  “It’s May and there is snow on the ground! This is all sorts of ridiculous!” Travis yelled out to no one in particular.

  “Not like it’s the first time,” I mumbled as I grabbed my bag and headed to the car.

  I threw my bag into the trunk and slid into the passenger seat. It was so nice to be out of the service cars for a change. And I’m sure Travis loved being back in his car. Judging by the huge grin on his face as he slid behind the steering wheel—I knew we were taking the long way home.

  “Where to?” He glanced at me before putting the car in drive.

  “Just drive,” I told him, leaning my head back against the headrest. I closed my eyes and thought over what had been talked about on the flight.

  Kathy had come up with a list of things we should and shouldn’t do, before and during the show. The first thing was getting someone on all the photos and articles posted about the two of us. Any of the girls that were trying out for the show would probably Google Travis like crazy, and the producers didn’t want them to know who I was.

  It was amazing how quickly someone could hack systems and completely delete any existence of Travis and me. It actually made me quite sad when I thought about it for long. I mean, our whole friendship was documented online—and now it was just gone.

  The second thing was separating Travis and me, so no new pictures would leak. Which meant as soon as Travis dropped me off at my apartment, I wouldn’t see him again until we “met” on the show. As if that wasn’t bad enough, we weren’t allowed to call, text or e-mail each other either. Complete cold turkey. Thankfully the show was supposed to start filming in two weeks, which wasn’t too long to be separated. I hoped.

  The last time Travis and I’d had no communication with each other was when I was 12 and my family went on vacation. It was before cell phones and internet in every hotel. Even then, I had still sent him a postcard daily.

  I really wasn’t sure how we were going to manage a communication cut off for two weeks, but if we wanted the show to go smoothly, it was going to have to happen.

  The third, and final thing, was changing my past a bit. I obviously couldn’t be from the same place as Travis, especially since we came from such a small hometown. I’d be from a town about an hour away—one which had no connection to our hometown. I also had to come up with a career. Clearly I couldn’t be Travis’ personal assistant.

  Everyone was relying on me to not slip up, to not let some odd bit of information through that would let the other girls know who I really was. Guess it was a good thing I had two weeks to myself to get my story straight.

  The only good thing about all of this—the producers wanted America to know who I was. They felt it would add a different angle to the show. So anytime I was completely alone with Travis I was able to be his best friend again, we could talk normally and I didn’t have to be coy with telling him who I thought should go. I guess that would make things easier.

  Sighing, I opened my eyes as the car slowed to a stop. I had never had such conflicting emotions when staring up at the small two-story apartment I called home.

  I was so excited to dive into my bed and pull the down comforter over my head. Yet, I knew this was the moment I’d been dreading since exiting the plane. This was the moment I had to say goodbye to my best friend for two weeks.

  I looked over at Travis who was looking at my apartment much the same as I had.

  “Hey, I’ll see you in two weeks. We’ll both be so busy, it’ll just fly by,” I said, nudging him in the shoulder.

  He glanced over at me and grinned, though this grin had much more sadness in it. “Yeah, two weeks will fly by. Don’t become all girly on me, okay?” He was trying to lighten the mood and it sort of worked.

  I snorted and quickly covered my mouth.r />
  “You just snorted!” Travis laughed.

  I shook my head, still covering my mouth. “I don’t snort!” I mumbled from behind my hand.

  Travis just shook his head and leaned over to my seat. “I’ll see you in two weeks,” he said, in a low voice before wrapping his arms around me.

  I hugged him back hard, blinking back the tears that had formed. When he released me, I gave him the biggest smile I could muster.

  “Well, you better go home and rest up. You’ll need every ounce of energy you have when you get thrust into a house with fifteen single women.” The last part came out of my mouth dripping with sarcasm. I opened the car door before he could see my eye roll and walked to the back of the car, tapping on the trunk. It popped open and I grabbed my bags and started walking to my apartment. I turned around and watched Travis back out of the parking space.

  “See you in two weeks!” I yelled toward him. He smiled and waved, before pulling out of the parking lot.

  I had settled into a routine since getting home a week ago. Basically that meant lounging around my apartment, drinking coffee, catching up on my TV shows and reading lots and lots of articles about Travis’ bachelor show. They were calling it Xtreme Bachelor and holy crap if the girls weren’t all over it. I read comment after comment about how Travis was so hot, and how any girl would be lucky to be on the show. A few of the comments made me want to find the girl and punch her in the face, since it was all “Ohmygod, I would die if I had the chance to date someone so rich and famous! I would never have to work again if he picked me!” I guess these were the types of girls I was supposed to look out for.

  Money hungry hussies.

  I was hoping the producers would weed the completely superficial girls out, but knew a few would probably be let through. You know, for the drama and ratings and all.

  Overall, I couldn’t believe how bored I was. I had to fill out my personal profile for the show—the one which would be put on the website for everyone to see. Writing about a fake you is not as fun as it may sound.