#jude & josh 002.

[absolutesort]

FRANKIE, JENNY & CHARLENE — DAY THIRTY-SEVEN.

location :    kitchen.

description :  the three girls make food for their dates with victoria.

featuring :  jenny /  @blondcs   &  charlene /  @guttcd

𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨.

“i think i’m gonna do like… a crème brûlée type deal, zeke from high school musical style. she looks a bit like sharpay if i squint.” frankie notes, thinking aloud, propped up on the kitchen counters with a spoon full of melted chocolate pressed against her tongue. it wouldn’t be love island without the obligatory melted chocolate and strawberries combo to go with her dessert, pre-prepped and ready to go by some intern who drew the short straw. make sure you feed her a strawberry, and tell the camera assistant when you’re gonna do it.  “kinda wanna do it just so they give me a blow torch, y’know?”  

𝐣𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐧

she’s halfway through pushing a slicer down an apple—the kind with handles on either side and a round spot for the core—struggling a bit when frankie stops her short. “crème brûlée?” there’s no way. “isn’t that like, super hard to make?”

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬

right now charlene feels like she’s surrounded by a bunch of sharpays. three blondes one brunette. pretty hot. “zeke and sharpay should have been end game! have you ever made a creme brûlée before, frankie?.”  she calls out from the chopping section, sights focused on making sure she doesn’t cut a finger off. though if she really wanted to stand out… “what are you making, jenny?”

𝐣𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐧

she finally gets the contraption down and the apple slices fan out like a flower. perfecto. “i’m doing a salad. nice, classic first course.” because if frankie’s considering crème brûlée, there’s no way she’s not gonna have something to say about that. “i was gonna do like, a caprese thing but there’s no way the store in town has good mozzarella, so… what are you making and will there be enough to share ‘cause you look mad legit over there.”

𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨.

“what, you don’t think i could do it?” bitch. honestly, she can kinda see why adela hates her — frankie’s relationship with jenny hasn’t exactly been sunshine, daisies, butter mellow either — but her lack of faith only makes frankie more determined. “i’ve spent literal hours of my life in a galley watching our head chef do it. it’s just ice cream, sugar and egg yolk.” she neglects to mention that she’s a kinaesthetic learner, not a visual one. “like… how hard can it be?” her eyes flicker over to charlene, hoping for some kind of confirmation that she isn’t massively unqualified for the job.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬

“salad! niiiiiice. keeping it classy. i’m making some jambalaya. im like, totally missing some spiced thoughts i don’t know how well it will turn out. i’ll totally save some for you though.” she offers jenny a little wink, like they’re sharing a secret. charlene almost certain that crème brûlée is a lot harder than what frankie is saying, but the blonde sounds so confident that charlene can’t help but give her a supportive thumbs up. “you got this! worst case scenario you could do one of those cute microwavable brownie mugs if the producers won’t give you a torch.” or if her attempt to make a five hour dessert in 45ish mins fails

𝐣𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐧

“uh… not really?” she looks to charlene for backup. “that’s like, pastry chef, gourmet shit. just make sundaes or something or you’re gonna be stuck in this kitchen all friggin’ day.” even jambalaya seems complex for a love island meal but that could just be because jenny’s not entirely sure what jambalaya is. “do you know this is the second time they’re making me do this shit? as if i don’t hate cooking. they’re definitely punishing me.”

𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨.

at the mention of charlene's dish, frankie can't hold herself back from singing out "jambalaya! jambalayo..." to the tune of bamboleo by the gipsy kings, springing to life like someone's put twenty pence in and wound her up like a clockwork doll on mandy. "there's actually a country song about jambalaya... by hank someone. i don't remember, my dad would know it." not that anything she's saying is even important. even if charlene's encouragement only runs skin-deep, frankie shoots her two finger guns in response. despite the knowledge that miles wants to chat to charlene, a notion which doesn't exactly spark joy, she can't really bring herself to dislike her when she'd always assumed the two of them would be friends. but if she kisses him, she'll change her tune. "they'll give me a torch. chris loves me." frankie knows most of the production crew by name, often finds herself wandering about in places she shouldn't, asking the floor runners about their day. there's only so many times she can talk to the other islanders about how many siblings she has (four) and where she sees herself in five years time (just straight up vibing) without getting bored. "i'm gonna be stuck in this house all friggin' day anyway. and they probably won't let us leave the kitchen until like... they've got a fuck tonne of usable footage. might as well hone a skill." unlike jenny, who's decided that leaves is the way to go about it. "is salad your way of telling her to graft someone else?"

