Whiskey & Wildflowers

Chapter 10

vafan = "what the fuck" in Swedish

***

Josie followed the rest of the group to the lawn as the dessert dates drew to a close. Henrik was still chatting away with Bobby about who knew what — comparing notes over their dates, most likely. Before she could move to his side, though, the bundle of energy that was her new rival bounded up to the group with a squeal.

"I'm so excited to meet you all!" she exclaimed. "I wish I could've had dates with everyone! Wouldn't that have been fun?!"

Oh, yeah. Real fun.

She plastered on a fake smile as she greeted Chelsea, nearly stumbling as the smaller woman practically jumped into her arms. By the time she caught her footing, the blonde blur had already moved on, leaving her bewildered. Looking for Henrik, she found him shaking hands with Jakub, and she grimaced. That wasn't a conversation she was too keen on interrupting.

Once all the introductions were done, they all made their way to the fire pit for the usual 'grilling' of the new arrivals, and Josie took her seat next to Henrik, pressing close against his side. He turned to her with slightly raised eyebrows, so she gave him a small, encouraging smile, and he returned it with a brighter one of his own as he draped his arm over her shoulders.

They went through the usual questions — where they were from, what they did, what their types were, blah blah blah — before the conversation took a turn.

"It feels like I know you all already!" Chelsea gushed. "We've seen every episode so far!"

"Oh?" Hope asked, straightening in her seat. "What have you seen?"

A giddy expression came over Chelsea's face. "Oh my god, so many things! I have sooo many opinions!"

"What about the memes?" Bobby asked. "What are the best ones?"

"Oh!" Her blue eyes widened. "So many! But the funniest one lately had to be when Lucas left!"

Josie stiffened. What funny meme could possibly have come from that?

"Why, what happened?" Gary leaned forward in his seat.

"Well!" Chelsea was practically bouncing in her seat, clearly loving all the attention. "They were showing everyone's beach hut reactions, right? Oh! I'm so excited to see the beach hut! I can't wait to talk to everyone back home!"

"That's not what we do there..."

"What happened in the beach hut? Did someone say something?"

"Oh, right! Where was I? Oh yeah, Lucas! Anyway, Lucas left, and Rocco was all like, 'If Josie really liked him, she would've left too'! And everyone was talking about it and post—!"

Josie felt like she'd been punched in the gut. "Excuse me?!" She crossed her arms and stared down Rocco, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. "You said what?!"

"Err..." He tugged at one of the beaded necklaces around his neck.

"Oh, yeah!" Chelsea exclaimed. "It was really funny!"

Josie turned to her, seething. "It doesn't sound very funny to me." She shook off the hand Henrik placed on her shoulder. "It's not like it was an easy decision, and it's nobody else's business!"

"Well, babe," the new girl said, looking sympathetic, "people did wonder why you didn't leave after sleeping with him."

Her jaw dropped. Fuck. Was that what people were thinking?

"Figures," Lottie grumbled.

"I didn't sleep with him!" she protested. She turned to Henrik for support, but he was frowning, staring down at his hands, and her stomach sank.