Jay POV
By evening, all of us were gathered in the living room.
And unfortunately...
The teasing had not stopped.
Not even a little bit.
In fact, it had gotten worse.
Much worse.
"Jay, if you and Keifer get married—"
"We're not getting married."
"Can I be the best man?"
"No."
"What about me?"
"No."
"What color theme should we wear?"
"NONE."
The boys laughed.
I grabbed a pillow and threw it at Denzel.
He caught it.
Traitor.
Then Calix spoke up.
"So who confessed first?"
"Nobody."
"Yet."
"THERE IS NO YET."
The room erupted again.
I groaned and buried my face in another pillow.
This was torture.
Actual torture.
Then the front door opened.
Everyone turned.
Keifer walked inside holding a walkie-talkie.
And he looked annoyed.
Very annoyed.
The kind of annoyed where you immediately know somebody has been bothering him.
He walked toward us and dropped onto a chair.
"What's with that face?" Eman asked.
Keifer held up the walkie-talkie.
"There's still no internet here."
A collective groan filled the room.
"So we have to use these to communicate."
"What happened?" I asked.
Keifer looked directly at me.
Then he rubbed his forehead.
"We have to leave early tomorrow morning."
The room went silent.
"What?!" several people shouted at once.
"Already?"
"We just got here!"
"No way!"
I blinked.
"Why?"
Keifer pointed the walkie-talkie at me.
"Because Angelo has apparently decided that if you don't show up by tomorrow morning, he's going to kill me."
The room burst out laughing.
"What?"
Keifer rolled his eyes.
"I'm serious."
Then he cleared his throat dramatically.
"'If Jay is not back by tomorrow morning, I have already selected a coffin for you.'"
The boys immediately lost it.
Denzel fell sideways laughing.
"HE SAID THAT?"
"Word for word."
I was trying very hard not to laugh.
Very hard.
But Keifer looked genuinely offended.
Which only made it funnier.
Then he continued.
"And Percy is stressed."
Everyone immediately became quiet.
"Percy?" Eman asked.
"Yeah."
I blinked.
That was new.
Percy usually spent half his time talking about how handsome he was.
The idea of him being stressed felt illegal.
Then Keifer sighed.
"And..."
He looked even more irritated.
"Well?"
I asked.
"Jason is trying to find your location."
The room became quiet again.
"So he can come here and take you back."
A few people laughed.
Keifer did not.
Instead he looked genuinely annoyed.
"I don't understand what's wrong with that guy."
I bit the inside of my cheek.
His expression was priceless.
The more he talked, the more dramatic he became.
"He called three times."
The boys laughed.
"Three?"
"Three."
"And every conversation was the same."
"What did he say?"
Keifer lowered his voice dramatically.
"'Where's Jay?'"
The boys started laughing.
"'Give me Jay.'"
More laughter.
"'Tell Jay to answer her phone.'"
I was trying not to smile.
I failed.
Spectacularly.
Keifer pointed at me.
"See?"
"What?"
"You're enjoying this."
"I'm not."
"You are."
"I am not."
"You are smiling."
I immediately stopped smiling.
The boys laughed.
Then Ci N suddenly jumped up.
"Wait."
Everyone looked at him.
"We don't have to sleep."
The room became quiet.
"Oh no," Calix muttered.
Ci N spread his arms dramatically.
"We can stay awake all night!"
The room exploded.
"YEAHHHH!"
"LET'S GOOOO!"
"NO SLEEP!"
"BAD IDEA!"
"BEST IDEA!"
Ci N climbed onto the couch.
"We'll have a bonfire outside!"
"YES."
"We'll eat snacks!"
"YES."
"We'll tell scary stories!"
"YES."
"We'll watch the sunrise!"
"YES."
The excitement spread through the room instantly.
Even Eman looked interested.
Then Denzel pointed toward the kitchen.
"And drinks."
The boys cheered.
"DRINKS!"
Then Keifer immediately said,
"Jay isn't drinking."
Silence.
My eyes widened slightly.
I did not answer.
Absolutely not.
Because if I asked why...
Keifer would explain why.
And if Keifer explained why...
The entire villa would know.
And I preferred staying alive.
Ci N looked confused.
"Why not?"
"No reason," I answered quickly.
Keifer looked at me.
I looked at Keifer.
A silent conversation happened.
Don't.
Maybe.
Don't.
Depends.
KEIFER.
His lips twitched.
The idiot was enjoying this.
Then he leaned back in his chair.
"Let's just say we've already learned that giving Jay questionable substances is a terrible idea."
The room immediately became interested.
I froze.
"KEIFER."
"What?"
"You promised."
"I promised nothing."
The boys started shouting questions.
"What happened?"
"What did she do?"
"Tell us!"
"No."
"YES."
I pointed at all of them.
