Something More

The First Good Bye

BOBBY

I wake up before everyone. My mind's a mess. It's impossible to pretend I'm not interested in Kiera. Looking at her all beautiful and cuddled next to me is hard. I wonder what it would be like to really kiss her; have those soft, plush lips smashed against mine... God, I want to taste her. She's so sexy and I love feeling her against my body. We're only friends. That's all we'll ever be. Look at yourself. She'll never want a guy like you when boys like Gary and Noah exist in this world. Watching her dance with Gary last night just plain sucked.

A phone goes off, waking the others. Everyone starts grumbling and moving around. "I have a text!" Pyria yells in a voice that's way too loud for morning. "It says there's a boy's choice recoupling tonight and whoever is single will be dumped from the Villa."

"This is massive," Kiera says as her eyes lock with mine. She's crazy to be nervous. There's no way I'm letting her get kicked off. There's a lot of mumblings from the other beds. The girls are all nervous. I get it. One of them is going home tonight. I wonder who it'll be.

"You're safe, Boo," I wink at her and crawl out of bed. I hit the showers but I can't stop thinking of Kiera. Get ahold of yourself, mate. She's only a friend. Nothing more. I linger upstairs in the guys dressing room. I'm not in a hurry to deal with the girl drama I'm sure is waiting for everyone downstairs. Noah and Ibrahim are hanging out too. I'm pretty sure Noah is hiding from Hope.

"How are things going with Pyria?" Ibrahim asks him.

"This is a mess," he answers. "Pyria is a great girl but I'm picking Hope." Hmm. It's got to be because he's scared of her.

"I'm actually really interested in Pyria," Ibrahim nervously admits.

I'd like to see Pyria stay. She's a cool girl. "She mentioned you last night," I say to Ibrahim. "I think she might be interested too."

"Are you going to pick her?" Noah asks. "I'd hate for her to get kicked off because I didn't."

"Maybe I will then," Ibrahim says. He looks really excited at that thought. Good. I'm happy she's safe. "I probably need to have a chat with her today. What about you, Bobby? Which of these girls do you like?"

I shrug in an attempt to seem indifferent. "Kiera's my girl."

"Really?" Noah asks with surprise. "I was thinking you guys were more friendship than anything else."

"That may be, but she's still my girl."

"I, umm, think her and Gary have something going on," Noah says, acting all uncomfortable to tell me something he thinks I don't know.

"I know. If she wants him to pick her and he's going to, I'll just pick someone else then. I'm just waiting to see how this all plays out." I'm a little tired of the grilling from the guys. Who cares if I'm in a friendship couple. "Catch you later."

I step out of the dressing room and go to walk through the bedroom, but stop when I see Kiera and Gary having a moment. Damn. Just friends. We're just friends. I step back so they don't see me. They are sitting way too close to each other and I can't hear what they're whispering from here. It looks really intimate. I wonder if he's gotten to taste those luscious lips yet. I step back even further as Marisol and Hannah come rushing up the stairs.

"Kiera," Hannah whines. "I can't believe you. You've gone and ruined everything now."

"Sorry," Kiera does a little shrug. She clearly doesn't care that Hannah is upset with whatever this is.

"I made you breakfast," Hannah sweetly says,
holding out the plate she fixed for Gary.

Marisol, who looks amused by the whole thing, finally steps forward. "I made you breakfast too," she presents her plate. Wow. This is kind of hilarious.