Whiskey and Scotch

Chapter 25

We were all packed and ready to go – the only question left was, which of the boys was coming back to the villa with us? The girls sat around the Casa Amor firepit one last time as the boys lined up in front of us, waiting for their fates to be decided.

My phone beeped, and I read the text aloud.

"'Girls, it's time to choose. In turn, please say whether you would like to stick with the person you're coupled up with, or switch to one of the boys in front of you. The boys in the villa will do the same. If you both stick, you will remain as a couple. If you both switch, you will stay in the villa in your new couples. If one of you switches and the other sticks, the person who stuck will be left single.'"

"Wait, what was that last part?" Lottie asked. "If one person switches, the other person is left single. Does that mean they get dumped?"

I looked at the screen again and shook my head. "It just says they're left single. Wouldn't they tell us if it meant being dumped? Because then more people would probably switch to stay safe."

"Interesting," she mused, looking at the boys in front of us. "Very interesting."

"Just go with what your heart tells you," Priya smiled. "It shouldn't be about staying safe or not."

My phone beeped again. "'Josie, you're up first.'"

Easiest decision in the world.

I stood and smiled at the boys in front of me.

"This decision will come as no surprise to anybody. You've all been so lovely these past few days, but I left a really special guy back in the villa, and right now there's nobody I'd rather be with. I'm going to stick with Henrik."

The girls clapped and cheered as I sat down alone. The boys nodded and shuffled their feet, waiting for the next girl to stand up.

Marisol received the next text and jumped to her feet.

"Okay, here goes," she said with a smile. "I've had some ups and downs since I've come into the villa – mostly downs, to be honest. None of the couples I've tried have gone my way, and one boy that I liked has already been dumped."

I couldn't contain myself from giving the most giant eye-roll behind her back.

"But since coming into Casa Amor, everything has changed for me. I really didn't think Casa Amor would be the place I found someone I truly liked – despite being the only person here who knew it meant 'House of Love.'"

Says who? Casa is house, Amor is love, how hard was that to figure out?

"I guess I'm skeptical like that. When we left for Casa Amor, I was coupled up with Bobby."

My god, is she still going on?

"I know how much he means to all of us, and I hate to think this might leave him single—"

As if. Bitch, you once tried to vote him out!

"—but if I'm not true to myself, I might never get a chance like this again. I have to follow my heart. That's exactly why I came here in the first place. So I'm going to switch. And the boy I want to couple up with is... Graham."

I winked at Graham as he stepped forward, and he grinned broadly, then stooped down to give Marisol a kiss as everyone else burst into applause.

"Looks like it's my turn next," Lottie said as she stood up. She collected herself, smoothing out the creases in her dress, then looked up at the boys. "This hasn't been the easiest decision for me. When we left the villa, I had just coupled up with Rahim and I'm not sure where either of us expected it to go, but it's safe to say we didn't expect to be split up before we had a chance to find out. You're all lovely guys, but I haven't really connected with any of you in the way that I would have hoped, so I'm going to take a chance on the guy who took a chance on me. I'm going to stick with Rahim."