Lies We Tell

3 : Shocker

The other side of the bed was empty when Zahra awoke the next morning, and the sheets felt cool enough that she knew Rocco had been gone for some time. Looking around the room, she realized most of the islanders had left the room and gone out to the lawn, and to her surprise, she felt both disappointed and relieved that they hadn't woken her up to join them. Considering they all knew each other for only a day, that was surprising to her.

As she got to her feet, she overhead whispered voices coming from the bed at the opposite end of the room from her. Unable to see who was buried within the sheets, she tried to wrack her brain for some memory of who claimed that bed last night. A slightly too-loud laugh cued her in, and she made her way through the room as carefully as she could without disturbing Hope and Noah. As much as she would have loved to interrupt them just to spite Hope, she also had little patience for the fight that would surely follow.

Instead, she slipped into the dressing room and dug out the yellow and black one-piece suit that Maura had called "eye-catching" the first time she saw Zahra in it. She figured if there was a chance she would go home today-- and there was-- she might as well make Maura proud and go out with a bang.

When she stepped onto the lawn, she quickly spied a cluster of the boys, Rocco included, surrounding Priya on some sun loungers by the pool. They were clearly having a candid conversation that Lottie was pretending not to be casually eavesdropping on from a short distance away.

Rocco was the first one to notice Zahra as she drew close. He waved her over in welcome and offered her the sun lounger next to him, close but not too close. With a soft smile of thanks, she settled in.

Priya beamed at Zahra happily. "Zahra! I'm trying to get to know the boys. Will you play my good cop?"

"Sure, I guess." Zahra pointedly ignored the sharp look Lottie shot her from her spot.

"Great!" Priya said. "I'm just trying to get a feel for all of the couples in here. I don't know how I should be going about this decision I have to make later, and it's doing my head in."

"So how are you going to decide who to go for?" Lottie got up from where she was and padded over to take a seat with the rest of them. "What are you hoping for?"

Priya sighed. "I can't just go for who I think is fittest, you know? It's about connection, too."

Rocco leaned forward. "So you believe in vibes?"

"Vibes? As in vibrators?" That earned a solid laugh from everyone, even stone-faced Lottie. "Yeah, I guess so."

Rocco smiled at Priya. "There's a certain rhythm to getting to know someone, even more so in connecting with them."

Priya snorted a laugh. "And what would you know about rhythm?"

He gave her a slow, mischievous smile. "I could show you, if you're interested."

Zahra felt something inside her sink. Here she was sitting right next to her partner, and he was blatantly grafting on another, prettier girl instead. She'd spent most of the night before she'd fallen asleep making peace with the fact that Rocco was very willing to play the field, especially with Priya in the mix, but that didn't mean it felt good to be passed over so ignorantly.

Lottie cleared her throat pointedly, making the fuss that Zahra refused to start herself. It took almost three tries before Rocco noticed and put two-and-two together. "It's just casual flirting between attractive people. It's completely harmless."

Lottie sneered. "I disagree. I think flirting with someone else is massive disrespect to your partner."

Rocco rolled his eyes. "It isn't bad if nothing happens."