Amber is looking at me wide-eyed. ‘Yes, it does matter. I fancy all of them. It’sLove on the Island, babes. You need to stay coupled up or you’re out.’
Cripes Almighty.With all the hoo-hah I’d almost forgotten what I am doing here. I’m curious as to what Amber’s motivation is.
‘Why does staying in the villa matter if we don’t meet the love of our lives?’ I ask her, knowing that this conversation will get cut if it’s not bickering about boys. ‘Is everyone just after the prize money, do you think? Did anyone come in here to find true love?’
‘Probably but one hundred grand is worth putting up with the tiredness and the insane hours, and the way you can’t just get out of bed when you want, isn’t it?’
‘Porscha has ordered me to come back to the big bedroom tonight,’ I confide sadly.
‘It’s not so bad. The beds are huge enough to never touch. And we could always sleep together if you want. I am so over having to lie awake for hours until the Klaxon and the lights come on. Henri and I lay staring at each other for two hours in complete silence this morning.’ Amber looks tired. ‘It’s so weird.’
‘What about the way we spend six hours a day getting ready for a one-hour evening shoot?’ I add in a hushed tone. ‘And the team of spies and hidden cameras everywhere we go?’
I know they’ll cut that bit but I’m past caring. So far, we’ve had breakfast at what felt like 2pm judging by the sun high in thesky. We had a bombshell at what might have been 3am because the moon and stars were shining brightly. The alcohol isn’t even real. Now they’re doing hashtag steals tonight at God knows what hour. When all I really want is to spend one whole day with Cam getting to know him properly.
I’m also on the brink of getting caught. Which means getting Cam into serious trouble. He has enough on his plate without me getting him the sack. I know exactly what it’s like to lose your job and have no way of paying bills or supporting yourself. The panic affects your whole physical and mental wellbeing. It’s awful.
A sudden realisation dawns. ‘I think I’m good to go. I’ve had enough of it here,’ I whisper, trying to cover my microphone.
Amber gasps. ‘You like, seriously, wanna leave? After only a few days?’
It feels longer. A lot longer.
‘Yeah,’ I say, looking around. ‘It’s probably best if I do go. There’s no one in here that has caught my eye anyway.’
Amber looks confused. ‘Does that mean someone outside of here has caught your eye?’
Oh Cheeses! Did I just say something obvious?
I gulp loudly. ‘No! Absolutely not. No way. As if. Puh!’
Amber starts smirking. ‘Okay. Keep your secrets then. But tell me who you are going to steal tonight. I guess it doesn’t matter now anyway.’
My heart is beating fast. I need to be way more discreet than this, especially with Porscha upping her surveillance on me. ‘Honestly, I have no idea. They’ve all just blended into one big oily muscle-mountain. What about Giovanni for you? Or Carlton? Or the other three? Poor Marcel, Henri and Brad have been glued together on the daybed hiding from Mimi.’
Amber rolls her eyes. ‘She is a bit of a handful, but I’d like to get to know Giovanni more, if you don’t mind? I mean, I knowhe says he is in love with you but… is he really? Or was that the mocktail talking?’
‘Be my guest. It was definitely all those E-numbers. I suppose I could steal Carlton then. He’s the only other one who has shown me any interest. We’ll just have to watch out for Mimi going nuclear.’
I just pray she takes on board my advice to be resilient.
‘Okay. Agreed. I guess we should start getting ready.’
One look around the Hello Gorgeous dressing room tells me something is terribly wrong. There are clothes slung over every surface, make-up brushes, pots, bottles, tubes, big orange foundation sticks abandoned on the central getting ready station, hair pieces hanging over the mirrors and the air is heavily scented with sickly sweet sprays and perfumes.
‘OMG. What has happened here?’ Amber gasps. ‘We’ve been ransacked.’ Then she immediately inhales a sharp breath as Mimi stands in the doorway looking like a pantomime version of herself. Tears are streaming down her face, mascara smudging her eyes, two gashes of bright red blusher smearing her cheeks and sticky gloss highlighting already puffed-up lips.
‘Help,’ she squeaks, before launching herself trembling into Amber’s arms. ‘Help me.’
I immediately leap into action, fearing the worst – a catastrophic mental breakdown. ‘Come and sit down,’ I say gently. ‘Tell us what’s wrong. What happened to you?’ I guide her to one of the stools and crouch down before her.
‘It’s Carlton,’ she sniffs. ‘He doesn’t seem excited about our date tonight. I think he…’ She bursts into a fresh stream of sobbing. ‘I don’t think he fancies me -hee -heee,’ she wails, putting her head in her hands.
I take a moment to understand what she’s saying. Where is her resilience? There has to be more to it than that. ‘And you’re this upset because?’
Mimi looks up at me, a look of annoyance briefly flits across her streaked face. ‘Because when I spoke to him, he said he could… he could…’
Amber begins to massage her shoulders. ‘Let it out, babes. Let it all out.’
