Chapter 16 #3
This time, Cole doesn’t hesitate. “It was a close contest, and it’s only fair that I take the person who came in second,” he says, grinning at me. “Get over here, Ry.”
I practically run over to where he’s standing, not giving him a chance to change his mind, whispering my thanks as I reach him. He spreads his arms out wide, and I hug him, feeling more than a little self-conscious. How are his arms this strong after three weeks of barely eating?
With no more fanfare, Alex tells the rest of the tribe to head back to camp, while Cole, Tamika, and I wait for a motorboat to come to take us to the spa.
Once the boat comes, we all clamber on, eager for some rest and relaxation.
Tamika and Cole both have wide grins as they stare ahead, looking for a glimpse of our destination as the boat skips across the jewel-blue sea, their eyes sparkling with anticipation.
Cole catches me looking at him and winks; I look away, but not before I see his cheeks suddenly turn red, as he presumably remembers we’re not supposed to communicate with each other on the boat.
But as we pull up to a new island with pristine white beaches and several low wooden buildings flanked by palm trees, my primal need to shower and sleep and eat like a real person drives away all thoughts of Cole, if only temporarily.
We pull up to a dock and get off the boat, immediately greeted by three smiling attendants with colorful clothing and leis, in addition to the obligatory camera crew.
They lead the three of us to changing rooms with individual shower stalls so we can wash up, Tamika peeling off to go to one room while Cole and I go to another.
We strip down while the water heats up, and I purposefully avoid looking in Cole’s direction, since I doubt he’d appreciate me checking him out while he’s naked.
But any residual awkwardness I’m feeling only lasts for a moment, because as soon as the first touch of the hot water from the shower hits my skin for the first time in nearly three weeks, I’m basically in heaven.
I’ve accumulated more sand, dirt, and grime than I care to admit, and after washing myself down with real soap, I feel like a new man.
After drying myself off with a thick cotton towel, which is probably the cleanest thing I’ve seen in twenty days, I’m taken to a patio facing the ocean, where Cole, Tamika, and I are treated to hour-long massages.
I swear the woman who does mine has magic fingers, because she makes all the tension and stress that’s built up from sleeping on bamboo logs every night disappear.
“I could get used to this,” Tamika sighs at one point. I couldn’t possibly agree with her more.
Just when I’m starting to feel like a pile of clean, extremely relaxed goo, the massage ends, and one of the attendants gives me a fluffy white bathrobe to slip into.
Finally, we’re led to a large, open room whose main feature is a table piled high with sandwiches, salads—both of the vegetable and pasta variety—and warm brownies for dessert.
The three of us eat as though we haven’t seen food in days, which …
isn’t that far from the truth. None of us is self-conscious about our lack of manners.
We all realized long ago that you never know when your next meal might be coming, so it’s better to gorge yourself and look uncouth rather than be polite and hungry.
After we’ve all eaten our fill, we lean back in our seats, too stuffed to do anything but sit there and talk. “Thanks again for bringing me, Cole,” Tamika says, her eyes closed. “I needed that.”
“Same for me,” I add. “I owe you one.”
Cole flaps a hand at us. “Don’t mention it,” he says, grinning. “I’m just happy I got to bring you two along. Immunity is nice and all, but all this would have sucked if I were by myself.”
Tamika cracks open her eyes and looks at Cole and me in turn. “I hate to talk shop, but speaking of immunity, have you guys thought about who you want to go home next?”
“I mean, it has to be one of the other three Sikas, right?” I ask. “I don’t want to give them a chance to regroup.”
“Of course,” Tamika says with a nod. “But which one first?”
I shrug, unwilling to be the first one to throw out a name, and she turns to Cole, who bites his lip. “You know them best,” he says. “Which one would you pick?”
She pauses for a moment. “Well, there are arguments for all of them,” she says thoughtfully.
“Alina’s smart, but she’s sneaky too, and if we let her get too far, she might just slip through the cracks until it’s too late.
Ashraf isn’t much of a social or physical threat, but that might mean it’s more likely he makes it to the end if we don’t get him now, because everyone will want to sit next to him at the final tribal council.
