Chapter 35
I’m back on a yacht, lined up with the other survivors, cameras on us from all angles, waiting as Arabella talks to the public.
We’re all national treasures, it turns out.
Tara flashed me a couple of headlines on her phone while someone mic’d me up.
Apparently the whole world is obsessed with us and our survival story.
Simon playing the hero who ‘worked tirelessly’ to rescue us from a reality TV show gone wrong.
Utter bollocks. You just know he strung it out for as long as he could before rescuing us.
Arabella beams at the cameras a little brighter than usual, like she knows her audience just got much, much bigger.
‘We’ve had a number of votes to determine the winner, seeing as though this season has gone way off script,’ she says to the camera.
Yeah, no kidding.
‘The first vote was to pair the islanders into couples, seeing as though we couldn’t do it on the show. And those couples are…’ – she drags out the dramatic pause – ‘…Camilla and Tony, Honey and Ozzy, and Cleo and Lockie. Please stand in your couples.’
Ugh, fantastic. I wound up left with him.
I move as I’m told. Lockie steps beside me, his eyes fixed forward, playing the part perfectly. I just need to get through this bit and it’s over.
‘The winner of the popular vote is…’ Another endless pause. ‘…Cleo and Lockie!’
My jaw drops down onto the deck. We won the popular vote? How? We weren’t even a couple. Half the time we were fighting…
‘Please stand either side of me,’ Arabella tells us. We do as we’re told. ‘How are you both feeling?’
‘Great,’ Lockie says. ‘And shocked and just… so glad everyone’s safe.’
‘Yeah, so glad we all made it, and that we’re all here,’ I say without thinking. I just need to play along for a little longer.
‘Okay then,’ Arabella continues. ‘The moment of truth. If the public think it’s true love, you win one hundred thousand pounds. If not, well, at least you know you’re popular!’
Laughter all around. I don’t even need to fake it. There’s no way anyone is going to think it’s love.
‘The public have voted… and they think…’ – longest pause yet – ‘…it’s love! Congratulations, you’ve won a hundred thousand pounds!’
Now my jaw is on the deck below. There’s music, the cheering, fireworks, a ridiculously oversized trophy that we don’t usually have. Arabella thrusts it into our hands before turning to the camera to do the outro.
Then the red light on the main camera clicks off, and I drop my smile like a dead weight.
‘Can we talk?’ Lockie says. ‘Before we do anything else.’
‘Yeah,’ I say, already walking off. ‘Let’s get it over with.’
We go down to a lower deck, where we can have some privacy.
‘Well, you were right,’ he begins. ‘The secret to great ratings was normal people after all. It was you they loved.’
‘Us,’ I correct him.
‘Look, I’m sorry,’ he says, cutting to the chase.
‘I thought I was doing the right thing, keeping the show alive. I knew you wouldn’t want to lie to the others, so I…
did what I thought was best. The truth is, Simon was going to fire you, after this season.
He said with audience numbers dwindling, there were going to be cuts, they would only need one person in casting, and that if it came to it, they would be keeping me.
I didn’t want you to lose your job, least of all to me – especially not now I know what you went through before – so I just thought…
I don’t know, if we made it a hit, we’d both get to stick around. ’
‘Simon was going to fire me?’
‘You know what Simon’s like,’ he says softly.
Unfortunately I do.
‘I should have just been honest with you,’ he continues. ‘About everything.’
‘I get that you were looking out for me, and that you were just doing your job,’ I tell him, because I do. ‘But it felt like a betrayal. And the worst part? I didn’t know what was real and what was scripted.’
‘What was between us was real,’ he says quickly.
‘Everything I did with you was because I wanted to. And everything I didn’t do.
I’m sorry if it felt like I was trying to fix you.
The truth is, you’ve fixed me. I’ve been too into work, too obsessed with ratings.
But that stops now. I want to live my life, not manage other people’s. ’
‘I just…’ My voice trails off.
‘Things were going so well until the masquerade party, when something changed, but I didn’t know what,’ he says.
I know what to say to that.
‘What changed was I overheard Elle Shaw bragging that sleeping with you got her a spot on the show. I was disgusted,’ I tell him.
He looks baffled.
‘That’s not what happened at all, I don’t know why she would say that,’ he insists. ‘I thought you were just pissed off that she’d weaselled her way in, and that I hadn’t taken a stand against it.’
‘Then what was she talking about?’ I reply.
‘I don’t know. Simon asked me for a card, he said he wanted her back, she was one of the best contestants…’ He trails off.
‘So it was Simon she slept with,’ I say flatly.
‘It was just a misunderstanding, Cleo, I promise.’
‘Except it wasn’t a misunderstanding, not really,’ I say with a sigh.
‘I wilfully misunderstood the situation to protect myself. It was obvious it was Simon, thinking about it. He’s done it before.
But I let myself believe the worst of you, because I was scared.
I was falling for you and it was easier to push you away. ’
‘It’s all gotten messy,’ he admits, stepping closer. ‘But I’ve fallen for you too. In fact, I’ve already fallen. Can’t we just start again?’
‘How?’ I reply.
I’d love to, I really would, but how do we just hit the reset button? It’s not like we can just call out ‘take two’, is it?
He pulls out a chair at the table next to us and gestures for me to sit down.
‘Ding!’ he says as he sits down next to me. ‘Hi, my name is Lockie, and I’ve never been speed dating before, so I’m pretty nervous. And you are?’
‘I’m Cleo,’ I reply with a smile. ‘First time too.’
‘There you are,’ Simon’s voice snaps, ruining our moment.
We get up to talk to him.
‘So the show was a big hit,’ he says. ‘So were you guys. We need to figure out how to go harder next year – and obviously you’re not keeping the prize money.’
I just knew that part was too good to be true.
‘Actually, we were real contestants,’ Lockie points out. ‘We had a contract. We won so the money is legally ours if we want it.’
‘And we do want it,’ I add. ‘And I quit.’
‘Yeah, unfortunately, I quit too,’ Lockie says.
Simon reddens with anger.
‘You’re making a mistake,’ he tells us. ‘You’ll never get another job in TV. You’ll see.’
He storms off before we can say anything else. Perhaps he thinks we’ll come around.
‘Is he insane?’ Lockie says as he walks off. ‘We just won the biggest series of Welcome to Singledom yet. We can get any job we want.’
I laugh, a real one this time.
‘So,’ I say, ‘we’re starting again?’
‘Yeah,’ he replies, stepping closer. ‘But I can’t wait as long to kiss you this time.’
And then he does. And for the first time in what feels like forever, I don’t feel watched or manipulated or in danger. I just feel happy. Like everything might be okay.
I guess sometimes it takes a shitload of rain to wash over everything and make it like new again.
It might have been unorthodox and low-key traumatic, and we’ve had a lot to figure out, but it’s led us to where we are now. It’s opened new doors for us, and this time, I’m not afraid to see where the doors lead.