Chapter 15

© Copyright 2010 by Elizabeth Delayne





With a major sponsor making a huge splash before the cameras, with an outdoor set built to hightlight their name and logo, they were given their own top of the line digital video cameras, filmed as they learned how to use them, played with them and watched themselves on the small LCD screens. Jamie and Felicity huddled over the one page of directions, trying out each feature. Cameron walked around and filmed everyone, asking questions, while Tyler stood at George’s side and watched.

“This America,” he said into George’s camera, “it what you’re doing on a Friday night.” It wasn’t all simply for play. They were, of course, encouraged to film a little on their way down.

When it was safe to do so, of course.

Still, despite the view, Tyler had thought of Jamie on the way down the canyon.

No ... more than that. He’d been distracted knowing she’d been left behind, knowing she wasn’t nearby. They’d only known each other for a little over a week.

That in itself was a little disconcerting.

He was used to being around people, around women. He liked getting to know people, the little dance with a touch of flirtation. A former cast member had described it as an art.

But there was something else about Jamie.

They’d been given a task at the bottom, to find the clues to their next destination. It turned out to be a map that led them to a yellow rock ... or rather a Yellowstone.

Then they had done a little white river rafting on a section of the river before riding a helicopter back to the top.

And there Jamie had waited, one hand holding back her long brown hair as the helicopter blades created blew the air around her.

Since he was filming anyway, he filmed a little of her. Not too much. He knew the cameras would be taken up, the data copied for the use of the producers.

But just enough that he had the memory recorded.

Stuck alone atop the grand canyon with a half dozen crew members, interns, producers and others, Jaime was given more than enough to keep her busy. She was brought into interview to talk about the accident, the problems with the team, Felicity and her thoughts on Tyler.

When the question came, she cast her eyes up, batted her lashes and laughed.

“One single girl,” she said holding up a finger, “and one single boy ...” she brought up a her other hand with a single digit and brought the fingers together side by side, “does not always romance make.”

Then she looked directly at the camera and smiled. She hoped her grandmother got the message.

Jamie hadn’t even left the producer’s RV and interview, when an intern came on board to get her. Her job was to interview a local guide who’d told the stories and tall tales that gave the canyon its human history.

Later, after the team returned and they headed toward Yellowstone, they loaded the homemade footage caught with their cameras. They watched and laughed as a team, as they filmed and interviewed each other, catching long moments of nothing, and sudden burst of interest; from interviews, to mistakes. They even watched Jamie’s interview, which was made interesting and colorful by the man himself. It kept them up, into the early morning hours, even if they were all exhausted.

By the time they turned into their bunks, the tension from their earlier loss had faded.

For Tyler, the week seemed to spiral into it’s expected time for the group to gel. It was an important time—so much more important now that Zeke was changing the rules.

They had midnight game night, a tradition Tyler had pulled over from his first year. They watched movies and stopped at new restaurants. Another preference he’d learned on the show, from another team member, was to never eat at restaurants he had in his home town. Or their hometowns.

He knew of a few places from being on the road. Cameron who had traveled on the extreme sports circuit knew others.

And old reliable Bob could find a good Steak restaurant in any town.

Sometimes the network had preferences, sometimes the producers had plans, but whatever the case, the mealtimes were his favorite times. It was where you learned the most about your team. Sometimes they invited friends or family to join, if anyone knew anyone in whatever town they were in.

But the nucleas stayed the same. And it began to denote patterns. What they ate, what they discussed, what made them laugh, and what they tuned out. Jamie, for instance, was a creature of habit. She was hesitant to try new things, but did so when pressed. Thessa worried about what she ate, and Cameron had a taste for spicy foods, which was a bad influence on George.

It was Felicity he worried about. It wasn’t that she stopped participating in the show. It was that she hesitated, as if she was afraid to be herself.

Which broke one of Tyler’s standing rules.



He knew there was more to Felicity than keeping a bank of reality show information in her head, but they were never alone. They slept on the bus, they stayed grouped together. He never found the time to pull her aside without drawing attention to the situation.





So he turned to Jamie.

He found his chance with Felicity taking a nap, George and Cameron engrossed in an action movie, and debating the explosiveness of it, and Tessa absorbed in her mp3 player, surfing the net.

Jamie continued to read her book even after he sat down next to her. He watched her for a time, waiting for her to crack. To smile. To acknowledge his presence.

She simply glanced at him, then went back to her book.

“You need something,” she asked, as she turned the page.

“It doesn’t bother you to read in a moving vehicle or have someone watch you read?”

“I have a brother and a sister, a grandmother that owns a mp3 player and plays it at top volume even when its in her ears... and I fill out charts in a hospital with all kinds of things whirling around me,” she said as she continued to read.

“Then you can do just about anything.”

She shook her head. “I can tune you out.”

“You’re not.”

“I was thinking you might have a point. If not, go away.”

He smirked. “Good book?”

“It was a few minutes ago. Do you need something?” She set the book down and sighed, “Not getting enough attention from anyone else on the bus?”

“Thought maybe I could ask for a favor.”

“You might have earned a single favor.”

“Earned?” Tyler mocked shock. “You’re tough.”

“A brother, remember?”

“So seriously,” Tyler leaned back in his seat. And faced forward as if he was watching the scenery, dropping his voice.

“Has Felicity said much of anything to you?”

“About what?”

“Anything at this point. She’s still closing herself in.”

Jamie nodded, “I know. I haven’t had a chance ... and maybe I haven’t made the chance. It’s hard getting her alone.”

“I doubt you’ll be able to get her alone, Jamie. It would be nice for her to get her words out, tell her side of the story. She may have already done so in the video room ... but she hasn’t opened back up yet. You have this way...”

”You say like a mother figure, I’m walking away.”

“Where you going to go?”

“Over to sit with Cameron and George and their male power movie. You won’t be able to have a private conversation with me then.”

“You’re not a mother figure to me,” Tyler assured her, “but it was Felicity who gave you the label. Its how she sees you. That’s what’s important right now.”

Jamie glared at him.

“I know. You’re just 29. But you’re also the older sibling by nature. You probably have those phonemes or something.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Just ... help her. I think she needs it.”


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