Whiskey & Wildflowers

Chapter 4

A/N: Briefly narrating over day 4 as nothing important happens and moving on to day 5! I also decided it doesn't make sense for Henrik to be from the Isle of Wight, so I've changed where he lives.

The following day followed much of the same formula as the first few, except that it started worse. Josie hardly got any sleep, mostly thanks to Rocco mumbling in his sleep about auras and yoga moves, but the unpleasant odour emanating from his body didn't help. That put her in a bad mood for their couples' brunch, which didn't go particularly well. After a few attempts at flirtation from him, Josie made it clear that she had no interest whatsoever in exploring any romantic connection.

To make matters worse, they had a challenge during the afternoon in which she had to rub her body over his to gather disgusting slime from it. Luckily, she could grind on Gary as well for the challenge, although not without a few choice words from Lottie — as if she weren't doing the same thing. Then Lottie set her sights on Priya for using the opportunity to get up close and personal with Noah despite not needing his colour. Josie didn't see the big deal — it's not like the challenge really meant anything, and Priya had literally been coupled up with him until the night before, so why shouldn't she graft him? It wasn't like she was doing it in secret.

The drama carried over to the evening, but other than supporting Priya, Josie stayed out of it as much as she could. That didn't stop her from getting a headache — Lottie's voice could be quite grating — and when it was time to go to bed, she couldn't stomach the idea of sleeping next to Rocco again. Instead, she gathered up some extra blankets and headed out to the daybeds.

Hopefully her bad day would garner some sympathy with the viewers, at least.

It was cold outside, but she slept far better than she did the night before. When she woke, the sun was rising in the sky, the birds were chirping in the trees, and there was a freshness in the air that reminded her of waking up by the lake during summer holidays.

Except that the lake smelled like chlorine.

And apparently, someone had decided to take an early morning swim.

Noah, maybe? He was the one who spent the most time in the pool, but unless she'd slept a lot later than she thought, Josie didn't think he'd be up so early. It seemed like he was usually one of the last ones up every morning, choosing instead to cuddle in bed with his rotation of partners.

There was a splash, followed by cheerful laughter. And then a deeper voice, saying something Josie couldn't quite make out.

She tried to place the voice, but it wasn't as deep as Noah's or as quiet as Rahim's, and it sounded deeper than the other guys'. The other person laughed again, then spoke, and she definitely didn't recognize that voice — or its accent.

New people?

They must not have realized she was sleeping on the daybed, or they might not have made so much noise — unless they wanted to wake her up. Her heart quickened with excitement at the thought that there were new guys in the villa and that one of them might be a good option for her. Lord knows, the villa needed new boys to shake things up, especially with Priya and Hope still in a triangle with Noah and Gary being coupled up with Ms. Girl Code herself.

Poking her head out from under the duvet, she propped herself up on her elbow and lifted her head, trying to see the new arrivals without them seeing her first. She wished she'd slept inside so she could put on her nicest bikini and at least brush her hair first, but she didn't like her chances of sneaking back into the villa without being noticed, and she definitely wasn't going to risk getting caught — that would be worse than just walking over to them in her pyjamas and messy hair.