hello babes.｡.:*☆ i know i promised this chapter wouldn't take too long but it happened anyway hehe♥ i hope you like where this is going so far :3 enjoy!

Even when the situation is not the best, the attraction they feel towards each other is undeniable, being so clear that it’s almost uncomfortable because none of them know if the other feels the same, and both are quite good at disguising it in fear of being rejected or messing up their friendship, which is the only excuse they have to maintain some sort of close contact. Minni is not sure if she should put a barrier for once and all, considering that, deep inside, she wants him out of all the guys in the Villa. She wants him and can’t take it anymore because she is still convinced that he fancies Lottie more than anyone else.

Chapter Text

Day 11

In the bedroom – Morning. ♪

With a thumping headache, Minni wakes up to find herself almost without bedsheets, all of them huddled between Bobby’s arms. Lying on her stomach, she cranes her head upwards to see that the lights are on already and that the bedroom is almost empty, with the exception of Hope, who has her head placed on Noah’s lap, and Gary, who is stirring on his bed, his bulky muscles bulging as he does so.

Last night, Minni and Chelsea managed to revive the party somehow, and most of the Islanders ended up joining in. They danced in the pool until late hours, and soon there was just Bobby, new arrivals Chelsea and Jakub, Hope and Minni to keep it going. The brunette doesn’t remember much, but she surely recalls Bobby tipsily baking delicious late-snacks for them to share: chocolate-chip cookies. She hopes there are still some in the kitchen.

The girl hums in her throat and shifts on the mattress. Clumsily, she grabs the blankets that are supposed to be hers and pulls them with a slight motion, trying not to disturb Bobby’s sleep in the process. Despite being as careful as she can, she ends up waking him up anyways.

“Stop wiggling, Minerva,” the Scottish mutters with a raspy voice, his mouth stuck to the pillow and eyes tightly shut.

“You took all the blankets,” she mumbles back. “I’m cold.”

After that, he perks up and gives her the blankets, his eyelids half closed, “Sorry, shortcake.”

Minni quickly sinks into the warmth of the covers and responds with a growl, not having the energy to say proper words. She doesn’t usually have hangovers, but last night apparently went out of hand and now she’s stuck with this intense headache, sluggishness and dehydration. It was worth it, in her opinion, because Jakub and Chelsea deserved a proper welcome party instead of all the drama that threatened to overshadow their first night at the Villa.

“You two sound chipper,” Noah jokes from his bed. Since she hears him speak, Hope groans with her face stuck to his leg and only shuts up once he starts petting her hair. Apparently, she’s also trying to recover from last night’s carousal.

“I guess the afterparty turned out to be proper wild last night,” Gary comments, trying to start a conversation. Along with Lottie and with the intention to make her company, he went to bed kind of early, but he did hear Minni offering more drinks in Romanian when he was trying to fall asleep in the bedroom, so he guessed the party was still pretty much alive by that time. He found it well funny, “What a great way to welcome the new people.”

Hope just hums in response.

Next, Bobby sits in the bed. “It was, indeed. But it’s time to get up,” he says, rubbing his eyes and sounding more enthusiastic now. “Good morning, world!”. He stretches his arms energetically and turns to look at Minni, who is lying beside him with one of her legs sticking out in his direction. “Let’s go, Mins,” the pastry chef shakes her slightly. “I can’t go and make breakfast without my other half of Dick.”

Gary stifles a laugh at his wording.

“That did not sound good,” Noah chuckles.

Because of the feeling of a pair of hands moving her body, Minni growls again, her headache increasing as she props herself upwards with her elbows. She looks at Bobby dead in the eye. “This other half of Dick is dead to the world,” she mumbles dramatically, her cobalt eyes barely open.

Her partner smiles. “Oh, come on,” he insists, shaking her more. “I know you’re made of stronger stuff.”

She grins at his attempts, but doesn’t move. To try and calm the vague pain inside her head, she buries her face in her pillow again, her chocolate brown hair splayed around her and forming delicate waves.

“Come on,” Bobby repeats, grabbing her calf with the intention of pulling her out of the bed. Out of nowhere, his eyes go wide and stops in his tracks. “Whoa,” he gasps.

“What?” Minni asks, looking at him again.

“Your legs are so smooth,” he responds, amazed almost in a child-like way. This doesn’t help at all with the small crush he started having on her.

The girl raises her eyebrows, confused.

From a bed near theirs, Gary smiles sweetly as he lays on his side. “Mate, I know!” he agrees, recalling the smoothness of her skin against his during the only night they got to share a bed. “They’re really soft.”

The crane operator thinks he knows Minni pretty well already and is used to her lighthearted reactions and kind nature, so he expects to hear a soft giggle of hers or, if he’s lucky, to receive a cheeky compliment back. This is why he feels bummed out when the girl completely disregards his words, like if she didn’t hear him say anything. He keeps smiling anyway, convincing himself that there’s nothing to be worried about.

“They’re like... they feel like...” Bobby trails off in the meantime, deep in thought.

“They feel like a soft marshmallow,” Gary compliments, sincerely, his smile not fading yet.

Still not looking at him or answering directly, Minni shifts a little. She’s not using a silent treatment towards Gary to make him feel bad; it’s nearly the opposite of that. She is still trying to figure out how she feels about the situation of his kiss with Lottie and, most importantly, how she should feel, and because she knows that it’s difficult for her to express herself when her negative emotions come to surface, she prefers to keep quiet and ignore his existence instead of imploding right in his face and being mean to him. Minni doesn’t want to end up scorching him with words just like she did with Rocco.

