Cece was shaking so badly I was worried she was going to fall. ‘I’m so sorry,’ I said, hugging her tight. ‘I’ll miss you, Cece, really.’
It was the truth. I was going to have to find a new project to work on to distract myself.
‘Ordinarily, this is where you’d leave the Juliet Villa,’ Z was saying, ‘but as we all know, this isn’t an ordinary year, and this isn’t an ordinary season ofMarry Me, Juliet.’
Cece’s shaking was getting worse. Her eyes were so wide I could see the whites all the way around, and her breath was coming in huge, heaving gasps.
‘We’ve been informed that, as we filmed tonight’s First Night Party, Stage Four restrictions were implemented by the government in order to control the spread of the pandemic,’ Z said. ‘Those restrictions mean that wherever you spent the night last night is where you need to stay for the next six weeks.’
Cece was literally swaying on her feet. Shit, was she going to faint?
I wrapped my arm tight around her waist. ‘You’re okay,’ I whispered to her. ‘You’re okay, Cece. I’ve got you.’
‘What does that mean?’ one of the other eliminated women was saying. ‘Are we back on the show?’
‘No,’ Z replied. ‘You’ll be staying in another house on the property. You won’t have any contact with our Romeo, but as more Juliets get eliminated, they’ll relocate to that house with you for the duration of filming.’
‘Will we be paid?’ Cece choked out.
‘I’m not sure now is the most appropriate—’
‘Answer me!’ she shrieked. ‘If you don’t know – Murray? What’s the deal? Are we getting paid? Because I’ve got rent, and if I’m here and I’m locked down and I’m not getting paid, then I can’t afford it. What if my flatmates lose their jobs too? I need to look for work! Are we getting paid? Tell me! Are we getting paid?’
‘I think she’s having a panic attack,’ I said, as Cece’s knees gave out and she collapsed against me.
She was taller than me, and I sagged under her body weight. ‘A little help, please!’ I called.
‘I’m a nurse. Get out of the way,’ Dylan said, shoving past the women between us. ‘We need to give her space. Cece? Cece? Can you hear me?’
‘Nnnnnghghnnngh,’ Cece moaned.
‘We need to get her on her back,’ Dylan said.
‘I’ve got it,’ Romeo-Dylan said, appearing next to me. ‘Let me give you a hand there, Amanda.’
He put one arm behind Cece’s knees and then wedged the other between her body and mine so he could support her shoulders, accidentally brushing my breasts. ‘Sorry, Amanda,’ he said, hefting Cece effortlessly into his arms. ‘Didn’t mean to grope you there.’
‘It’s all—’ I started, but he was already moving away from me, Dylan in his wake.
Romeo-Dylan laid Cece down on the floor. She moaned again. ‘Hey, hey there – what’s her name?’
‘Cecilia,’ Dylan said.
‘Cecilia, I’ve got you, okay? You’re all right. I’ve got you.’
Dylan was checking her pulse. ‘Her heart’s racing,’ she said. ‘It might not be a panic attack. It might be hypoglycaemia.’
‘Low blood sugar?’ Romeo-Dylan said. ‘Murray? Suzette? Someone? Can we get her some apple juice or something?’
‘We need to get her down to the other house,’ Murray said.
‘Like hell you do,’ Dylan said. ‘I’m a medical professional, and—’
‘So is Georgie,’ Murray said, as a young man with flaming red hair pushed past the crowd to kneel beside Cece. ‘This isn’t your job here, Dylan.’
‘It’s always my job,’ she protested.
Cece moaned incoherently again. ‘We need to get her somewhere quieter,’ Georgie the medic said.
