Grunts of exertion filled her ears as she approached the gym. Finn grinned at her as he finished out five more sit-ups. Suresh lay across the gym bench, contracting his pecs with each rep of chest flies. Sweat glistened on their muscles, making Aviva suddenly feel incredibly parched. She coughed and swallowed to wet her dry throat, leaning against the pull-up equipment.
"Right; why am I here?" Aviva asked. "Surely it's not just to watch you both flex."
"As if you'd complain." Suresh exhaled on his effort as he pulled the weights above his chest, though his voice still carried its usual arrogance.
Aviva rolled her eyes. "You're hyperextending your arms on the downswing." She corrected, barely passing a second glance over his form.
Suresh twitched on the bench, fixing his posture to slightly bend his arms as he lowered them again.
"Ha! I tried to tell him." Finn forced himself to his feet and stretched his tightened abs by raising his arms high above his head. "You were in the beach hut when we all woke up; I didn't get to say good morning."
Aviva smirked. "You called me over just to say good morning?"
"And to see your face."
Aviva turned her head to the side, concealing the blush that crept its way up her neck to her face behind her thick curls. "Well, don't hide it now!" He laughed. Finn sidled up beside her, nudging her shoulder slightly. "You know, my day will officially be made if you join me for breakfast."
Aviva dared to look at his face. He was standing so close. She could smell the natural scent of him; it threatened to consume her entirely. She almost despised him for taking advantage of her girlish reactions; for smiling at her the way he always did, causing her to blush every shade of red. For saying things that made her heart flutter. For making her knees weak with one look. She hated herself most for liking it.
Neither of them noticed Suresh had completed his set and was now stretching out his sore muscles. "Shouldn't Kat be joining you for breakfast?"
Finn turned to Suresh; the only sign of irritation was the slight furrow in his brow. "Why?"
"Because you shouldn't be eating with other girls when you have each other. You know, committed relationships and all that." Suresh wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel before draping it around his neck.
Finn's gaze slid to Aviva. "You'd know all about commitment, huh, mate?" He threw an arm around Aviva's narrow shoulders and began leading them toward the villa. He deliberately took a moment to look back at Suresh. "A real expert." He called, emphasizing the ex.
Suresh seethed, tightly gripping the ends of the towel. Aviva stumbled a bit as she peered back at Suresh over Finn's toned shoulder. Finn pulled her a little tighter, forcing her to look ahead.
She eased away from him with a grimace. "You're so sweaty."
He tugged her back in with a lecherous grin. "You want to help me clean it all off?"
She could feel her ears and cheeks burning.
Is this a game to him?
Once again, with great effort, she placed some distance between them. "He's right, you know." She twisted her face in disgust. Agreeing with Suresh tasted horrid. "You should be with Kat."
Finn slowed his pace to a stop, and Aviva followed. "We're not...things haven't been good since the whole Excess Baggage thing. To be honest, I don't think they've ever been good."
"Apparently Kat hasn't gotten the memo." Aviva looked out at the garden. "Why do you keep picking her, then?"
And why did you kiss me?
He still hadn't explained himself about that kiss. He seemed perfectly content to sweep it all under the rug, carrying on with her, pretending as if it hadn't happened at all. She was frustrated with herself for being too afraid to bring it up, worried that she'd disturb the perfect balance they'd established with each other since then.
"She's a nice girl..." Finn's hand wrapped around Aviva's wrist. When his eyes found hers, his words died on his tongue. "But I...you..." He stepped closer.
Aviva swallowed, her breathing shallow under their close proximity. "Why do you keep doing this?"
"Doing what?"
Toying with me...
"Aviva!" Alfie's voice interrupted. The moment between them instantly splintered off on the breeze. The sunny boy came between them, placing a kiss on Aviva's cheek, causing her to jump.
The action felt strangely intimate and a little possessive. He made it a point to take her hand from Finn's grasp into his and bring her securely to his side. "Ready for breakfast, love? There's a big bowl of pineapple waiting for you just there."
He tugged her hand lightly toward the breakfast tables that were now set up on the lawn. Aviva turned her eyes away from Finn's, nodding at her partner. She should have felt thankful for Alfie for pulling her out of the riptide that was Finn O'Connor. Instead, she felt resentful. Of all the times they'd talked, Finn never openly denounced his "relationship" with Kat. Perhaps she was kidding herself, but Aviva held on to hope that he was about to tell her how he really felt. Progress: it was progress. It was a feeling she couldn't shake, that there was more to him than he was letting on. She just wished he'd stop playing with her. He had to know how much she wanted him, right?
Before she knew it, she was firmly planted in a seat across from Alfie, a full spread of fresh fruit, eggs, toast, and almost every other breakfast staple imaginable covering the table. Alfie filled her teacup with English Breakfast tea and pushed a bowl of brightly yellow pineapples to her side of the table.
"Thank you." She whispered before taking a careful sip of her hot tea.
Alfie coughed lightly, glancing over to Finn and Kat's table. "You weren't in bed this morning."
Aviva looked over to Finn to find he was already looking at her. She quickly stabbed a piece of fruit, turning her attention back to Alfie. "Beach hut. They scheduled it yesterday, but I forgot to tell you."
"I wish you came straight away." He rolled some cherry tomatoes back and forth on his plate. "I missed you."