Just then Gary considers that she could still be angry at him for yesterday’s reveal. His first thought is to believe that she’s just being difficult and making a big deal out of nothing, just like he did himself in the bedroom last night, but soon realizes that the misunderstanding is mainly his fault, because Minni has always trusted him to be clear with her. Now he knows that is up to him to make it right, but doesn’t know exactly how. Maybe he is doomed to Rocco’s fate: being called out and then avoided and neglected by her. Either way, he appreciates her not making a scene about it like Lottie did last night.

“Yeah! Gary’s right,” Bobby exclaims in an attempt to bring some of Minni’s attention to his mate. He notices right away that she is ignoring him big time; he just said the nicest thing to her and she didn’t even bat an eye. The Scottish wonders if she got bitter because of his thing with Lottie. He finds it painful to witness. “Your skin is like a fluffy marshmallow,” he nudges Minni, managing to make her smile.

As the pastry chef keeps nudging her playfully, she chuckles, seeming to take the compliment but evidently not wanting to acknowledge Gary just yet. The blond man winces slightly, but keeps his cool.

“Because they’re really light and soft,” Bobby continues, taking the opportunity to lighten her mood. “And they melt easily, just like you.”

“Hey!” Minni perks and shoves him away, laughing.

Noah cackles at the scene, as he keeps petting Hope’s hair. It looks like she’s fast asleep now.

“Just saying,” Bobby raises his palms. The girl throws a pillow at him. “You melt faster than marshmallows by the fire, you melty-melt.”

“Shut up,” she giggles, throwing another pillow. Then, she finally climbs out of bed, her limbs feeling extra sore from too much dancing. “Okay, you made it. You managed to get me out of bed,” she grumbles, faking being mad at her partner.

The sunlight today seems to be particularly bright and hurts Minni’s eyes straight away, perhaps more because of her hangover, so she squints until she finds one of her many pairs of sunglasses in her night table. She puts them on and plaits her hair a little, trying to look presentable, or at least decent.

Bobby smiles at her, spirited. “Let’s go then! This half of Dick is starving!” he says.

Together, the pair starts walking towards the door. Before getting out, Minni notices that Noah is awake and watching them go, so she waves at him as a way to say good morning. He smiles and nods, silent as always. Then, the brunette avoids looking at Gary, who is still lying on his side and also looking at them, clear blue and confused eyes following her in particular. She hopes he doesn’t notice her brief glance at him thanks to the sunglasses shielding her eyes.

“You think I could drink some vodka for breakfast?” Minni asks Bobby while they get closer to the door.

“Don’t you even think about it,” he nags her as they exit the bedroom. “I’ll force you have a healthy breakfast, missy.”

Spanish Hills – Evening.

The breeze is slightly cold as Minni strolls out onto a moonlit hilltop. A single table and two chairs have been set up for her date with new boy Jakub. The girl smooths her translucent black top while she looks around. A little far away, Chelsea and Lucas take their seats at a table of their own. The blonde leans forward, nodding and laughing enthusiastically. Closer to where Minni is, Jakub is sitting at the table, his shirt buttons straining against his muscles; he looks even paler in the moonlight. The brunette greets him and then sits down in front of him.

She was surprised this morning when he decided to choose her for a date. He was indecisive between her and Priya, and deep inside Minni pleaded to the forces of the universe that he would choose Priya— but no, he decided to go with her even when she had practically avoided his eye and not said a word to him as he tried to make up his mind. The Cantabrigian doesn’t fancy him at all, but is willing to try to get to know him and will try her best in this date. Hopefully he has some hidden depths.

“I feel like you’re the sort of girl who puts in the work to look good. Makeup and stuff,” he comments as soon as she sits down. “That’s a good thing though. I make an effort, so I expect a girl to do the same, you know?”

Minni raises an eyebrow, “Well, I make an effort when I want to.”

“I just think if you’re gonna make an effort, it might as well be in the Love Island Villa. Or on a date,” he sighs. The girl doesn’t exactly know what he means. Is he trying to say that she looks bad right now? Before she can answer, he’s speaking again already, while he pats at his hair as if to check it’s in place. “Gotta be on form, look my best. Can’t leave the house without ironing my shirt. You know how it is.”

“Do you iron your socks, too?” she jokes with a cheeky smile.

Jakub frowns, kind of confused. “Yeah? Why do you ask?”

Minni chuckles, at first thinking that he’s joking, but when she notices that he is genuinely confused, she realizes he’s actually not. Before she can make fun of it, two large sangrias are brought to their table. After the waiter sets the drinking glasses in front of them, Jakub looks at the dark red liquid and then at his white jeans. He takes a careful sip, next places the glass back on the table and leans back with a sigh of relief. This is definitely not of Minni’s liking, just because she likes simple people who care more about enjoying the moment rather than how the look while doing it.

“Gotta love a good Shangri-La,” he says with a grin.

“You mean sangria, babes?” Minni asks, sweetly and with a giggle.

“That’s what I said,” the man replies, confident.

The blue-eyed girl shakes her head with a smirk, “You called it Shangri-La.”

“Yeah? We’re both saying the same thing,” he shrugs, dismissive.

By this moment, Minni is starting to sense that the date is getting weird. Or, most clearly, that this guy Jakub is weird. She doesn’t know if his humor is extremely ironic or if he’s just dumb. Because of this, she decides to follow along, in order to have some fun and figure out how far she can push it. If he’s being ironic, two can play the game.

