"I got a text," Gary yelled, even though they were all in the same garden, swilling mediocre champagne. Well, everyone except Lili, who'd turned down champers for a fruity mocktail. "Gonna play Truth or Dare over at the fire pit," Gary read.
Hope smirked. "This is my game, you guys! Let's go!"
And so they did. It seemed that most of the show's footage was going to be the group scurrying from one location to another while sweaty cameramen chased after them.
Two piles of cards sat on the bench seat. One marked truth and one dare. Rocco whinged about wanting to make up his own dares. Probably because they'd all involve the girls getting naked with him as their spiritual chakras aligned or something equally appalling. Bobby usually liked everyone, but he didn't care for Rocco at all.
He took a seat next to Marisol who gave him a pretty smile. "Don't you love these kinds of games? You can learn so much about people based on their choices."
"Yeah, they're great," he said, not meaning it at all. He hated stuff like this. It made him anxious. Even more so with Marisol analyzing his every blink and twitch.
"I choose dare!" Hope took it upon herself to snatch up the first card. Lottie pulled a face and whispered something to Lili, who shrugged and laughed.
"Give a foot massage to one of the other islanders," Hope read, looking a little less excited for the challenge.
He couldn't stop himself from laughing at Noah and Hope's expressions. "Wow! Getting right in there!"
Across from him, Hannah tinged green. "Ugh, gross! I don't think I could touch someone's feet on the first day I met them!"
Lili laughed and leaned over Lottie to give Hannah's hand a squeeze. "You always have the right to say no. Especially to feet. Choose truth on your turn, or this game is going to traumatize you."
"What, and miss out on all the fun?" Bobby said. "'Suck someone's toes' might be in there too." He gave Lili a wink.
"Gross!" Hannah gagged.
Lili crossed her shapely legs and pointed a foot at him. "Spare us your fantasies, mate." Her voice was warm with amusement. Her high heeled sandal exposed a long graceful foot and shiny black toenails, which was an interesting choice. He would have assumed she'd go bright pink, like her personality.
He let his gaze linger on her foot before he looked up and wriggled his eyebrows at her. "If you only knew..."
She threw her head back and laughed and he forgot to breathe for a moment. His hands started to sweat. He wasn't actually a foot guy, but he'd massage hers if the card came up for it. And do anything else the card said, honestly, if it meant he got to touch her.
It wasn't creepy if the game made him do it. Right?
Ibrahim watched the exchange and edged into the quarter centimeter of space he'd left between himself and Lili. He wrapped a huge, possessive arm around her.
Marisol pierced Bobby with her assessing gaze, but she didn't say anything. Which was good, because he had no excuse for his blatant grafting. He wasn't this guy. Except right now, he was.
Hope cleared her throat to draw attention back to herself. She announced that Noah would receive the foot rub.
Bobby clapped. "Come on, big man, get those piggies out!" Noah turned and everyone squashed in tighter so he could put his massive feet in Hope's lap.
Lottie turned to Lili. "You know what they say," she stage-whispered as she separated her hands by 25 centimeters. Lili covered her mouth and laughed.
He knew what she meant. Bobby shifted his respectable size ten** shoes. How many more ways would he be inferior in the villa? Because his...shoe size had always been one thing he had going for him. He'd never had complaints about that. Just everything else.
His pride was going to be severely bruised when this was all done. Big Jonno would love that.
The foot rub went on forever. Hope was really going in on the sensual massage. Noah groaned in dramatic ecstasy and half the group gagged when she slid her fingers between his toes. Lili, for her part, couldn't stop laughing as she cheered Hope on. "Get in, girl! He's loving it!"
After Noah's feet were back on the ground, Hope rubbed her hands on her sheer green sarong. "Let's keep things lively. Lili seems like she's up for having fun."
Gary perked up. "Go on Lili! Truth or dare?"
She debated and Rocco jumped in, his eyes dancing with excitement. "Be spontaneous! Choose dare!"
Ibrahim shook his head. "Truth is the really brave option."