Aviva choked on her tea, silverware clattering under the force of her knee hitting the table. She held a hand up to dismiss the islanders' curiosity. "You did?"
Alfie reset the cutlery that had been knocked aside and looked up at his partner. "Of course. It's nice waking up to you." He said with complete sincerity.
Aviva shoved fruit into her mouth and chewed vigorously. Admittedly, sharing a bed with Alfie wasn't too bad. She always knew he felt more for her than she did for him, but lately, he was doing and saying things that made her think he might be in a little too deep for her liking.
She looked around at the other tables. Eddie and Dana were having the dullest conversation about porridge. Arlo was enthusiastically sharing details about something Aviva couldn't quite hear while Suresh pretended to listen, occasionally nodding in agreement. He perked up when he caught Aviva's gaze and winked, attempting to cover it up from Arlo by rubbing his eye. "An eyelash, babe, yeah." He tried to reassure his date. Arlo could freeze the whole country if her eyes were any colder.
Aviva avoided her and looked over Suresh's head to Finn and Kat. The dancer was leaning over the table, working overtime for Finn's attention, though he seemed more fascinated by the strawberry between his fingers. As if he could feel her eyes on him, he looked up at Aviva as he bit into the fruit, tongue flicking out seductively. Teasing. Challenging.
Cheeky bastard.
Alfie's fork clinked against his plate, and Aviva snapped her head to see him. "Did you hear me?" He questioned with a withering stare.
Before Aviva could respond, a commotion sprang up from the other table.
"Hello. Hi. My name is Kat, and I'm the girl you're on a date with!" Kat shouted, smacking the strawberry from Finn's hand.
"Sorry, Kat, I was just having a laugh." Finn said, reaching down the grab the fallen fruit.
"No, you're winding me up! God, do you enjoy giving me grief?" She raised a finger and pointed. "And so is she! You're such a try-hard. Stick with your own man, alright?"
Oh shit.
Arlo looked around. Realizing the accusation was directed at her, she spoke. "Me? First of all, I don't need to try. If I wanted, I could have him. Second, if he made eyes at me, it was his own choice. It's not my fault if you're a miserable date."
Kat jumped out of her seat, the lush ground catching the chair before it could slam on the ground. Suresh cut in. "Kat, can you at least wait until after breakfast before you let your claws out?"
"Yeah, let's all calm down and enjoy our meal, alright?" Alfie chimed in.
Kat reluctantly took her seat, though she clearly wasn't ready to let it go. Aviva was just thankful her ire wasn't directed at her, the real source of the problem.
Alfie resumed eating, chewing, and swallowing before picking up the conversation. "I didn't know that him and Arlo had a thing. I've never seen them together. Not as much as you two, at least." He put his utensils down. "Actually, before I was saying that I've been wanting to talk to you about something." His brown eyes searched hers for a moment, eventually landing on Finn again.
"Oh, okay. Is um, is everything alright?" She knew it wasn't. Why did she feel the need to ask?
"Yeah, I just think that we've been here for a while now, and maybe we should start thinking about, you know, the long game?" He edged forward, motioning for her hand. Aviva hesitated but yielded to his softness with minimal effort.
"Right."
"You don't seem convinced..."
"I-it's not that," Aviva sputtered. "I just need more time?"
That answer wasn't what he was looking for. Alfie gulped down the last of his water and forced himself to smile. "Okay."
"Okay?"
He crossed his fork and knife in the center of his empty plate. "I don't know when the next recoupling will be or if they'll send more people in to shake up the villa. But, for now, we can just enjoy the time together. No pressure." He flopped his napkin on the table and pushed his seat back to stand.
"Wait!" She called, flinging her napkin to the ground in her panic. Alfie stood and waited for her to speak. "Do you, um...do you want to see my designs?" Aviva offered nervously.
She wasn't entirely sure why she felt so desperate to make him stay. Perhaps she felt guilty for doing exactly what the public accused her of - stringing him along. Showing her sketchbook was like bearing her heart; it held so many emotions she rarely let anyone see it. Only a select few designs were ever inked on her skin, and even those were marked in specific places – everything else was locked away. This felt like her last-ditch effort to redeem herself. To show him that she did trust him – to an extent.
Alfie's eyebrows climbed up his forehead. "Seriously?"
"Well, yeah. I was planning on drawing after this, but you can join me if you want." She gently pressed her fingers against the edge of her plate and pushed, disturbing the pristine white tablecloth beneath it.
"Uh, alright. Yeah, I'd love to see them." His smile encouraged her own lips to lift in response.
Aviva got to her feet and bent over to retrieve her discarded napkin. The familiar sound of knees colliding with the underbelly of a table and utensils clattering out of place caught her attention. She tossed a look over her shoulder just in time to see Kat fussing over the mess and to witness Finn's cheeks flaring red and bright as he attempted to look at anything but Aviva's provocative positioning.
Alfie stood over her. "You ready, Aviva?"
Aviva straightened up. "Yes, just need to grab my sketchbook." She said with a firm nod. Alfie offered her his arm, and she entwined herself with him. As he led her away from the breakfast area, Aviva couldn't help but spare one last glance behind her.
Her eyes locked with Finn's.
And she had to look away because the intensity there was nearly blinding.
What is he doing to me...?