“Oh, sure,” she grins, mischievous. “I love Shangri-La, but I’d rather drink El Dorado or Themiscyra. Have you ever tried them?”

To her surprise, Jakub nods confidently. “Of course, they’re lush,” he states and takes another cautious sip.

The physics student opens her eyes slightly wide. Now she doesn’t know if she’s the one messing with him, or if it’s the other way around. She fights off a smile and brings the drinking glass to her lips quietly.

“You’re a little bit extra, aren’t you? You’re always the one everyone is all over,” Jakub says, breaking the silence. “Personally, I’m not sure the reason why.”

Minni knits her eyebrows together and is about to reply with a sharp comment when he cuts her off.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. You’re fit and all. It’s just, after watching the show, I got curious because every lad in here seems to fancy you, but I didn’t see anything too special. Part of why I wanted this date with you, to be honest, is to see what all the fuss is about,” he smiles.

“Are… are you bantering, mate?” she asks, mildly offended by his words.

“No, I’m being serious here,” Jakub says, seeming to be unaware of how rude he sounded. He grins at her amiably. “For me, being extra enough is what makes one special, so I came up with this test question.”

Minni almost chokes with her sangria. “A… test question?” she blinks, puzzled. “Mate, I didn’t realize this was an exam.”

“Just a bit of fun, innit?” he answers, his smile not fading.

More perplexed than before, the young woman takes a while to answer. There’s something that tells her that he doesn’t have bad intentions and that he’s not trying to hurt her feelings, he just completely lacks self-awareness, apparently. Although she obviously doesn’t feel any connection to him whatsoever and because she’s in here to have fun, after all, Minni decides to follow his game to see if she can mess with him a little and hopefully make fun of it later. At least the public watching will have a good laugh about this mess of a date.

“Alright. Shoot.”

Jakub grins, genuinely happy, “Okay, so, say you could have one superpower, right? What superpower would you have?”

“Um… I don’t know,” she says, supporting her head with her palm and calmly putting her elbow on top of the table. “I reckon having superspeed would be fun. To run away from bad dates without anyone noticing, you know,” she offers him a smile, which widens when she notices he didn’t take the hint. “Or maybe flying.”

“Yeah, I reckon flying’s a little bit extra,” the bodybuilder answers. “You’d be the only one who’d be able to do it. Except for, like, penguins,” he adds, deep in thought.

Minni bites her tongue and holds back a chuckle, “Oh, totally. Penguins need to fly from one continent to another for their seasonal migration.”

“Exactly,” he replies. “Anyway, you passed my test.”

The girl sighs in fake relief, “I’m glad. I usually do well in tests, I didn’t want to disappoint.”

In that moment, Jakub seems to remember something. Suddenly, his attention is really focused on her, which takes her by surprise, “Speaking of that, you’re studying, like, space stuff, right?”

“Yeah, space stuff,” Minni repeats. She has started to enjoy this chat way more than she should, and now that she can get physics and astronomy into the mix, this could get even more fun for her, “You know anything about that?”

Confidently, Jakub sit straighter on the chair. He puffs his chest and grins, smug, “Well, personally, I’ve been noticing gravity since I was very young, you know, so I think I understand space very well.”

His phrase takes the air out of Minni’s lungs, and not in a good way. She can barely breathe as she avoids erupting into laughter. The girl doesn’t know what’s going on in this guy’s head, but oddly she’s loving it so far. She can’t wait to tell Bobby about this.

“I investigated a little myself before coming here and I wanted to share an idea with you,” the man states.

“That’s sweet,” she responds, leaning forward and really meaning it. “Go on.”

With a short nod, Jakub starts speaking, “So, I think it’s time for humanity to reach the Solar System for once and all, you know what I mean? I don’t understand why scientists aren’t exploring Mars already, if it looks dead easy.”

What the hell, Minni thinks as he talks. This is not the hidden depths she was expecting to find in this guy. It’s better, she reckons— it’s far more entertaining. She keeps quiet and tries to listen politely. Maybe she can even explain some things to him so he understands better what he’s talking about.

“What I’m trying to say is that I have seen pictures where there are canals in Mars, so there must be water,” Jakub continues, an analytic expression on his face.

Minni grins, “Oh, those canals are—"

“If there’s water, that means there’s oxygen,” he goes on, not letting her speak just yet. “If oxygen, that means we can breathe,” he finishes his idea with a smirk, proud of himself. “I thought you could bring that idea to your university to get things going. You’re welcome.”

Somewhat amused by his confidence, Minni opens her mouth to reply and explain everything that was wrong in his reasoning, but ends up closing it before a word can escape her mouth. From what she’s seen on this date, she reckons it’s useless to talk sense to him. This man’s brain must be the size of an atom, but he’s overall harmless.

“Thank you, I’ll make sure to tell my teachers about it,” she smiles and takes a sip of her sangria.

He smiles back. There’s an awkward silence for a moment, until he sighs, “Another thing, though. I’m looking for someone who really knows what she wants, who doesn’t let other people get in the way. I haven’t seen anything of that in you on TV so far, so I thought I might as well ask you if you reckon you’re a bit like that?”

The comment causes Minni’s mood to go down a little, because it reminds her that she didn’t pick the guy she truly fancies at the Recoupling. She lets out a small breath, “Um… no, I’m more of a team player.”

“I thought so,” Jakub purses his lips. Another awkward silence takes place as he sips his sangria, “Here’s a question. What’s your first impression of me? Like, what would you say I’m about, so far?”

The Cantabrigian takes a second to think, because she doesn’t want to hurt his feelings by saying something mean, “You’re nice and all, but… mate, you iron your socks.”

