Whiskey and Scotch

Chapter 15

"It was me."

Lottie's head whipped around as she turned to look at me in shock. "Josie! How could you?!"

Rocco threw his head back in laughter. "Oh, this is rich!"

"I'm sorry, Lottie. I—"

"I thought we were friends!" Her eyes began welling up with tears. "I supported you through the last couple days with the Rocco situation, and now I find out you did the exact same thing behind my back?"

"It's not like that!"

"I'm not interested in hearing your excuses, Josie," she spat. "You couldn't have Gary but you went ahead and kissed him anyway, and then didn't even have the decency to tell me about it. As far as I'm concerned, you're every bit as bad as Rocco!"

With that she turned, running from the challenge stage back towards the villa.

The others sat there stunned.

"Should someone go after her?" Gary stood, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"No, I think she just needs a bit of space right now," Marisol said. She turned to look at me smugly. "She's had a bit of a shock."

"I'd like to hear more about this kiss," Rocco smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Seems a bit hypocritical, don't you think?"

"Oh, shut the hell up, already!" I snapped. "I already told you I had no problem with the two of you cracking on – you deserve each other! I'm not telling anyone about the kiss until I've spoken to Lottie. She's the only one that deserves an explanation."

"What was it you said to me a few minutes ago?" Rocco snapped his fingers a few times, trying to remember. "Oh, right! Something about it not being nice learning about me and Marisol during a challenge! That's pretty funny, considering we all just learned about your kiss with Gary... during a challenge."

"Okay, that's enough!" Noah yelled loudly, banging on his table with his fist. The rest of us jumped, turning to him in shock. "Settle down, everyone, please! We're losing two guys tonight, so let's put any issues we have on the back burner until after that, okay? Rocco, Josie, can you agree to ignore each other the rest of the day?"

"That shouldn't be hard to do," I said. Rocco just nodded with a smirk.

"Come on, guys!" Hope said with an exaggerated smile. "Let's bring back the hype – I want to know who won this challenge!"

Henrik looked over the chalkboards and tallied up the score.

"The winners are... Priya and Rahim!"

"Yay!" Priya smiled, then leaned over and gave Rahim a peck on the cheek. He smiled shyly, looking down at the ground in embarrassment.

Her phone beeped. "Ooh, I got a text! 'Congratulations, Priya and Ibrahim. Head over to the jacuzzi for your prize – there's a bottle of champers on us. #bubbleswithbae #hotfizz' Oh my gosh, this is going to be amazing! Champers in the hot tub, here I come!"

"Congrats, guys," I gave her a smile.

"Let's start heading back," Hope said, taking hold of Noah's hand as she began walking towards the villa. The others got up to follow.

I let them go ahead of me and fell into step next to Priya. She put an arm around me and gave me a squeeze.

"You'll be alright," she said. "Lottie will come around, eventually."

I sighed. "I hope so. I never meant to hurt her. I just... I'm really annoyed at the fact that Rocco's right. I did the exact same thing he did, except I've been keeping it a secret much longer. I don't blame her for being angry."