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“Decent. I wish Julie didn’t have to pick anyone, but that’s not how the game goes.”
“And you’re really not worried at all?”
Instead of just blurting out that I wasn’t, I took the time to check in with myself.
“Obviously, I’m not thrilled, but this is good for us, I think. There will always be something to worry about in the real world, and I believe Oliver when he says there’s nothing left between them but friendship. Julie’s been great since her arrival, and I actually like her. I want to trust the two of them, and I do. Oliver hasn’t given me a reason to doubt his word.”
Viv made anawwface, then scowled. “I’m glad for you, but, ugh!”
“Hey, Viv, Sophie! There’s something you gotta see,” Aaron called from the doorway.
“Coming!” I answered, then he giggled. Man-child, I swear.
Viv and I joined him and the others in the living room, where they were all staring at the switched-off TV.
“What’s going on?” Viv asked. “It’s not the Harry Potter drinking game again, is it?” She rubbed her chest like she could still feel the heartburn of one too many beers. “I don’t think my body could handle that.”
“Better,” Cheryl answered with a wicked grin. “Ryan and I were sitting here talking, and suddenly, the TV flashed and showed like two seconds of Oliver and Julie, then cut out again.”
“What the hell?” I asked. “I thought they weren’t filming the dates.”
“We thought it was a glitch or something, but then, a couple minutes later, it showed Zander and Nicoletta,” Ryan confirmed. “The producers are sending snippets of the date nights.”
The smell reached me before anything else. Aaron rounded the corner with three bowls of popcorn balanced in his arms. He stopped short when he saw the scowl on my face. “What?”
I put a hand on my hip and glared at him. This felt cruel. Making popcorn and enjoying people’s pain was something the old Aaron would have done when he was hamming it up for the cameras.
“Relax. You know both of them adore you two and won’t do anything. I bet Oliver talks about something random in the next clip.”
“I’ll take those odds,” Diego said, swooping a bowl of popcorn and flopping onto a couch. “I bet he waits until the second time they show a clip of him.”
“You guys are horrible,” Gia said, taking another bowl from Aaron and settling beside Daniel to watch the show.
I guided Viv to the loveseat, and we curled up together. Yes, with the last bowl of popcorn. Don’t judge.
Aaron sat on the floor in front of us, resting his head on my folded legs.
After five minutes of watching the black screen, bright green text appeared.
If you wish to end the date, you can do so at any time. But it will cost you.
“Cost us what?” Cheryl asked the room at large. She had moved to sit on the edge of her seat and never tore her eyes away from the screen.
If any player in the villa ends a date, the prize fund will decrease by $20,000. If you choose to end both dates, $40,000 will be deducted. However, if the players restrain themselves, we will add $10,000 to the prize fund. Choose wisely.
“They’re giving us half of what we would spend if we ended one date,” Ryan pointed out. “Cheap asses.”
But I wasn’t paying attention to his complaint. I was watching Viv mull over the idea of ending the date, no matter the cost. My situation was different, because even though I wanted the money, the chance of us winning it was in the toilet. And I couldn’t essentially steal it from whoever won during the finale just because the producers were making me uncomfortable.
Players may end a date by picking up the red phone and saying, “Stop,” along with the names of the people whose date they wish to end.
The words disappeared, and there was a pregnant pause as everyone looked at Viv and me. I held her hand a little tighter and willed my strength into her through our touch.
“So, should we find handcuffs, or do we agree here and now that no one ends either of those dates?” Daniel asked, wrapping an arm around Gia, who shrugged it off.
“Not so fast, Romeo. If you were on one of those dates, I’d be tempted. You’re saying you don’t understand how hard this is for the people left behind here?”
“I mean, yeah, but $40,000 is a lot of money.”
