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Clarke doesn’t know why she’s here. Really. Wells signed her up for this stupid TV show (that she was secretly obsessed with last year) and now she can’t get out of it or end up being sued. Admittedly she is more covered up than the rest of the girls, wearing a pair of jean shorts and a sheer cover up on top of her bikini, but she still feels extremely exposed. Four or five mostly naked guys are about to be paraded in front of her and the girls standing beside her she just met; Octavia, Harper and Fox.
“Alright girls, who’s ready to get some boys in here!” Caroline, the host, asks us. To which the girls are (contractionally) obliged to ‘wooo’ at. “Say hello to Atom!”
A young guy walks out with black quaffed hair, light blue shorts, a smirk and a six pack. “Hi girls, how we feeling?” Atom winks in Octavia’s direction in particular and she shoots back a grin.
“Ok girls, if Atom floats your boat please step forward.” Octavia and Fox take a step forward. Atom chooses Octavia and goes to stand next to her.
“We now officially have our first couple of Love Island season 5! Next up is Finn!” Finn walks down from the house, long hair somehow not getting caught in his eyes. While he’s not usually the type she would go for, Clarke is attracted to him.
“Hey girls, lovely to meet you all.” Caroline asks the girls to step forward and Clarke goes for it. She was the only one but that doesn’t bother her, and it doesn’t seem to bother Finn either as his smile gets bigger.
He chooses her and stands by her side, wrapping an arm around her as they take a photo together. “I’m really glad you stepped forward for me,” he tells her.
Clarke smiles back at him, and she’s won’t lie, she was getting some butterflies. “You were the first guy I stepped forward for.”
“Yeah, out of two, what a compliment,” he says sarcastically.
“I think it is,” she replies and faces Caroline again as she announces the next boy, Monty.
Monty, a lanky boy, walks out looking nervous but still smiling. Harper steps forward for him. Before he makes his choice Caroline asks, “Harper, so do you like the look of Monty then?”
Harper smiles, “Yeah, he’s cute, and he seems like a good guy so I’d really like to get to know him.” Clarke can’t be sure but Monty may be blushing. Monty obviously chooses Harper, leaving only Fox without a partner.
“Aw that’s cute, but guys I’m a bit disappointed, you’re all being so well behaved. But maybe the next guy will turn up the heat, let’s meet our new hunk, Bellamy!” Straight away Octavia starts fake gagging. She walks over to the bushes and starts pretending to heave into them. Bellamy jogs down the steps smiling and shaking his head. “Shut up O,” he says in his deep voice that’s doing things to Clarke. He’s wearing a muted orange Hawaiian shirt, a few buttons undone, looking a bit nervous as he runs his fingers through his hair.
“Do either of you want to tell your fellow islanders what’s going on here?” Caroline asks Bellamy and Octavia.
“This boof head is my overprotective brother,” Octavia turns and tells the girls specifically.
“And this dweeb is my baby sister,” Bellamy announces. Clarke doesn’t have any siblings so seeing this kind of exchange is always endearing to her.
In all honesty, Clarke would step forward if she wasn’t already coupled up with Finn but she really wants to be as honourable as she can on this show. As much as she is trying to make the best of a bad situation and potentially find a boyfriend (or girlfriend), she wants to be really mindful of other people’s feelings. So that means Fox is the only girl that steps forward for Bellamy. He couples up with Fox.
“So, now that everyone is coupled up, I thought I might just bring in one more boy. Say hi to John, also known as Murphy!”
Murphy makes his way down to Caroline. “Happy to be hear Murphy?” Caroline asks.
“It’s a pleasure Caroline,” Murphy replies sarcastically. This really doesn’t seem like his scene.
“So girls, make sure you get a chance to get to know Murphy before the first recoupling ceremony because staying single is dangerous in this game!”
…
“So Murphy, what the hell are you doing on this show?” Clarke asks Murphy as they are lounging by the pool, Finn and Monty and Harper sitting with them.
“I lost a bet,” he says with a straight face, making Harper laugh. “No really, I lost a bet so my friends signed me up. How about you Clarke? You don’t seem like the kind of girl that would sign up for this.”
“Is that meant to be a compliment?” Clarke asks smiling.
“Yes,” Murphy deadpans.
“Wells, my best friend, signed me up pretending to be me, and then when I tried to pull out they said there was something in the contract that wouldn’t let me.”
