The First Interviews

Ash felt dazed as the women who were left and hadn’t had their names called said their goodbyes and were gone soon enough. She couldn’t believe she was still here. After everything, she hadn’t just up and left the place.

 

She’d been so determined from the beginning, to hope that she wouldn’t get on here, and her first chance to bail and she didn’t. Why? Because Giovanni asked her to stay and she found herself considering it and thinking about him.

 

He was the leader of Team Rocket. She had faced off against him and his Team countless times. And yet, she was still here because he’d asked her.

 

To be honest though, she had actually enjoyed his company. Outside of fighting against him and his admittedly megalomaniac tendencies (actually, more often than not, he was more concerned with profit and making the Team profit than drastically changing the world for some reason or other…), Ash had found that in this setting and without any hostile factors, the two of them had gotten along and had managed to talk civilly. If she wanted to be a little more honest, then she could even admit that they had been more than civil. She had had a friendly conversation with him and it had been a little romantic even.

 

Ugh, what was she saying?

 

She scrunched her nose a little, trying to pay attention to the ending of the Rose Ceremony and her eyes traveled to watch Giovanni. He was smiling charmingly, but there were edges around his mouth that said he was tired and his eyes matched and said that he was even getting to be a bit bored. Her lips twitched. The poor bastard –but it was his fault since he was the one who’d gotten himself onto the show. If he was going to be pushing through with this, he had better get used to the long hours and tedious work involved (which included mind-numbing talk from some of the women or him just being bored in general as he probably didn’t connect with anyone).

 

After the toast and everything, they were allowed to mingle with Giovanni for a bit before they were going to be ushered off to bed and officially move in when they woke up. However, just as she was hesitating and debating with herself on approaching Giovanni, one of the producers approached her.

 

“Hi, I’m Lisa,” she introduced herself. “We weren’t quite able to get you into the interview room earlier, so before you join the others for bed, could you come with me and do a quick view of some of your footage tonight and then be interviewed about some of the scenes?”

 

Ash blinked, having forgotten about that aspect and vaguely remembering some of the others doing something like this earlier.

 

“Er, yeah, okay,” she smiled awkwardly and after a quick glance at Giovanni (surrounded by beautiful women), she followed Lisa away and was shown into a seat in front of a camera.

 

“Hey, Ash,” she saw a familiar face and she waved nervously at Wesley. “So, unlike the others, we haven’t been able to get you in to be interviewed for any of the scenes, so bear with us on going through tonight’s stuff, alright? Usually, and what you’ll be more acquainted with, we have the ladies come in after a ‘scene’ and look over it and then get interviewed, while our lead is filming and having time with someone else.”

 

“Okay,” she mumbled.

 

“We’ll start with the limo scene,” Lisa said from her spot behind the cameraman, and Ash leaned into Wesley’s arm as he held onto the tablet that was going to replay her scenes. When she saw it, she winced and scrunched up her nose.

 

“That’s so embarrassing,” she grumbled. “No way to cut it out?” she asked hopefully.

 

At their twin grins, she sighed and straightened up, facing the camera. She waited patiently for things to be ready and at their cue, started to talk.

 

“I…” She thought back to the limo scene again and buried her face into her hands. “Okay –not the smoothest limo entrance. Probably ever. But still! I didn’t know he was going to be the Bachelor! Ugh, that sounds even worse. Who comes onto a show, not knowing anything? Me apparently,” Ash couldn’t help the groan. “I swear I don’t know if this is a dream come true or a nightmare. This show was weird enough as is, and my skepticism won’t go away, but I’ve always wanted to meet him,” she confessed.

 

Now that she was on a roll, she couldn’t stop herself. Right now, she wished Pikachu was by her side to help shut her up. He always helped her stop when she was on a rant.

 

“He’s my idol and,” she bit her lip as she looked around discreetly, “celebrity crush.” She was never, ever going to repeat that. She got enough teasing from Misty and Brock, who had first called ‘it’ that in the first place. “So seeing him as I got out of the limo was a pleasant surprise. Which I ended up embarrassing myself for,” she shrugged. “But still…I don’t know him as a person, so this will be an interesting situation and I hope I can actually just…get to know him. Even if it’s not love, I’ll be satisfied with that.”

 

And she really would. Because she was really confused and curious about the other, who was different from the man she was used to and had come face to face with before. He was kind of likable, which surprised her in a good way.

 

“Ugh!” she burst out, clutching at her hair. “This is crazy! Am I crazy? Oh my Arceus, I must be going crazy. This whole thing is out of a movie scene or something. It’s impossible! Oh wait…I’m on a TV show…They’re basically similar…Does it count? Wait a sec, I’m still on camera,” she turned to look at the camera, catching sight of the amused and grinning producers and camera crew and she shoved her face against her palms. “I’m doomed and I’m totally an embarrassment. Someone kill me now.”

 

“And cut,” Wesley said, chuckling. “You’re going to be likable. And relatable. What girl out there doesn’t know what you’re going through?”

 

Ash snorted. “Oh yes, completely likable. I fell on my face on camera and it’s going to eventually air. Yep.”

 

“Like he said, totally likable and relatable,” Lisa laughed, tacking on.

 

“So next scene,” Wesley grabbed the tablet and brought it up. “Is this one.”

 

Ash, still wearing a slight smile, leaned over to peer at the tablet, and froze as she watched that scene outside the mansion, where Giovanni had found her at the fountain and the two of them had ended up having a long and engaging talk with each other. Her smile had dropped and she hadn’t even noticed that the cameras had begun to roll.

