Page 54 of Hot Summer

The daybed was shaded by a few trees that hung overhead, but the slant of the light in the early morning, and the reflection of it off the pool, sent a streak of sun across the bed. Cas’s legs were tangled in the duvet, one of her arms buried underneath the pillow, and she turned onto her side before opening her eyes, soaking in one more moment of the sound of the birds chirping in the distance and the soft rustle of the wind through the trees.

She had known that Ada was in bed beside her, but Cas was still surprised at how close they were when she opened her eyes.

Ada was lying on the edge of her pillow, their faces nearly touching now that Cas had rolled onto her side. Ada’s head was turned toward Cas and she was curled up into a small ball, her knees tucked into her chest and her arms folded across her stomach. It was an innocent position, vulnerable.

If Cas hadn’t already been angry about the way Brad had been treating Ada, this would have done it. Seeing how, even in sleep, she’d felt the need to protect herself.

Cas knew she should roll away, find her mic, maybe get up, start the day, but she couldn’t bring herself to move. Not yet.

Instead, she followed the trail of sunlight across Ada’s skin. Counted each and every new freckle that revealed itself across the bridge of Ada’s nose. Traced the curve of Ada’s lower lip and thought, for just a moment, about what it would feel like to have Ada’s lips pressed against her skin.

The confessions from the night before had replayed in Cas’s mind as she’d drifted off to sleep, and she felt them again now, lying here and looking at Ada. Cas marveled at Ada’s strength, her willpower. At Ada’s belief that, somewhere, Cas had a similar kind of bravery inside herself.

It was hard to believe it, especially when Cas thought about what she’d let her life become, but she wanted to believe it. Wanted to believe that she could open herself up to more without getting hurt again.

She let herself look for a moment longer before finally accepting that she wasn’t going to fall back asleep—especially not with the bird in the tree directly overhead that had decided to start a full concert. Cas grabbed her microphone from the ground beside the bed before slipping carefully out from under the duvet.

In spite of the early hour, it was nice, being up before everyone else in the villa. She hadn’t experienced this much actual silence in this house since she came here a few weeks ago, and she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it until she was standing at the kitchen island alone, cup of fresh coffee in her hand, only the sounds of the birds to keep her company.

Cas was no stranger to chaos. Her entire life was spent in every rowdy “night out” place London had to offer, and she’d long since perfected the ability to carve out a space of her own just to breathe. Her independence gave her the ability to separate herself from everything going on.

It was the one thing that was probably keeping her sane in this house that was practically bursting at the seams. But it was also probably the very thing that was keeping her at the bottom of the list in terms of likability. She’d managed fifth once, but it was a tie and, therefore, barely counted.

Though, it had been nearly a week since they’d gotten updated rankings. It was very possible that things had changed in that time.

She’d find out tonight. But even as she thought it, there was a little part of her brain that whispered... Who cares?

Ada and Femi were right—she wasn’t going to be able to control the way people responded to her, couldn’t make people understand who she was through a television screen. She was putting all this pressure on herself to conform to this ideal of what she thought a Hot Summer woman should be and the plan was actively blowing up in her face.

Why should she bother caring anymore? Bother trying to change herself or edit herself anymore?

She wasn’t ready to give up on the job—she’d spent years applying to jobs only for this opportunity to finally, finally fall into her lap. The promise of a life lived during daylight hours, a life that didn’t involve shouting over heavy bass, was too much to give up on, but maybe she should give up on the tactics she’d been deploying to try to win it. They weren’t working anyway, and, sure, changing things up could potentially have zero impact, but it couldn’t make things worse.

People already hated her. What did she have to lose?

Cas was midway through a sip of her coffee when she felt someone’s arms wrap around her middle. She started, nearly sloshing her coffee down her chest. Cas felt the softest tickle of long red hair against her upper arm.

“Hi,” Ada said, her voice in Cas’s ear. She gave Cas a soft squeeze and then she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the hinge of Cas’s jaw. It was probably meant as a friendly cheek kiss, but it was so close to the tender skin of Cas’s neck that she shivered before she could even think to stop herself. “How are you up this early?”

“That fucking bird woke me up,” Cas grumbled.

Ada hummed, and as close as they were, Cas felt more than heard it, Ada’s chest vibrating against Cas’s shoulder blades. “He woke me up, too.”

Cas was still wearing her pajamas, a long Ramones T-shirt that skimmed her thighs and a pair of bike shorts, and even though it was more than she normally wore around the villa, there was something almost too sexy about it. The scene was so domestic it was nearly indecent.

Cas never would have thought that a tattered jumper and frilly shorts were her thing, but she was very, very wrong.

Cas lifted her coffee to her lips again and realized that her hands were shaking.

Jesus Christ, she really needed to get it together.

Ada gave her one final squeeze before she stepped away, her fingers trailing across Cas’s hips as she moved. Cas buried her shaky breath in another rushed sip of her coffee.

The morning went, more or less, the same as every single morning had since they’d arrived in the villa, with the added benefit of Cas helping Ada avoid Brad at every turn. If the producers weren’t going to do anything about it, Cas sure as shit was, and to her delight, most of the boys were more than happy to help.

Femi, Leo, and even Reece, after a bit of roasting from Tia, volunteered to serve as “bouncers,” and they guarded the dressing room door as the girls got ready that morning. They’d rigged fake earpieces out of their microphone wires, and spent their time pretending to talk to one another over them as Leo did the morning coffee and pastry run. For an extra bit of flair, he’d delivered the coffees on a platter with a towel draped over his arm and, after Sienna requested it, had hastily drawn on a mustache with an eyeliner he snatched off the vanity.

It was ridiculous, very over the top, but each and every antic was bringing a smile to Ada’s face. And Cas knew then that she’d happily orchestrate a thousand stupid activities if it meant that Ada kept smiling like that.

---