The next day started with an exciting text to Charlie's phone. We gathered around him, our breakfast plates half-full and our coffee mugs only missing a few sips.
"Islanders, the boys will be choosing where to take you on your dates tomorrow. Please text in your choice of location in the next five minutes. #FinalDates #LastChance." He looked up from his phone at our group. "Only five minutes?"
"Oh, I've got to start thinking." Lucas literally ran away in panic.
The other couples started to space out, brainstorming ideas. Charlie's eyes flickered across his screen a few more times, and I peered over his shoulder. "Whatcha doing?" I asked.
He glanced at me from over his shoulder with a smirk. "It's a secret."
"Ugh." I sighed and flopped down beside him. My fingers picked at the sliced fruit on my plate before settling on a strip of bacon. "Well, if you need any advice, I know Maddie pretty well. I could help you out if you need some tips... suggestions..."
"Thanks, but I've already sent it in," Charlie said confidently.
I stopped chewing and found myself frozen for a few seconds. "You did? Should I be worried that you did it so fast?"
Charlie shook his head. "Not at all!"
"Well, where are we going?"
"First, we're going to a haunted house during the day. It'll be awful. Then we'll stand alongside the road and hitchhike to a restaurant famous for cheese, but when we get there, we realize that it's literally just cheese. No bread, crackers, grapes, wine, or anything. You are handed a plate of cheese and then they kick you out the door," Charlie said. I couldn't contain my laughter. "Then we'll go to an animal shelter and I'll make you stare into their sad eyes, but won't let you adopt one. And finally, we'll go to the beach and throw straws into the ocean."
"Charlie!" I gasped between laughing fits. "The effort you put in to make that so terrible... it's impressive. Why can't we get a dog, though?"
"Because I designed it to be the worst date ever."
I shook my head. "But I'd like a dog eventually, wouldn't you?"
"Oh, for sure!" Charlie confirmed. "I'd like a few, actually."
I leaned in closer, propping my chin as I gazed at him. "Tell me more."
"We could have two or three, depending on the size of our house. We'd have a doggy-door that leads out to a fenced-in yard. We could have one of every size," he said.
"Go on."
"What, you want the breeds? Okay... our small dog could be a corgi, our medium could be an Australian shepherd or something like that. And our big dog will be massive, just a bear of a dog. A Newfoundland, maybe."
I laughed at the thought. "Oh gosh. If only high-school-Maddie could see me now."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, when I was in high school, I was really into that rebellious mindset. That whole, 'I hate this town, I wanna travel, I wanna be different' and all that. And now I'm actually looking forward to a life in the suburbs." A small twinge of doubt grew in my stomach. Instead of pushing it down, I voiced it. "But not forever, right? I don't want to live in Indiana for my entire life."
"Of course not!" Charlie smiled. "The northeast sounds pretty cool, too. I could take you back to Seattle someday. Hey, maybe you'll get a job at Yellowstone and we live in the middle of nowhere!"
"That doesn't sound too bad," I admitted. Charlie smiled over at me and I blushed beneath his gaze.
"Maddie!" My name was shouted from the pool. I turned to see the other three girls sitting along the edge, dipping their feet into the water. Polly waved me over. "Come here!"
I turned to my couple and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. "I'll talk to you later?" He confirmed with a small nod as I turned and sat down with the girls. "What's up, guys?"
"We're talking about the challenge yesterday, with the babies," Peyton filled me in. "Polly misses her fake child."
"He was so cute!" Polly whined. "What if I never have a baby that cute? It's a real fear of mine, so don't laugh. But what if I push out an ugly baby? How am I supposed to put it on Instagram?"
Peyton laughed at this. "There's no such thing as an ugly baby. All babies are miracles of life!"
Peach pressed her lips together and shook her head. "Mmm... no. Sorry, Peyton, I've got to side with Polly on this one. My cousin had a baby and I almost laughed when my mom showed me the picture."
"That's horrible!" Peyton scolded.
"I haven't seen an actually cute baby in a long ass time," I admitted. "Aesthetically speaking! Sure, they're miracles and all that. But... Polly has a point."
"How do I guarantee my baby is cute?" Polly pondered.
Peyton sat still for a moment, basking in the silence that was a relaxing break from this topic that was evidently taking a toll on her. Finally, she sighed. "C-section babies come out super cute," she admitted. "Because they aren't delivered vaginally, they don't have the pressure of labor contractions squeezing their heads. But that is not a reason to undergo that surgery, it's pretty serious."
