Chapter 21

Only Ada, Delilah, and Femi were dateless after the bombshells announced their selections, and they were quickly sequestered on the balcony overlooking the back garden as the couples made their way to six small tables dotted along the pool deck for their dates.

They weren't much—just small, square plastic tables with two plastic chairs on either side, but the producers had put a drinks tray in the center with a small pitcher of sangria and two plastic wineglasses, so they'd at least thought to treat them to something.

There was about a meter's worth of space between each of the tables, but it wasn't enough that there would be any actual privacy while they were chatting with the new arrivals. Freddie grinned at her as they took their seats at a table at the far end, the farthest away from the people listening on the balcony.

Cas might have thought that that was the best-case scenario, but she didn't like being that far away. Didn't like how easy it would be for Ada to start inventing all kinds of things in her head about what Cas and Freddie were up to.

"They really rolled out all the stops for this date," Freddie said.

Cas immediately reached for the pitcher. "Oh, you'll be overwhelmed by luxury on this show, believe me."

She poured them each a glass of sangria, careful to avoid brushing Freddie's fingers as she passed him his drink.

"Thanks. What should we cheers to?"

"Uh—"

Freddie waited a beat, maybe hoping she would come up with something, but when she said nothing, he smiled. "What about new beginnings?"

"Yeah, sure." Cas tipped her glass toward his. "To new beginnings."

There was a lightness to the way Freddie was looking at her, an ease that was not at all reflected in Cas's own feelings about the situation.

"To new beginnings."

Cas touched her glass to his and swiftly took a drink.

Freddie leaned back in his seat, and his legs were so long that, reclined, his knees nearly touched her own under the table. "So what's it been like in here so far? I've only seen what they put on telly, but I'm sure that's not the whole story."

That brought Cas up short. "You've been watching the series?"

Freddie nodded and took another sip of his drink. "We were stuck in a hotel for about a week, but they've still been letting us watch."

Cas hummed. She hadn't heard anyone mention that they'd been allowed to do that in previous years, but that didn't necessarily mean it didn't happen. It seemed a strange choice, though, letting them watch the show after they'd been selected for Bombshell Week. They'd have a leg up on everyone else, a bird's-eye view of the villa that wasn't afforded to anyone on the actual show.

They were getting an edited version of reality, sure, but they were privy to private conversations—at least those that were aired—in a way that no one else here was.

Freddie, apparently unbothered by Cas's lack of response, leaned forward, his forearms coming to rest on the table like he was trying to block out the couple, Rita and Reece, at the table to their right.

"I did want to ask you something, actually. Before I start getting my feelings involved, you know?" He was smiling, joking, but there was something tentative in his voice.

Cas swallowed. "Okay."

"What's the deal with you and Ada? Like, are you two actually getting to know each other or are you just really touchy friends?"

In any other circumstance, this direct honesty was something that would have immediately endeared him to her. But, situation being what it was, Cas was less than thrilled that they were starting their conversation with the very question she was still trying to answer for herself.

"Are you asking for you or because the producers asked you to ask me?"

If Freddie was taken aback by her blunt question, he didn't show it. "Me. Though I'm sure they're curious, too. They mentioned it to me a few times after I told them I was coming into the villa for you."

Cas hummed again and raised her sangria to her lips.

On the one hand, this was her golden ticket to the next few weeks. Her chance to let someone sweep her off her feet, to transition from a heartwarming friendship couple to a heart-stopping romance. Freddie'd come in for her, had traveled all this way for her, and that would play remarkably well in any beach hut interviews she did. She could already hear the way she'd gush about it, knees tucked up into her chest, the picture of a giggling, lovestruck girl.

But even the thought of that made her skin crawl.

Coming into this, the idea that she would have to enter a fake relationship with someone at some point had been weird (especially when she thought about her boss, her colleagues, and her future professional contacts seeing her at it) but inevitable. Something she could tolerate if it meant she got what she wanted in the end. Now, though, the idea of twisting herself into someone she so obviously wasn't just felt uncomfortable.

