Liv's POV
After getting changed into my dress for the night, choosing a matching pair of strappy, black sandal/wedges and fixing my hair and make up, I made my way down stairs.
As I was the first one ready and down stairs once all the boys had gone to finally get dressed, I was alone in the kitchen.
What I thought was my phone buzzed on the counter as I stood drinking from a water bottle and I sighed, going to pick it up.
But it wasn't my phone on the counter.
It was Freya's and it was from a WhatsApp group chat titled 'Operation Oilmon'. And it was a message from Tobi- "Any progress with our future Mr and Mrs Minter?"
And it didn't take a world class detective to figure out what this was.
"Fucking unbelievable." I muttered to myself completely perplexed.
They had a fucking group chat dedicated to shipping me and Simon. This was beyond a joke now.
But before my anger could grow anymore and raise into me causing a group wide shouting match, I heard voices coming down the stairs from the villa living room and knew I needed to calm down. They didn't know that I knew.
And when I told Simon, I was already planning to raise holy hell.
"Liv's ready!" I heard someone yell from behind me and I swiftly threw the phone back down onto the marble worktop pretending to fiddle with my rings on my hand.
"The others not like?" I heard someone else call to the mystery person who I guessed was Cal by the accent. "Yeah they're taking a month," then he addressed me, "you look nice." He finally addressed me as the sound of footsteps follows him in.
"Cheers Cal. You too." I returned as I turned to see his dorky smile and felt an arm wrap around my shoulders from behind, across my neck. "What'cha doin'?" He asked in a sing-song voice.
"Nothing, waiting for you idiots." I replied. "Well you look lovely Miss Lenney......Simon's gonna have some trouble keeping his hands to himself." I heard the Scottish boy whisper in my ear sending a shiver down my spine. So he was obviously on the shipping group chat. Who else was? Everyone?
Cal was always my best friend out of the boys I lived with. I loved him just as much as I loved Harry and Lux, but we were so similar it was weird. We were like the female/male doubles of each other.
Being a taller girl was an advantage in cases like my friendships with Cal and Simon and in being Will's sister- it made it easier to hug them and I didn't feel so dainty around them.
Once again I chuckled as I shoved him back off of me and turned around slowly. Cal was stood with a cheeky grin while Lux and Harry appeared in the door way behind him.
Harry was fiddling with his hair and Lux was playing on his phone as Cal leisurely leaned back against the marble countertop under the air-conditioner fan that I'd been under to keep cool. "Where's Will?" I asked Harry who shrugged. "Still in our room why?"
"Nothing, just saw something earlier I wanted to ask him about." I lied. Of course Will wouldn't be on that chat, so maybe he could help me find out more from the others with out letting them know I knew about it.
"Where's Si? You tire him out already?" Lux teased and I rolled my eyes. "Are we all on that now?" I asked and the boys all laughed with varying nods.
"What Ollie are we not allowed to be happy for you? You and Simon have both been single for yonks!" Harry joked and my anger only started to bubble again.
Harry gave me a wink while he came up to me and shuck my shoulders before taking a beer bottle from the counter behind me. "We're about to leave?" I chastised before he noticed Freya's phone on the bench. "Freya left her phone." He mumbled and I shrugged. "She'll find it."
"If it was one of the lads, I'd have pranked the bastard." Lux said and I laughed. But my heart wasn't in it.
Harry's POV
Now I'm not the cleverest but Liv seemed off. It didn't take a genius to read her face and know she was hiding something. She was always bad at hiding her emotions when things were bothering her. But Liv hated confronting her own emotions is I didn't fancy prying incase an argument was started.
I noticed her staring at me with an eye role at the beer in my hand and I groaned, "Don't give me that look you're not my mum."
"The day Liv becomes a mum is the day she finally admits she likes Minter." Cal reminded me and She groaned. "Piss off, both of you....I'm not in the mood for that."
But then someone sent me a saving grace her annoyance in the form of Freya.
"Would you three leave her be." I heard her voice as she appeared around the corner like we had and shot Liv a smile.
She looked nice in a pretty blue dress, it suited her and Josh, who appeared behind her, seemed to think so too- smiling down at her. Moments like this made me miss Katie being away from home.
"She's our best friend Freya.....we have a right to tease her." Lux defended with a shrug. Liv just reached over and hit his arm "idiot.....Freya, looking gorgeous." She joked with a wink and she laughed as Ethan and Emily appeared behind her and Josh.
