Beach Bodies: Part Three. Ross Armstrong

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СКАЧАТЬ no, not magic! All explainable by some kind of logic. It’s just logic you haven’t thought of yet,’ says Simon.

      ‘Shut it!’ says Lance, back-handing him across the face. ‘He’s trying to confuse me. But it’s harder to confuse a man like me than he thinks.’

      Simon leaves that one alone. ‘I’m merely trying to get you to reflect, like I always have,’ he says, taking a deep breath. ‘Look, so it’s all out in the open, there is one other insight we stumbled on. Isn’t there, Lance?’

      Lance folds his arms, shaking his head, but by now people are catching his eye and he knows he has to spill it.

      ‘What is it?’ says Summer.

      Simon gives Lance a ‘be my guest’ look.

      ‘Whatever,’ says Lance. ‘It don’t change the fact that it’s you, Si. But listen, when we viewed the footage, Zack and Liv’s stories checked out,’ says Lance, still uneasy about the fact that Liv didn’t appear to cut herself the first time they watched. ‘But we also found something else. Sly getting aggy with Tommy before the blackout hour. He cuffs him, like the one I just gave this mug. Something muggy had gone on between them and Sly didn’t like being mugged off.’

      The room shudders uncomfortably.

      ‘So. Anyone have any idea what happened between them?’ says Lance.

      And it doesn’t take long for the pressure to tell on one of them. Summer lifts her head from Liv’s lap.

      ‘I think I do,’ says Summer. She’s held this back for a while, not so much because she was worried it could implicate her, but because it’s hardly a great character reference. ‘I told Sly… that I was thinking about getting to know Tommy better. Because I didn’t want to keep all my eggs in one single basket.’

      ‘Wow,’ says Roberto, and gets a sharp look from Summer.

      ‘But getting to know each other is what this game is all about. Isn’t it? Well… isn’t it?’

      The words seem so simple but the consequence, including Sly’s on-camera attack on Tommy, is a little more divisive.

      ‘But that’s not quite all, is it, babes?’ says Tabs.

      Summer falters, looking around the room. She thought this revelation would be enough to pacify them.

      ‘Babes. I’m afraid Tommy told me everything,’ Tabs says.

      Summer braces herself for her big glossy magazine interview moment. Admission of guilt, sorrow, redemption, all in the length of a double-page spread.

      ‘Look, me and Tommy… had a moment in the Love Nest,’ she says.

      Judging by the open mouths that greet her, admission of guilt has landed heavier than she intended. She takes a look back at the steps that have taken her here, knowing it’s too far to go back, then looks forward to how far away sorrow and redemption seem. She might have to go with tears, platitudes and cries for mercy. The shamed internet star’s apology video full house.

      ‘We knew the cameras wouldn’t be on, so we snuck in there. For a little kiss.’

      ‘And…’ says Tabs.

      ‘Jesus Christ, he really did tell you everything,’ says Summer. ‘Yes, and the rest. We did it twice. Me on top, then I let him go on top. We tried to only do it once, to be respectful, but the moment got the better of us.’

      Summer looks pained. She tried to rip off the plaster in one swift painless move but seems to have taken half of her arm off in the act.

      ‘But me and Just never even got our night in the Love Nest,’ says Roberto, unerringly missing the point. ‘You have to be voted in by the British public. It has to be the will of the ruddy people!’

      ‘The people, just so you know, thought they just kissed,’ says Simon, still in pain. ‘So did I. I don’t know if Sly knew about any of it.’

      ‘He didn’t,’ says Summer. ‘He can’t have.’ And then her eyes turn to Tabs. ‘You didn’t tell him, did you?’ she says, through gritted teeth.

      Tabs says nothing, just shows her perfect smile for a second.

      ‘Of course not,’ Tabs says finally. ‘Girl code. Swear on my life.’

      The women of the group assess the state of the coven as the room falls silent.

      It was a pressure cooker atmosphere even before all this. Their pride and futures bound up in how they were perceived, their honour and sense of themselves as potent beings. Every day was literally survival of the fittest. People have left the show in the past, citing stress or emotional difficulties. People have suffered after-effects, some citing PTSD, which critics have belittled as a very on-trend malady, but others, who know the spotlight and felt its burn, know the scars it can leave.

      ‘Listen, I started to think,’ says Summer, ‘we were such a strong threesome, it was almost polyamory. So I thought if I removed myself from it, Liv would be happier with Sly. I could be with Tommy. Dawn could go with Lance. And…’

      ‘Happily ever after,’ Liv bites.

      ‘I was going with my heart and my head. I thought that’s what you wanted?’ says Summer.

      ‘You never asked. But how benevolent of you to gift Sly to me,’ says Liv.

      ‘Well, it turns out he didn’t want that anyway,’ says Summer.

      ‘Even better,’ says Liv, throwing up her hands.

      ‘Wow,’ says Roberto, clapping his hands, a small laugh escaping from him.

      ‘Stop saying wow,’ says Summer. Oh, there are things I could say, Roberto, she thinks.

      ‘No, it’s just… Tommy, man, what a legend. In a manner of speaking,’ says Roberto. ‘You know, err, he shagged Dawn…’ He gestures to Lance and finds a stiff nod of confirmation. ‘God rest her soul. Then Summer. Anyone else?’

      ‘I snogged him before she did,’ says Liv, ignoring Summer’s glance.

      ‘Bloody hell,’ says Roberto. ‘And I mean, let’s be honest, we all thought he’d end up with Tabs.’

      It’s an uncomfortable thing to air. It was the type of gossip that gained greater thrill the more it was spoken behind the backs of the people in question. It acquired a quality of brilliance, like marble buffed to perfection. Telling one of them about it takes away the sheen and adds a glint of guilt.

      ‘The joke of it is,’ says Tabs, steadily, ‘we knew people thought we’d crack on. But we were only ever mates. That’s why he told me everything. That’s why people liked us, we had the feel of people with history. And that’s because that’s what we did have.’

      ‘The public were gunning for you. To get together, I mean,’ says Simon. ‘Wait. What do you mean, history?’

      Tabs almost blushes, an unusual colour for her, then she collects herself. СКАЧАТЬ