Before dinner, we were determined to catch every last drop of light the sun could spare on our skin. We laid out on towels and daybeds accessorized with sunscreen and tanning lotion. Polly was slightly excluded from these activities, sitting near us beneath the shade of an umbrella. Though the Islanders were splayed across the villa like fingers, sitting in the palms of the hands of the producers, a group of nearby tanners managed to envelop each other in conversation. Julie had allowed Lucas to join Peach, Connor, Giselle, and myself in front of the pool. Our voices carried on the bands of roughening winds that wound through the spaces that separated us.
I managed to drown out the conversation with my own thoughts. Where Charlie and I stood was a mystery to us both. After the hot tub, we'd spent the day avoiding each other, or rather, casting awkward glances from across the pool. It was an uncomfortable tension that affected the entire villa; no one dared to speak when Charlie and I were around each other, for fear of missing a whispered insult or faint declaration. Instead, radio silence was all that came between us.
"What do you guys think is next?" Connor asked. His lack of experience in the villa drew out a common question that, of course, no one would know the answer to. Still, I entertained the idea in my imagination of whatever challenge or skillset was awaiting me.
"I heard what Giselle said earlier, about people going home soon. I bet they'll send all the singles home," Julie announced confidently and without fear of retaliation.
I sat forward on my daybed, a mixture of confused and shocked. "Thanks, Julie." I was almost amused by her oblivious nature. "That would send Giselle and me home. And Gray and Anthony, too."
"How'd you even hear what I said? You weren't with us," Giselle retaliated.
"Hm. I guess I just heard it through the grapevine." Julie turned her head and lowered her sunglasses to make eye contact with Polly. "A certain grape has been siren-calling out to my partner." Beside her, Lucas shifted uncomfortably but remained silent.
Polly looked away and toward me in search of support. "Lucas is still my friend," she said, avoiding Julie's eyes.
"Of course, he is!" Julie tilted her head back and allowed a laugh to escape from the crevices of her wide mouth. "I'm just joking, sweetheart. You've got to relax," Julie reached out and gripped Polly's shoulder. She engaged in a free massage that looked less than comfortable. "How's it going with Charlie, though?" Julie looked over at me.
I shook my head disapprovingly. I refused to have that conversation with Julie. "Who knows?" I said simply, quickly deterring the topic away from myself and waiting for another Islander to take the opportunity of the silence to begin talking about themselves. Apart from Julie, no one jumped at the moment. "Lucas, how are you feeling?" I looked over and scanned his body language for evidence of a hostage situation.
"I'm good," he smiled sweetly.
When Lucas didn't follow up, I pressed on. "How did you like Casa Amor?"
"Oh, it was pretty fun. It looked a lot like the villa decoration-wise, with all the palm trees and neon signs. The A.C. isn't as strong, though, so I would get kinda hot at night." Trying to get Lucas to be an open book was a slow process, but I think we managed to finally get past the table of contents.
"Did they have the pillowcases you like?" Polly asked. Lucas shook his head.
"Pillowcases?" Julie asked, looking between the two of them. In that short moment, she displayed her deep-rooted insecurity. It wasn't easy breaking up one of America's favorite couples, but she was still willing to give it her best shot.
"Lucas likes the pillowcases here because they're silk; they stay cold at night and don't really get warm like a cotton pillowcase would," Polly explained. "That's also why he barely wears anything to bed."
"He practically wore a Catholic nun's habit to bed every night," Julie retorted in an attempt to disprove Polly, while accidentally undermining herself. She looked over at Lucas as if involved in a scandalous betrayal.
The discomfort that settled upon the group was enough silence for me to work out the dynamic of that trio in my head. Polly had made it clear that she was interested in Lucas still, despite coupling up with David to keep him in the villa. Whether either of the two boys knew of her feelings for Lucas, I wasn't sure. But Julie was hyperaware, analyzing how Lucas spoke about her and his little moments when she was around. Getting around Julie would be a treacherous task.
A text sounded somewhere in the garden. I propped myself up on an elbow and looked around, waiting for someone to make the announcement. Thus far, no one had come forward, and everyone continued checking their phones. "Sorry!" Ella said. "Totally forgot that you're supposed to keep these things around." She got up from where she'd been lounging and grabbed her phone off of a side table near the pool. Charlie watched her go, his eyes mirroring heavy thoughts. It must've been hot beneath the sun, as she nearly winced when she picked it up.
