She storms over to us and demands that Giovanni takes me to the terrace to ‘talk’.
‘But it’s wet,’ he complains, looking down at his chino-style shorts. Then backtracks immediately when Porscha’s eyes grow wide with disbelief and looks at him as though he has suggested that he take charge of filming and directing. ‘But that’s okay. Can Mimi come with us too?’
Giovanni turns to wink at his forceful blonde, standing a few metres from us, hands on hips, head tilted, eyes like a psychotic prowler.
‘Certainly not.’ We watch Porscha stomp over to Mimi and whisper in her ear. To my surprise, Mimi’s face lights up. She nods her head and immediately flies off in the direction of the main villa.
‘I need a drink,’ Giovanni says. ‘It’s pretty tense in here, huh?’
‘Yep. It certainly is.’
‘Want one?’ he asks me. ‘I’ll bring it up to the terrace.’
That’s the first nice thing he has managed.
‘Thank you, Giovanni. That’s very kind of you. I’ll have…’ I lean down towards my tiny microphone head. ‘… can you get me a pineapple juice, please?’
Giovanni heads for the outdoor kitchen.
‘I’ll just go to the Beach Hut first. I need to get some things off my chest,’ I lie. ‘I’ll meet you up on the terrace.’
Once he is out of sight, I make for the blind spot via the Beach Hut, under the pretence I am going to confide my deepest thoughts to the nation. But when I get there, Mimi is coming out with a huge grin on her face. ‘After you,’ she says pointing to the entrance. She waits for me to go in.
Crap.
‘No hard feelings?’ I say to her.
‘Why would there be hard feelings? It’s just a game, girl. You do what you’ve got to do.’
‘Okay, but just to be clear. I’m not interested in Giovanni. You can have him back as soon as we get a chance to swap,’ I tell Mimi.
‘I like that you think he’s interested in you. But let me tell you, it won’t be your choice. He is into me, and I will steal him off you.’
‘Okay, whatever. I’m just saying there’s no need. I will give him to you.’
‘And I am saying I will steal him off you.’
‘But you don’t have to, because I am giving him to you.’
We are squabbling over him like he’s a piece of meat. It’s exhausting.
‘He is into me. Not you,’ she says huffily, stomping away.
Pointless. Such a pointless conversation.
I go into the Beach Hut and sit down wearily. Some people just have to have the last word. Luckily, I’m one of them too. I’ll have to make this quick. I am hoping that Cam is making his way to the blind spot, and I am anxious to see him. I’d like to know what Porscha has planned for me and Giovanni because whatever it is, it’s not happening. She wants to paint me as a villain, a homewrecker, that I’m not one of the girls. Well, we’ll see about that.
‘Erm, hi there.’ I gulp nervously as I stare into a camera lens fixed into a wall. It is surrounded by an elaborate pink picture frame. ‘I, erm, just wanted to say that I can see Giovanni is totally into Mimi, who is a lovely, lovely girl. And I would definitely not want to stand in the way of true love. Which she seems to think it is.’ I am babbling because I have not thought this through. ‘But to be honest he’s just asked me if I’d be interested in a threesome so I’m not sure he’s feeling it as much as her. That might be the Italians for you. Or maybe he’s polyamorous. He loves a mixed metaphor, I know that much.’ I shrug nonchalantly, run my hands down my super soft, figure-hugging dress that Cam gave me, to straighten it out. ‘Anyway, we’ll see what happens, but I’m sure it’ll all work out for them.’
I smile sweetly to camera and slide out of there. Instead of turning right to go back to the main villa, I turn left and flatten my back to the wall inching along to the blind spot. Cam pulls me in close behind the bin and disables my microphone.
‘Did you see the look Mimi was giving me?’ I whisper.
‘Oh man. You are going to light up our screens, Libby. Just keep being yourself and you’ll be fine.’
I give him a look of relief.
‘I put the fire extinguisher back by the way. Good to know you’ve had training.’ He can barely speak for giggling.
