26. 26
If I had learned anything in the short amount of time I had been on Bella Amore, it was that if I wanted to do something, I should have done it five minutes ago.
I felt like I had been playing catch-up since the moment I entered the villa. First in finding someone to match with and then again when it came to deciding between Callum and James. Somehow, I was always running out of time.
Looking at the two new girls, the two Showstoppers, I had the sinking feeling that I was yet again racing the clock. Callum and I were unsteady, and I could feel any grip I had on our situation slipping away. I needed to make it clear to him that I was in this with him.
Adding two new girls into the mix would only make it harder.
“Hiya, I’m Amy,” the shorter, brunette one said from the edge of the fire pit deck, giving a small wave.
“I’m Sara,” said the blonde, tall, legs-for-days one, giving not only a wave but somehow also a shimmy of her cleavage.
Amy and Sara started to tell everyone where they were from, but I tuned them out as I surreptitiously glanced around the circle at James and Callum, curious about their reactions to the two new Bellas.
Callum was looking at the pair with a neutral expression on his face, simply listening to what they were saying.
James, on the other hand, was staring directly at Sara’s chest. I immediately looked away, not wanting to be caught staring at him, but when I glanced back a few moments later, his eyes were still actively flitting between her face and her boobs.
I wanted to laugh. Watching his blatant ogling, the pieces of clarity clicked into place. I didn’t like James—of course I didn’t. Our kiss was, simply, a great kiss. Not confirmation of secret, hidden feelings.
I felt silly I ever thought it did.
Pulling my eyes away from James, I exhaled a breath I had been holding in.
Something loosened in my chest as I brought my attention back to the fire pit.
I had watched enough hours of the show to know that what I had just gone through was a classic case of “having my head scrambled,” as they said in here.
Every second of the day in the villa was focused on who you liked and who liked you. It was enough to drive a girl crazy, and in the case of James, that’s exactly what had happened. Whatever connection we might have had was simply a product of the environment.
I felt a sweeping wave of relief knowing that I was firmly on the other side of said scramble.
Now I just needed to get my other affairs in order.
I glanced over at Callum, taking him in. There was a long road ahead of us if we wanted to be successful. I needed to remember I was not the only one out of my comfort zone, and he needed to relax with the wall he was so quick to throw between us.
It would be work, but I knew we could do it. I’d seen a softness in him the night before when he talked about his sisters. It was the same kindness Jess had mentioned earlier.
Callum was all bark and no bite.
I’d just have to get him to stop barking at me long enough to tell him all that.
“So,” Amy was saying as I pulled myself back to the present moment. “Since we’re the new Bellas in the villa, we each get to take the boy of our choosing out on a date.”
Amy and Sara smiled at each other and then looked around at each of the guys as though they were perusing a menu and trying to decide on an entrée.
“The boy I’d like to take is Adam,” Amy said.
There was a small smattering of clapping around the circle as Adam stood and walked over to Amy.
“And I’d like to take . . . ” Sara said, drawing out her choice by, once again, looking around the circle.
My stomach tightened when her eyes landed on the boy next to me.
“Callum,” she said, smiling.
Everyone around me started clapping, but all I could focus on was Callum as he stood up and walked over to Sara. He gave her a kiss on both cheeks as she smiled up at him.
They looked good together; I’d give them that—like if Barbie and Bruce Wayne had gotten together in some alternate universe.
The other Bellas rose from the fire pit bench and walked over to the new girls to say their hellos, and I let myself get swept along with them.
I reached Amy first and was pleasantly surprised when she threw her arms around me in a warm hug saying how excited she was to meet everyone. I immediately liked her.
Turning to greet Sara next, I leaned in to give her a quick hug as well. She might have been about to go on a date with Callum, but I wasn’t going to be rude.
I wish I could say she felt the same.
As I pulled away, she grabbed my arm to hold me in place, whispering in my ear, “He’s mine now,” before moving on to greet the others.
I froze, rooted in place as her words sank in. It wasn’t lost on me that she’d said it with her head angled down, toward our microphones. She wanted it to be heard. Her pick of Callum for a date was clearly strategic, wanting the screen time that came with being in a love triangle.
