Free Accept This Dandelion by Brooke Williams Page A

radio the next morning in regards to her dismissal.
    When Renee first found out she got cast on the show, she went through the back of her closet. She had a few items she thought she could wear, and the dress chosen for that night was one of them. She wore it to homecoming the year she and her friend Jay attended together. Jay, the type of friend all the girls loved, went to so many school dances he actually bought a tux in order to stop renting them. He was the stand-in date for any girl without a boyfriend. And he was the best date every girl had. That year, Renee wore a long red dress she found on the rack at a teen store in the mall. Why she still had it, she didn’t know, but the fact it still fit made her proud, even though it was tight in a few places. If Renee was careful about how she moved and breathed, she should be fine.
    As the participants gathered for the second round of eliminations, Renee watched the room carefully. She wanted to try and predict what would happen based on how the women acted. She already figured herself in for one elimination, but could she choose the other woman Ben might dump on TV? Renee looked from one woman to another. They all appeared about the same. Their short dresses glittered under the studio lights, and their excited faces told Renee they certainly didn’t think they would go home.
    “Renee.” Eva called from behind her. Renee turned and lightly embraced her. They hadn’t spent much time together, but they were both on the crazy show. They might even become friends after. Eva was the only one who seemed to understand Renee on a different level.
    “How was your date?” Renee asked. She hadn’t heard anything about the other date. She wanted news. She would have to discuss as much as possible on the morning show, and she wanted to get behind the scenes scoop that wouldn’t air.
    “Crazy.” Eva shook her shimmering dark hair.
    Renee stared for a moment, mesmerized by her beauty. “How so?” she finally asked. “What did you do?”
    “Well…” Eva pulled Renee over to the stiff couch in the center of the set. “We were supposed to have an old fashioned beach party down by the lake. You know, cocktails, sunscreen, beach volleyball, the whole bit.”
    “Let me guess, bikinis were involved.”
    Eva held a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. “Oh, yes. A whole rack of them right over there.” She pointed across the room to the area Renee remembered seeing the bathing suits. “And we all put them on, along with a cover-up, but you’ll never guess what happened when we got to the beach.”
    “What?”
    “Ben waited for us and once we lined up in front of him, he took off his sunglasses and asked us to leave the cover-ups on.”
    Renee squinted at Eva. Her eyes glittered under the studio light, and Renee wasn’t sure she heard her right. “He what?”
    Eva nodded. “He wanted to play Frisbee instead of volleyball, and he said everyone would be more comfortable throwing themselves into the game. He indicated he didn’t think we would be able to enjoy playing in bathing suits so he encouraged us to keep our outer wear on.”
    Renee blinked. Ben hadn’t wanted the second group of women to reveal their bikinis? What, had he seen too much the day before?
    “It was actually sweet,” Eva said. “Like he was thinking of our dignity and putting us before the show.”
    Renee tilted her head. Why hadn’t Ben said anything on her date? She might have avoided standing out as she had.
    “Not everyone listened, and some of the girls still took their cover-ups off. But Ben was right—those who did certainly didn’t play Frisbee to the best of their ability like the rest of us. I mean, who wants to go diving into the sand when you don’t know what might pop out of where.”
    Renee laughed and tried to picture them playing in their bathing suits, catching the Frisbee in one hand and holding their bikinis in place with the other one.
    “Tell me about your date. How did