The Sweetest Sting

1

"Sooooo, are you excited?" Bella smacked Rora's arm. The rest of the girls filed out to wait in the bedroom for their texts.

Rora smacked her arm back and considered the word. "Excited. Wild. Eager. Impassioned." She nodded. "Always."

Bella gave her a confused look. Oops. Ever since Rora was a child, she kept a journal but instead of diary entries, each date had a single word, and then all the synonyms she could think to add to it. It was a lot easier to do that than to vom up all her feelings the way Amelia had done in hers.

Sometimes she forgot to keep the words to herself.

"You didn't answer my question!" Bella said. "Are you excited or not?"

"About what specifically?"

"Ugh." Bella rolled her eyes. "We get to find out if Elliot stuck!"

Rora stared at herself in the mirror. Blue braids decorated with gold charms. A simple flowy cream dress shining over her brown skin. It looked great with a necklace or two, so one more could only make it better. She dug through her personal jewellery until she found her favourite, the one she'd had since she was seventeen. An intricate silver chain carrying a hefty, deep blue sodalite that shimmered like the early evening sky.

"Elliot did not stick," she said, as she slipped it over her head with a satisfied smile.

"Then why are you smiling so much?"

Rora shrugged. Nothing was going to bring her mood down tonight. She looked at her gladiator sandals and adjusted the straps that criss crossed around her calves. "How do I look?" she asked.

"Like a tatted up, sexy hippie."

"That's exactly what I strive for." Her bracelets jangled as she threw her braids over her shoulder.

"Alright, we should queue up." Bella gave herself a glance in the mirror and ran her fingers along her lower lip to clean up her lipstick.

"Or," Rora said. "We could sneak down and catch a peek of what's going on."

Bella grinned. "You always have the best ideas!"

They took hold of each other's hands and made their way downstairs, giggling quietly, taking the long way around to avoid cameras and producers. They crouched down behind the trellis and peeked through the holes. It was hard to tell what was happening with the boys sitting down. There were definitely a couple girls there.

Bella gasped. "Is that Ivy?"

Rora nodded. "Looks that way. Guess I'm not the only surprise tonight."

"Huh, she's sitting between Elliot and Lewie so I wonder if..."

Rora didn't hear the rest. It was so good to see Lewie's easy smile again. It settled something inside her that had been anxious since leaving for Casa. She'd missed her mate so much more than she expected. She couldn't wait to chat about everything that had happened.

Taken place. Transpired.

Sighing happily, she leaned her face against the trellis, looking for the other man who could make her smile. Ozzy. He was laughing at something Elliot said and she could barely keep her pulsing heart in her chest.

She'd long ago learned not to lose her head over a boy, but Ozzy was different than anyone else. The way he looked at her, giving every ounce of his attention as if she was the only person in the whole world. The shared smiles that felt like secret kisses pressed to her very soul. God, he made her dizzy every time he told her he had feelings for her. Every time he said that she'd maybe-sort of turned his head. And when he said she was one of a kind and there was no mistaking her for her sister, she'd wanted to fall to pieces for him. To let all the ice down around her heart and make a fool out of herself for something that felt like the start of love.