It was a good move, and if it wasn’t my spot in the villa she was putting on the line, I would have been amused to watch it all play out.
I was still processing what had been said as Amy, Adam, Sara, and Callum separated from the group and set off on their dates, walking across the lawn toward the villa.
The rest of the cast moved to mill around the fire pit, chatting about the new Showstoppers and wondering what they would get up to on their dates, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the retreating couples.
They were halfway across the lawn when Sara sidled up next to Callum and slid her hand around his bicep, as though she was physically claiming him. Something in the act, in the way in which she was so blatantly coming on to him for all to see, had my blood simmering with annoyance.
I knew this was the deal, knew it was all part of the game we were playing being on the show, but that didn’t mean I had to sit back and watch it happen.
If Sara wanted a storyline, she was going to get it.
I was moving before finishing any clear thought, walking across the lawn and calling out Callum’s name.
He turned around, Sara’s hand falling away with the motion.
I had no plan, no idea what I was going to do when I reached him, until, looking into his eyes as I got closer, it clicked, and I did something that was surprising even to myself.
I walked right up to him, threw my arms around his neck, and kissed him.
I kissed Callum.
And he kissed me back.
Wrapping his arms around my waist, he pulled me in close. I could feel a smile forming on his lips as mine continued to press into them. I matched it right back.
I wasn’t sure how long we stood there, grasping at each other and kissing in a way that made it impossible to focus on anything else.
A throat clearing next to me broke the spell, and my eyes fluttered open as I pulled away.
I didn’t know what to do next or what to say to Callum. All I could do was stare up at him and try to ignore the part of my brain that was going haywire over our kiss.
Taking a step back, I turned to Sara and smiled at her.
“Have a great date,” I said, before sidestepping around the pair and booking it for the kitchen.
I was steps away from the pantry, where I had planned to barricade myself for a long while to try and get my racing heart and flip-flopping emotions under control, when Harry’s voice called out through the speakers in the kitchen’s ceiling.
“Poppy to the Love Shack, please,” he said. I swear he was practically singing his words. He was probably thrilled at my outburst.
It would certainly make good television.
***
It had been hours since Callum and Sara left for their date.
Hours in which I had been grilled by Harry about all things Callum. I didn’t know there were so many ways to ask a person how they were feeling, but Harry managed to hit them all.
“Do you fancy him?” he asked me for the tenth time since I’d entered the small confessional room.
I crossed and re-crossed my legs under me, looking everywhere but at him and the camera I knew was, at the very moment, broadcasting my fidgety self to the producer’s villa where no less than ten people were waiting for my reply to splice into bits and play over the tape of me kissing Callum.
Kissing Callum.
I knew we had a deal, that we would have had to kiss at some point to make the whole thing realistic, but I thought I’d be a little more prepared for it, not have it happen in such dramatic fashion.
Settling myself against the loveseat, I finally met Harry’s eye.
“I—" I began.
“Into the camera, Pop,” Harry instructed me, not for the first time.
I let out a breath and looked down the lens of the camera.
“Yes, I like him,” I said. If Callum and I were going to be together, I’d have to take my own directive and start selling it. My confessional was an easy enough way to control the narrative. “I know we’ve been a bit of a slow burn, but I wanted to make it clear that I like him.”
“Were you trying to send Sara a message?” Harry asked, a smirk on his face. He knew exactly what I was doing when I kissed Callum. Now, he was trying to make me say it out loud.
“I just thought people should know that we’re together.”
I smiled at the camera, hoping to convey that I was both marking my territory while also remaining light and happy and on the cusp of finding love. All the things the viewers wanted to see.
It must have worked to some degree because Harry wrapped up our interview soon after.
As he walked me down the hallway and back toward the cocktail party, he squeezed my arm playfully. “That kiss is going to do crazy things for the ratings,” he said, his brows wiggling excitedly. My heart squeezed with anxiety at the thought of anyone watching it, let alone large swaths of people.
We stopped at the door to the yard, and I leaned against the door frame, trying to prolong my off-camera time. I knew I was still being recorded, but anything with Harry in it would obviously never make it to air so I could bask in the illusion of freedom a few minutes longer.
“Cecilia was thrilled,” Harry continued.