Make Me Over_ Getting Real - Leslie Kelly [44]
“That was called 1984.”
“They didn’t have reality TV in 1984, did they?” she asked.
“I think it was called MTV.”
She snickered. “Jacey just came from the set of Killing Time In A Small Town. That was actually a pretty good one.”
“I have to confess, I’ve never watched a reality show.”
Her jaw dropped. “Never?”
He shook his head.
“Not even Survivor or American Idol?”
Another shake of the head. “I’ve seen enough real survivor situations. Don’t really need to watch the made-up variety.”
“Joe Millionaire?”
He grimaced. “The one where some man lied to try to get some desperate, greedy women to fall in love with him? No. Definitely not. Talk about TV at its worst.”
She cleared her throat. “Why does that sound a little personal, like you’re very offended by that.”
She’d seen that so easily, he hadn’t realized how obvious his feelings on the subject would be to her. “It’s an old story.”
“I’ve got young ears.”
Unable to resist the gentle warmth in her tone, he gruffly explained, “I was once seriously involved with someone who, well, let’s just say if it were a case of love or money, she’d go for the money.”
“That was a reality show, too.”
He grunted, somehow not surprised. “How on earth anyone could really fall in love with a person who’d lie and deceive them—for money—and all for the viewing pleasure of American TV audiences, is beyond me.”
“Oh,” she said softly, staring at the carpet as if it had suddenly developed magical flying abilities. She didn’t say anything for a long moment, then, finally, shook off the moment of introspection. Turning on the couch until she faced him, she said, “Get back to the Survivor stuff. I want to hear about some of your adventures. Tell me a story.”
He shrugged. “You’d be bored.”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
Glancing at the camera, he said, “Well, she’d be bored.”
Tori followed his stare, then gave a little wave at it. “Then she can just burn this whole thing now.”
Drew didn’t suspect Tori’s not-so-subtle hint would make Jacey stop watching at this point. Still, one could hope.
“Tell me.”
So he did. Somehow, maybe because she was so truly interested and asked thought-provoking questions, it was easy to share some of his experiences with her. He wasn’t in a glamorous field, he didn’t dig for grand tombs filled with gold in Egypt, or discover new species of dinosaur. Instead, as he told her, he followed the trail of evidence that let him know about the day-to-day lives of people long since gone.
“In the future, your job’ll be kind of obsolete, won’t it?” she asked at one point. “I mean, all anybody in the year 2952 will have to do is watch copies of our old reality shows and they’ll know exactly how we lived.”
Drew groaned. “Good God, you mean Ginny and Tiffany will represent modern women?”
She matched his exaggerated shudder with one of her own. Then she said, “But look on the bright side. Everyone in the future will think men of 2004 were all brilliant, gorgeous gentlemen.” She gave him a sideways glance from beneath half-lowered lashes, adding, “With the sexual restraint of monks.”
“I’m no damn monk,” he snapped, wondering how on earth she could think him restrained when he’d been hauling her into his arms—almost against his own will—practically from the first time they met. “Which I’ll prove to you about a dozen times over the very first day you figure out where you’re going from here and what it is you want out of life.”
He hadn’t meant to say that, but, as usual, his emotions overruled his intellect when it came to Tori. She stared at him for a long moment, her eyes narrowing as she tilted her head.
“Oh, boy,” she whispered, “that’s it, isn’t it? That’s the reason you’ve been staying away from me.”
“I don’t appear to have done a very good job,” he said, a rueful smile on his lips.
She wouldn’t be distracted.