"Cheers to Emma!" Noel raises his water bottle.
The whole camp joins in, cheering to a lovely meal and tucking into the Australian cuisine.
Even as we eat, James and I cuddle up on John's bed beside the fire, openly enjoying each other's warmth.
I really do love this lot.
*****
In the morning ...
"Good morning celebrities!" Holly and Dec skip into our campsite. "How is everyone doing?"
"Ok," I chirp. "I fell down the toilet this morning because someone left the toilet seat up!"
"I didn't mean to! Leave off would ya." Harry complains like a little schoolboy.
Dec giggles and then begins to get to business. "Ok. So we are here to reveal who the public has voted to face today's trial, 'Dreaded Deliveries'. In no particular order ..."
"Fleur, the public has decided ... it's not you."
"James ... it's not you."
"Anne ... it's not you."
"Sair ... it might be you."
"John ... it's not you."
"Harry ... it's not you."
"Emma ... it's not you."
"Emily ... it's not you."
"Nick ... it's not you."
"Noel ... it's not you."
"Which means Malique, it might be you."
"The public has voted and they've decided the celebrity they want to see face 'Dreaded Deliveries' is ... both of you! Malique and Sair, please get ready to leave camp and we'll see you at the clearing very shortly."
Dec and Holly leave camp whilst we all deliberate on what the trial might be. Maybe eating, or maybe a heights challenge, but I wouldn't know as they throw everything and anything at us in here.
"Good luck hunny," I wish Sair farewell. "You'll boss it, ok?"
"Thanks, Em." She blows me a kiss. "See you all later!"
Mal and Sair head to the clearing. Once they've disappeared into the depths of the outback, all the campmates begin to disperse around camp. I know Noel is meditating by the creek, Fleur and Emily are showering, and everyone else is just laid about.
"James?" He looks up from his hammock. "Can we have a chat?"
"Sure." He nods, rolling out of his hammock a lot more graciously than I've ever done it. "Where did you wanna chat?"
"Is the treehouse ok?" I ask.
The treehouse is a sensual area that I haven't really spent much time in. It has a very cosy swinging chair and delicately planted flowers surrounding a mimic fence. It's certainly very cosy.
"What's up?" He asks when we take a seat. "Have I done something wrong?"
I frown. "What? No of course not."
"Well, what is it?"
"I just ... I want to know what we are. I mean we kiss and things, but we're hiding it from the campmates."
It's his turn to frown. "But I thought that's what you wanted?"
"It was, but now I'm more certain of this...us, I think they need to know." I place a hand on his knee. "I really like you. I want people to know that."
He has the most gorgeous face, with sparkling navy eyes and a rose-coloured smile.
"So ... we're officially dating?" He smirks. "Because I really want to date you, Emma."
My insides blush. "...Yeah. I'd really like that."
"Cool," He chuckles cutely. I feel like I'm back in secondary school with the puppy-love and butterfly feeling. "Come here."
I scoot closer to James on the bench, cuddling into his chest. "But you realise what we have to do now?"
"What?" His hands' stroke through my knotted hair.
"We need to find a way to tell everyone."
"Oh yeah ..." He stops. "Actually, don't you worry about that. I'll sort that out."
As his fingers lace through my brunette locks, I wonder what type of concoction he's planning.
That night...
Nothing too exciting has really happened today, except for the chat I had with James this morning. Sair and Mal managed to come back from the trial with eleven stars like the little stars they are.
It was an eating trial, and the whole camp gathered to listen to their explanation of the taste of fish eyes and camel hoof.
After enjoying eleven meals of squab (baby pigeon) as our prize (cooked by John and me), everyone comes together for the final part of the evening. When we don't have trials, the evenings are my favourite part of the day, as we all get to sit and have a laugh. We end up discovering so much about each other, and it only brings us closer.
"Emma!" Fleur beams when I walk back from the Telegraph. "We have an idea!"
"Huh?" I frown, throwing my water bottle onto Nick's bed. "What kind of idea?"
