Candy 32 NUMBER ONE Trevor leaned forward in his chair as he reviewed the night’s footage. Perfect, he thought eagerly. He could not have predicted this pairing, but Jane and Jesse came alive on the screen. He could see the chemistry between them. This kind of romantic drama could make the ratings jump sky-high. They were already number one and with this, they would break records. Now, if only he could keep the relationship going long enough to hook viewers before things turned ugly. He knew Jesse Edwards’s history all too well. Everyone in Hollywood did. Although perhaps that inevitable ugliness could be managed, tempered somehow. Mesmerized, he stared at the footage that continued to roll on his screen, of Jesse touching Jane’s arm and whispering something to her (the mikes didn’t catch it) as they left their table. The cameras then zoomed in on Jane’s face. She had that sweet, wonderful, infatuated look that no amount of directing, editing, or retouching could fabricate. Trevor could already picture the episode in his mind…hear the music he would set in the background as Jesse and Jane gazed at each other (something by Eliott Smith, maybe “Say Yes”)…see the fade to black as the end credits rolled…imagine audiences everywhere sitting at the edges of their seats and wanting more…feeling like having to wait an entire week to see what happened next to their favorite new reality couple would drive them crazy.
