Love Island

Chapter 39 - In Hot Water

Despite our apparent strife, Charlie was still kind enough to clutch my hand as I stepped into the hot tub to ensure I didn't slip on the smooth bottom. I thanked him softly as I turned and floated backward into a curved seat, planting myself in place as best as I could with the rumbling jets massaging into my skin. Charlie swung a careless leg over the side of the spa and sunk into the water up to his collarbones. We stared at each other silently, soaking in the heavy atmosphere of steam, jacuzzi jets, and overgrown shrubbery.

"Noah wasn't here," I informed him briefly as if one fragment of a sentence could ever restore the amount of trust in me that he'd lost.

"I saw him." Charlie refused to break eye contact. "And you can't tell me that I didn't. They brought him back while I was at Casa Amor, and you immediately jumped in his pants. They caught the whole thing on video, Maddie. And the frustrating part is that you're lying about it."

"I'm not lying about anything! I don't know what I can say or do to make you believe me." New tears threatened to break my waterline. 

Charlie had to look away when he saw me start crying. His jaw clenched, tensing the muscles of his cheek and defining the bone structure. "I don't think there's an excuse that could justify what you did. To me, our couple was more than just a last-minute decision." He brought a submerged hand out of the bubbling water to slide his hair away from his face. "I had liked you since a few days in."

It was my turn to sound disappointed. "You were coupled up with Peach."

"Peach and I knew after a few days that we should keep our options open; it was too platonic to last." A soft exhale through his nose told me that he was still debating what to say. "On day six or something, I followed you down to the beach. You were upset about Amelia, I think. But the real reason I went down there was to tell you how I felt."

Confusion continued gnawing at my thoughts. "But when Peach was deciding between you and Gray, she mentioned wanting to try to reconnect with you? Do you think I'm dumb?"

He shook his head. "She was just terrified of sending me home. But it doesn't matter anymore. You made your choice."

"Made my choice?" The frustration within me was growing. "You're the one that coupled up with someone else!"

"Hey, I ignored Ella nearly every minute of Casa Amor. Every time she'd ask me to couple up with her, I brought up your name. You were the only girl I was interested in. When she tried to get me alone, I was gone. I was the Houdini of Casa Amor because I knew- I thought-" he corrected himself, "that you would be having the same loyalty."

"I did have the same loyalty! My loyalty has never been broken." At the risk of throwing myself into the fire, I questioned further. "Just tell me. What did they show in the video?"

He took a deep breath signifying the discomfort of remembering. "There was audio of Arielle saying, 'welcome back, British Invasion,' and then a clip of you and Noah kissing. And you can't tell me it wasn't him, I saw his face. You were... you were straddling him on one of the daybeds. And then you turned around and told a camera not to show that."

My mouth nearly dropped under the water. "Oh my god, that was from weeks ago! That was filmed when Noah was coupled up with me!" I looked at him with pleading eyes. 

"There was also a clip of him when you were discussing Casa Amor. It was recent," Charlie argued. "Just because you didn't bring Noah back to the villa doesn't mean you were loyal. We saw and heard everything. And it fucking sucked."

"They must've put in a clip of Flynn." I tilted my head back in exhaustion to rest on the edge of the hot tub. A single tear succumbed to gravity and fell down my cheek. "Flynn was one of the new boys that got sent home, remember? They brought him in to mess with me, but I kept it completely platonic."