When hearing her response, Jakub raises an eyebrow, “That’s the kind of guy the girls want, in my experience. A guy who irons his socks, never skips leg day and always remembers to wipe down the bar after he’s used it. That gives you BDE.”

“As in Bond Dissociation Enthalpy?”

“Nah, like, Big Dick Energy,” he grins, self-righteous. When he notices that Minni is not amused, his smile deflates a little.

The two of them sit quietly for a moment, listening to the breeze blowing through the grass. Without having anything else to do besides sipping her sangria and looking at the landscape, Minni soon finishes her glass. She pouts, not knowing what else to distract herself with. In the meantime, Jakub raps his fingers against the table.

After a while, he leans back, twisting the stem of his glass, “So how do you think this went then, as far as first dates go?”

Minni tries for her sarcastic nature not to show, but words spill out of her mouth before she can contain herself, “Amazingly. I’ve had a great time so far.” She tries to maintain a smile to seem believable, so Jakub doesn’t feel too bad about it.

Contrary to what she expected from him, which was him not understanding sarcasm and replying with an overly confident quote, she sees him cringe, “Yeah, it was alright, wasn’t it?”

“C’mon. You don’t sound that excited,” she pouts in fake sadness. She is now surprised it took him his long to realize how awkward everything had been between the two, “We even talked about penguins and space stuff.”

“Well, it’s just a date,” he shrugs. “I haven’t made up my mind yet, but we’re kind of different people, aren’t we?”

Minni sighs with frustration, “We are, babes. Like the two sides of Gliese 581-c.”

He nods, not understanding but kind of getting the idea. “Anyway, I’m glad you enjoyed yourself though,” he offers her a strained smile.

As she attempts to smile back, the younger girl spies Chelsea and Lucas getting up from their table. The blonde girl hugs him happily; they must have had a nice date, Minni thinks. Internally, she sighs of relief because it seems that her and Jakub ran out of time, too. Although she had a fun time messing with this gigantic man dressed in tight white clothing, and laughed on the inside after listening to his wacky beliefs, she can’t wait to go back to the Villa.

In the kitchen – Evening. ♪

The sun has just sat and Gary and Bobby are alone in the kitchen. The bulky crane operator is shirtless and still wearing his navy-blue swimming suit, his optical glasses resting on the top of his head as he makes himself a cuppa, while the Scottish is wearing one of his usual patterned shirts with his apron over it. He’s making pancakes, his deft fingers mixing various extra ingredients on a frying pan.

For Bobby, it’s nice to have a bit of relaxation time after spending most of his day trying to fix yesterday’s drama so everyone in the Villa gets along. Him and Marisol teamed up and got the girls talking again, and also managed to kind of appease the consequences of Operation Nope. The only thing they couldn’t tackle was the underlying tension between Minni and Lottie, mostly because of the physics student evident silent treatment towards both her and Gary. In the end, Bobby decided to give Minni some time before trying again.

“So, how are things going with Lottie so far?” Bobby asks Gary, attempting to establish a candid conversation.

The Chathamite takes a sit on a stool nearby, a recently made cup of tea cradled between his paw-like hands. He exhales. “We’re trying to make it work, I guess,” he responds, not giving too much away.

“What do you mean by that?” his freckled friend asks, curious.

“Exactly that,” Gary shrugs, running his hand over the side of his pale locks. “We were not completely compatible from the get-go, but I think we could… work on that. She picked me so I have to give her a chance,” he tries to explain, awkwardly. “For now it’s just… exhausting, this whole drama thing.”

Bobby nods, “Yeah. Specially yesterday. It almost went out of hand.”

The blond hums in his throat in agreement, eyes fixed on the counter. He scratches the back of his head, “The way she came at Chelsea right after… not my thing, if I’m honest.”

Suddenly, the enormous doors of the Villa creek open and Jakub, Minni, Chelsea and Lucas enter the place. The girls chat enthusiastically as they remain standing near the door. Their giggles can be heard from the kitchen, making the two boys turn their attention to them. Chelsea’s short champagne colored onesie, which hugs all of her curves, catches Gary’s eye immediately, but quickly his gaze goes to the younger brunette next to her, who is also all dolled up. Because of this, he inevitably scans Minni up and down briefly, practically not believing how attractive she looks. Soon, the man feels kind of guilty to be checking her out like this when she’s so clearly still pissed off at him.

Then, Gary sighs trembly, choosing to look down at his cuppa instead, “She hates me now, doesn’t she?”

Quite surprised by the emotion in his comment, Bobby turns around from the frying area to face him. He knows perfectly who is the muscular man referring to. “I don’t think so, man. She’s just mad,” the honey-colored eyed man says, sincerely. “I can’t see her actually hating you. I mean, she hasn’t slandered you like she did with Rocco.”

The other boy swallows nervously and clenches his jaw at the eerie possibility of receiving one of Minni’s scolds, “Yet.”

Shaking his head, his older friend flips the pancake on the frying pan and leaves it to cook, so he can pay full attention to the conversation. “She won’t,” he calmly reassures. He makes a pause to think before continuing. “Look, Big G. I know Minni might look very unapproachable when she’s upset, but as far as I know, she really appreciates it when you take the time to ask her what’s going on or how she feels, and, in your case, to explain what happened. That’s how Rocco managed to kind of fix the situation, anyway,” Bobby states. Next, he turns around to get the pancake out of the pan and serves it neatly on a plate, on top of a bunch of them. “We both know her. Although she’s very empathetic and sentimental, she won’t ever pull you for a chat or approach you herself to solve the problem,” he continues while skillfully putting chocolate sauce, cream and strawberries over the pile of pancakes. “That girl is stubborn as a mule, and oddly that’s one of the things I adore about her,” the Scottish ends up chuckling lightly.

