Chapter 8
HALLE
I was seated on one of the many plush white sun loungers by the giant love-heart-shaped pool, waiting for the first briefing to start.
Just like the rest of the hotel, everything screamed luxury and attention to detail. I’d noticed that even some of the daybeds were heart-shaped too. The designers had clearly made an effort to make sure the surroundings were romantic.
Shame there’d be no romance between me and my match.
Although it felt good to air my concerns to Sammie, I still had my reservations about Jake. And I wasn’t going to change my mind.
Just as I was about to start mentally counting all the things I didn’t like about him, I spotted Jake striding towards the pool.
As I took in the sight of his broad shoulders and muscular arms in the white T-shirt he was wearing, my breath caught in my throat. He might be an arrogant arsehole, but I couldn’t deny that he was an extremely good-looking one. Gah.
Anyway. It didn’t matter. His personality sucked.
‘Hey, Smiley!’ He flashed his Colgate grin. He’d definitely had his teeth done. There was no way his own could be that perfect.
Jake sat down on the plush daybed beside me and I tried to ignore the delicious masculine scent that surrounded me. It smelt like an expensive aftershave called Eau de Sexy Man.
Shame that it was him wearing it.
I snapped out of my trance. I should not be thinking about how great he smelt or how good his arms looked in that T-shirt. We weren’t going to be matched for long. Soon the hotel would realise it was a mistake to put us together and find me a suitable replacement.
When I finally shifted my thoughts away from Jake’s unfairly attractive appearance, I realised what he just called me and frowned.
‘My name is Halle: H-A-L-L-E. Want me to write it down to help you remember?’ I said sarcastically.
‘I’m aware of your name, sweetheart, but considering how much your face always lights up whenever you see me, I thought Smiley suited you better.’
‘It doesn’t light up!’ I narrowed my eyes.
‘See! There it is!’ he laughed.
‘I’m not smiling, I’m glaring!’
‘Really?’ He rested his finger on his chin. ‘Nah… that’s definitely the look of love. Deny it all you want but mark my words, you’ll be flashing me a smile that’s bigger than Julia Roberts’s before you know it.’
‘You’re so…’
‘Amazing? Handsome? Funny? Jeez. Thanks for all the compliments.’ He smirked and my glare deepened.
Just as I was searching for a response to make it clear that I definitely would not use any of those adjectives (well, the handsome one was accurate, but I wasn’t about to tell him that), Sammie started talking.
‘Morning, everyone! Welcome to the Love Hotel California! How are you all feeling today?’
‘Awesome!’ a guy with a shaved head called out from one of the sun loungers closest to where Sammie was standing.
‘Excited!’ shouted a woman with long, wavy blonde hair.
‘Loving the enthusiasm!’ Sammie replied.
‘I’m here to explain how everything’s gonna work, so you know what to expect.
During the first week you’ll be doing a different activity every day with your match, but it’ll be in a group setting.
For example, tomorrow we’ll be going on our first excursion outside of the hotel.
Then during the second week you’ll be responsible for organising your own couples activities, where it’ll be just the two of you. Sound good?’
‘Yeah!’ multiple guests chorused whilst my mouth clamped shut.
I was tempted to jump up and say that it sounded like a nightmare, but I resisted. A whole week of doing things just with Jake? No, thanks.
Then I remembered it wasn’t an issue. I told Sammie that I’d try and make things work, but let’s be honest: it was unlikely that I’d survive more than a day with him.
‘Great!’
As Sammie started talking about various daily ‘Love Tasks’ we’d also need to complete, like taking photos together for a ‘Memory Book’ and choosing five songs a day that described how we felt about our match to help create a playlist, I nearly threw up.
The only songs that came to mind right now when I thought about Jake were ‘You’re So Vain’ by Carly Simon, ‘Love Yourself’ by Justin Bieber and ‘Me, Myself and I’ by G-Eazy and Bebe Rexha.
Actually, maybe the playlist wouldn’t be as hard as I thought. But the photos together was a hard pass.
‘Looks like you’ll get to take photos with me after all,’ Jake whispered in my ear and I tried to ignore the double assault on my senses as his sweet, warm breath tickled my ear and neck and the scent of him flooded my nostrils.
‘Nope,’ I said flatly, as I turned to shoot him another of my glares.
This was crazy. I swear I’d dished out more dirty looks in the past twenty-four hours than I had my whole life.
I hated the way my stomach flipped as I took in the sight of him. His face was less than a metre away and I could see the stubble on his skin. It looked…
I shook my head like I was trying to shake the stupidity out of my brain. It didn’t matter how good his stubble looked. Or that his hazel eyes were a lighter shade of greeny-brown today. Or how soft his lips seemed.