It wasn't a matter of what would sell the audience on her anymore, it was a question of what Cas could live with. And she couldn't keep lying to everyone. Couldn't keep lying to herself.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Freddie said. "I just fancy you and think there could maybe be something here?" He laughed a little, swiped his hair off his forehead again. "I've not got an ulterior motive, I swear."

Fucking hell.

Cas exhaled. "I... don't know what to say because I honestly don't know what's going on with us. I mean Ada and me."

She paused, but Freddie just looked at her. Waited.

"I do have feelings for her," she admitted. She very nearly whispered it, but she swallowed down the urge at the last possible moment. Her microphone was going to capture her words no matter how she said them, so she might as well say them confidently. "But I haven't decided what to do about it. I don't know if she returns my feelings, so..."

"For what it's worth," Freddie said, leaning back in his chair, "I think she definitely does. Anyone watching the show can see it."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm. You should see the online threads about it. You two got a whole hashtag and everything." He laughed and signals started lighting up in the back of Cas's brain.

Threads?

She knew there was always a bubble of interest whenever there was a queer couple on the show in the past, but she couldn't remember the last time it seemed to make it out of the smaller queer circles on the internet. Never entire threads, let alone a hashtag. And she would know. Even before agreeing to the show, she'd spent countless summers scrolling through the Hot Summer feeds.

She laughed awkwardly. "Oh god."

"They're supportive," Freddie said. He was studying her, reading her reactions, and Cas suppressed the impulse to squirm under his gaze. "I'm supportive, too, if that's what you want. But, cards on the table..."

He leaned in again, not so close that he was in her space, but close enough that he could be if she moved forward an inch.

"I am interested. If you want to be friends, I'm cool, but if you want something different..." He shrugged, his intention more than clear. "You know where to find me."

It would have been so easy, in that moment, to let herself drift toward Freddie. To ignore everything she'd been feeling for Ada, all the complicated emotions that she needed to sort through. He'd been brought here with her in mind, after all, and the producers had really, for once, gotten it right.

It would have been easy.

But when she really thought about it, there was no way it could be. No way that her feelings—complicated or uncomplicated—were going away that fast. She couldn't escape Ada. Her sunny smile and easy laugh and the feel of her hand in Cas's. She couldn't escape the fact that Ada made her feel... safe.

It didn't matter if there was a hashtag and whether it was good or bad. Hell, at this point it didn't even matter what happened when she got back to Friday. Because, finally, Cas cared. And it was scary as hell but, fuck it, if there was one thing Ada was teaching her, it was that it was worth it, always, to be brave.

Cas drew in a deep breath. "Let's say... friends."

Freddie didn't hesitate. He extended his cup across the table and Cas, smiling, clinked glasses.

"Friends."

"I've got a text!"

Cas whipped around and found Lucy, one of the new girls, holding her phone high in the air. When she was sure that everyone in the villa was looking at her, she read the message. Cas had thought that they were going to be announcing the end of the dates, but Lucy apparently had something else in store for them.

"?‘Lovers! We're going to play a little game to help you get to know the new bombshells better. You're going to be split into two teams, and the winners will receive a party this evening. Villa boys and bombshell girls, please go to the daybed. Villa girls and bombshell boys, please go to the fire pit. #BombshellBlitz #GetReadyToGetSteamy.'?"

The minute Lucy finished reading the text, both groups took off to their sides of the garden.

Freddie was up and around the table in half a second, and he extended his hand toward Cas. After a moment's hesitation, she took it. Freddie pulled her to her feet, dropping her hand before knocking his biceps lightly against her shoulder as they jogged to the fire pit.

"Ready?"

Cas laughed. "No."

Cas had never been more prophetic. Because the game was wild.

"?‘The tallest guy needs to snog the shortest girl for ten seconds!'?"

