Page 95 of Hot Summer

Cas Morgan: she signed an NDA before she left—she joined HS for a work thing, yes, but I know her feelings for Ada were real

Cas Morgan: she hasn’t looked at anyone like that in years

Ada Hall: Have you spoken to her?

Cas Morgan: no not yet—she’s supposed to be coming home tomorrow

Ada Hall: hmm

Ada Hall: ok. I want to believe you but...

Cas Morgan: I know. But trust me, we’ll clear all this up as soon as she gets home. I’ll get Cas to reach out to you or something

Cas Morgan: please just talk to Ada. Try and see if she’d be open to a convo w Cas

Ada Hall:... ok

Cas didn’t know if that was a great idea, all things considered. Didn’t know if it was even worth it.

Ada’s friends were making it seem like Ada was all in, like she was crushed, but through the screen, they might have missed the pure hatred in Ada’s eyes when she’d looked at her back in the villa. Ada hadn’t listened, hadn’t cared about Cas enough to believe her.

Angry or not, if Ada’d meant it when she said that she wanted to be with Cas, she should have given Cas the benefit of the doubt. Trusted her.

Especially when Cas had put so much trust in her.

Cas scrolled through the rest of the messages, but the earlier ones were hard to read. They’d started a spreadsheet, apparently, trying to find her and Ada a flat (Cas would never look at that spreadsheet, no matter how much they paid her), they were celebrating when Cas and Ada had kissed for the first time outside of a challenge. They thought Cas and Ada had chemistry. Talked about how they could see it on their faces.

It was one thing when people inside the villa told Cas that she obviously had feelings for Ada. When Femi and Sienna and Freddie made a point to outright say or subtly suggest that there were feelings there. But for her friends, for Ada’s friends, the people who knew them best in the world to see it?

It made Cas feel like her heart was breaking all over again.

Because, even if there had been something between her and Ada, the fact remained that it was over now. She was alone—she’d flown back alone, was in this car alone, and Ada had had the opportunity to come back with her, to let Cas explain, make amends, but she’d shut the door on that. Forever, as far as Cas was concerned.

In spite of her best efforts to get a handle on herself, Cas felt her emotions ratcheting higher and higher as they approached her flat. It was emotional, seeing these places that were so familiar to her. She hadn’t even been gone that long, but each one she passed—the Turkish restaurant on the corner, the pub, the big Sainsbury’s—was a reminder that she wasn’t in Cyprus anymore. That the moment she stepped out of this car, she was going to be severed from the show entirely.

It was so frustrating, that separation, but also the fact that part of her wished she was back there at all. This show had observed and exploited and manipulated her and here she was, wishing that—

She bit the inside of her lip. Squeezed her phone just to feel something.

If the emotions were powerful driving into Camden, they were overwhelming as they turned down her road. When she spotted the Georgian terraced house, the windows in their top-floor flat thrown open, curtains fluttering in the breeze.

The moment she saw Aisha and Skye, Cas burst into tears.

She hadn’t meant to, was actually mortified that it had happened, but the sight of them there, arms outstretched, faces sad... Everything sitting just underneath the surface had bubbled over so quickly that Cas didn’t have any hope of retaining it.

“Oh, babe.”

Aisha was the first to move, Skye about half a second behind. They were so familiar, but it had been so long it was almost nostalgic, seeing them again, smelling Skye’s cologne and Aisha’s hand cream, feeling their arms around her again. Aisha’s arms were around Cas’s shoulders, Skye’s were around her middle, and they crushed Cas to them as they whispered over and over that it was okay. That they loved her. That they had her.

Cas dropped her bag on the ground with a heavy thud and wrapped her arms around them both, clinging to them like they were in the middle of a vast, bottomless ocean.

They stood in the entry for a long time before, finally, Cas pulled away, wiping her face with her sleeve. “Thanks.”

“We missed you,” Skye said. They grabbed Cas’s bag off the ground and stepped back so Cas could kick off her shoes.

“We really did,” Aisha agreed. “How was the flight?”

They both seemed to be walking on glass, sticking to the easiest topics while Cas got through the door. She knew it wouldn’t last—Cas might get away with it for a while with Skye, but Aisha was going to let her have it as soon as she thought Cas could handle it—but she appreciated the game of pretend they were all playing.

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