At the thought of Minni’s personality, Gary smiles softly. Thanks to his mate, now he feels a little more hopeful about the situation.

All of the sudden, Bobby’s eyes seem to glow under the cold lights of the kitchen. A smirk forms in his lips, an idea on how to fix the last bit of tension in the Villa coming to his mind. “You know what? I’ll give you a hand, pal,” he says, confident. Without waiting for Gary’s answer, he puts his hands around his mouth and yells loudly, “Minerva!”

The blond’s eyes open wide, his stomach flipping inside of him. “Bobby,” he murmurs through gritted teeth, nervous and his sight avoiding the entrance of the Villa, where Minni turns around with a raised eyebrow, curious.

“Shhh, I’m doing you a favor. Trust me,” Bobby whispers back, sneaking a mischievous wink at him.

“What?” the freckled girl asks from where she’s standing, quite perplexed.

“Come here! I made you a snack!” her Scottish partner states. Despite having been making pancakes to vent his potential crush on her, he has decided to give them a better use and turn them into an excuse to make her come to the kitchen.

“Really?” the brunette asks, her light vocals sounding cheerful.

“Yeah! Get here before it gets soggy!”

Not knowing what Bobby’s plan is, less where this is going or how it could end up, Gary lets out a puff of air, his gaze fixed on the dark tea inside his cup. He doesn’t know what to do, so he stays still, almost paralyzed, as he hears Minni’s high platforms approaching.

“What did you make, Bobbers?” she asks with a sincere smile.

The pastry chef smiles genuinely and subtly guides her to sit on a stool near Gary. Next, he makes a motion with his hands to present the snack he’s just made, “I call these ones ‘Love Island’s Peacecakes’.”

After hearing the odd name, Minni giggles, her eyes marveling at how delicious the dish looks. She surely needed a kind gesture like this after this evening’s disaster date, “Interesting.”

With a smile plastered on his face, Bobby puts the plate opposite Gary and, before taking a seat next to Minni, acts like he’s just realized something. “Oh, crap. Or I should say, ‘oh, crêpe’,” he jokes. Then, he facepalms and pretends to be extremely worried. “I think I left my clothes in the bathroom again. I bet Rahim will end up drenching them when he goes into shower!” Not clarifying it more, he turns to kiss Minni’s temple rapidly, “I’ll catch you later. Enjoy your pancakes!”

With that, the honey-eyed Scottish rapidly sprints towards the bedroom. Once he disappears, a sudden tension can be felt in the quiet air of the kitchen, amongst the templated temperature of the Spanish dusk. Seconds pass as Minni stays still, waiting for her partner to return, her delicate frame glued to the same spot she’s been sitting on and absentmindedly picking at her pancakes with a fork, while Gary silently sips his cuppa in front of her. Both pairs of different-shaded blue eyes avoid contact at all times, whereas each one of them deals with his own thoughts about what went down yesterday.

After several minutes, Gary finally gathers enough courage to speak. “Minni?” he asks, his voice deep and hesitant.

The young woman blinks, clearly surprised by hearing him breaking the silence, but that doesn’t necessarily make her look at him directly, “Huh?”

“Would you chat with me for a bit, about the kiss Chelsea mentioned last night?” the muscular man asks, cautious. “I… I’d like to explain what happened.”

Minni sighs, not feeling ready for this conversation. “Mate, I—” she shakes her head. “I don’t know, honestly. I’m still upset.”

“I know,” Gary says with a soft tone. “That’s why I want to talk about it.”

It just takes one second of their sights finally meeting for Minni not being able to bring herself to look away. As always, she sees raw honesty in the blond man’s eyes, making most of her anger at him vanish in an instant, nearly causing her to wish it would be easier to be mad at him. She just can’t reject him when he’s looking at her like that, but what she can do is maintain her distance through a cold semblance.

“Go ahead.”

“Right,” the crane operator begins. He takes a deep, shaky breath and rubs the back of his neck before starting. “I never meant to make you feel that I was playing you. That was never my intention. It’s just… I reckon I didn’t handle things well cos was under a lot of pressure and felt like a mess during those days,” he confesses. “First Priya taking me away from you, then having to pick between Hannah and Marisol, things not working with Marisol after all, the whole Rocco thing and having to watch you getting hurt, next two new boys coming in— my head was all over the place,” he continues. “I was still trying to figure out who I liked, who I trusted, and this bloody kiss in was the middle.” The Chathamite exhales and does his best to try and maintain eye contact with her icy stare. “If I’m honest, I didn’t think it was important enough to bring it up. It was a peck, Minni.”

“Chelsea said the word ‘snog’,” the physics student points out, being stubbornly resistant on believing his intentions just yet.

“It was a peck,” Gary clarifies, his voice being honest and, most of all, determined.

Right now, he feels completely exposed to Minni, specially once he notices her ocean orbs analyzing his face, like if she is trying to figure out whether he’s lying or not. There’s just quietness before the young brunette speaks again, her cold walls still up and preventing him to know how upset she is feeling now.

“How did it happen, then?” she questions.

With a sigh, the bulky crane operator adjusts the glasses on top of his light hair. “Right after the first Recoupling, Rahim found me and told me Lottie had locked herself into the bathroom and that she was crying because I got Hannah dumped. So I went there and tried to talk things with her, to see if I could make her feel better. She got really defensive at first and we argued, but then I apologized and she looked a little less angry,” he puts his head down. “And next thing I know she’s kissing me.”