Every time a dare was read out, the two people involved shot to their feet, the pair of them colliding in the middle. The kisses were sloppy and wet, the sounds of clashing teeth and sopping mouths drowning out even the loudest counting in the group.

"It kind of turns your stomach." Cas had leaned over and whispered it softly into Ada's ear, quietly enough that she didn't think it would get picked up on either of their microphones.

Ada let out a short laugh and nodded her agreement.

"Definitely."

Beep.

"?‘The boy and girl with the longest names need to get into a sex position!'?"

The score was announced after each dare, and the race was neck and neck as the challenge continued. Villa boys and bombshell girls had scored first, the villa girls and bombshell boys then scored twice in a row, then they were back at a draw, and the speed picked up with each and every challenge.

It might have been uncomfortable, all of them snogging one another within the first hour of meeting, but the promise of a party that evening was more than enough to get them past most of their inhibitions. It was the perfect carrot to dangle; most of them would have done anything if it meant they got to do something a little more exciting than just lounge around.

Ollie's phone dinged and he shouted out the next dare at lightning speed.

"The person with the most tattoos should snog the person they fancy the most for ten seconds!"

Oh fuck. That was her.

"Uh!" Cas hopped instantly to her feet and spun around on the spot, looking at everyone in turn, skimming over the villa regulars and the bombshells. They didn't have time for her to sort this out, didn't have time for her to be thinking about this because they were going to lose the point and then everyone would kill her and—

Cas exhaled hard. "Fuck it."

And then she dropped back down next to Ada, put her hand on Ada's cheek. It was an invitation, a question, and normally Cas would have been panicking, convinced that her intentions weren't clear, but Ada leaned in immediately.

The kiss was rushed, hurried, little more than a frenzied pass of their lips together as the crowd around them counted to ten.

"One!"

Even in the frenzy, though, there was a heat to this kiss that surprised her. She knew that she was attracted to Ada—it was hard for her not to realize that by now, she was borderline obsessive—but to feel her attraction so obviously reciprocated... It was going to Cas's head.

"Two!"

Cas couldn't put her finger on it, couldn't explain how she knew. Maybe she hoped more than anything, hoped that this wasn't one sided, that she wasn't alone in feeling this.

"Three!"

But Ada was pressing closer to her, sliding across the slick fabric of the sofa, and Cas was sure.

"Four!"

They settled into a rhythm, the breakneck speed of the kiss slowing down into something worth savoring. Ada's hand landed experimentally on Cas's hip, her fingers flexing automatically as they came in contact with skin.

"Five!"

It wasn't an immediate shift, but a subtle one, a gentle descent from the top of a cliff that, as soon as Cas slid her hand to the outside of Ada's arm, started them climbing all over again.

"Six!"

Even in the middle of the kiss, Cas was having a hard time believing it. Believing that she was here, with Ada, that Ada was kissing her back like this. She knew it was just part of a game, she knew it, but that didn't match up with the intensity in the way Ada was holding her, in the teasing pressure of her lips—there, but just lightly enough that Cas knew she'd pull away, leave breaths of space between them to send Cas chasing if they weren't being timed.

"Seven!"

Ada's hand slid up over Cas's biceps, curving over her shoulder before her fingertips tangled in her hair. It was a steady pressure, the kind that left Cas feeling like she was reaching for it, stretching out the boundaries of her body just to feel it.

"Eight!"

Cas needed to test the boundaries of this. Needed, more than anything, to kiss Ada properly. She swiped her tongue along Ada's lower lip and Ada's soft, shaky exhale—

"Nine!"

Cas's tongue just touched Ada's, an experiment, and, god—

"Ten!"

Cas pulled away then, aware that they needed to respect the game more than wanting to end the kiss. She hovered for the barest hint of a moment, her breath coming in waves, as she tried to reorient herself. Because this—whatever it was—was something massive. Something that had turned Cas completely inside out.

It was only then that she realized that Sienna and Freddie were cheering.

And then Delilah's phone beeped.

"Villa girls win the point!"

And the entire group erupted.