Episode 31 Paya
“Cheers.” I bump my half of a chocolate chip cookie into Celeste’s on the blanket. “Thank you for sharing your reward with me. You didn’t have to do that.” I let the chocolate swirl around my tongue before laying my head back into her lap. A satisfied sound drops from my lips. “So good.”
These lazy afternoon beach dates have become the best part of my day. The one thing I actually look forward to most.
“Happy to.” She bends down and pecks my lips, smiling against mine. “One cookie inside my mystery box wasn’t quite what I had in mind. Could’ve been worse, I guess.”
Especially after watching Jeida choose fifty thousand dollars over her partnership in the game.
My eyes linger on the immunity talisman hanging around her neck.
Celeste doesn’t strike me as the type who would do something like that to me…
would she? Would we be real alliances even without the partnerships in place?
Would she blindside me like Saffron did Raina?
I stop my spiral before I start to sound like someone upset at their partner for cheating on them in a dream.
I push up onto my elbows and swipe the flyaways from my face. I bring up the topic Celeste has been dodging all day. “Not to ruin our wonderful date, but have you given much thought about tonight’s vote?” I know she has.
She peers out toward the ocean for a while, then she slowly nods. “Don’t worry. We’ll be here tomorrow for another one.”
Another immunity challenge or another date? I choose the latter. I hope she means that. “You really know your way to a girl’s heart, you know that?”
“Amongst other things.” The way her eyes turn mischievous makes my cheeks burn. Her confidence is one of my many turn ons. I whisper the words swirling in my mind before I can stop myself. “I don’t want this to end.” I don’t only mean the game.
Celeste doesn’t look at me right away. When she does, her voice is softer. “Neither do I.” A deep sigh and she turns serious. “You’re right, though, we should talk strategy. Don’t get me wrong—I’ll do what I need to—but I’ve been dreading this moment.”
Sounds of chirping birds echo around us as we sit in silence at the reality of voting out our closest allies on the island. Our friends. “Me too.”
“It could be anyone’s game at this point.” She looks down at her toes. “But in my opinion, Beya’s the biggest threat right now.”
“I agree.” With the producer plant business behind me, I can finally focus on winning the game fully.
“I think we could get Saffron and Lex to vote with us,” she tells me. “Four against two.”
“Good idea.” I’m glad Celeste brought Beya’s name up first. I had already spoken with Saffron about it this morning.
She fully supports voting for Beya. Given the partnership twist, my four-person alliance with Saffron, Arlie, and Beya has reached an impossible impasse.
Two people have to go home tonight. It doesn’t escape me that if Beya’s in the jury, she’ll likely vote for Celeste.
Arlie, on the other hand, I’m not certain if I’d win her vote.
I think I could. I really hope I don’t regret spending all my time with Celeste rather than searching the island for a relic.
Celeste thinks out loud. “And Lex has been a floater this entire game. She’ll write anyone’s name that isn’t hers.
I’ve been fortunate that we’ve been on the same side of most of the votes so far.
But this is Beya we’re talking about.” She runs a hand over her face, clearly riddled with stress.
“Hopefully tonight will be no different.”
“What are you going to tell Beya?”
“That I’m voting for Saffron…” Her lips form a frown. “Which means Lex goes too. That’s tough because she’s one hell of an influence on the jury.”
I nod in agreement. Tonight’s vote won’t be easy, but we are on The Final Summit, and I didn’t stay in the game and risk losing my acting opportunities only to lose.
On the walk back to camp, I slip my hand into hers and take in the island.
The endless white sand stretches out ahead of us, bordered by crystal-clear water on one side and thick jungle on the other.
A gorgeous paradise wrapped in a tropical sauna.
Its beauty is hard to appreciate when you’re fighting for food, focus, and first place.
An intrusive thought creeps up and wins. I halt my footsteps, anchoring Celeste as I do. “If the merge went differently and the partnerships didn’t exist, would you have tried to vote me out by now?”