Peach leaned forward to look at me from the other side of the blondes sitting between us. "You did better with that challenge than I thought you would," she revealed.
"Yeah, I did too. I was fully ready to throw in the towel for that challenge, but when Charlie told me that he started to take care of her, it kind of melted my heart. So I didn't mind it as much. Still don't want a baby anytime soon, though," I said.
"Oh, for sure," Peach nodded. "It was just such a huge commitment from the beginning of the challenge to the end." She started laughing between her words. "Just watching you and Charlie struggle... and the fact that you kept calling your baby 'it'!"
Peyton laughed at this. "Yeah, I noticed that too."
"My bad," I squirmed. "Did you guys talk to the boys about your dates?"
"Yeah, Gray won't tell me anything about it, though." Peach's legs splashed the water as she kicked the surface. "It does make me a little nervous because he's so excited. I just hope that he understands what I want. This is a big test, honestly. This is his test to make sure that he understands who I am as a person and that he actually listens to me. That was something I didn't get with Connor, he never listened. I still remember one of his recoupling speeches, when he said, 'I wanna couple up with this girl because she's pretty,'" Peach paraphrased and rolled her eyes. "God, that made my blood boil! I know I'm hot, but talk about something else."
"Unquestionable confidence. You love to see it," Polly nodded.
Peach shrugged. "I'm a model. I've had dozens of photographers compliment me, and designers structure outfits around my body; I know what I look like. I want my partner to compliment what's beyond something as superficial and surface-level as my looks because they won't be around forever. I'm smart, let's talk about that!"
"You're so right," Peyton patted her on the shoulder. "But Gray sees you, Peach. I think he really does."
I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he seems like the real deal."
Peach smiled gratefully at us. "Thanks, you guys. I needed that reassurance. Do any of you know where you're going for your dates tomorrow?"
"I'm going to get murdered and then taken to throw plastic straws at sea turtles," I said.
"Wh-what?" Peach stammered. "Oh, that's right, you're coupled up with Charlie. No further questions. Polly?"
"I haven't even seen Lucas since he ran off," Polly laughed. She looked behind her for any sign of her couple. "No idea where he went, actually. I hope he's planning something good... but also something simple."
"Simple?" I asked.
"Yeah... I liked when he asked me to be his girlfriend; it wasn't anything too crazy. It was a beautiful, thoughtful moment with all my closest friends. And I want our final date to be like that. Just... thoughtful." Polly smiled up at the sky, her eyes admiring the fluffy white clouds overhead.
"That's really sweet, Polly," I smiled. "I bet Lucas is planning the perfect date right now."
-
"Text!" Peach shouted, holding her phone up into the air. Several hours later, our group had dispersed into several corners of the villa for alone time with our couples. I peeled myself off of Charlie and looked across that garden at Peach.
"Let's go," I sat up and stood to my feet. Charlie was less than pleased that this text had interrupted our heated makeout session. He followed behind me like a pouting toddler at a grocery store who wasn't allowed to get a bag of candy. "What's up, Peach?"
"Islanders, does America know you better than you know yourself? Today you'll be playing Totem Poll. America voted on several Twitter polls over the last few days, giving us their opinions on each Islander. In this challenge, you will be read a question and must arrange yourselves in the order you think America chose. #BottomOfTheTotemPole #DontBeCocky." Her smile was wiped off her face as we realized as a group how quickly this game could turn negative.
We walked as a group to the neighboring lot where the game had been set up with several cards laid out on a table. On the ground were stickers for 1st place through 4th place for us to arrange ourselves as needed. The boys volunteered to go first, meaning the girls would read off their questions.
Polly picked up the first card. "Who do you think is the hottest male Islander?" Lucas dismissed himself from the first place position and chose to park himself last. The boys chose Gray to go first, then Anthony, then Charlie, then Lucas. "And you are... wrong! America chose Lucas as the hottest Islander, then Anthony, then Charlie, then Gray."
Peach grabbed the next card. "Which of the boys would be most likely to cheat on you?" The boys looked around, unsure of how to arrange themselves until Anthony volunteered to go first. Charlie stood next to him, then Gray, and finally Lucas in the last place. "And you are... completely correct, wow!"
I picked up the next card. "Which of the boys do you think has had the most one-night stands?" Anthony and Gray fought over who should go first while Charlie and Lucas hung back. Finally, Anthony took the first position, then Gray, then Charlie, then Lucas. "And... wow, not correct. So first, America chose Lucas...? Then Charlie, then Anthony, then Gray."