As he explains, Minni slowly feels her distant front fragmenting. Her gaze softens at the sight of him looking frankly bashful because of the situation.

Gary blinks a couple of times, before his muscular chest raises while he breathes deeply, “I returned the kiss for, like, a second, because I was worried that she could get angrier if I pulled away. But then I pulled back anyway and… it got awkward. It was a complete disaster and I didn’t know what to do, so I got out of there and went right to sleep.”

When he finishes, the blue-eyed girl only keeps quiet, mostly trying to sort her emotions rather than processing the new information. As soon as she feels prepared enough, she parts her lips to speak.

“Honestly, I’m not fuming about you kissing her, Gary,” she begins. “I get it, it was early days and all. We all were still trying to figure out who we liked and so on. Even I kissed Rocco right after we recoupled, to see if I felt something,” the Cantabrigian says. “What upsets me is that next day you kissed me and didn’t even say a word about your thing with Lottie.” With a disappointed look in her eyes and a disconcerted expression, she shakes her head and pouts slightly. “And then Rocco played me and you still weren’t honest with me. None of you two said anything to me and you were supposed to be my best mates here.”

Feeling what he could only call a reflection of her discouragement settling right in the middle of his chest, Gary walks around the counter and sits on a stool at her side, attempting to be comforting, “Minni, I didn’t mean to keep things secret from you. That kiss was… it was nothing for me, really. That’s why I looked straight at you when Chelsea mentioned some secret snog, cos our kiss at the gym was, well… a kiss.”

For some reason, the mention of that kiss in the gym brings Minni’s mood down. Strangely, she misses the first days at the Villa, despite the turmoil that they were— at least she got to kiss Gary like that.

While she looks down, the blond man continues talking, “I know not telling you wasn’t the best decision and that was what backfired pretty badly. I’m sorry for that.”

More than his sincere words, it’s the intention of making things right behind them that end up convincing Minni entirely, but she’s not able to shake off the feeling of discontent just yet. She brings her eyes back to his again and notices that Gary’s gaze hasn’t left her face this whole time.

“It’s fine, mate. Kisses could barely mean anything anyway,” she sighs, her tone quite pessimistic. “I’m frosty because both of you kept things from me. When Chelsea said that yesterday, I felt like… like you and Lottie had been doing stuff behind my back. I know that you can crack on with whoever you want, but… I was in a bad place and I really needed people to be sincere with me and not mess with my feelings like Rocco did.”

“I was not messing with your feelings, love,” Gary tells her. “Minni, I—”

“It’s okay, Gary. Really,” the girl interrupts, not wanting to dig deeper into the situation, less bringing up the topic of his current relationship with Lottie. “You two are happily coupled up now, so it’s fine.”

“Happily,” the crane operator says to himself, shaking his head shortly.

“Huh?”

“I— nevermind.”

After that awkward bit, a silence forms between the two. Even when the situation is not the best, the attraction they feel towards each other is undeniable, being so clear that it’s almost uncomfortable because none of them know if the other feels the same, and both are quite good at disguising it in fear of being rejected or messing up their friendship, which is the only excuse they have to maintain some sort of close contact. Minni is not sure if she should put a barrier for once and all, considering that, deep inside, she wants him out of all the guys in the Villa. She wants him and can’t take it anymore because she is still convinced that he fancies Lottie more than anyone else. Now she doesn’t know what to do and blurts out the best option she can think of.

“Let’s just put this behind us and be mates again. I hate drama,” she states.

An emotion she can’t identify flickers in Gary’s crystal blue eyes. “Mates,” he repeats with a sigh, letting the word sink in. After this conversation, he knows it’s best not to tell her that he fancies her right away; it would be like throwing a bomb, specially when he just managed to fix yesterday’s misunderstanding. Gary decides that he can live with just a friendship with her for now.

Minni notices a small change in his expression, almost as if the word is uncomfortable for him. All of a sudden, she recalls what Chelsea told her last night in the middle of the party, but she’s not sure if she remembers it right. He’s totally into you, the words resonate in her head. Believe me, he’s smitten. The brunette doubts, because in her opinion, everything else seems to be pointing towards the opposite direction. Besides, she always has mental gaps after drinking too much.

“Yeah, mates. Because that’s what we were… right?” she hesitates, testing the waters.

Just as unsure and indecisive, Gary opens his mouth to speak and then closes it again. “We, um… yeah, of course,” he responds, running a hand through the short hair at the side of his head. “Mates.”

For some reason, this final relief of tension causes Minni’s barriers to go down and she can’t hold back anymore. Without warning, she throws herself into Gary’s arms and hugs him tightly by the waist. A small laugh escapes his throat because of the surprise, but he is glad to accept her gesture and, in no time, engulfs her back with his big arms.

When she feels ready, the girl starts talking again, hiding her face in his broad chest. “I’m sorry for being so dismissive today. I was so angry and I was scared of overreacting or being rude to you without meaning it,” she confesses, ashamed. “I’m not used to this kind of drama or this much pressure.”

Minni can feel the vibration of a chuckle across Gary’s chest. “Mate, no worries. I get that you needed some distance. I don’t hold it against you,” he says, placing his chin on top of her head. “If any, I was worried that you hated me.”

