The Sun in My Eyes

39 We Will Lie Under Different Stars

Thank you for waiting patiently for this chapter. This year has been... well you know. 2020. 

Also, I have something important to say and I'm putting in the end note of the chapter. When I wrote this one originally, Love Island's late host, Caroline Flack was in it. She was in the first chapter as well. I have a lot of feelings about her death. So if you're interested, please see the end note after the chapter. 

***

He loved her.

Bobby stood still until the sound of the Jeep's engine had faded and the road dust had settled to the ground.

Now that the words had finally come out of his treacherous throat, he couldn't stop repeating them. "I love you," he murmured. "Hey Lil, I know you think we self-destructed, but between moments of being a complete numpty, I fell in love with you." He groaned. "Lili, will you be my girlfriend? Because I spend every minute freaking out that you're going to fall for someone else, because I'm so in love with you." He took a shuddering breath. "I. Love. You." Why hadn't he said it when it mattered?

He ran a hand through his locs and took a breath before returning to the bedroom. Gravelly chatter greeted him. "There's Bobs!" Gary gave him a sleep-creased grin. "Thought you ran off with all the girls."

Lucas sat up and yawned in Bobby's direction. "Have you seen them?"

"Yeah, are they outside?" Noah asked.

He rarely had violent impulses, but the desire to knock Noah the fuck out just for speaking to him, was both sudden and sincere. He pushed it back and faked a chill smile, directing his answer at Lucas. "Dunno where they are. Maybe they never existed and we're gonna find out the entire show was just a bunch of horny guys in a haunted villa."

"That sounds like something my nan would watch," Gary said.

Rahim's phone buzzed. "Got a text." His brows drew tightly together. "It says we need to go to the firepit."

Lucas stood up. "Do we have time to get dressed?"

"It says now."

They trudged to the firepit in various states of sleep hair and undress. The air crackled with nerves. Bobby rubbed his hands on his pyjama pants.

Noah's phone vibrated. "'While you were sleeping, we sent the girls on a mini-break. They're going to be gone for a few days.'"

His spine snapped upright. One day without Lili was awful enough. How many days made up a few?

"What? Why? Where?" Gary's blue eyes were huge.

Noah's phone pinged again. "'Don't worry, though. You won't feel alone for too long. You've got company coming! And you might want to keep a few of them around.'" His brow furrowed. "I don't... I don't understand."

Jakub's phone went off and he scanned the screen, his eyebrows rising into the sky. "'Please give your new islanders a warm welcome.'"

The villa doors pushed open and a queue of bikini-clad girls emerged, sashaying like they were on a runway, high heels clacking away. There was a moment where none of the boys moved as the girls joined them, laughing and posing playfully.

"Wot, no welcome?" A statuesque girl with voluminous curls stepped forward.

"Whoa," Lucas whispered under his breath. Noah stared at her, gobsmacked.