Love Island

Chapter 32 - The Fourth Recoupling

Immediately after the game followed the post-challenge gossip, chat, and discourse. The guys and girls of the villa had separated into their own respective groups as we began discussing the events of the challenge and all that took place. The girls took over the boys' lounge hangout, forcing them to convene in the shallow end of the pool.

"I'm just trying to figure out why I was pied the most," Giselle said. Despite running a warm towel over her face, she still had remnants of white whipped cream slashed in her hairline. "I don't think any of you particularly deserved it, either. But what did I do or say that made over half the boys want to pie me?"

We racked our brains, planting seeds of thought on empty land. "You don't think they're upset about Eli, do you?" Polly asked.

"Damn, I hope not! Gray and Anthony never got to know him like the rest of us did. Charlie did pie me, but that was because I pied him first," she giggled. "Do you think Lucas was telling them something?"

"I don't think your own couple would do that to you," Peyton said.

Giselle thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I guess it's not that big of a deal. But I am a little upset that Anthony pied me. I was hoping to get to know him better, but the whipped cream to the face really gave me the answer I needed: he's not interested."

"You don't know that," Polly said. "Maybe that's his way of flirting."

Giselle raised a brow. "Covering my face in whipped cream is flirting?"

"I don't know." Polly shrugged her pale shoulders. "He might've been teasing you or something."

"I don't think so, but thanks for trying. Let's talk about the snog of the hour. Maddie, how was it?" Giselle asked me.

I straightened my posture from a sloppy slouch to a perfect upright. "Oh, only two of the guys kissed me. Besides, I don't think a snog is nearly as important as a proposal," I casually shifted the focus off of myself and onto Peyton.

Peyton shook her head. "No, let's talk about Maddie first. Anthony and Blake kissed you, did you like it?"

"Anthony was nice. He had really fresh breath." The three other girls who kissed him nodded in agreement. "Blake was fine. It kind of zapped me back in time to the first few days in the villa, only with zero sparks. I don't think either of us enjoyed it," I explained.

"I can see that," Peyton nodded before steering the conversation back to her proposals. "I thought it was sweet when Anthony chose to marry me, but I feel like he only chose me because I'm the only one who has actually hung out with him one-on-one. He probably feels like he knows me best, not that he actually finds me to be the most wifey-material. But when Blake proposed, y'all, that shit made my heart skip a beat." Peyton grinned.

"Did everyone propose to the people they're in a couple with?" Peach looked around. "No, right?"

"No, because Polly proposed to Lucas, and he proposed back, which... sucks. But he did choose to snog me, so that was cool. Mmm... Maddie and Anthony technically aren't in any couples right now... oh, and Charlie proposed to Maddie," Giselle summarized.

"Yeah, let's talk about that." Peach smirked and turned to face me directly.

I felt the color rise to my cheeks in a fiery blush. "I proposed to him first."

"Why'd you choose him?" Peach rested her hand in her chin.

"He's the guy I know the best," I explained.

"Mhm." Peach stood up from her seat and began slowly pacing in front of the couches of girls like a lawyer before a jury. "And, Miss Maddie, by this logic, if Charlie was mimicking this theory of marrying the opposite gender they know best... would he not have chosen me?"