"Is it about dinner?" Lucas asked.
"Islanders, which one of you has the biggest mouth? You're going to need a License to Swill to find out. #SpillTheTea #XoxoGossipGirl," Ella said aloud. While none of us really knew what 'swill' meant, we still prepared to play as we were ushered along the beach to the neighboring lot for another game.
Placed on the table face-down were sixteen cards, each with one of our names on the back. The objective was to read your card and guess which of the other Islanders said it about you. Whoever you believed to be the guilty subject, you would throw a glass of water into their face. Behind us was an electronic board that would confirm or correct our answers.
We stood in a circle around the table of cards. Blake offered to go first when the rest of us were too nervous to go. He ventured forward and picked up the card with his name on it. "I like a man who's unapologetic, but Blake seems like the type of guy who doesn't even really realize when he needs to apologize. It's obvious that he has pretty privilege." He looked at our circle with a betrayed look in his eyes. He picked up a cup filled with water and began walking along the interior of our group. "I'm going to say it's a little bit of jealousy from my ex-partner." He stopped in front of Peyton and tossed the water into her face, instantly wetting her blonde hair and soaking her chest.
"No, you jerk!" Peyton shouted with her shoulders tensed up. "It's so cold!"
The board behind our group flashed red with a nasally buzzer, and it was revealed that Giselle had said it.
Ella went next and grabbed her card. "Ella? I don't really like her, honestly. I'm sure she's nice, but I'm going to avoid her." Her pink smile pressed into a flat line that aged her a decade. A thousand emotions ran across her face as she silently read the card to herself a few times more before placing it down on the table, grabbing a cup, and tossing its contents right into my eyes.
"Shit!" I exclaimed, squeezing my eyes shut. The board corrected her and informed the group that Charlie was the one who had said it.
"Hey, babe. What the hell?" Ella placed the cup down and looked over at him.
"That was the first day in Casa Amor when I was happily coupled up," Charlie explained. I turned my head and rolled my eyes. It was still a sore subject.
Mason stepped forward to go next. "I don't consider myself materialistic, but for a trip to Milan, I'll play the part." He read the card and immediately looked over to Peyton with disappointment. She said nothing as he brought the cup closer and splashed it gently into her face. The electronic board confirmed his decision with a bright green checkmark. "We're gonna talk about this later."
Peach went next, happy to flip over her card. "I would move to Chicago, yeah. I would marry Peach in a heartbeat." She looked between Gray and Connor, weighing her two options. Though currently coupled with Connor, they'd only known each other for a fraction of the time she'd known Gray. She grabbed her cup and tossed water into Gray's face. The board displayed Connor's name in red.
"Oh," Peach looked between the two boys. Gray wiped excess water off his face.
"You seem disappointed," Connor frowned.
"No, no. Just surprised. It's been such a short time... we hardly know each other," Peach smiled nervously.
"When you know, you know." Connor nodded at her. Peach stayed silent as she stepped back in line.
Charlie was next, plucking his card from the table and already grabbing a cup of water in his opposite hand. "I can't help but wonder if Charlie's respecting you as much as you are him," he read aloud. The guilt left his face a ghostly white and he looked at the three boys who had returned from Casa Amor. He surveyed their faces before settling on Mason and tossing the water into his face. The board confirmed with a green checkmark.
"Oops," Mason said, wiping the water from his eyes.
Abby happily skipped forward, her long red hair braided into pigtails that made her resemble a fast-food chain mascot. She picked up her card and her nose crinkled. "Are you sure about Abby? She seems like a redneck." She put down her card and crossed two scrawny white arms across her chest. "Seems like someone who's jealous would say." She grabbed a cup and flung it right into Peyton's face.
"Again, not me!" Peyton yelled as her fingers worked at gently releasing the water from her eyes without damaging her makeup. The screen flashed red with David's name popping up.
"Sorry, Abby. It was before I got to know you, and I wanted to make sure Blake didn't screw up what he had with Peyton," David tried to defend himself.
"Can we agree to not target Peyton anymore this game? She's already gotten three shots in the face," Polly suggested. Only a few of the Islanders nodded their head in agreement.
Lucas nervously approached the table, fumbling with the edges of his card until he managed to get his grip. "I think about him all the time. I miss him," he read aloud. His voice was soft and a small smile began tugging at the edges of his lips. He grabbed a cup and walked over to Polly, gently dumping the contents of the cup down her torso rather than a violent splash into her face. She thanked him with a smile and a green checkmark on the board.
