Destiny throws a sympathetic glance towards her and shrugs.
‘I will go to the Beach Hut too.’ We see Mimi, not one to be left out, wading into the slanging match. She puts her hand on her hip. ‘After all, she nearly chose Carlton, and it could have been me being dumped. I’m so traumatised right now.’
‘I didn’t nearly choose Carlton!’ I say. ‘You specifically told me to leave him out of this, so that you could have him.’
Oops.
It is now Carlton’s turn to look livid. He yells to Mimi, ‘You deliberately ruined my chance of happiness with Libby just for your own selfish gain?’
Mimi visibly gulps. She has lost her words. Then she looks at me. ‘She didn’t want to steal you anyway. She said she wasn’t interested in any of you. You’re all just one big, oily muscle-mountain to her.’
All the men turn to stare at me.
‘No. Of course you’re not all one big, oily muscle-mountain.’ I blow my cheeks out. I’m never going to come out of this in a good light. ‘I think you’ll find that I’ve been taken way out of context. The truth is, I think I should be the one to leave the?—’
‘Stop talking! Stop it,’ cuts in Porscha. ‘Libby, with me.Now!’
I immediately do as I am told.
‘Just tell us the truth!’ yells Kassy as we pass her. ‘Which one of them were you snogging behind the bins?’
Oh Christ.
Apart from anything, the truth sounds far from classy. I am mortified.
The men look at each other with blank expressions before the denials and accusations begin.
* * *
Porscha all but manhandles me over to the PANTRY and through the secret door into the safe space. Before she has a chance to say anything, Cam bursts through the door. We trade looks.
‘Cameron,’ Porscha says with almost a sad tone. ‘I think it’s better if I deal with this alone. Woman to woman.’
‘But I want to explain. It wasn’t Libby’s?—’
‘Leave us!’ Porscha yells at him. ‘I said I’ll deal with it. You get back to make sure all the carnage is captured on film. I want tears, tantrums, meltdowns and everyone to take turns in the Beach Hut. We need to really capitalise on this situation. I want maximum emotional collapse. Get Kassy to reveal she was catching real feelings for Henri. Get him to say that he is devastated that Libby broke them up. And poke that trauma of Binky’s. The one where her last boyfriend ran off with her dad. Or is that Brad? Poke something.’ She gives him a sharp look. ‘Don’t just stand there. Do your job.’
Cam ignores her.
Suddenly Porscha’s walkie-talkie goes ballistic with people yelling that they need instructions as though she’s ordered a military air strike. While she’s distracted, Cam smiles at me.
‘Are you okay?’ he says gently. He lifts his arm as though to comfort me, before thinking better of it.
I nod slowly. ‘Yes, thanks. I think it’s probably better if I leave the villa. I seem to be causing a lot of trouble.’
‘Are you sure?’ he says, giving me a tender look.
‘Yes. I’m sure.’ I give him a shy smile. I hope he realises I am giving up the chance to win one hundred thousand dollars to spend my last few days with him.
‘Well, you’ve certainly been a big hit on the show,’ he says. ‘You’re really something special. You don’t just light up the screen, you light them all up. If you weren’t here there would be no show.’
My heart skips a beat.
‘And you know, you could go on to win it.’
‘Cam,’ I say, my voice barely audible. ‘That’s not the only reason I came here.’
Instantly, he gets my drift.
