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I was officially unsettled. Maybe not uncomfortable but the nerves I was feeling were not something I was familiar with.
A week ago I was in my happy place. Behind the bar, making small talk with customers, enjoying the music. Now I was about enter the villa and be presented with a situation where I had to put myself out there to survive.
It wasn't necessarily the instant attraction that I was worried about, I had a reputation for flirting with anyone when I was with or without the influence of alcohol. It was building on that which scared me, in fact I wasn't even sure I was ready for that.
Thankfully I wouldn't be walking in there alone and I was joined outside the villa by Wil and Grace, both of whom I could admit were very good looking. Now was the time to just put my game face on, lean on my confidence and just trust that what will be will be.
Wil made our presence known with a shout to everyone and then all eyes were on us. You could see the shock on their faces before they made their way over.
I'm usually good at reading people and judging my attraction to someone in the first few seconds but the first guy who came over had me spooked. "Hi lovely, I'm Sean." I think the first thing to note was that he smelt really nice, like almost better than me I was sweating that badly.
"I'm Rhea, it's lovely to meet you."
The girls all seemed really lovely, though I knew in the back of my mind that I needed to scope out the information before I became very friendly with them.
The guys just seemed excited, I had my eye on some of them more than others but I wasn't going to make any decisions yet.
"Girl you look stunning, I'm Omar." Another guy introduced himself as we made our way to sit over by the firepit. "Nervous?"
"Rhea and that is something I can not disclose."
"Sure."
I think the toughest thing right now was trying to remember all their names, like I was struggling right now.
"Tell us about yourself, where you come from, age, everything like that." I think Jess asked as I sat in between maybe Ciaran and Uma.
"Grace, 25, from Manchester. I'm a model and a business owner, I've got my own marketing agency."
"I'm Wil, I'm 23 and I'm from Newcastle. I'm a quantity surveyor. Ready to find some love."
"I'm Rhea, I'm 23 and I'm from Manchester. I work in a cocktail bar."
"Favourite cocktail?" Joey asked.
"Got to be a sex on the beach, can't beat a good classic."