Totally irrelevant.
‘We’ll see,’ he smirked and I wanted to scream it’s never going to happen. God, I hated how cocky he was.
‘So we’re going to dive straight into your first activity. Because you’re still getting to know your match, I thought we’d do some icebreakers, starting with a little roleplay!’
‘Oooh, hello!’ someone called out suggestively and the group erupted into laughter.
‘No! Not that kind of roleplay, you filthy lot!’ Sammie cackled. ‘This roleplay won’t be anything X-rated. Seeing as we’re in California and Hollywood is the home of films, or movies, and the Love Hotel is all about romance, we’re going to focus on romantic movies.’
‘Yeah, baby!’ a woman with porcelain skin and striking long red hair cheered.
‘So,’ Sammie continued, ‘I’d like you and your partner to write down the name of one romantic movie and an iconic scene from it. We’ll put your suggestions in a hat, you’ll pick one out that another couple has suggested, then you’ll act out at least sixty seconds from that scene.’
‘What?’ I gasped a little too loudly.
‘You’ll be acting out a romantic scene,’ Sammie repeated.
‘Don’t worry, we’re not expecting anyone to start snogging, sorry, making out.
I know you only met yesterday. Although I’m sure we’ve all done a lot more than kiss someone we’ve known for less time than that!
’ Sammie cackled again. ‘Right? Or is it just me?’
‘Not just you!’ a guy with shoulder-length black hair and white skin called out.
‘Phew! Thankfully, those days are over for all of us. Now you’re here, you’re sure to find deep, meaningful luurve!’
Jake snort-laughed and I shot him a disapproving look.
See. That was exactly why I wasn’t enthusiastic about being paired up with him. I knew that he wasn’t taking this seriously.
He’d probably been paid shitloads of money just to come here to raise the hotel’s profile. The hotel probably wanted to sell the whole ‘come to this resort and you’ll get matched with someone famous’ bollocks.
Except this wasn’t a joke for me. I could’ve done a lot with the money I spent coming here. I genuinely wanted to find someone special.
‘How will we know the lines to say?’ a woman with deep brown skin and braids called out.
‘Don’t worry. When we did our trials for this activity, most couples picked the same films so we already have a list of the fifty most romantic scenes. I’ll give you an iPad with a mini script and you’ll be able to watch the clips to help you fine-tune your performance.’
‘Great!’ the woman replied.
‘You’ll have an hour to prepare, then each couple will perform on the stage over there.’ Sammie pointed to a platform that had been set up on the beach. ‘And the winning couple will get a special prize.’
‘Oooh!’ the redhead called out again.
‘Oh, and as part of your prep, I’d also like you to introduce your match to the group. So tell us their name and three things that you’ve learned about them so far. That’ll help everyone in the group get to know each other better too. Any questions?’
‘How long do we have to come up with the film and scene idea?’ a black guy with low-cut salt-and-pepper hair asked.
‘Let’s say fifteen minutes. If you need longer, just let me know.’
‘Okay.’ He nodded.
‘Any other questions?’ Sammie said. I wanted to ask if I could sit the activity out completely, but I knew she wouldn’t agree. ‘No? Okay, great! Pens and paper are on the tables beside you. Good luck!’
Ordinarily, I’d like this kind of thing.
Even though my own love life was crap, that didn’t stop me from enjoying a good romcom, whether it was a book or a film.
They gave me hope. Helped me to believe that one day I’d find my Mr Right.
I was hoping that coming to this hotel would be my ticket to happiness, but it was just another reminder that fairytale endings didn’t exist.
Anyway, I was getting side-tracked. I needed to focus on the task.
‘So, come on then.’ I faced Jake. ‘Tell me your favourite romance films.’
‘Don’t have any.’ He reached in his short pockets, pulled out his sunglasses then put them on.
‘Don’t believe you.’ I raised a suspicious eyebrow. ‘A lot of your songs are romantic, so that had to come from somewhere.’
As soon as that sentence flew from my lips, my internal organs shrivelled up like dried raisins. I shouldn’t have said that. Now he’d know that I listened to his music and as I’d already realised, the guy had a giant ego. He didn’t need me to stroke it.
‘A lot of my songs, huh?’ He cocked his head and a smile tugged at his lips. ‘To know that they’re romantic, you would’ve had to have listened to them. I knew you liked my music!’ he gloated.
I walked right into that one.
‘I don’t have to like them to be aware of them. When all the radio stations are playing them, it’s hard to escape. They get stuck in your head like those annoying earworms.’