Lottie, bless her, rolled her big green eyes. "Look at you boys deciding for her. So thoughtful." She turned to Lili. "You make your own choice, babe."
"I chooooose...dare."
He wasn't surprised. "Yessss. Go big or go home."
Hope looked at the card and cackled. "Take a sexy selfie, and text it to the hottest islander."
"Okay, that's not so bad," Hannah said. "Better than the foot one."
Lili stared at her phone. She chewed on her lower lip. "Hottest?"
"Hottest." Hope nodded. "Whatever that means to you."
Lili nodded and clicked her screen. "Sexy is not really my thing." She screwed up her face and blew out her cheeks before snapping a single picture. The flash burst bright against her skin.
"Oh come on," Rocco said. "I'm sure you can get sexier than that." Lottie shot daggers at him, but he seemed oblivious to the Aussie thunderstorm rumbling beside him.
Lili smiled mischievously. "Well, there was a pretty good shot of my cleavage in there. So a little of column awkward, a little of column sexy, I guess." She pressed on the phone screen and everyone waited.
Bobby's phone dinged. He picked it up, shocked. There was a picture of Lili making the cutest, most ridiculous face and indeed, her cleavage looked spectacular. He laughed and grinned at her and felt a strange intimate spark crackle between them.
"Sorry mate," he said to Ibrahim, who shrugged it off, his face nearly as stoic as Noah's.
"Hotness is just physical. There's more to picking a partner than that," Hannah said, giving Lili an out for not choosing the man with his arm around her.
"It's early days," Marisol agreed. "Of course it's perfectly okay to be attracted to someone who isn't your partner. Attraction is personal and we don't always go for what we're attracted to." Marisol's eyes swept the seating area, but it seemed like she looked a little longer at Gary than anyone else.
Lottie smirked. "And some people are just playing the game, aren't they?" Lili shrugged, seemingly unconcerned.
"Okay, why don't you choose one of the boys, Lili?" Hope said. "But don't choose Noah. I think me fondling his feet was probably enough excitement for one day." She was smiling but her eyes shot to Noah and Bobby felt a bit of pain on behalf of the guy. They'd only been there two hours and already he was on a very short chain.
Lottie turned to Lili and her look was every bit as demanding as Hope's. He could practically hear what was going on inside of Lottie's head. She wanted Lili to choose Noah just to spite Hope.
"Well since I've already sent him a horrid picture, I choose Bobby to go." Lili gave Lottie an apologetic shrug. Lottie crossed her arms, and sucked on her teeth.
Alright. This was going to be miserable. He stood up. "I don't know if I'm ready for any of those sexy dares yet. I feel like sucking on someone's toes in public is a big commitment." Everyone laughed. He turned to Marisol. "At least let me take you out for a drink first, right?" Marisol rolled her eyes and laughed too.
Gary shook his head. "No one's mentioned toe-sucking apart from you, mate."
"And that's a shame. Anyway, I choose 'truth.'"
Hope held up a card. "'What was your most embarrassing sexual experience?'"
Oh god.
Lili leaned forward. "Oh, I can't wait to hear this."
"Uh, well," he stalled. Ugh. This stuff always made him so uncomfortable. "I don't know if I want to get into that yet, but there was this time when I was going to bake a cake for this girl and I thought it would be sexy if I uh, shaped it. In my...image. You get me?"
Lili raised her eyebrows. "Don't get you. Please clarify."
"My..." he swirled his hand around his groin region.
"Your zipper?"
He swirled his hand more forcefully.
"Ooooh. You mean your tallywacker?" Her eyes sparkled with mischief. She'd known damn well what he was talking about, the minx.
"Yes. Turns out I don't have a clue what sexy is. She was not impressed. And uh, I think that's all I'm going to say about that." He sat back down, his face burning.
"So what I'm hearing," Lili said. "Is that you can bake."
Everyone cracked up and the embarrassment of the story blew by. He shot her a grateful look and chose Marisol to go next.