She pauses, then scans me up and down, a sly grin on her lips. “The first chance I got. You’re far too dangerous of a threat to my heart, Paya Richardson.”
You’re one to talk. I give her a playful pout. “Good thing I would’ve already voted you out.”
“Uh huh.” She takes a step toward me, then another until my back hits the palm tree. She slips her tongue between my lips and for a moment the chaos of the game melts away. Kissing her is so easy.
She breaks the kiss, but I crave more. Taking two fingers, I pinch her tank top and slowly pull her back in, discovering her lips already parted for another delicious kiss. I smile, releasing a hopelessly lovesick sigh. “I love kissing you.”
“Just wait until I’m not using crushed charcoal and my finger as a toothbrush,” she teases with a wink. “You won’t know what hit you.” She intertwines our fingers and we’re back in step toward our destination.
Approaching camp, everyone is standing in a tight circle by the fire. Beya, Arlie, Lex, and right at the front, Saffron. The moment they see us, all eyes lock on me. Saffron’s usual pale skin is streaked red. I haven’t seen her this upset before. I drop Celeste’s hand.
I step toward her. “Hey, what’s wrong—”
“Paya!” She’s in my face before I get a chance to finish. She crosses her arms tightly over her chest. “How in the hell are you getting tips from production? Putting those acting skills to good use? That it?”
My heart stops. “Wait. What? Who told you that? I—” I stammer my words and take a step back. My brain is running a thousand miles a minute trying to figure out what is happening. Who told them? How much does she know? I think back to the conversations I had with Misty and—
No. Claudia.
“That’s not important.” Saffron seethes.
I try to lie my way through it. “It is if you don’t believe me. Why would you say that?”
“But you have been talking to production?” Saffron scoffs. “You’re not denying it.”
I blink twice. “I mean, only during my confessional interviews, like you all have.” Before I know it, I’m rambling nonsense about camera tasks.
Beach visits. My gaze lands on Arlie, Beya, and Lex, then back to Saffron.
Voice filled with desperation, I say, “This is what people do right before a vote. They make up the wildest, most ridiculous lies to stir drama hours before a vote. Saffron, we talked this morning! How could I—”
“Just like my cat, Jonny.” Beya shakes her head in disappointment. “I don’t believe this.”
“Guess that makes tonight’s vote a whole lot easier,” Lex huffs a laugh. “Just the fact that we’re even having this conversation—” She pauses, gives me one last look, and walks away.
Arlie doesn’t speak. The daggers in her eyes say more than enough. She and Beya are gone now.
What could I possibly say in the next few hours that will keep me safe at tonight’s Summit vote? I open my mouth to speak, but close it, fearing I’d only make things worse.
Saffron looks past my shoulder at Celeste, her face twisting into pure contempt. “Good luck over there, Celeste. Sorry one of us is taking one for the team and getting rid of the fraud.” With a final glare at me, she turns on her heels and follows the others.
Heat drains from my face at hearing her name. I yank around toward the one person left standing behind me. She’s frozen in one place by the pile of sea shells we’d been collecting.
“Celeste,” I breathe, heart pounding against my chest. My hands are shaking, desperately wanting to reach out and grab her hand, but I hesitate at her unreadable expression. “Celeste, look at me. Please, let’s step away and talk. Just you and me—”
The moment I reach for her, she flinches. Then she steps backward, avoiding me entirely.
“Don’t, Paya,” she snaps. She holds up a flat palm between us, the soothing warmth in her tone from earlier completely vanished, replaced by something far more frigid. It’s unbelievable that this is the same woman I met my first week as her assistant.
When I meet her eyes, my stomach drops to an unthinkable depth. Mentally, she’s already somewhere else.
“Celeste?” My eyes are burning.
Silence
“I don’t want to play this game anymore,” she finally says, her voice quiet.
Then she’s gone.