Rae believes she can be honest with Dan as he seems to be quite frank with her in terms of romantic relationships. So Rae sighs, "We went out on, like, a couple dates."
"OK." Dan narrows his eyes.
"And I slept with him." Rae quickly adds.
"And...?"
"That's it. I'm not seeing him anymore."
"How long ago was that?"
"I don't know. Almost two months ago. Why?"
"Why would you stop seeing him? He's like the the first prize. The jackpot." Dan is half laughing.
"Well," Rae unties her apron and takes it off. "You don't have to worry about that. I just hope it's not a problem for the competition today."
Dan exhales through his nose, and he ruffles his hair. He then puts his hands on his hips and lowers his head. He then takes off his apron and throws it to the picnic table in front of him.
"What?" Rae notices the change of Dan's attitude.
"I'm jealous." Dan looks at Rae.
"Yeah, right," Rae pushes Dan's arm.
Dan catches her hand, "I mean it. And I can't believe it. This is exactly why I don't want a relationship. Because I don't want... this. This stupid feeling thing." Dan then releases her hand.
Rae feels her heart is strummed by each word he just said. She really wants to hug him.
But instead, Rae pats on his back, acting like she didn't just hear something that melted her heart.
"Come on, Dan. There's nothing between me and him anymore."
"That's fine. I just haven't felt this way in a long while. I'm not bothered by it now. I prefer we stay this way." Dan looks out the tent, squinting.
The judging time wraps up. The announcer tells everyone the winners will be announced now.
Rae and Dan walk to the main tent area together. She realizes there seems to be a few people taking pictures of them.
All the contestants stand around near the podium. The mayor of Sudbury then announces from the 4th runner up. Their names are not announced. And then one by one, all the way to the second runner up. They haven't be called yet. Rae gets a little nervous. Dan squeezes her hand.
"The winner is, Daniel Schneider!"
Dan lifts Rae up by her thighs, like she's a potted plants. Dan carries her to where the mayor stands and puts her down. Rae can hear an overwhelming cheering.
They stand next to the mayor for pictures, and some local news reporters also start to ask questions. Rae lets Dan answer them all, as Rae can't help but try to find where Wes is sitting.
She looks around and finally, on the right hand side and a little towards the back, she sees Wes Warren. He sitting there by himself, watching her. Rae can't tell what kind of expression he has on his face. Is he happy for her? Does he care?
Lucia the celebrity chef steps in and shakes their hands. She then goes for the microphone.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Cooking Central Channel and I are pleased to invite the winner to a live taping of our show, 'Home Eats with Lucia' in New York City. What do you guys think?"
"Yes!" Rae quickly says, she almost can't contain her own excitement.
"Sure," Dan says and he puts his arm around her waist. Rae then also puts her arm on his waist.
More pictures are taken with Dan and Rae standing close like that, smiling, with Lucia next to Rae. Because Dan and Rae both wear black T-shirts, they look like a couple.
When they are finally done with all the photographs, a lot of people, including his firefighter coworkers, want to speak to them. But Rae really wants to step out of it. She just wants people to eat her food. She doesn't need all this public attention.
And most importantly, she's really curious where Wes is now. She can't find him in the crowd now. Instead, she spot another familiar face.
She sees Zach Evans sitting by one of the picnic table. And he is not alone. It looks like the model, Nikki, just decided to sit on Zach's laps. And Zach is apparently not asking her to get off.
"Rae! You did such a great job!" Marina walks up to Rae. "Congratulations!"
"Thank you. I think I'm going to go use the restroom."
"There's porta-potty," Marina makes a face.
"I'm going to sneak into the city hall and use their restroom." Rae winks.
Rae slips away from Dan and the crowd. She goes in from the side door to the city hall. She is walking down the hallway and finds the bathroom. After she is done, she comes out and she sees three people talking by the corner.
"Well, are you sure it is fair though? One of the contestants slept with one of the judges. I mean, come on, that's the oldest scandal." A woman with long hair says.
"Ma'am, the main contestant is really Dan Schneider, not Vienna Novak, so, technically, the contestant has no relation to the judge, Mr. Wes Warran."
Rae gasps. She can't believe they are talking about her relation to Wes. It looks like the woman is trying to tell the city employees about that.
"But she helped."
"Ma'am, I'm not supposed to disclose this, but even if we take Mr. Warren's score off the table and only calculate four judges' scores today, the winner will still be Dan Schneider.
Rae covers her mouth, trying to prevent herself from making any noise. She decides to quickly walk out of the city hall.
That's why she doesn't want any attention. Someone is already unhappy about her winning. She doesn't know that woman. Why and how would she know she had a relation with Wes?
Rae quickly returns to the their own little tent. She tries to clean up and put things away in boxes for Dan.
Dan walks back and is surprised to see Rae isn't looking very happy.
"What's wrong Rae? Are you OK?"
"Nothing. I just don't like all the photos and questions from people." Rae forces a smile.
"It's hard to avoid that kind of things these days. Everyone is on their phone and browsing photos."
"I know. But, you can handle it. You are the actual contestant." Rae puts a lid on a container.
"Hey, you want to celebrate? We have a cash prize! Wanna go out tonight?"
"Sure. But I have to work at 10 PM." Rae tries to cheer up again.
"Oh actually, I have my shift basically starting from noon until 8 PM. So if there was any rescue call at the time the winner is announced, I would've been unable to accept the prize and do all the pictures! You'd have to do them all alone! Haha. Anyway, we will have two hours before you go to work."
"OK."
"And, come to my apartment tonight." Dan puts a fist under her chin, pretending to give her a light punch.
"Sure." Rae answers without thinking. She isn't even registering what Dan is trying to do with her again. All she is thinking about is the strange conversation she just heard in the city hall. Did she really win unfairly? Maybe because of the internet hype?
But the judges actually ate their food. She still won. With Dan. Their food was good. Even without Wes Warren's judging, they would've won. Maybe Wes didn't even give them a very high score. Does Wes even know she's competing? Of course he knows. It's all over the internet, isn't it?
Stop thinking about him! What's wrong with you, Rae?
"Hey, I'm running back to the fire station. Meet me back here at my station at 8, please?" Dan grabs a tub of all his cooking utensils and his pot.
"Oh, yeah. I will." Rae answers once again without really thinking.
Rae grabs her own bag of things and slowly walks back to her car. Rae looks down at her smart watch, trying to ask Z a question. But she's not sure what to ask. She realizes she just wants to talk to Z for comfort.
"Z, why can't you just be my boyfriend. That way, I don't have to worry about anything."