‘I’m so glad I’m not a feelings person,’ Lily said. ‘Love looks like an absolute fucking nightmare.’
Tears welled up in my eyes again.
‘For fuck’s sake, don’t cry,’ she said. ‘Tell me. What do you need? What do you want? What would make this better for you?’
I shook my head.
‘You want to talk to him? Get some closure, maybe?’
‘I can’t.’
‘Sure you can. It’s easy. Say, “Dylan, what’s the deal, and—”’
‘No, I mean, I can’t,’ I said, clutching the bottle in both hands. ‘He… he doesn’t come here any more.’
‘He ditched you?’
‘No,’ I said. ‘The other way round.’
‘Then why the fuck are you the one crying and not him?!’
I looked away.
She exhaled. ‘Look, I owe you one, right? I shoved you in the pool. And the lake. And I made you pick all this shit out of my hair. Do you want to talk to him?’
‘Yes,’ I whispered.
‘Okay then,’ Lily said. ‘I’ll make that happen for you. Then you and me, we’re square. Unless you want to talkJuliet on the Beach, because we could brainstorm some—’
‘Wait,’ I said. ‘What do you mean, you’ll make that happen?’
‘How do you think I get all my info?’ she said, a smile curving her lips. ‘I’ve got a producer wrapped around my little finger.’
‘How…?’
‘Don’t ask, because I absolutely will not tell,’ she said. ‘What time do the producers normally come round?’
‘They’re not here that much, to be honest,’ I said, wiping my tears away with the back of my hand. ‘Especially not now Dylan and I are… Anyway, they mostly come to tell us to sit on the couch to meet the new eliminated women after the Necklace Ceremonies. Then they leave.’
‘Bullshit,’ Lily said. ‘Aren’t they filming content down here?’
‘Yeah, but it’s not like they’re down here with cameras. It’s all recorded on those.’ I pointed up to one of the cameras in the corner.
Lily’s face changed dramatically. ‘We’re on camera?!’
‘Well… yes.’
‘Right now – this whole conversation – we’ve been on camera?’
‘… yes?’
Lily stood. ‘Are you listening?’ she demanded, advancing on one of the cameras and glaring right into it. ‘You better be listening. Don’t you dare air this footage. Don’t you fucking dare. If you do, I will rip off all your extremities and feed them to you, starting with your balls and ending with your dick. I mean it.’
Then she turned back to me. ‘Okay, girl,’ she said, ‘here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to have a shower. You’re going to take my dress and get as much of the mud out of it as you can. I’m going to put it back on, and then we’re going to pretend that I’ve just arrived from being eliminated, except this time, I’m going to be a real bitch to you. Got it?’
12
When Lily Fireball told you she was going to be a real bitch to you, she meant it. ‘Oh, it’s the fainter!’ she announced the next morning when I went into the kitchen to make some coffee. ‘Are we planning to swoon again today? Have another case of the vapours?’