“I would have, but… I know that you are being honest with me… and that you care,” she looks up at him with a soft and sincere smile, and once he looks down to meet her eyes, their faces end up just inches away. And, like every time they are this close, the air around them seems to electrify. Quickly, Minni decides to break the atmosphere by joking a little. “Besides, you didn’t compare me to a hammock like Rocco did,” she cringes.

A giggle gets out of Gary’s mouth, his crystal eyes stuck in hers for a moment. He squeezes her tight between his arms before pulling away, when he reminds himself that they have recently agreed to be mates. “Let’s talk about some other things, yeah? I didn’t mean to get all serious on you,” he says.

Minni smiles, feeling comfortable with his request, and returns to eat her pancakes. “What should we talk about?”

“How about…” the blond thinks for a second. He casually picks up his still warm cuppa and brings it to his lips to take a sip. “Alright, you went on a date with new bloke Jakub today. How did it go?”

Unexpectedly, Minni erupts into laughter, almost choking on a strawberry. She covers her mouth with her hand and laughs for a good minute.

“What?” Gary asks. The girl’s laugh is quite contagious for him, so he ends up letting out a small chuckle.

“Best. Date. Ever,” she says once she is able to catch her breath.

The man’s eyes grow wider, confused. He swore the guy wasn’t Minni’s type at all. “R-Really? With him, and his stupid white trousers? Why?”

Leaning forward to get closer, Minni start explaining. “I’ll tell you why, Gar,” she says with a devilish smile. “First, he called sangria ‘Shangri-La’, then he told me men who iron their socks give ‘big dick energy’, and later he quizzed me to see if I was ‘extra’ enough to be coupled up with him,” the girl whispers to him. Conspiratorially, she leans even closer. “And he thinks penguins can fly.”

Gary stifles a laugh, not expecting that at all. That surely explains her laughing fit when he asked. “Oh, mate.”

The brunette goes back to her place and chews on a piece of a fluffy pancake. “He wasn’t exactly rude, you know. Like, he wasn’t outright disrespectful, but either way he said some weird things to me,” she continues with her mouth half-full. Gary loses his trail of thought for a moment, finding her to look adorable as she explains nonchalantly. Her eyes twinkle with the lights of the kitchen. “When he started explaining why he picked me for the date, he told me that he was curious…” she makes a pause to emphasize that precise word. “…because every lad in here seems to fancy me—”.

“Well, he’s not wrong,” the blond interrupts, giving her a cheeky smile.

Minni can’t help but giggle at his comment. She can’t believe they’re back to their usual smooth talk in no time, and now that he’s with someone else she’s not sure how to deal with it. She tries not to think much of it, convincing herself that it’s just Gary’s flirty nature, just like hers; perhaps their cheekiness just makes a dangerous combination rather than being product of attraction, at least from his part.

“Slow down there, buckaroo,” she swats his arm before continuing. “So, he said that he was curious because on TV it looked like every guy in here fancied me, but he personally ‘didn’t see anything special in me’. He just wanted to see ‘what all the fuss was about’!” she finishes, making actual quotation marks with her fingers.

Gary gawks, not believing what he just heard. “You have to be bloody kidding me, Minerva.”

She simply shakes her head. “I swear.”

After picturing the awkwardness of the whole scene and imagining Minni’s face during the whole situation, the bulky man’s head falls back as he laughs loudly. His reaction makes the blue-eyed girl’s heart feel warmer, a light tingling of happiness showing in her eyes. She would be lying if she said that she didn’t miss talking to Gary like this, and even more making him laugh. She can’t help but chuckle, too, his cackles becoming contagious to her in some way.

“It’s been the most awkward, hilarious date I’ve ever been on,” the delicate young woman adds. “Thank god there was some good Shangri-La to cope with it.”

That last joke makes Gary burst into a short laugh again, clutching his side. After a few seconds, he intakes air and recomposes himself. “I don’t want to get in between the beautiful thing you two have going on,” he begins, smirking. “But I have this slight feeling that he’s not your type.”

Minni grins. “Oh, really?” she asks, tilting her head.

Gary fakes to be deep in thought as he takes the glasses off the top of his head and puts them on, acting intellectually, “I’d say you’re more into... simpler blokes.”

“You mean, simpler blokes with blond hair and tattoos, that wear the same flannel every single day?” she shoots back, without thinking too much. When she realizes what she just said, she takes some physical distance, playing it cool. Nice one, Minerva, she scolds herself.

Gary’s heart skips a beat after hearing her response. Don’t get ahead of yourself, lad, he reassures himself. It’s just banter, she doesn’t really mean it like that. He tries to keep the conversation going, because it would be worse to have a strange silence now. “You said it, not me,” he replies, showing his palms. Then, makes a pause and frowns, just now realizing the last bit of her sentence. “Wait, I don’t wear the s—". He stops complaining when he notices Minni giving him a fake menacing look, “Oh, nevermind.”

That makes the beautiful brunette genuinely giggle, glad that the situation didn’t turn into an unwanted direction. For now, she feels comfortable by having him in a mate-zone, as she tries to figure out what she actually feels about him. She reckons that since yesterday her feelings for him changed a little, but not the high level of attraction she senses. Despite this, she still doesn’t know if he feels something similar for her, and she’s not brave enough to ask— maybe asking Chelsea about that could solve her doubts. But, for now, Gary’s ever-flirting persona confuses Minni and having Lottie in the mix doesn’t help at all. Besides, they just started talking again, so it’s no time to take a bigger step. She considers that it would be safer to stick to Bobby for now, even if they’re on a friendship couple

Gary’s eyes never leave her, as she looks down at her almost empty plate, evidently thinking about something. Her expression is soft and calm, yet reflective and brooding.

