Mimi is looking desperately at me not to steal Carlton.
Carlton is almost begging me with his eyes to steal him, steal him real good. But if I go there, the can of worms will be horrendous.
I look at Henri and he smiles shyly back. ‘Henri,’ I blurt without thinking. ‘I choose Henri.’
‘Why?’ says Destiny, sounding annoyed. ‘You forgot to tell us why first, and then the drumroll off camera and the long stare into the middle distance and then the reveal.’ She is speaking to me like I am in Year Three. She is trying to teacher-talk at me.
‘Because he is French,’ I say defiantly. ‘And he is a great singer.’
‘Cut!’ says Porscha, stomping towards us. ‘Do it again from the top. Libby, for Christ’s sake, try and get it right this time, or we’ll be up all night filming. It’s not hard. Two reasons, stare into space and then reveal. Okay?’
She swaps catty looks with Destiny. This is so embarrassing. It’s not even as if I have won the sympathy of my fellow Islanders, because Kassy is looking as though I have just announced that I might as well be taking her kidneys if I so much as think about choosing her new man. Binky is clinging to her Aussie hunk and Mimi is stroking Carlton’s stubble and mouthing ‘thank you’ to me. Carlton has not taken his angry gaze off me since the announcement. I am in so much trouble now.
Amber gives me an understanding look as Destiny takes her place to reshoot the scene. We do the big reveal and Henri looks suitably amused when I choose him. I sigh in relief that it is all over.
‘Islanders. We have two new couples. Libby and Henri, Amber and Giovanni. You will join Carlton and Mimi on a throuples’ dinner date.’
We all cheer and act excited, whooping and oohing.
‘I’ve always wanted to be in a throuple!’ yells Giovanni, causing us to laugh politely.
Destiny smiles broadly at us before swivelling around to face the others sitting by the firepit. ‘Binky, Kassy, Brad and Marcel…’ Destiny powers down as she stares blankly into space. We wait for her to jolt back into action. She looks from one to the other. ‘You are all now dumped from the island. Please pack your bags.’
What?
The silence that follows is sickening. None of us can believe it. We look at one another in confusion. This has got to be a joke. They can’t do that to people. It’s too cruel.
Binky bursts into noisy sobs as Kassy throws her arms around her. I run over to offer comfort, but Kassy looks up, her eyes full of furious tears.
‘This is bullshit!’ she screams. ‘Total bullshit.’ She looks around at our shocked faces before screwing her eyes at me. ‘You!’ She points. ‘How can you steal my man when you aren’t even interested in him?’
She has the attention of every single person. You can hear a pin drop.
‘This whole show is fixed. It’s a complete con. I saw you kissing someone behind the villa.’ Kassy stands up and waves her hand in my face. ‘That’s right. I saw you. You were kissing a man. And it sure as heck wasn’t any of these guys!’
23
We are all frozen to the spot. I look Kassy in the eye and try to brazen it out. ‘Are you sure it was me?’ I look around with a confused expression to see if anyone could believe such a tale. ‘This isn’t sour grapes because I chose Henri, is it? I can understand you’re mad at me, Kassy, but this accusation has come at rather a convenient time, hasn’t it? Besides, there’s no way I knew you would be dumped or else I wouldn’t have chosen him over Marcel or Brad.’
Henri frowns at me. I’m not exactly helping myself.
‘I didn’t mean it like that. You’re very nice, Henri. We’d all love a chance to get to know you.’
I feel dreadful deflecting the truth, but it is essential I sow the seeds of doubt. It’s fine me getting axed from the show but not fine if Porscha does some digging – even a light scratch on the surface – and finds out the mystery man is Cam. I’m certain she would sack him rather than let him be with a woman who wasn’t her.
‘I see. So, you would have chosenmyBrad? What a traitor!’ Binky yells at me. She too is excessively livid at being dumped from the island and is acting as though it is all my fault.
How am I enemy number one all of a sudden?
‘Keep rolling,’ shouts Porscha, running towards us with her head turned at a sharp angle towards a nearby bush. ‘This is pure car crash. Stay on Kassy, and then keep switching between her and Libby.’
Two camera operators, dressed in black like a pair of snipers, peep out from behind the bush, giving Porscha a thumbs up as she passes by, one hand to her earpiece, the other pointing here, there and everywhere. ‘Good. Cameras five and six, you stay with Carlton and Giovanni. Twelve, you stay on Henri, and camera eleven, you pan out to the whole group. Can we get aerial in here pronto? Move it, people. Move it!’
So much is happening right now. I scan the scene. Destiny is smoking a cigarette and talking to one of the assistant producers in hushed mumbles. They keep peering over at me and then quickly back to each other. Porscha is running from bush to bush to make sure the snipers know who their targets are. Runners are fiddling with lights and big furry microphone booms. And Kassy and Binky are openly sobbing. Brad and Marcel are having their backs slapped and doing manly ‘bro’ hugs with fist bumping and promises of seeing each other on the outside.
‘I need my vape back,’ Kassy yells to one of the runners. ‘Then I’m going to the Beach Hut to tell the whole world what a fucking fix this all is.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ agrees Binky. ‘It’s an absolute fucking disgrace. You all should be ashamed of yourselves. Treating us like easy meat.’ She sweeps a furious glare around the area while all the runners and producers do an excellent job of professionally ignoring her. She spots Destiny sucking away on her ciggie. ‘Unless… Destiny, hun. Is there any chance I’ll get picked to come back on as a bombshell?’