Page 34 of Hot Summer

@mayashah02: I felt kind of bad for the people at the bottom

@lorrylorna: ok but... BRAD????

@mayashah02: lolol true. And CAS lol ok nvm

@alexeiiiii93: she’s crying about being last. Stop scowling at everyone and maybe we wouldn’t hate you

@cerifrancs: no ok but. That bathroom scene with Cas and Ada??? I’m actually... liking Cas?????

@rorykavanagh: no omg seriously. Like the other day when they were talking outside, too. One of her best moments!

@cerifrancs: YES! We were just talking about that. Idk why she’s so quiet the rest of the time, it’s annoying

@rorykavanagh: honestly if she would just open up we’d hate her at least 30% less

@fionahughes: tbh I know Ada was joking about Hot Gay Summer but like...

11

The next twenty-four hours seemed to pass by in a blink.

Cas was consumed—all night, all morning, all afternoon—with worry about the partnering ceremony that evening. About what Femi would do, what he should do, now that the rankings were in.

How long would people continue to like him, think good things about him, if he stayed associated with her? He was clearly well-liked, and short of, like, actively fighting one of them, that probably wouldn’t change overnight. But people would start to question him—his integrity, his judgment—if he continued to be Cas’s partner, especially given his clear feelings for Sienna.

As easy as it was to fall down that spiral, it was just as simple to examine the alternative. To see this as an opportunity. A lifeline. Because how long could she stay at the bottom if she was tied to someone like Femi? If the public had such a strong positive feeling about him, surely it must say something about her if he was actively choosing to associate himself with her. And even more broadly, if she continued to spend time with Sienna and Ada. Yes, Cas was in the bottom, but she was surrounded by the most well-liked people in the villa. Surely, surely, that had to count for something.

It made her feel a little sticky thinking about it, but maybe, if they refused to cave to the public pressure, the audience would reevaluate their ideas of her.

Cas kept hoping that Femi would come and find her at some point during the day, but he was never around anytime Cas looked for him. He still brought her a coffee in the morning, still flashed her the same grin he gave to Ada and Sienna before he ran outside into the sunshine, but by the time Cas’s brain had switched on for the morning?

He was playing two a side with Reece, Jayden, and Charlie, then he was in the gym, and then he was just... gone.

No matter how much Cas tried to play it cool, she was definitely starting to stress as the sun dipped lower and lower. As her moment of fate crept ever closer. She could have gone to talk to him about it, but she didn’t want to feel like she was pressuring him. Last place, least liked as she was, it would have been painfully obvious to her, to Femi, to everyone, exactly what she was after. The smooth rocking of her pool float in the water was the only thing keeping Cas from giving away the very last shred of her dignity and begging Femi to keep her.

Cas was lucky enough to grab the first shower that evening, so she had more time than usual to choose her outfit. Cas thumbed through the wardrobe, considering each bodycon dress and micromini with an intensity that far exceeded the actual severity of the situation. She eventually decided on a mostly sheer bustier top that hugged her curves and a white faux leather skirt with a slit that exposed most of her right thigh. It was a very different style from what she usually wore, but she liked the contrast in the fabric, and even more, she liked the way that it felt when she put it on.

She was sitting at the vanity blending foundation down her neck when Ada walked in, hair dripping, and made her way to the wardrobe.

Cas was not at all watching the path of the water droplets over her collarbone.

“I thought you weren’t going to wash your hair.”

“The boys let me get into the outside shower before them if I promised to make them coffee tomorrow morning,” she said.

“They should have let you in for nothing,” Cas said, tilting her head back to check that she’d blended her makeup well enough. “It’s not like they take more than two seconds to shower.”

“Whatever.” Ada grabbed a halter dress out of the wardrobe and examined it before putting it back. “I’d get up tomorrow and make myself coffee anyway, so it’s just a few more mugs.”

“Fair enough.”

Neither of them spoke as Ada continued searching through the wardrobe, though Cas felt her eyes drawn to Ada over and over again as she held out her options. Each one—a tiny dress that was more cutouts than dress, a skirt set that looked barely bigger than a postage stamp—made Cas feel like she could hear her heartbeat against the inside of her chest.

The most recent selection, a royal blue bandage skirt and a halter top with a cutout across the chest, appeared to have Ada somewhat mesmerized. She tilted her head to the side, considering it, and Cas tried to distract herself by applying bronzer to her skin to stop herself imagining Ada in it.

Or, god, imagining peeling Ada out of it. A thought that hit Cas like a ton of bricks.

She’d known, from the first moment she’d walked into the villa, that she found Ada attractive, but it was unavoidable now. Undeniable in a way that was really going to be a problem if Ada didn’t feel the same way.

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