Jenny’s definitely the best of the three at challenges.
She did win one, after all, and if she wins a few more, we’d all be screwed. ”
That was a good analysis, which just makes me even more glad that Tamika is on our side now, instead of working against us.
“There’s something else to consider,” I add.
“Jenny came up to me this morning and tried to convince me to vote for Cole.” I turn to address him.
“Obviously, you don’t have to worry about anything tomorrow night.
But the point is, she’s targeting you, and if you don’t win the next one, she might push even harder to get rid of you. ”
Cole frowns. “I’m not surprised. Even when I was on the Sika beach, I got the sense that she didn’t want me around.
I don’t know if I said something to her that she didn’t like, or if I just rubbed her the wrong way, or what.
” He lets out a sigh. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t have a problem with getting her out before she can get me. ”
I look at Tamika, who shrugs. “Fine with me,” she says. “I’m not really dying to see her gone, not like I was with Randy, but I’ll gladly write her name down too. Better her than me.”
I nod. “Sounds like we’re agreed, then. We’ll have to talk to the other three when we get back and get them to sign off too, but I can’t imagine they’ll be against it.”
Tamika claps her hands together. “Well, that was easy,” she says, then yawns widely. “Now, if you boys will excuse me, I know it’s still early, but there’s a bed that’s calling my name, and I’m not gonna ignore it.” She gets up to go as we wish her good night.
Then it’s just me and Cole—well, plus a camerawoman, but I’ve gotten so used to being filmed by now that her presence barely registers.
Cole, however … being with him always makes me feel self-conscious, even at the best of times.
But now, with just the two of us in a highly romantic setting and nothing else to distract me …
well, there’s a chance that I’ll just die of embarrassment.
Suddenly, I want him so badly that it’s a wonder he can’t feel the desire coming off me in waves.
I try to push down that feeling, but it’s difficult, like I’m trying to push a mountain down with my bare hands.
It certainly doesn’t help that he looks clean and comfy from the shower, giving his flawless skin a healthy glow that I haven’t seen since the first few days.
He’s grown a bit of a beard in the past three weeks, and it’s a bit scraggly, but it looks good on him—I suspect anything would look good, if it was on him—and I’d give almost anything to feel it under my hand as I gently cup his face, and to see him smile and know that it’s meant for me and me alone.
I know it’ll never happen, and that it would be a disaster if he had even the slightest inkling that I’m thinking these things about him.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t dream about what it would feel like to have him kiss me, for him to whisper sweet nothings in my ear and tell me that he—
Cole chooses that moment to speak, snapping me out of my reverie. “Thanks for telling me about Jenny targeting me,” he says, his blue eyes locking onto mine. “I figured she might, but it’s good to have confirmation.”
I shake my head, feeling like I’ve just awoken from a dream. “Don’t mention it,” I tell him. I can feel my cheeks reddening; hopefully, he thinks it’s from the massage. “We’re allies, right? We have to look out for each other.”
He moves his hand slightly towards me, hesitates for a bare second, then gently pats me on the shoulder.
“I mean it,” he says softly. “I’d like to think that we’re more than just allies, and I …
” His eyes flick to the camera, then back to me so rapidly I’m not even sure I saw them move.
“I trust you, Ry. And I just want you to know how much I appreciate you.”
My mind short-circuits as I try to come up with a meaningful response that doesn’t give away anything.
“Really, it’s nothing,” I say, my throat suddenly dry as a desert.
How can he break me so thoroughly with just a gaze, a touch, and a few kind words?
“I trust you too, and I’m glad we got to meet each other. ”
Cole’s gaze holds mine, and he licks his lips, looking nervous. “Listen, Ry …” He hesitates, tapping his fingers on his leg. “Can I ask you something?”
My heart starts to beat faster, the pulse pounding in my ears like a drum. If we were in a Hallmark movie, now would be the perfect time to declare his undying love for me, to hold me close and never let go. “Of course,” I reply, my voice higher than usual. Keep it together! “What is it?”
His eyes dart quickly to the camera again before returning to me. “You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but …” He takes a deep breath. “Is something the matter with Arielle?”