“Good chat, Gar,” the freckled girl says after a while. Her gaze goes up, with her glossy lips forming a sincere but awkward smile. “Gotta go see if Bobby’s doing alright,” she stands up. “He has taken too long and I’m worried that he’s actually planning some kind of prank on me.”

“Sure,” the Chathamite responds with a smile, right before sipping his cuppa.

After that, Minni stands up graciously, adjusts her tight leather skirt and starts walking away. Unexpectedly, she makes a pause before leaving the kitchen, her big eyes finding his amongst the diming light of the kitchen area, “We could chat more later, yeah?”

A grin automatically stretches the humble crane operator’s bearded cheeks, “Of course, Mins. See ya.”

Returning the kind smile, Minni turns around and heads quietly to the bedroom. Meanwhile he watches her going away, Gary starts thinking that being just mates for now is not so bad, after all. Sure, he has been friendzoned several times before and is mildly scared that this could turn out to be just like that, but at the same time his gut tells him that there could still be something between them. He has high hopes that there could be some remnants of their brief fling at the beginning of all this. So, despite being mates for now, Gary reckons he could work from here and hopefully turn Minerva’s head.

In the daybeds – Nighttime. ♪

“I can’t believe it,” Bobby laughs, leaning back on the daybed. He puts his arms behind his head with a smile, while he chuckles at Minni’s story about her date fiasco.

The pastry chef feels more than content with how today has gone so far. After his plan of making Minni and Gary finally talk to each other worked, he achieved his ultimate goal of making peace at the Villa. Now he is lying on the daybeds looking at the star-filled night sky next to his apparent and recently discovered crush while having a candid talk, not caring too much if the calm atmosphere of the Villa is going to last, because he knows it’s impossible.

“I expected the new guy to be a bit of me, but no. At all,” Minni tells him, her eyes scrutinizing the sky as she looks for Ursa Minor. “There goes my chance of hooking up with someone new.”

“Are you really worrying about not being able to hook up, Minerva?” Bobby chuckles, turning to his side to face her.

The girl shrugs with a smile and does the same. “Well, yeah,” she responds. “This is Love Island and I feel that I haven’t kissed anyone in ages,” she mocks feeling bad about it with exaggeration.

After her lighthearted and naïve comment, there’s a brief silence. Bobby’s mind swirls as he tries to decide if this could be his chance to make a move or not. Unlike his usual behavior towards girls, he decides to risk it. He thinks that he knows Minni well, so he reckons that if he was ever to make a move that was not corresponded, both would just laugh about it and move on.

The brunette sees Bobby smile as he tries to meet her eyes. “We could, you know?” he asks, after a while.

Still staring at his honey-colored irises, she opens her eyes slightly wider. “What?”

“I mean, a few kisses won’t ruin a friendship, will they?” the boy shrugs, nonchalant.

Minni tries to contain a laugh at his bold suggestion. She thinks it’s just harmless banter, and kisses barely mean anything, as she said earlier. Even when she’s not sure if this could be a good opportunity to try something new at last and move on already, she decides to give it a go. She reckons none of the two is going to catch feelings after this. “True... besides, we’re technically coupled up.”

Right now, Bobby can’t believe it actually worked and his heart rate picks up in pace. With his smile growing, his sight shifts from her eyes to her lips. “So...”

“So...” the girl does the same, with a playful side smirk.

To avoid backpedaling, Bobby leans towards her as soon as he can, connecting their lips in an instant. Lying side by side, Minni’s hand goes up to cup his cheek as he guides him into the kiss. He’s not a bad kisser, honestly, but she doesn’t feel any spark or attraction by any means. It’s almost like if she was kissing a random stranger at a club or a uni party.

Kissing her slowly, Bobby starts questioning what they’re doing. He hoped to feel something once their lips touched, a feeling similar to the one he started getting whenever he saw her since yesterday; the expected butterflies, some kind of nervousness and excitement, certain thrill. But no, there’s nothing there and it confuses him the more he keeps kissing her— she’s hell of a good kisser, he notices. Even his heartbeat slows down, so he shifts uncomfortably in the bed. Maybe it’s the position they’re in, the Scottish tells himself.

He hears Minni giggle, her voice vibrating against his puffy lips.

“You’re crushing my arm,” she tells him, her eyes still closed

“Sorry,” Bobby replies, between kisses.

As they move to get comfortable again, Minni thinks of how weird the situation is. She lets out a nervous laugh, trying to relieve some tension.

“Shut up, we’re making out,” Bobby whispers to her in a nagging tone, but also being playful. He tells himself that possibly the feeling he is expecting could bloom out of nowhere if they kiss a little longer.

The girl holds back a chuckle and starts kissing him again. By this moment, Bobby can’t really take it anymore. Although Minni is one of the best kissers he’s encountered, his crush has just vanished like it never existed and it’s making him feel strange. Bloody hell, it feels like he is kissing a childhood friend.

Bobby pulls away and his eyes meet Minni’s as she opens her own slowly. They stare at each other, awkwardness crashing down strongly. They don’t know what to say, or what to do, or how to tell the other how wrong that felt.

Without a single word, Minni shifts to lie on her back and glues her gaze to the stars, resuming her search for Ursa Minor in a desperate attempt to focus her mind on something else. Bobby does the same, not really knowing what he is looking at in the dark night sky. The light breeze of the night moves the bushes around them, the crickets chirp almost in a comical way, and none of them notice that Gary is staring in silence from the kitchen, trying to hide his shock as he makes himself another cuppa.