Steveisthe1.com: Can you tell us a little about what she was like back then?
Guy: Sure. I don’t think it will surprise anyone if I say Jac was kind of intense. She cared a lot about her grades and being number one in our class, and she didn’t always fit in. She took everything so seriously. And you know, I’ve noticed a lot of contestants on the 1 will talk about being bullied, and people absolutely mocked Jac, but she didn’t care. That was the kind of person she was.
Steveisthe1.com: Interesting. You have to wonder if she internalized some of that, right? Like, when I watch her gaslighting some of the other contestants, it makes sense to me if she was someone who suffered in silence as a teenager and is now mirroring those behaviors toward other people as some sort of way to take power back. It gives me a different perspective. NOT that it excuses any of her behavior.
Guy: No, of course not. I’m just not sure it bothered her that much, though.
Steveisthe1.com: Hmm. Maybe because she’s a narcissist? Not to diagnose people . . .
Guy: No, of course not. But that does ring truer to me.
Steveisthe1.com: Can you share any more about what dating Jac was like?
Guy: Honestly, Jac treated dating sort of like she does everything else. With efficiency. She scheduled it in and you got her when it worked for her.
Steveisthe1.com: Do you think she can even feel love?
Guy: She definitely didn’t with me. I think she thought it would look good to date me and that was it. Her head was always somewhere else.
Steveisthe1.com: Did you stay friends with her after you dated?
Guy: As much as anyone could be friends with her. She was just so focused on college, on leaving her hometown behind. I did hear she chilled out some after high school though. You see her social media now, she’s much more a guy’s girl.
Steveisthe1.com: She ran away from her hometown she now purports to love? Sounds about right.
Guy: Yeah, we’ve all had a good laugh about it back home. She couldn’t wait to leave, but she’s really changed her tune now, hasn’t she?
Steveisthe1.com: Thanks so much for your time, Guy. Anything else you want to add?
Guy: Yeah, sure. I’ll drop my socials below so anyone who wants to watch more content about Jac can. I’ve also got exclusives for paid subscribers to my Twitch feed.
8
First Date
Jac—
Our feelings are already growing too hot.
Why don’t we cool things down?
Some of the other girls stare at me with barely controlled contempt when the date card arrives three days later. It’s not just that they want the date themselves; it’s that they don’t think I deserve it.
Rikki screeches, though, and gives me a hug. It’s sweet. Shae hugs me, too, though I suspect it’s because she’s running for Miss Congeniality of the mansion (down to fifteen competing girls after the most recent elimination). It feels odd to feel like I’ve won something to go on a date, but that’s part of the game we play here, and this date is huge in crafting my story with Marcus.
“Congrats, Jac,” Kendall says, her face carefully neutral. I look over at her, thinking about what Henry said to me. Kendall is coming for you. I don’t know what that means or what I’m supposed to do about it. What he wants me to do about it, which is clearly something.
“Jac,” Charlotte says. “Can we grab you for an ITM?”
I’m getting used to this, I think, as I follow her back into one of the rooms set aside for this very purpose. To being forced to talk about things I don’t even spend that much time thinking about.
I know nothing about Marcus yet talk about him nonstop, to the point where I wonder if he’s even a real person at all.
“How do you feel about getting the one-on-one?” Charlotte asks me. “Full sentences, remember.” Like I could forget.
“I’m really excited to get my first one-on-one with Marcus,” I say obediently and without much conviction.
Charlotte cocks her head to the side. “Let’s talk about this for a second, okay? Like straight up, stop just repeating back whatever you think I want to hear.”
I sigh. The truth is, I like Charlotte, a lot. Something I find particularly annoying because I know her job is to get me to like her. But she’s refreshingly honest and down-to-earth, and she has more substantive conversations with me than most of the other girls in the house.
“Shoot,” I say, playing at being game.
“Why are you here, Jac?”
“I’m here to find love.”
“Oh, fuck off,” she says with a laugh, looking at the cameraman and basically forcing him to laugh with her. “You took a look at your life and its current circumstances and you applied to be on this show. Why?”
“It felt like the right time to try something out,” I say, scrolling through my mental catalogue of things that are acceptable to say. Because I thought it would sell copies of my books would probably be frowned upon.
“Why?”
I bite my lip. “I was sort of lost,” I admit.
“The first relatable thing you’ve said. Okay.”
I shrug. “I watched Shailene’s season of the 1, and Marcus wasn’t just kind, he was smart, too. How many men can you say that about?”
