As Elspeth left the classroom-beach, James had a sinking realization. The words Elspeth had said rattled in his head: “I’ll send Alexandra and Roxanne back here. You can tell them why they didn’t quite make the cut.”
He was positive that Elspeth hadn’t meant for it to sound so..... mean. But to James, a sense of guilt poured over him. It was true that he preferred Meghan and Melanie over them, but it was only slightly. He still truly did care about both Roxanne and Alexandra, and he wished that he could have had all four of the girls, as polygamist as that may have been. Worse still, the idea of choosing between Meghan and Melanie later on would be another difficult choice that he feared would hurt the others’ feelings.
He decided that he would wait for the two to return, and would explain to them as best he could why they weren’t going to enter the final round, as it were. James thought that, if they came back and saw him speaking with another girl, they’d think he wasn’t even bearing them any mind after having eliminated them.
James instead opted to stand and wait for them to return so he could apologize and explain why he had made his choice. It would be difficult, but he sensed that it was the right thing to do if he wanted to let them down easy.
A few minutes passed (most of the girls were talking about whether Elspeth had ever actually said “five minutes” at all), and Alexandra and Roxanne both reentered the classroom-beach. James walked up to them, ready to either be slapped or to see them burst into tears. Neither happened, though he still continued to anticipate it nonetheless. Sighing heavily, he spoke first.
“I really didn’t want to have to choose. But Mis- Elspeth. But Elspeth said that I could only pick one and I had narrowed it down to you four and then down to Meghan and Melanie and I couldn’t choose between them and I..... I don’t dislike you two at all. I just..... You’re mad at me, aren’t you?”