Since last night Isla’s insides felt permanently toasted, like she’d swallowed a mug of hot chocolate. She’d heard people talk about the feeling of butterflies many times, but Isla had never felt a thing. No buzz. No toasty warmth. Now, however, she did. She even understood why Colbie Caillat sang that song;it starts in my toes, makes me crinkle my nose, wherever it goes I always know. She’d perfectly described that giddy, warm, fluttery feeling of being in love.
Isla yanked that thought so quickly out of her head that she nearly flung herself forward. Thankfully, both Aggie and Tamsyn remained blissfully unaware that the L-word had popped into her head. Of course, she wasn’t in love.
“Well, I just think transparency goes both ways,” Aggie said, her tone snapping back to where it had been before Tamsyn appeared.
Isla’s smile thinned to a line. “This is a game,” she said. Why couldn’t Aggie wrap her blue head around that?
“Sure,” Aggie agreed. “And Josie and I have kept things to ourselves.” She picked up a stick and cracked it in half with justher thumb and forefinger. “Like that little chat we had during the reward challenge, you know... about the two of you.”
This was true. Aggie, Josie, Petra, and Nadine had never once mentioned the discussion they’d had during that first reward challenge. None of the other contestants knew that Isla and Tamsyn had hooked up before the game, or that they were currently sneaking out to trees near the clearing at night.
“What are you saying?” Tamsyn frowned. The sun was directly behind her, which put most of Tamsyn’s face in a shadow. But even so, Isla could see the surprise in the way her eyebrows pulled tightly together.
“Just... remembering our little chat,” Aggie said, her tone sweet as nectar. But really, she was just reminding them that she knew about their hookup, and that knowledge was leverage.
“Aggie, are you seriously trying to threaten us?” Isla asked, completely shocked that the mother of twin toddlers would resort to blackmail.
Aggie smiled, then pushed herself up. “I’m just saying,” she said, dusting her hands on the back of her mom jeans. “Anyway, I should probably tend to the fire. The beans and rice won’t cook themselves.”
Then she walked away, and at the same time, Tamsyn plopped down beside Isla. Their shoulders brushed. Tamsyn was still wet. Droplets of creek water glinted on her sun-warmed skin. Isla wanted to slide a palm along the curve of her back or even better trace the water droplets along her collarbone, but Aggie’s words made her freeze.
“Don’t worry about her,” Tamsyn said, smiling so serenely that Isla melted like a hot fudge sundae on a sunny day. She was right. There was no reason to worry. Aggie was more of a house cat than a lion. Her bite didn’t really matter.
“SHH,” TAMSYN MUTTERED.
“Where are we going?” Isla asked when Tamsyn pulled her right past the last gum tree that bordered Moon Pit.
Beyond the trees, the ground sloped gently upward and was dotted with low scrub and sandstone boulders taller than both of them. Moonlight spilled over the rocks in silvery patches and illuminated tufts of spinifex. As always, the stars were magnificent.
“This feels like a scene from a horror movie,” Isla added. “Are you planning to kill me, skin me, and wear me like a leather jacket? I know you like leather.”
Tamsyn laughed but didn’t answer. Instead, she led Isla to a flat slab of sandstone jutting from the earth. There were several smaller rocks beneath it, forming makeshift steps. Tamsyn hopped up first, then gallantly extended her hand for Isla to take, which she did, even though she didn’t need it. But she’d take any excuse to hold Tamsyn’s hand.
“And now,” Tamsyn said. “For the reason I lugged this backpack along.” She set it down, unfastened the drawstrings, and then pulled out clothing item after clothing item. Some of which weren’t even hers.
“Is that Barra’s Gryffindor sweatshirt?” Isla asked, pointing to the maroon and gold cotton sweatshirt draped over Tamsyn’s arm.
Tamsyn smiled and tugged it free. “She’s wearing the Slytherin one to bed. It’s not like she’ll miss it.” Then she laid the sweatshirt on the stone and started arranging the rest of the clothes into a lopsided square. One lilac sweater became a plumped-up pillow. Another soft grey hoodie got folded into the other.
“A stargazing blanket made of clothes,” Isla said, smirking. “Classy.”
“Shush,” Tamsyn teased and sat down on one end. She patted the spot beside her for Isla to sit. Isla didn’t hesitate. She took up the space beside Tamsyn like it was only hers to take. Every inch of her right side was connected to Tamsyn’s left. Shoulder, hip, thigh.
“I feel like this counts as our first date,” Isla said, intertwining her fingers with Tamsyn’s. She rested their entangled hands on her lap. “And I feel very cheesy for saying that out loud.”
Tamsyn turned to look at her. “There’s nothing cheesy about a first date,” she said, her lips curling into a smile so gorgeous that Isla was surprised she hadn’t leaned in to kiss her yet. But it was at that moment that Isla let herself imagine a real date with Tamsyn. No cameras. No alliances. No red dust and snakes. Just the two of them in actual clothes in an actual city, doing something as wildly normal as choosing where to eat.
“If we were in Santa Monica right now, and we had the whole day together, what would you want to do?” Isla asked.
Tamsyn snorted out a laugh. “Are you asking me out on a hypothetical date, Isla Stone?”
Isla rolled her eyes. Still, she couldn’t help a tiny flicker of insecurity from rising up in her chest. And instead of brushing that comment off like a crumb on her top, she asked, “You do want to take me on a real date, right?”
“Of course I do,” Tamsyn said quickly, over-correcting. “I can’t imagine anything better right now than asking you out on a real date.”
Isla beamed. “So, tell me, what would we do on this date?” she asked, leaning into Tamsyn.
“Well,” Tamsyn said, then took a second to think about it. “Since we’re doing a hypothetical, we can assume the weather is absolutely perfect.”
