Red, Hot Summer

DAY 16 - The Party Must End

LOTTIE

"Okay ladies, it's time to announce the winner of this afternoon's challenge!" she announced. "The boys have had the best afternoon of their lives I think! Shame you and Hope didn't take part," she said in Scarlett's direction who just held her aching head and shrugged.

"I wasn't feeling it," Hope said, folding her arms. 

"It was just meant to be a laugh," Lottie said, "Anyway, the winner is..... Priya!"

"How do you know I didn't win?" Chelsea pouted.

"I've got eyes everywhere," Lottie said mysteriously. "And Felix avoided you!"

"But we haven't seen you all afternoon," Chelsea said, "Where have you been?"

"I was.... I was keeping an eye on things," Lottie said, her face flushing red and Marisol looking at her suspiciously. "Anyway, Priya worked her magic on every single boy! And this is yours," she said, handing over a black rose pendant to Priya. It wasn't her style but she put it on, asking Scarlett to do it up.

"Thanks hun, I look fierce," Priya said, looking in the mirror. She reached over and gave Lottie a hug, which surprised everyone. "I'm sick of all this bickering," she said. "We're hopefully going home tomorrow, let's just have a good night tonight, no arguing." She looked in Hope's direction.

"Do you think the guys are going to put in a lot of effort tonight?" Lottie asked.

"Oh, they're going to be going alllllllllllllllll out," Chelsea said, "They all want one of us to take them back with us."

"Do you think the guys in the villa are going all out tonight?" Scarlett said, thinking about Bobby's Hawaiian shirt collection.

"I hope not," Priya said and a quietness fell over the room. "Well, let's just get changed," Priya suggested and the others agreed, with only Chelsea and Marisol seeming excited for the evening. Scarlett settled on a simple black bodycon dress and heels, pulling her hair up into a messy bun and accessorising with large, hooped earrings. Lottie helped to cover the bruise that had appeared on Scarlett's forehead as Hope looked on with a smirk on her face. She was never going to tell anyone why Scarlett had ended up in such a mess last night, but she was thoroughly enjoying the fallout still. Chelsea bounded around the dressing room as the others got ready before announcing,

"Last one to the lawn is a rotten tomato!"

"I think it's a rotten egg," Lottie said.

"Ewwwww! Why would anyone want to be a rotten egg? That's gross!" Chelsea replied, looking outraged at Lottie. "Why?" before flouncing out of the room, the rest of them following her in fits of giggles. 

SCARLETT

When the girls arrived outside there was an overwhelming smell of aftershave that hit them. The boys were all wearing freshly ironed shirts and had groomed and preened nearly as much as the girls. 

"You. Look. Fit!" Elijah said as Chelsea skipped across to him and launched herself at him.

"So fit," Arjun agreed, grinning at Scarlett who avoided his gaze. She'd avoided him all day and he sensed an awkward conversation was coming tonight. "Stunning," he added, to still no response from her. Kassam was staring at Lottie intensely but she was looking awkwardly away too. Felix made a beeline straight away for Priya and the air was thick with desperation as he gazed up at her with puppy dog eyes.

"Before the night kicks off  we just wanted to say, well we were talking about it and we were going to make a banner but someone," he looked pointedly at Felix, "sat in the pot of paint! So anyway, as you girls are the best, you deserve the best!"