Emily also looked wonderful in a pair of black shorts and a nice red top while Liv wore a black summer dress that was low cut and high waisted, coming down to her knee.
She was one of those girls who didn't cake it on and still managed to look naturally beautiful. The dress had a flowing, chiffon hem and a lace waist price that lay under her chest.
This is why Simon liked her so much. She was like him, simple yet good looking. Natural and genuine. I was happy for him and for her to have someone who liked her so much. She was like a sister to me.
"Speaking of looking good, Olive....." Emily shot her a wink back and is guys laughed at the girls all hitting on each other. "Should we be worried?" Ethan joked and Emily shuck her head, "No we're all taken......and as for Livvy, Simon's not gonna be able to keep his hands off."
"Jesus, Em! Ethan control your woman!" Liv yelled as we all looked at her. For some reason the Simon jokes seemed to be really getting to her tonight. She didn't seem like she was joking.
Emily giggled, "What? I'm just making an observation." She surrendered.
"Observation my arse." Was Liv's reply. "Come on." Emily whined. "Leave her be." Freya repeated and I smiled. "Now there's our mum."
"I'm the same age half the people in this room!" Freya yelled and we all laughed. "You're still our mum Frey." Emily said and she grumbled. "A disappointed mum."
"Don't worry.....I'm used to being a disappointment." I shrugged and we all laughed again.
The sound of foot falls coming down the hall told us, Simon, JJ and Will were coming with Gee's giggle and Chip's voice carrying behind them.
"And here comes the last of the hoard." Lux announced and we all cheered. "Ibiza squad!" I began to chant and eventually the boys all joined in.
"We're dating children." Freya sighed and Emily gave a solemn nod. "Indeed we are."
"Ladies looking finnnnnnnne." JJ tried to smoothly nod at all of the girls before he was tackled by yours truly. "Come on you lot." Freya sighed taking the lead.
I still wanted to know what was up with Liv, but seeing Simon walk up behind her, I decided to leave it for now. Let her be happy.
Liv's POV
"Hey!" I felt someone hold my wrist as I went to follow the others who all began to file out. "JJ was right, you look......you look really good tonight....ah! Not that you don't look good all the time.....I mean.....I mean....I-."
"Simon." I stopped my lanky friend. "Thank you......you look handsome too." I said before I kissed his cheek sweetly in thanks.
For a minutes his eyes widened to the size of saucers and I giggled, "hey....can we talk later? I have to tell you something....alone." I said and he nodded with a stuttering "y...y...yeah sure." And I smiled. I and moved away slightly, then I grabbed his hand, "Come on," and dragged him out towards the taxis.
-.-.-.-.-.-
Simon's POV
My head was spinning with possibilities as to what Liv wanted to chat about 'alone' but I pushed those thought away when she dragged me into the same taxi as her and we were off.
Instead of taking the rental cars tonight, the thirteen of us decided to break into two groups and order two taxis so we could all drink on the first night.
Poor Harry was stuck with the couples in one minivan while the other six of us were in the other car. Will was up front with JJ behind the driver, the Cal's were in the middle and I was with Liv in the back seats.
"Aye! Allow it man!" JJ yelled messing with Will who tried, and failed, to bat his hands away from the radio that the poor driver was being subjected to. "Why didn't you ride with the girls?" Cal turned and asked Liv suddenly and she shrugged, "didn't fancy being stuck around a bunch of couples." Was what she replied, "makes me feel cripplingly single."
"Personally I like that you're cripplingly single." Will spoke up from in front of us and she sighed. "Well you're a dick so your opinion is null and void."
"Rude." Was his remark back.
"Ah the Lenney siblings, reminding us all that none of us miss home as much as we claim we do." Lux said and we all laughed. "Me and Deji and Tobi and Manny are chill why can't you two be?" JJ asked from up front.
"Cause unlike Will- Deji and Manny aren't overbearing arseholes who overstep the brother mark." She quipped with a smart-arse jibe back at her brother and I laughed out loud.
"Something funny back there minter?" I heard Will threaten and I laughed harder. "Will you couldn't fight a pigeon. Stop acting hard." His sister sighed again and I smiled. Why was she being so defensive of me recently?