 

“That…” she started hesitantly. “I…”

 

What was she supposed to say about it? She didn’t know what to say. The words, whatever they were, felt stuck in her throat and she didn’t think she could get them out.

 

“And cut!” Wesley said again and Ash blinked, breaking out of her mess of thoughts to look at him in surprise.

 

“What? But I didn’t even say anything,” Ash winced.

 

Lisa waved a hand. “No, that was perfect.”

 

“Your reaction was just fine,” Wesley said gently.

 

“So next and last scene,” Lisa prodded Wesley. “The Rose Ceremony.”

 

“I got it right here,” Wesley tapped at his tablet. “And…here you go.”

 

Ash tiredly watched it, seeing woman after woman go by, and then it was her turn and she watched as Giovanni asked her to accept his rose and remembered how she felt then and before as she waited and watched everyone else. Then she remembered Giovanni asking her to stay at the fountain and she wiped a hand down her face before she looked up at the camera, which she noticed had already begun to roll again.

 

“I kept waiting and waiting,” Ash blew out air. “My anxiety was already high up, and then as I waited, that anxiety that kept rocketing up until I’m pretty sure I was going to keel over.”

 

She took a deep breath. “Giovanni called my name. I’m forcing my feet to walk towards him, to actually make myself move and not just stand there frozen in shock. The entire time before then, I was just a mess of nerves, confusion, and anxiousness, and I didn’t know if I should be there and still don’t, but he asked me to stay so I at least owe it to him and myself to stick around and try this out.”

 

Her lips moved up slightly. “He kissed my cheek. I mean, he did to the other women too, but I can’t help thinking how soft and warm his lips were.” Ash then let out a giggle that she was embarrassed at, and she ended up covering her quickly reddening face.

 

“I’m so screwed,” she bemoaned.

 

She really was. What was going on with her? She was going crazy in that place, she just knew it.

 

“That’s a wrap for today,” Wesley told her warmly. “You can head back into the mansion and one of the assistants there should show you to where you’ll be sleeping. Thanks a lot and goodnight, Ash.”

 

She smiled weakly at everyone and then waved, before trekking back to the mansion in thoughtful silence.

 

“Ohhh, I love this,” Lisa hmmed. “She’s so photogenic and very easy and natural on the camera. She’s definitely going to do well and I can’t wait until she’s the Bachelorette.”

 

“Don’t get ahead of ourselves,” Wesley murmured. “Let’s bring in Giovanni,” he said a little louder.

 

They waited a few more minutes as one of the assistants went to get him, and soon enough the man came in. Wesley waved him over.

 

“Sorry we’re keeping you late,” Wesley said. “But we’re almost done. We just need to get your ‘reactions’ to certain scenes and do the interview sections, then you can get to bed. You can spend all of tomorrow resting too, so don’t worry about waking up early or anything.”

 

“Sounds good,” Giovanni nodded. “So what do I need to do?”

 

“We’ll play some scenes of the women and you just react to them, though you’ll have to act like it just happened or something.”

 

Giovanni nodded again and they went through quite a few scenes, until finally they reached Ash and Giovanni grew a little more interested and paid more attention. Seeing her come out of the limo again had him grinning, more so when he saw her fall on her face. He couldn’t help laughing.

 

“Oh, she’s so freaking cute,” he actually said, though he hadn’t meant to. It was true though and he laughed a little more. “Definitely, definitely cute!”

 

“Cut! Nice, Giovanni. You seemed more energized then,” Wesley grinned.

 

“Really?” Giovanni asked, having not really noticed. Then again, he wouldn’t be surprised.

 

“Mmhm. Let’s head onto the next one, alright? You were outside with her,” Lisa put in.

 

Giovanni straightened up, eyes almost widening. He wasn’t sure about revisiting that. It still seemed a strange and almost intimate moment. And watching the scene and realizing that they had edited and were using just the part where he was talking to her and asking her to stay after she told him how she felt about being there, he found himself somehow in a daze.

 

“I don’t want her to leave,” he found himself saying, and it was almost as if someone else was speaking. “I just…I just think I will regret it if I let her leave here now.”

 

“I don’t want her to leave,” he continued, saying firmly. “She’s funny and sweet, treats me like normal, and she’s just…she’s something. I’m giving her all the time she needs and wants, but all I want to do is give her a rose already. When it’s time to give her a rose and I’m actually unsure for once in my life and I don’t know if she’s going to accept it or not, and my nerves feel like they’re on fire and I want her to accept it already.”

 

Then he was remembering her smile and that she finally accepted it, and he started muttering in Italian and let out a huge sigh.

 

“And we’re done,” Wesley said, bringing back Giovanni’s attention to everyone and the occupied room, who he realized were all staring at him with wide eyes.

 

“I do not know what you just said, but you definitely need to speak more Italian,” Lisa giggled and then smirked. “That was freaking wonderful and the audience is going to love it. The whole spiel actually.”

 

“That’s it?” Giovanni asked numbly.

 

“We had the Rose Ceremony scene for Ash, but we can cut up what you just said and edit it into that spot. What you said at the end pretty much matches up and can be used in reaction for the Rose Ceremony,” Wesley told him.

 

“Yeah, especially that last bit at the end in Italian and your reaction,” Lisa commented. “What were you thinking of?”

 

“I was actually thinking of and saying something about her smile and how relieved I was that she actually took the rose,” Giovanni admitted.

 

He looked in consternation at the floor, while the two producers and everyone else were trading looks.

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