Love Island

Chapter 10 - The Art of Crying in the Rain

Peach was stood beneath the canopy with one of Charlie's jackets draped over her shoulders to keep her warm as the rain beat down on the concrete around her. Her eyes scanned the treeline and edges of the property, and I could see her contemplating running to find me, leaving herself vulnerable to the storm surging overhead and tugging leaves off of the palms. When she saw me emerge from the little path between the garden and the beach, she yelled my name. It was a ghostly cry beneath the weather breaking around us. I quickened my pace, feeling guilty that she had been waiting for me. But when I joined her at the bar, she embraced me with a towel and wrapped her arms around me.

"I was worried," she said. She pulled back and scanned my face, reading every crease and line like ink on a page. She nodded her head and gave me a reassuring hug. "You don't have to talk about it."

"Thank you," I whispered with my chin on her shoulder.

She brought me inside the villa through the bedroom entrance. Several islanders were splayed out on beds. Charlie and Lucas looked up in shock at the sight of me. I looked around the room.

"Blake's in the kitchen," Peach said quietly. She reached for one of my hands and interlaced our fingers. "Wanna head upstairs?" Knowing that the girls' dressing room had the least likelihood of running into Blake, I agreed. We made our way through the bedroom, across the hall to the staircase, and jogged up to the dressing room. "Let's get you into some cozy pajamas, okay?" Her nurturing instincts were impeccable. She reached into my wardrobe and pulled out a pink cotton pajama set. "I like these."

I stepped into the bathroom to put on the new outfit and emerged in comfortable clothes. My nose began to run. Whether it was from my tears or the cold rain, I wasn't sure. Peach instinctively handed me a tissue.

"Fuzzy socks?" She held up her hands, revealing a pair of pink fluffy ankle socks.

"Yes please," I sniffled and smiled as she placed them in my hand. I wiped my nose with the tissue in my other palm and then threw it in the trash. I took a seat at my vanity and began sliding on the socks.

"You don't ever have to talk about it if you don't want to," Peach said. "But whenever you wanna talk it through, or rant, or cry, you know I'll always be here for you."

I nodded. "Thanks, Peach. Same goes for you. But if Charlie hurts you, I'll break him in half." Peach giggled and jogged to my side, wrapping me in a warm hug.

"That's what friends are for. Can I just say one thing?" Peach sat down at her vanity. "We were all outside when Blake came back without you. And the fact that he left you alone right before a huge storm says a lot about his character."

I felt my stomach drop at the news. Everyone in the villa could assume what had happened at the beach. "It's not all his fault. I said I wanted to have a minute alone."

"Any decent person wouldn't have just got up and walked away." Peach stood and walked to the glass doors separating our dressing room from the balcony. The wind whipped against the villa, shaking the trees and turning the rain into a spray that covered the air in a gray mist. The visibility was so poor; we couldn't see the ocean.

I sucked in a breath. "Can you shut the door?" I asked. She immediately turned to the entrance of the dressing room and clicked the door shut. "I'm just bummed. And honestly, just a little bit in shock. I had no idea it was coming."

Peach walked over and sat down at the vanity beside me. "I know! After his meditation sesh, he seemed in good spirits."

"Exactly. And at the start, he told me he could see a future with me, which I was really excited about. And we talked about compromises... but it was the family question that was the last straw." I tapped my fingers against my thigh. "He wants kids soon. I can't even think about that yet."