Walking the Tightrope

Day 1: First Impressions

Rohan was piled in the living room with his mates watching the season premiere of Love Island. He was leaving the next day to join the show himself and wanted to familiarize himself with the ladies that he would be meeting very soon.

One by one their intro packages played. They were all fit, but his jaw hit the floor when he saw her. Swimwear model and social media sweetheart Charlie Patton.

His friends all shouted when she came on the screen. She was already semi-famous. In fact, Rohan had her swimsuit calendar on the wall of his bedroom. He followed her on Instagram and Twitter as well. She was not only gorgeous, she was also proper hilarious.

"Mate! You're going to meet Charlie Patton? You lucky bastard! If you don't couple up with her, we're disowning you! Her arse..... ooof," his friend Chase said, slapping him on the back. He wasn't wrong, though. She had the most incredible bubble butt.

Rohan smiled and shook his head. He met plenty of gorgeous girls. He did well on a night out. But struggled with commitment, even though he wanted more. Going on the show was going to bring his love life to a whole new level anyway - and now she would be there. He hadn't been nervous till he saw her smiling on the telly. But thinking about meeting Charlie - with her gorgeous curves, long dark red hair, warm brown eyes, and her sweet smile - he started to get nervous.

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Breathe, Charlie. Breathe.

I walked up to the Villa, trying to shake my nerves. I had a successful modeling career, and a strong social media presence. Why should being on the telly make me nervous? Oh right. Because I was going to try to find love in front of the entire UK, and much of the rest of the world thanks to streaming services. My cousin had moved to the states for uni, found love, and stayed there. She told me that she would be  watching all the way in Los Angeles.

I wasn't going for my career, like a lot of people thought. I mean, sure, the boost wouldn't suck, but I really did want to find love. I had plenty of men, women as well, interested, but nothing serious ever blossomed. It was almost impossible to actually cultivate something with anyone in the business, conflicting egos and schedules and what not. And outside of the business, well, a lot of people just wanted to be able to say they dated a model.

I seemed to be the first one there. It was such a large villa that the quiet was eerie. I was used to being in a place like this with a full hair and make up crew, a photographer, and various assistants. As I made my way out the back, onto the lawn I heard shouting from the other side.

"Hello! I'm Allegra!"

She was short-ish. Not short exactly, but smaller than me. But man, she had curves for days, and the most gorgeous olive complexion. She had long dark hair and deep brown eyes.

"Allegra? Are you Italian?" I asked.

"Yes, originally. My parents moved from Milan a few years before I was born. What's your name?"

"Oh sorry. I'm Charlie. It's short for Charlotte, technically, but nobody has called me that for years. Not even my parents," I smiled warmly at her.

I turned my head ever so slightly and noticed a table with a bottle of champagne chilling, and five glasses.

"Ooh shall we?" I raised my eyebrows.

She smiled and we walked over to the table.

"Your outfit is amazing, by the way," she said as I popped the cork, "I kinda wish I had dressed up a bit more."

Truth be told all of my bikinis, and most of my dresses, had been gifted from designers. There was no chance I wouldn't look fierce. But I had gone all out for day one, wearing a revealing, strappy black number. It had a bunch of buckles, and almost looked more like a BDSM outfit rather than swimwear.