"We should perform our dance tonight! You know? To Sax!" Emily belts, standing and spinning around.
She's been practising for days now, and from the help of Fleur and I, she has become a pretty snazzy dancing partner.
"Let's do it! It'll be fabulous!" John sings, spreading his arms out like an eagle. "You girls go get ready and glammed up. I'll get my singing voice to the max!"
Glammed up? We're in the jungle.
Fleur and Emily sprint up to me and grab my hands, pulling me back to the dunny area where we're supposed to prepare.
"Oh my gosh, let's do this!" Emily ties up her shirt like the 90's fashion. It's a little cheesy, but since joining the jungle, my dignity has gone out the window.
I grab a hair tie and pinch up my tee, bringing it up past my belly-button and tying it with a band. We all do a bit of a warm-up, stretching out our arms and legs, before running back into camp.
"Ladies and gentleman!" John beams like the greatest showman. "Please welcome to the stage, Fleur, Emma and Emily, performing the dance to SAX!"
The girls and I skip back into the camp. All the other campmates are sat around the roaring campfire, applauding, cheering and screaming us on like it's a sold out concert.
We take our first position, and John grabs a pan and a wooden spoon to bang the beat. "And a one, two and a three and a four!"
"Give it to me!" Fleur sings, and John lays down a beat.
We fly through the routine. Emily does take a stumble, but everyone finds it absolutely hilarious. What's way more impressive though is that John perfects, let alone knows every single word to Fleur's song, and she didn't even teach him.
We reach the final chorus and power through the dance, stepping and shaking our hips. It's a very sexual dance in parts, and when they come along, I can feel James' eyes pierce into my curves.
"YOU BETTER PLAY THAT SAX!" John bellows the final line, pacing up from the log and jumping at Fleur to give her a hug. Instead, with a giant force, John just knocks her over and they end up in a pile on the floor.
I pull Fleur up from the leafy muddy ground, take her and Emily's hand, and we all take a bow. We are rewarded with standing ovations from all of the campmates - it's really has raised the mood in the camp.
"Everyone! Everyone stop!" James shouts over the applause. "Can everyone stop a second?"
"What is it, James?" Emily scratches her head. "What's wrong?"
He smirks. "I have an idea for the big finale."
Huh?
"What were you thinking of?"
James walks around the fire with the most mischevious grin, and when he approaches me, I know that it's time.
"You know," he rubs his hands together as an evil genius would. "Why not end the performance with a bang?"
I feel all eyes on me as James struts past Emily and Fleur. He grabs my hands and places them on his shoulders, grabbing my middle and hoisting me up so my legs wrap around his waist.
And he kisses me ... in front of everyone.
It's soft, slow and smiley, but the screaming roar of all the other campmates threatens my ears to bleed. It's just a whirlwind of squeals from the girls and laughter from all the guys.
"OH MY GOD!" Emily screams. "I KNEW IT!"
I kiss James for a good while before he puts me down and wraps me into his chest. My heart beats ten to a dozen and with my head on his chest, I'm pretty sure I can hear his too.
Everyone's in absolute euphoria. "I knew it!" Harry belts. "You've been talking absolute cobblers! I knew you two were a thing!"
"Congrats Em," Nick comes and hugs me. "So how long as this been a thing?"
"Yeah! How long?" John squeals.
"Since we got our letters from home," James tells him. "We had ... a bit of a moment."
"OMG HARRY!" Malique roars. "I won the bet! You owe me 5 grand!"
"I meant 5,000 roly polys!"
As the night goes on and everyone grows a bit more tired, it's nice to hug into James, hold is hand and feels his warmth in the comfort of everyone else.
"You two are so cute," Fleur studies us. We're both sat on the floor, cuddled up in a cute ball. "I feel so single."
Mal scratches the back of his head.
Now the next mission is to get them two together.
******
Thank god the campmates now know about them!
Thank you to the wonderful EmilyLivermore5 for all the hilarious and supportive comments!
Xoxo