The Bachelor Experiment : Day Eleven

On the morning of Day Eleven, Corey awakes with a crick in his neck.

After his date with Roskva the previous night, he floated to his bedroom wearing a goofy, dreamy grin. How could he have missed Roskva’s beauty until now? How could he have denied such unmistakable chemistry? Just thinking about her now made him giddy, and he knew he would see her beautiful green eyes in his dreams tonight. Maybe what they say is true – maybe true love is really friendship set on fire.

Corey certainly feels on fire right now, that much is true, and when he enters his bedroom, the sight of Namika so scantily clad in his bed quickens his pulse. She’s sleeping – or pretending to sleep, maybe – but her presence here is more than a hint. It’s a blatant invitation.

Corey weighs his options, struggling between his heart and his…. (ahem) head. Namika is beautiful, sexy, and she’s already seen his hot dog anyway…

But – Roskva. After such a wonderful date with her, and such a stirring first kiss, Corey can’t bring himself to end his night in the throes of passion with someone else. Not because he doesn’t want to. Oh, he very much wants to. But because it isn’t right, and because woohoo with Namika (or any of the ladies) is still against the rules at this point in the competition. Call him old-fashioned, but Corey fancies himself a gentleman.

And so, here we are on the morning of Day Eleven, with Corey and the crick in his neck. Maybe if he’s lucky, one today’s ladies will offer him a back massage.

 

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Corey’s first date today is with Jessamine. I send her to fulfill a few needs, and she sits down to eat with Colleen, who is still reeling from her dud of a date yesterday.

Jessamine only listens half-heartedly. She’s too busy pumping herself up for her own date, and secretly (or not so secretly), she knows that Colleen’s loss is her own gain.

Meanwhile, Corey is grilling up his own breakfast when Namika approaches. She’s rolled a whim to embrace  Corey, and so I send her to do exactly that.

There’s also an autonomous flirt initiated by Namika. Dismayed to have woken up alone this morning, she’s not about to let Corey start his date with Jessamine without reminding him of her charms. As far as Namika is concerned, Jessamine is her biggest competition – but then she doesn’t know about Roskva’s recent comeback.

And Corey does find her irresistable, despite his refusal to share his bed last night. He is, unsurprisingly, receptive to her advances. I take this opportunity to see if we can finally fulfill Namika’s long-pinned whim for her First Kiss with Corey. I pull up her romantic interactions menu for him, but big nope. The First Kiss isn’t available yet. Namika isn’t giving up hope, though – she’ll have her own time in the Chateau d’ Amour later tonight, Corey will be helpless to resist her. She is sure of it.

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After breakfast, I send Jessamine and Corey to take their flirty showers. When they are both feeling sufficiently frisky, I lock them inside the Chateau, and the date begins with the “offer rose” interaction.

Jessamine is flattered, but when they sit to chat, Corey (ever the technology addict) pulls out his phone.  She tries to pull his attention back to her, and in a few minutes, it works.

They get up to take a selfie, documenting the special moment. There’s some autonomous joking and then some autonomous flirting.

Meanwhile, I realize it’s beginning to get late.  I think I waited too long to get this show on the road, and it looks I’ll have postpone Namika’s date until tomorrow night.  Namika might not be so happy, but Jessamine and Corey seem a-okay with my executive decision.

 

Either the flirty atmosphere is having the desired effect on Corey, or he’s just really feeling Jessamine, because I notice that he’s rolled a whim to have his First Kiss with her.  I think this is somewhat interesting – he shared a kiss with Roskva last night, but it was  based on Roskva’s whim.  This is the first time that Corey himself has rolled a whim to kiss anyone.

And so, of course, I allow it.

Jessamine is more than pleasantly surprised, but unfortunately for her, their four hours is up.  I direct Jessamine to initiate a romantic embrace, and Corey gladly accepts.

Corey is more confused than ever now, but as he goes to bed that night (in his blissfully empty bed), he thinks there are worse things in life than choosing between four beautiful women.

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When Jessamine bounces around the kitchen the next morning, Namika just shakes her head. Jessamine might think her date went well, but Corey hasn’t had his date with Namika yet. Namika heads off for her own steamy shower, and I direct Corey to take one too, for good measure. He wakes up still feeling flirty after his date with Jessamine, but I don’t want it wearing off too early during his date with Namika.

When Corey and Namika meet on the terrace of Chateau, I lock the doors and have Corey offer Namika her rose.

Namika happily accepts the rose, and returns his kindness with a romantic gesture of her own.

In no time, sparks are flying between them.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the mansion, Jessamine’s curiosity is getting the better of her. She doesn’t have the jealousy trait, but the way she’s nosing around the Chateau, peeking in the windows, makes me think the green-eyed monster has gotten the best of her. She even tries the door, but finding it locked, has no other option than to head back to the mansion.

Back on the terrace, Namika and Corey’s friendship bar is 75% full, and their romance bar is about 50% full.

I think this bodes well, so I look again to see if I can fulfill Namika’s First Kiss Whim. My rule on whim fulfillment is that the person who rolls the whim has to be the one to initiate the action – which means they have to have the option on their own social menu, and I have to patiently wait for that option to become available. When I open Namika’s romance menu, I see that First Kiss is finally an option, and immediately direct her to go in for the kill.

The kiss goes over well, which is not unexpected. Corey’s an even better kisser than she’d hoped! Namika has stars in her eyes, and Corey sees only Namika.

I think they’re both oblivious to their audience, but I never can be too sure with Namika.  The look on her face makes me wonder if Colleen and Jessamine were meant to see that kiss.

There’s still another hour left in their date, but Corey’s stomach growls, and he decides to forgo any potential romantic encounters with Namika in favor of food.

As he eats, Namika takes the opportunity to brush up on her darts game…

And this is how they spend the remainder of the date – companionably, and separately. Namika goes about her business, content and confident in her victory, satisfied (for now) that she’s got this competition in the bag. She doesn’t need to spend every second with Corey to know she’s always on his mind. Corey will never say it, but Namika knows she’s won already.