"Maddie's turn!" Julie interrupted.
Lucas and Polly were deaf to our ears, locked onto each other's eyes until Lucas snapped out of his trance. Whatever came to mind shifted his mood and he looked away from her.
I took my place in front of the table and picked up the card with my name. "Maddie? You mean the girl pining after her best friend's ex? Pathetic." I looked up from my card, annoyed. Initially, I wouldn't have known who to pick. But remembering a few things Charlie had said to me, I walked over and dumped water onto his head, weighing down the brown waves.
"I would never say something like that about you," he said, pushing his hair back.
"You already did, though. At Never Have I Ever," I corrected him. Behind him, the board flashed red, and Abby's name appeared. I shrugged it off and returned to my place.
Connor went next. "He's great, but I can't help but think about someone else." His features turned sour with annoyance. He grabbed a cup and shook his head. "Let me be wrong." He tossed the cup into Peach's face. She grimaced upon impact and kept her eyes closed until the board gave Connor a green checkmark. "Well, that's disappointing."
"I'm sorry," she whispered. Gray was staring at her from across the circle, his lips parted in surprise.
Despite the overall negative tone of the game, Julie walked up to the table with unearned confidence. She scraped up her card with her acrylics and began to read. "Julie needs to let Lucas off the leash and treat him like a human being, not a pet." She set down the card and tapped the table with her nails. "Normally, I'd say this was Polly. But this sounds like more a loudmouth." She grabbed a cup and walked over to me, losing grip mid-toss and sending the whole cup at my face. It hit me in the nose and I held my face. Charlie instinctively stepped forward to check on me, then awkwardly backed up under Ella's gaze. Julie's eyes were filled with remorse and humanity. "Maddie, I'm so sorry. I swear, it was an accident!" I could tell in her voice that she was sincere.
"It's fine, it was just a cup," I said. It still hurt like a bitch, though. The board lit up red with Ella's name, who looked less than regretful.
David stepped forward to take his turn. "Please. David's got nothing on you! You actually have a personality." He placed the card and looked around for who might defend Lucas. He tossed a cup in Charlie's face, wetting his hair further. The board lit up red and revealed Gray's name.
Before any discussion could arise, Giselle scooted forward until she had her card in her hands. She read it eagerly. "Giselle's nice, but she doesn't have anything interesting about her, ya know?" She rolled her eyes, grabbed a cup, and tossed it into Charlie's face.
"Hey!" Charlie protested. "It wasn't me!"
The board lit up red. To Giselle's displeasure, Anthony's name was on the board. "Anthony?"
"Sorry, Giselle." Anthony gave her a soft smile that didn't do anything to heal the cuts he'd just made.
Anthony stepped out of the circle to grab his card. "Why won't he notice me? He's the hottest guy ever," he read aloud and immediately grimaced. He grabbed a cup and hesitantly tossed it in Giselle's face. She looked up at him, eyes glistening slightly and cheeks red from embarrassment. The board gave him a green checkmark. "Sorry."
Polly nervously approached the table. "She's probably got at least three guys in bed with her right now," she frowned and stared Julie down. "Seriously?"
"You don't know it was me," Julie said. Polly grabbed a cup and threw it into Julie's face. The board lit up green as a confirmation. "Well, I wasn't wrong."
"Yes, you were. David and I never did bits," Polly declared to the entire group. Lucas perked up in interest.
"We saw you, Polly." Julie had an all-knowing smirk pressed into her face.
"No, it's true," David interrupted. "She was just sitting on top of me. I don't know how they edited it, but it was just a kiss."
Gray was the next to go. "He's boring." It was short, sweet, and definitely came from my mouth. "I'm guessing it was the girl America chose for me to go on a date with," he smiled and tossed the cup into Peyton's face. The board informed him he was incorrect and displayed my name in red.
"Sorry!" I called out.
Peyton was the last to go. She walked up and grabbed the single remaining card off of the table. "You're so much better than Peyton, you have nothing to worry about." She let out a small exhale through her nose and threw the last cup of water into Blake's face. As expected, she was correct.
A text came through to Gray's phone. He pulled it out of his pocket and read it aloud. "Islanders- you've completed your game. The boys got a total of four of their guesses correct, winning the game. Tomorrow night, the boys will have the advantage of picking at the recoupling."