"No one is hearing that story."
Unfortunately...
The excited grins spreading across the room told me that somehow, some way...
They were absolutely going to hear that story before the night was over.
Jay POV
A little while later, the bonfire was finally lit.
The flames crackled in front of us while the sky above had turned completely dark. The sound of waves could be heard in the distance and for once the villa looked peaceful.
The boys?
Not peaceful.
Not even close.
Eman was cooking while Mayo and Kit helped him with the snacks.
The rest of us dragged chairs outside and sat around the bonfire in a circle.
I found an empty chair and sat down.
A few seconds later another chair scraped against the ground.
I didn't even need to look.
Keifer.
Of course.
I turned my head.
"Really?"
He sat down comfortably beside me.
"What?"
"There are literally ten empty chairs."
"Okay."
"So sit in one of those."
"No."
The answer came immediately.
Without hesitation.
Without shame.
Without embarrassment.
Just—
No.
I stared at him.
"You didn't even think about it."
"I did."
"And?"
"I still wanted this seat."
The boys nearby immediately looked interested.
Oh great.
Audience.
Exactly what I needed.
I lowered my voice.
"You know they're all listening."
"I know."
"And?"
"And what?"
"You're making it obvious."
He looked genuinely confused.
"Making what obvious?"
I wanted to hit him.
The idiot knew exactly what I meant.
Then, to make things worse, he stretched his arm across the back of his chair and said casually—
"Jay, if I wanted to sit beside you, I'd just say I wanted to sit beside you."
I blinked.
The boys blinked.
Everyone blinked.
Because unlike normal people...
Keifer never denied anything.
Ever.
Denzel immediately pointed.
"SEE?!"
"SEE WHAT?" I snapped.
"He admitted it!"
"He admits everything."
"Exactly."
Keifer shrugged.
"I wanted this seat."
Then he looked at me.
"Problem?"
I hated how calm he was.
"No."
"Good."
The conversation ended there because apparently he had decided that was enough explanation.
Meanwhile I was left dealing with twelve idiots trying not to laugh.
Then Felix suddenly leaned forward.
"Actually..."
No.
No no no.
Whenever somebody started a sentence with actually, trouble followed.
"What?" I asked suspiciously.
Felix pointed at Keifer.
"Earlier he said Jay shouldn't drink."
Immediately everyone's attention returned.
Traitors.
"What did she do?"
I froze.
My soul left my body.
Slowly.
Painfully.
I looked at Keifer.
The deadliest glare I could manage.
The kind that should've caused physical damage.
He looked back at me.
Then at everyone else.
Then back at me.
The idiot actually looked like he was considering his options.
I could practically see the battle happening inside his head.
Expose her.
Or stay alive.
Finally he sighed.
Good choice.
He cleared his throat.
I was already preparing my escape plan anyway.
Just in case.
"Well..." he began.
The boys leaned forward.
I considered running.
"She didn't do anything."
I blinked.
Wait.
What?
Ci N looked disappointed.
"Then why can't she drink?"
Keifer pointed toward me.
"You guys remember the retreat?"
Instantly the circle exploded.
"BARAKUDA!"
"OH MY GOD."
"THE RETREAT."
"THE SPEECH."
I buried my face in my hands.
No.
Not this.
Anything but this.
Denzel was already laughing.
"The way she kept yelling—"
"STOP."
"'BARAKUDAAAAAA!'"
"STOP."
"Then she started introducing herself to random objects."
"I DID NOT."
"You introduced yourself to a chair."
"It looked friendly."
The entire group lost it.
Even Eman nearly dropped the food.
Keifer shook his head.
"Exactly."
Then he gestured toward me.
"We barely survived one Barakuda."
The boys nodded seriously.
"Good point."
"Valid."
"Fair."
"No drinks for Barakuda."
I threw a marshmallow at Denzel's head.
He deserved it.
Eventually the teasing moved on to another topic.
Thank God.
I slowly turned toward Keifer.
He caught me looking.
For a second neither of us said anything.
Then I frowned.
"You could've told them."
"I could've."
"Why didn't you?"
His expression softened slightly.
Just slightly.
Then he shrugged.
"Because I didn't want to."
That caught me off guard.
No teasing.
No joke.
No smug comment.
Just the truth.
Then he smiled.
A real smile.
Not a smirk.
Not the annoying grin he used whenever he was about to ruin my day.
A genuine smile.
The kind that made him look less like trouble and more like...
Keifer.
Just Keifer.
My heart immediately decided to become stupid.
Again.
I looked away first.
Obviously.
"You look weird."
He laughed quietly.
"There it is."
"There what is?"
"The insult."
"It wasn't an insult."
"It was."
"It wasn't."
His smile only grew.
And annoyingly enough...
I found myself smiling too.
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