Page 88 of Unscripted

“We should talk,” he said, his voice soft and low. “After all of this.”

I nodded my head, unable to come up with anything else to say.

What did he want to talk about? Was he going to let me down gently? Tell me he had been just fine with our unspoken no-kissing rule, and he didn’t see any point in changing that stance now?

A very small voice, deep down in me, wondered if maybe it would be the opposite; that maybe his feelings mirrored my own. I shoved it away as quickly as it had appeared—it would be too crushing if it weren’t true.

I kept nodding at Callum, kept looking up at him, until a producer’s voice sounded through the bushes that they were sending out the next girl, pulling everyone’s attention back to Gemma.

I took another deep breath—it seemed to be all I could do—faced forward, and leaned even farther into Callum, letting the warmth of his body pressed against mine center me in the moment.

Whatever happened next, however messy things were about to get, I was glad that at least for the rest of the Matching Ceremony, he would be by my side.

38

Iblacked out for most of the matching. I was so worried, so anxious about the moment Chiara would see Hugh with another girl that everything else felt like a blur.

One by one, the rest of the girls walked out from the villa. There was a break between each match’s time in the spotlight, but all I could do during those moments was settle farther into Callum. I couldn’t think about what he had been up to for the past few days, what his time outside of the villa was like. If he had missed me like I missed him.

All those questions, the discussion I knew we needed to have, had to wait.

I tried my best to pay attention and focus on what was happening, but being the first girl out the door meant that I already knew how it was all going to end. I was there when the girls made their decisions and sitting around the fire pit with the boys, I saw what theirs were as well.

James had decided to match with one of the new girls, a petite blonde named Molly. They held onto each other the whole time, even during Olivia’s walk out to the fire pit with her new man, Tom. James seemed at ease and cheerful, especially upon seeing that Olivia would not remain single. I was happy for them both, as their time together officially came to a neatly tied-up end.

Samantha was next after Olivia. She walked out hand in hand with Louis. Billy, still single and wanting to remain matched with her, stood across the fire pit, alone and stewing. Their whole exchange with Gemma was rather tense, but I couldn’t bring myself to pay attention to it. I was too distracted by Hugh and Grace, still caressing each other. I couldn’t believe he could sit there with not one bit of anxiety on his face, not a care in the world about the girl in the villa whose heart he was about to break.

The one silver lining of the whole evening was that Liam stayed loyal to Ella. It was a relief to see her so happy when she walked out to the fire pit, and he was standing there, alone and waiting her for.

That relief was quickly replaced by dread as we had made it, finally, to Chiara’s turn.

A producer’s voice sounded from the bushes, letting us know she was about to walk out.

Gemma, the professional she was, didn’t miss a beat and launched right into it. “We have made it to the final matching of the night. Hugh has decided to ditch Chiara for Grace,” she said. I could have sworn she threw Hugh a look of contempt and had a feeling that her word choice had been intentional.

“Let’s see,” she carried on, “what Chiara has chosen.”

I couldn’t watch. Couldn’t look at the disappointment and hurt that would cross her face.

So, I looked down at mine and Callum’s hands. At some point they had become entwined, neither one of us letting go the entire time we had been seated.

I kept my gaze down, kept my attention focused on the softness of Callum’s palms and the comfort of his thumb grazing against the back of mine.

As footsteps approached, he pulled me into him even tighter.

I heard the breath that Chiara let out, heard the inhale catch in her throat.

Then I finally looked up, and it was exactly as horrible as I had thought it would be.

Chiara was standing there, feet away from Hugh and Grace. She had plastered a smile on her face and was trying to keep it on despite the tears forming in her eyes.

“It’s not great, obviously,” she said to Gemma, “but I followed my heart and did what was right for me. I was loyal to Hugh the whole time he was in the other villa. It’s just too bad it didn’t work out the way I hoped.”

My heart sank even further. How she was able to have such composure in this moment was beyond me. If Callum had chosen someone else, I don’t think I would have been able to be so nice about it.

Gemma reached out and squeezed Chiara’s hand. In the entire time we’d been here, I’d never seen her display much, if any, direct emotion toward a Bella. She always remained professional, keeping us moving along to the next setup or shot or beat of the show. But it was clear now that it wasn’t because she didn’t care. Standing next to a solo Chiara, Gemma had tears in her own eyes.

She squeezed Chiara’s hand once more and then let her take her seat around the fire pit.