"Mate she has a point.....you're four years younger.....bet she used to deck you when you were little." Cal said and Will adamantly shuck his head. "Nah, mental torture was Liv's thing."
"It always is with big siblings." I finally spoke up. "What you trying to say Minter?" Liv sassed and I smiled down at her under the weak lights of the taxi. "Just pointing out that as an older sister, you are naturally more inclined to inflict bouts of cruelty and evil towards your younger siblings." I said and she shuck her head.
"Bloody arseholes the lot of you." She grumbled. "Heavy is the head that wears the eldest child crown." I falsely quoted in a fake wise voice. "Well privileged is the best who wears the youngest child tiara." She sassed me again and I laughed. I loved how easily we joked with each other.
"What? Si that makes no sense. Harry's a big brother too....you've seen what he is like with Josh and Rosie." Lux defended.
"yeah a bloody angel!" Liv yelled.
"You were still awful when we were younger." Will maintained.
"Alright we get it....growing up with Liv and in Newcastle was shit, move on." Cal joked and we all laughed, me hitting his arm for pissing Liv off with a joke against her home town.
"Oi!" She yelled, also swatting at his head with her hand. "Ow! Liv!"
"Kids! Don't make me awkwardly ask the nice driver man to pull over!" JJ yelled back at us and we all descended into another roar of laughter. "Says you mate? You're the one bursting his checking ear drums- poor bloke." Will said.
Liv giggled while I couldn't help but look down at her and smile.
This holiday was gonna be great if it continued this way. But what about that talk she wanted?
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Josh's POV
It'd been a few hours since we'd all reached the inner city and had our meal. The tapas and sangria was great but now we were all officially out in Ibiza living the true 'young adult' lifestyle of partying and drinking the warm summer night away.
We'd all walked through the Ibiza streets after our food, passing from bar to bar, Freya and the other girls dragging each other, stumbling across the cobbles in their heels between clubs. Despite all of our high holiday spirits and newly found relaxation. All of us hand began to notice Liv was seemingly off.
She was constantly watching all of us with investigative eyes and gave short answers when spoken to. She had clearly been trying to have a good time but something was wrong. I was gonna ask Will about it but once I'd had a few, I'd lost the motivation to take the worries further.
I'd stayed back with Lux, Cal and Ethan at one of the bars during an intense round of 2-a-side pool and now we were lagging to catch up to the others.
Walking with the other lads, Ethan had his head down following the directions to the bar as Cal walked beside him and Lux walked beside me. We'd been told by the others were they were and just as I was about to admit defeat and call Freya again, I spotted the bar's sign. "Look!" I announced.
But what baffled me below the sign, in the beer garden beside a long table our group had probably snagged.
Was Simon and Liv.
I immediately recognised the pair by Simon's silver-dyed hair and threw an arm out to stop the Lux beside me. "Is that Si and Liv?" He asked baffled and I just nodded my mouth still hanging agape.
Simon was sat on the table with Liv between his legs, hugging her around her waist as she had her head buried in his neck. They seemed to be laughing at something as she held her hair out of the way and both of their shoulders shuck, but from a street across I couldn't make out their faces.
"Are they hugging?" Lux asked just as baffled as I was.
"Take a picture and send it to the group......Tobi's right......we have some progress." I joked and he chuckled. "Indeed we do."
Operation Oilmon
Callux: ATTENTION! We have Olimon progress! I repeat! We have progress!
Freya: HOLY SHIT! Wth is going on here!
Tbjzl: Yes! 👏 good work Lux
Jide: FUCK YES!
Harold: are they outside?
Freya: yeah they went to get a table.
Chippers: me and Gee are heading out now with Will.
Gee: is this all why Liv's been acting so dodgy all day?
Emily: probs tbh
Freezey: you guys noticed it too?
Callux: wasn't that hard. Liv's an open book
Harold: I wanted to say something but didn't
BigJosher: same^
Gee: do we say something?
Freya: nah leave it, Liv probably been bothered by all the teasing tonight.....if they're hiding a relationship we should respect that if they're not ready to tell us.
Jide: fuck that we're their mates.
BigJosher: nah jide, Freya's right.
Vikkstar: Ik it does matter but I agree with Freya.
Tbjzl: same^ have fun in Ibiza, send more ship pics 🚢
Gee: we're outside now, and they've sat together on the table.
Freya: ok on our way out with the drinks now.