“Wait, so you don’t want to be coupled up with me right now?” Finn pipes up.
“Nah, but now I’m here I might as well stay,” Clarke joked.
Clarke sees Octavia and Fox making their way down to the couches.
“Hey everyone,” Octavia says as she takes a seat by Clarke’s feet. “It’s girl time boys, so get outta here.”
“Okay okay, I can take a hint,” Murphy says as he gets up. Finn gets up as well but he just runs five meters and jumps in the pool. Monty eases in after him and Murphy reluctantly joins them.
“So girls, how are we feeling in our pairs? Harper?” Octavia asks.
“Monty is so cute, really. And he’s so nice, just to everyone. I think he’s still in his shell a little bit but I think once he steps out we’ll see a whole different side to him.” Harper is gushing really. Like it’s early but it is already so clear that she really likes him. “How about you Octavia?”
“Atom is hot. Not going to lie here. I’m just going to have some fun, see where things go, like it’s the first day, no one has any clue where anything is going.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly right.” Clarke joins in, “I mean I feel like Finn and I are vibing but it’s literally been a few hours so it’s way too early to start making out on national TV.”
“Fair. Point.” Octavia says. “Ok, now Fox I’m going to give you like 30 seconds to talk about how hot my brother is and then we’re moving on.”
“Oh, I will need more than 30 seconds,” Fox says. “Forget about it being to early to make out, I’m ready to do more than that, and then I don’t really care if I stay.” Clarke was laughing at that.
“Ew, but also I’m gonna try to be the ultimate wing woman here, would either of you two have stepped forward if you weren’t already coupled up?”
Harper immediately responds, “Yes.”
“Clarke?”
Teh answer is definitely. But she just says, “Probably.”
Octavia looks at her slyly, “Sure, sure.”
“Personality is just such an important factor for me in how attractive someone seems, and I haven’t had a conversation with him yet.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Octavia says.
…
“Whooooooooo!!!!!!” Octavia, Harper and Fox yell as they down their third glass of champagne at the opening night party. It is actually a lot of fun, more than Clarke was expecting. It feels like she’s known these guys for years, even though she hasn’t had a one-on-one conversation with most of them. She’s been having a great time dancing but eventually the night dies down a bit and everyone starts chatting again.
The other girls are chatting as Octavia sits in Atom’s lap, sipping on her next glass. Clarke is with the rest of the guys in the kitchen, sitting on the bench as Murphy tries to teach Monty how to cook ‘the best quesadillas north of Mexico’.
Bellamy comes to lean against the bench next to her, bringing Clarke a freshly opened cruiser. “You don’t need a cooking lesson?” Clarke asks Bellamy.
“Ha, no. I can cook.”
“You can cook better than the best quesadillas north of Mexico.”
“Not to brag, but yeah.”
“And you like cruisers?”
“They taste yummy.”
That makes Clarke laugh, “Yummy?” She shakes her head and takes a sip.
“Hey, I’m secure enough in my masculinity to drink cruisers and admit they’re yummy.”
“My man,” Clarke says and clinks drinks with him. “You having a good time so far?”
“Yeah I guess, these guys already feel like close friends.”
“Yeah definitely. And I really love your sister by the way.”
“Yeah, so do I.” He smiles, and Clarke can tell it’s really genuine. He loves Octavia so much. “Not too crash hot on Atom though.”
“You don’t like him?”
“He’s alright. I haven’t really spoken to him that much. He could just be too intimidated to talk to the older brother, but he doesn’t seem to be looking for anything too serious. I just know that O falls hard and fast, and I’m a bit worried that she’s going to get hurt.”
“I don’t think you need to be too worried yet. Judging by how quickly last season moved, I think there will be plenty of boys chasing after her and it would be pretty hard to pin her down.”
“I don’t know if I should be relieved or more concerned.”
“Relieved definitely.”
“Ok good.” There’s a comfortable pause for a second as they watch and laugh at Monty attempt to slide the quesadilla onto the plate and absolutely destroy it.
“Are we friends now?” Bellamy asks
“I guess we are,” Clarke says and leans into him. Just from this first conversation, she feels so at home with Bellamy. Almost as comfortable as she feels around Wells. Looking out at her new friends sitting under the twinkle lights hanging from the trees, she can’t help but feel like it’s the beginning of something great.