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I peered around the table, finding Viv and Zander casually touching and exchanging sweet smiles. They were next, for sure.
Chris drew my attention by clinking his glass of juice against Stephen’s and took over. “As you well know, the rules state everyone must sleep in the bedroom, and it’s come to our attention that we’ve missed a loophole. You may not sleep on the floor, and there are only supposed to be two per bed.”
Kayla coughed, sounding suspiciously like she said “whore” as she looked in my direction.
Diego immediately tensed beside me, but I rubbed his forearm, squeezing the muscle to keep him from lashing back at her.
Kayla had just said exactly what I was trying to avoid thinking about myself, anyway. Selfish? Sure, I could admit that, and certainly had over the last few days. But the lack of societal acceptance of sleeping between two people was slowly chipping away at me, making those thoughts harder to keep buried.
“Be that as it may,” Chris said, sending a glare in my direction, “we need to adjust the rules now. If this does not suit you, you can go home. We have a boat ready and docked to take Stephen and I back to Haiti, should that be the case. There’s room for more. Does anyone disagree?”
Diego turned more fully toward me, as if fearing I would speak up. I knew he didn’t want to share a bed with Oliver any more, and I felt his relief that it was now against the rules without having to look at him. He laid his other hand on top of mine, laying claim to me with that simple gesture. As if that had just solidified our relationship.
I went rigid and leaned back in my chair, putting distance between us. I needed space from both of them, not just Oliver.
Chris was right. I couldn’t keep sharing a bed with both of them. I couldn’t lead them on, hoping some sign from the universe would tell me what to do. Instead, I just had to grin and bear it. Okay, it probably looked more like a grimace than a grin, but I nodded with everyone else that the rules were understood.
“Good,” Chris said. “Now that’s settled, you have about an hour until the next call for your first workshop. Troy will explain everything then, and should anything come up in the meantime, the crew will be around if you need them.”
“When are we getting new people?” Kayla asked. “In shows like this, there’s always an introduction of new participants halfway through. Do we really have to wait another week before we get some fresh faces here?”
I looked across the table at Aaron, expecting to find him discouraged or disappointed by her moving on. But instead, he was eagerly looking at Chris, hoping for the same answer as Kayla. Their weekend away had solidified their breakup.
Stephen fielded this question. “If you know it always happens halfway through a show, why are you asking for it early?”
The almost-confirmation made her smile, eyes gleaming with excitement. Viv, on the other hand, looked nervous.
She and Zander were having a great time together, but it wasn’t the immediate connection she was hoping for. She’d said as much yesterday when we were chatting by the pool while the others were windsurfing. Viv was afraid he would find someone else when the new additions arrived, which made her feel understandably insecure.
And in all my helpful logic, I reminded her Zander met people every day in real life, and if they couldn’t figure it out here with minimal other interaction, it wouldn’t last off the island. Yes, I was exceptional at giving others advice while having absolutely zero clue about what to do in my own situation. I wondered if this was how therapists felt sometimes.
After Stephen and Chris’s departure, it had been a relatively quiet lunch, each of us dealing with our own shit. And true to their word, the phone rang an hour later. We moved to the cabana room and put expectant smiles on our faces. My skin felt hot, and the smile stretching my cheeks dropped when Oliver looked over at me from a few cushions away. His eyes never left my face, even though I tried to avoid falling into his blue gaze.
Between him and Diego, who had a death grip on my hand, the guilt had reached DEFCON 1, and I was getting ready to bolt. I could feel it, like an itch under my skin, as I alternated between tugging at the neckline of my dress and fidgeting with the hem.
Aaron finally answered, picking up the receiver and sitting back against the low couch like this was a call from an old friend. “Hello?”
“Hey, everyone! Aaron and Kayla, welcome back to the villa. I hope your weekend away was just what you two needed to figure out where you stand.”
Aaron huffed, and Kayla flicked her long hair over her shoulder. Clearly, they stood far, far away from ever getting together again.
“We have something new for you guys today!” Troy said, not picking up on the animosity clouding the cabana. “Today, you’ll be taking part in a workshop instead of a challenge. You’ll dig deep into your emotions and figuring out what makes you tick. But there’s a catch.”Wasn’t there always?
I could only imagine what the catch would be after springing our exes on us—which, I needed to figure out how they tracked down Ryan in the first place—and then sending Aaron and Kayla away for a weekend. Both the producers and the viewers were sadistic in my book.
“You’ll be assigned someone you’re not currently coupled up with because this isn’t about divulging secrets to your partner, but working onyourselfso you can be the best version of you going forward. And who knows? Maybe hearts will grow a little fonder with the absence. Head to the lawn on the north side of the villa, where you will meet Brienne, our love expert.”
Faking excitement for the camera, I plastered on a smile to match everyone else and pretended I was looking forward to whatever the fuck this was. A group therapy session did not sound like a good time.
The lawn was on the other side of the house, so we moved as a group and found the area staged with five partitions, like those medical screens they use for checking scoliosis in elementary school, arranged in a line. There was a stool on either side of each divider. Three crew members dotted the area with the massive cameras hoisted up on their shoulders, filming our approach.
Brienne, our coach for the day, was standing in the middle of the line and grinning at us. With an excited smile, she said, “Welcome, welcome!”
We replied in varying degrees of whoops and hollers.
“My name is Brienne, and I am a therapist specializing in couples and relationships. Today, we will discuss our fears and what might hold us back from embracing love. Please find the stool with your name and have a seat.”
We broke apart, walking down the line of stools and dividers to find our respective seats. Honestly, I was looking forward to not being paired with Oliver or Diego. Especially after the warnings that Chris and Stephen had given us.
