‘Sorry?’
Oh, look. I’ve found my words.‘It should be "take things slowly". It’s an adverb.’
He raises his hand to smother a laugh.
‘Sorry. I don’t know why I do that. It’s like a compulsive disorder.’
Why am I actively putting him off me? It’s the gluten all over again.
‘Oh, man. Am I going to regret this?’ Cam asks, his head flopping onto the steering wheel. I can see he is dying to laugh.
‘Yes,’ I confirm. ‘Yes, you probably will. In fact, I’m certain of it.’
Cam revs up the jeep and we head off to meet Tyrone at the hotel. ‘I like you, Libby. I like you a lot. You make me laugh so much. I haven’t been happy for so long. It kinda feels like… like you were sent to me.’
‘Like we were meant to meet at this moment in our lives?’
He nods. ‘Pretty much.’
‘Perhaps you felt you’d lost something that you couldn’t replace but now…’
‘Are you Coldplaying me?’
‘Yes. Sorry.’
‘Okay. How insane are you exactly?’
‘Insane enough. Let’s just leave it at that.’
He puts his hand over mine and pulls a reassuring cross-eyed crazy face. ‘Fine by me.’
I. AM. FLOATING. ON AIR.
Chapter 27
Once the excitement at seeing Tyrone in the hotel has worn off, we get to work like we’re planning Mission Impossible 27. He wasn’t entirely pleased that Lois, his fiancée, has gone into theLove on the Islandvilla and is keen to switch me back in.
‘I knew she wanted to go on that show. I knew it,’ he says with a good-natured but exasperated sigh.
‘Believe me, there’s no competition. She loves you unconditionally. She’s obsessed. You have zero worries, Ty. She will not be interested in any of those boys.’
‘And you’ll be able to see her on camera immediately, rather than two days later when the episodes are aired,’ says Cam setting up his monitors and laptop. He clicks a few buttons, and the villa comes into view from twelve different angles.
‘That’s so cool,’ says Tyrone. ‘Show me Lois.’
Cam zooms in to hear Lois talking to Amber and Mimi. All six islanders are still loitering by the jeeps and SUVs that brought them back from the haunted mineshaft. They all look dusty and fed up, except Lois.
‘You have the same smile,’ says Cam.
‘Hey bro, don’t even go there. You want to try living with them. It is so weird at times, especially when for a split second I’m not sure which one is which.’
‘I’m the tidy one. She’s the messy twin. Where’s the problem?’ I joke with Tyrone. I guess he must find it difficult at times. ‘Don’t worry. I will move out eventually, I suppose.’
Tyrone is quick to apologise. ‘Hey no, Libs. That’s not what I meant. I have no problem with it. If anything, you’re much easier to live with than Lois.’
‘I’m not bossy like she is,’ I say.
‘Or as indecisive,’ he adds. Who could forget Lois’s nightly forty-minute doom-scrolling to choose what to watch?