"Hey, I'll take it!" Lucas grinned, happy that America seemingly thought so highly of him.
Peyton grabbed the last card for the boys. "And finally... which boy is most likely to get married first?" Despite verbal protests, Anthony put himself in the first place, followed by Lucas, Charlie, and Gray. "Nope. They put Charlie in first, then Lucas, then Gray, then Anthony."
"Come on," Anthony rolled his eyes.
The teams swapped out and the girls stood opposite the guys. The stickers were just in front of us as we waited on the first question.
Anthony picked up a card. "Who is the hottest female Islander?" I backed up and let the others figure it out. None of us necessarily wanted to step into the first place position, but Peyton did it by default. I moved to the opening on the third-place sticker as we awaited our results. "Close! Peach is first, then Peyton, then Maddie, then Polly."
"Aw," Polly whispered beside me.
Lucas grabbed the next card. "Which girl is most likely to cheat on you?" Peyton reluctantly moved to the first place position. I volunteered to put myself last. Peach and Polly randomly assigned themselves places. "Oh... okay. So, they said Maddie is in first... then Peyton, then Polly, then Peach."
"What?" I responded, then shut my mouth and prepared for the next round.
Charlie read the next card aloud. "Which girl do you think has had the most one-night stands?" We looked around at each other, not knowing for ourselves what was necessarily true, and not sure what America would think after the previous rounds' revelations. Finally, Peyton put herself first, then Peach, then Polly, then myself. "You guys are correct!"
Gray read the last card of the game. "Which girl is most likely to get married first?" By thinking of last round's answers, we decided to put me in the first place, then Polly, then Peach, then Peyton. "That's right!"
We cheered, thinking our game had been completed before another text came through to my phone. "Oh... text? Islanders, don't think you're done hearing what America thinks of you. Today you'll be playing one last round of Mean Tweets."
Polly looked around our group, confused and fazed by this challenge. "Wait... is there a game this time? Are we supposed to guess?"
"I don't think so, Polly. I think it's literally just designed to insult us," Gray said.
We sat in a circle holding our cards in our hands. Lucas went first.
"Does anyone else feel like Lucas is gonna get hurt? That relationship is so one-sided, Polly could never love him back as much as he loves her." Lucas read his card aloud and placed it down. "Nope, not true."
Polly seemed pleased with his response and read her card. "Polly settling for Lucas... yikes. You can do better." She looked up from the card with furrowed brows. "I'd like to have a few words with some Twitter users!"
"Yeah this literally isn't fun at all," Lucas frowned. "How is this a challenge? It's just mean."
Still, the producers coaxed us on and Peyton picked up the next card. "Is it obvious to anyone else that Peyton has zero interest in Anthony? She's just using him to get the $50 grand." Peyton rolled her eyes and flopped her card down. "Rude."
"Let's see mine," Anthony said as he turned over his card. "Anthony and Peyton will never last. Two cheaters never prosper!" He leaned back in his seat with a small smile. "That's pretty funny, actually."
"You think that's funny?" Peyton sneered.
His confidence faltered but never vanished. "Yes?"
Charlie looked nervous as he picked up his card. "Charlie coupling up with Peach then Maddie was the downgrade of the century. Like trading in your PS5 for a Game Boy."
"I kinda agree with that one, but it still hurt," I commented.
Peach scoffed. "Downgrade my ass."
"Don't listen to them," Charlie shook his head. "It's obvious that America has no idea what's going on in our lives." A little voice inside me told me that wasn't true for all of us.
I grabbed my card with a thousand butterflies rattling in my stomach. "So we're just all gonna forget about Noah and how fast Maddie dropped him? Okay... she just seems so fake." I frowned and tossed my card aside. "Noted."
"Don't take it to heart," Peach advised. She reached for her card and flipped it over. "Why are two boys fighting over Peach? That was like watching two men fight for a crumb among a feast of beautiful women." She looked up from his card looking disappointed. "That was a weird analogy, but they got their insult across."
Gray picked up the final card. "Gray should've been dumped weeks ago. Maddie was right, he is boring. Speak up, damn!" He smirked at his card and tossed it away. "I mean... fair. I'm working on it."
Our game was over, but no one moved. We all sat in uncomfortable silence as we dwelled on what America thought of us, and what that meant in terms of how long until we'd be dumped.