Love Island

Chapter 55 - Totem Poll

The next day started with an exciting text to Charlie's phone. We gathered around him, our breakfast plates half-full and our coffee mugs only missing a few sips.

"Islanders, the boys will be choosing where to take you on your dates tomorrow. Please text in your choice of location in the next five minutes. #FinalDates #LastChance." He looked up from his phone at our group. "Only five minutes?"

"Oh, I've got to start thinking." Lucas literally ran away in panic. 

The other couples started to space out, brainstorming ideas. Charlie's eyes flickered across his screen a few more times, and I peered over his shoulder. "Whatcha doing?" I asked.

He glanced at me from over his shoulder with a smirk. "It's a secret."

"Ugh." I sighed and flopped down beside him. My fingers picked at the sliced fruit on my plate before settling on a strip of bacon. "Well, if you need any advice, I know Maddie pretty well. I could help you out if you need some tips... suggestions..."

"Thanks, but I've already sent it in," Charlie said confidently.

I stopped chewing and found myself frozen for a few seconds. "You did? Should I be worried that you did it so fast?"

Charlie shook his head. "Not at all!"

"Well, where are we going?"

"First, we're going to a haunted house during the day. It'll be awful. Then we'll stand alongside the road and hitchhike to a restaurant famous for cheese, but when we get there, we realize that it's literally just cheese. No bread, crackers, grapes, wine, or anything. You are handed a plate of cheese and then they kick you out the door," Charlie said. I couldn't contain my laughter. "Then we'll go to an animal shelter and I'll make you stare into their sad eyes, but won't let you adopt one. And finally, we'll go to the beach and throw straws into the ocean."

"Charlie!" I gasped between laughing fits. "The effort you put in to make that so terrible... it's impressive. Why can't we get a dog, though?"

"Because I designed it to be the worst date ever."

I shook my head. "But I'd like a dog eventually, wouldn't you?"

"Oh, for sure!" Charlie confirmed. "I'd like a few, actually."

I leaned in closer, propping my chin as I gazed at him. "Tell me more."

"We could have two or three, depending on the size of our house. We'd have a doggy-door that leads out to a fenced-in yard. We could have one of every size," he said.

"Go on."

"What, you want the breeds? Okay... our small dog could be a corgi, our medium could be an Australian shepherd or something like that. And our big dog will be massive, just a bear of a dog. A Newfoundland, maybe."

I laughed at the thought. "Oh gosh. If only high-school-Maddie could see me now."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I was in high school, I was really into that rebellious mindset. That whole, 'I hate this town, I wanna travel, I wanna be different' and all that. And now I'm actually looking forward to a life in the suburbs." A small twinge of doubt grew in my stomach. Instead of pushing it down, I voiced it. "But not forever, right? I don't want to live in Indiana for my entire life."

"Of course not!" Charlie smiled. "The northeast sounds pretty cool, too. I could take you back to Seattle someday. Hey, maybe you'll get a job at Yellowstone and we live in the middle of nowhere!"

"That doesn't sound too bad," I admitted. Charlie smiled over at me and I blushed beneath his gaze. 

"Maddie!" My name was shouted from the pool. I turned to see the other three girls sitting along the edge, dipping their feet into the water. Polly waved me over. "Come here!"