Love Island

Chapter 20 - Two New Boys

Eli was the first to notice the change in outfits. "Hey, ladies." He reached out for Giselle, who took his hand hesitantly.

"Hi there," Giselle paused and quickly glanced at the group. "Mind if we chat?"

"Sure thing!" Eli said. He excused himself from the group as Giselle led him upstairs.

Noah turned around with a blender full of pink juice clutched in one hand and a tall glass in the other. His eyes scanned me multiple times until he remembered what he was going to say. "Smoothie?" He swallowed hard.

I smiled shyly and held my hands over my tummy. "Sure!"

He poured the pink smoothie into two glasses and sat the blender in the sink. "Outside?" He suggested. I agreed. We walked out to the garden and over to the pool, sitting in the shallow end with our smoothies. "It's strawberry, mango, and banana," he said as he took a sip.

"It's really good," I said, dabbing at the small amount that stuck to my lip like a mustache. "How'd you sleep?"

Noah shook his head. "Terrible. Nobody makes a scene like Amelia," he chuckled.

"I can't believe she did that," I said. Noah raised a brow at me. "Okay, I can believe it. But I didn't expect it. She said it was an accident, but why was she even throwing a shoe in the first place? Not winning a reality TV show doesn't seem like a reason to throw shit."

"Especially not at the only thermostat in the villa," Noah added. "I was boiling last night. It's not at all how I wanted our first night together to go."

"How'd you want it to go?" I took a long drink of my smoothie.

Noah chuckled at the invitation. "Well, I would've liked to chat you up a bit. Maybe go for a snog." His foreign vocabulary emphasized his accent.

"That definitely sounds better than sweating all night," I smiled. "I was really hoping to cuddle, but I could barely tolerate the sheets."

"Tonight, then. As long as they've got the A.C. fixed," Noah said as he tipped the smoothie toward his lips.

Peach and Charlie stepped into the pool and began walking toward us. "Hey!" Peach said as they sat down with their water bottles across from us. "Mind if we join you?"

"Not at all!" I invited. "We were just talking about how hot it was last night."

Charlie's face scrunched up. "I was sweating all night. The producers are going to have to change the sheets on all the beds. I was talking to Eli, and he told me he left a silhouette of his body on the sheets."

"Ew!" Peach giggled in disgust.

"Poor Giselle," I sighed and let my head tip backward. Strands of hair slithered off my shoulders and dangled their tips in the chlorinated water. Peach nodded solemnly.

"After her reaction last night I knew something was the matter," Noah said quietly.

Charlie cast a glance back at the villa. "He wants to ask her to be his girlfriend," he revealed.

"No!" Peach gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.

"What?" My jaw dropped. "Didn't he get the hint last night? When she wasn't excited to be coupled up again?"

Charlie shook his head. "He thought something else was wrong, maybe she wasn't feeling well or something. He's going to do it tonight."

I felt my heart sink. "He can't! He's going to get his heart crushed."

"I know," Charlie nodded. "I just don't know how to stop him. Ideally, I'd like to come clean to him, but Giselle's the one that should tell him." The rest of the group nodded in agreement.