Her question, "Have you ever kissed someone of the same gender on a night out?" led to Marisol giving what amounted to a thesis on her bisexuality. Yes she had. And she found women more intimidating than men.
"I feel kinda reassured knowing you get nervous talking to girls the same way I do," he said.
"I can't be the only one, can I?" Marisol cast a look around the group.
Lili shrugged. "I'd try it for the right person. I don't really think we should limit ourselves when it comes to love."
"Me too!" Marisol's eyes sparkled. "I see the person, not their gender."
"I like that you're both unconventional girls," Rocco said. "You do have to be open to all kinds of love. I bet Bobby and Ibrahim would be open to—"
"I'm going to stop you there," Lottie said, "Before I vomit bees directly in your face."
Marisol shook her head. "Ibrahim has been awfully quiet. I choose him to go next."
Ibrahim groaned. "Dare."
Marisol tilted her head. "But you told Lili that truth was the brave option."
"It is," he said. "So I choose dare."
"Hmm," Marisol looked him over. "Interesting Ibrahim. Very interesting."
Hope picked up a card from the nearly depleted dare pile. "'Kiss the Islander you fancy the most,'" she read.
Ibrahim lit up. "I don't even have to think about this one." He walked straight over to Lili who blinked prettily up at him and smiled. He went in for the kiss. It was soft at first, but Lili grabbed his face and deepened it.
There were no words for how much Bobby hated what he was seeing.
"Wow," Ibrahim said. "I love that you went there." She gave him a little nuzzle, her nose against his. The man's face could hardly contain the width of his smile as he sat down and pulled her even closer. Another minute or two and he'd have the girl on his lap.
Hope rolled her eyes and Bobby totally shared her feelings on the matter.
The game continued on for a while. Finally, Rocco smirked. "I choose Lili," he said. "If she dares."
Hope held out empty hands. "Actually, we're all out of cards."
"Oh come on." Rocco smirked. "You're game for us to make something up, aren't you?"
Lili shrugged. "Sure."
"Ok," Hope said. "Truth or dare then?"
"Let's be brave." Lili elbowed Ibrahim gently. "Truth."
Rocco barely masked his disappointment. Bobby would bet all the pints Big Jonno owed him that the sleazy guy was going to dare her to kiss Marisol.
Hope jumped in, before Rocco could come up with a slimy truth. "Have you ever hooked up with someone you knew your friend fancied?"
Lili shook her head. "No. Never."
Lottie smiled. "I knew you understood girl code."
"Well, I mean, obviously, life is more complicated than a truth or dare question," Lili said. "But I can't imagine myself ever doing that to a friend."
"Well thankfully we're all in official couples," Hannah said. "So everyone is safe."
Marisol caught Bobby's eye and then looked over at Lili. "Yes, but we're not all friends yet, are we?"
"Aren't we?" Hannah asked innocently.
The sun was high in the sky and they were all budged up together on the bench, sweating profusely. So when Hope declared the game over, most of the couples fled the fire pit to cool off in the pool.
Ibrahim stood with his hand on Lili's lower back. "Do you want to go for a swim?"
"Honestly, I'm too tired. I'm going to take a nap on one of the daybeds."
Ibrahim hesitated before nodding and leaving. Lili turned to grab her water bottle and accidentally kicked it. It rolled across the floor and Bobby picked it up.
His heart was pounding hard enough to knock away his breath. This was killing him. She thought he was fit. She laughed at his jokes. They'd both been grafting from the moment they spoke. Why hadn't she chosen him? Was she playing some kind of emotional game?
He handed her the bottle. She smiled and looped the strap around her wrist. "Thank you."
"Fancy a chat?" he asked, his voice raw. "I'm sure Ibrahim won't mind."
She was silent for a long moment. Wariness seemed to have taken over her good humor. "Sure," she said finally. "Let's chat."
**NOTE
Scottish shoe sizes differ from US shoe sizes. A size ten in the UK is a size twelve in the United States. So don't worry, ya'll. He's got big...feet 😂