𝐣𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐧

frankie with a torch sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, but jenny just presses her lips together in a tight line, rooting around the silverware drawer for a knife. there’s no rhyme or reason to the way she slices the plastic wrapping off the block of cheese she’s planning to cube up, but she doesn’t cut herself so everyone upstairs can shut up, thanks. and everyone downstairs too. “why, is creme brûlée your way of saying you’re interested?”

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬

she has no idea what the hell frankie is singing so the only thing she can do to chime in is ask “do you like country music?” she’s from alabama or something right? “it’s so funny that we have to ask permission to use stuff like that. i get this is a rented space and we have to be careful but it’s like, borderline ridiculous.” unless frankie proves them right and burns the whole place down. there’s a beat of silence when jenny and frankie do their little back and forth of whether they are interested or not, meanwhile charlene has her attention on chopping up some sausages.

𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨.

“yeah, dude. dolly parton’s one of my favourite musicians of all time.” as a kid, on the long stretches of time when her mom would disappear, only returning to ‘borrow’ money, frankie would pretend that the reason she left was because she was secretly dolly parton, but no one at school or her dad was allowed to find out, or it would mean she had to stop visiting. sometimes, she thought her mom was speaking to her through dolly’s lyrics, the sound of it thrumming from a mug as she sunbathed on the hot tin roof of a trailer park. “i’m not interested,” frankie fires back, leaping down from the kitchen counter to check the temperature on the oven.  just competitive. “but you never know what powerful wish-granting abilities bombshells have. they could’ve told her whoever makes the best course gets hideaway or some crap.” and honestly, charlene and jenny are the two people in here she’d most want to beat to the prize.

𝐣𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐧

“have you had to get advil yet? they act like it’s fucking adderall, and after this whole song and dance of ‘what hurts?’ and ‘rate your pain out of ten’ they only give you one.” what’s one advil gonna do for a pounding headache and… inflammation? by that logic, she can’t imagine them handing over the torch at all without some serious release forms. it’ll be a good test to see if the crew likes frankie as much as she says they do. “you think that… if you make the best food, they’re gonna give you the hideaway with miles? that makes literally no sense. have you seen the show?” plus, a salad could very well win best course, thank you very much. no accounting for taste…

[gotatext]

JUDE & JOSH — DAY THIRTY-FIVE.

location :   bedroom.

time :    jude bitches about the results of the heart raiser challenge.

featuring :   josh / @graftisms

𝙟𝙤𝙨𝙝 𝙫𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙨.

josh walks into the bedroom with nothing but a towel around his waist, surprised to see the bedroom so empty, except for one person. the thought that he wouldn't be jude's favorite person right now because of the challenge isn't even on his mind, still tired from his night with naomi. if anything, maybe josh should be embarrassed that jenny had got his heart rate up the most, and he had been—but by now he assumes it's karma for getting away with punching dejan. so he's not thinking much about it, giving jude a nod as he heads over to his closet. "how was the bedroom last night?" he asks, rummaging through his clothes. "busy?" josh couldn't be the only one turned on by it all.    

𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲𝘆.

there’s a crease between jude’s brow, deep as a valley, thumbs working overtime as he taps against the screen of his phone, stretched out across the bed he shares with jenny. he’s on the notes app of his phone, attempting to write down his feelings, not so much a poem as an attempt to better process his anger. his mother always said he struggled to articulate himself, that he should take a few breaths, figure out what he wanted to say. it’s kind of working, anger dissipating like a berocca in a tall glass of water, until josh strides in and it freshly bubbles to the surface, simmering just beneath his expression. “dunno,” jude responds, tone measured. “i went to sleep pretty early.” pretty early after a minor scrap with jenny which ended up the two of them sleeping back to back. “too much fuckin’ drama for one day.” and for jude, at least, jenny and josh are at the centre of it. “were you in the dog house?”

𝙟𝙤𝙨𝙝 𝙫𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙨.

if jude feels some type of way about him, josh doesn't notice. he's too busy trying to pick between bathing suits, trying to remember which he had worn least recently. if any future islanders come to him for advice, he's going to tell them to pack more swimming trunks. "yeah?" he glances at jude from over his shoulder quickly, before shrugging. jenny's sex life is definitely not his business. neither is her drama, really, so josh hesitates when jude brings up drama, torn between tempted to ask about it and wanting to stay out of the couples' business. "me? oh, nah," he chuckles, grabbing a casual button-down from his closet. "i think both our results were equally fucked up, so we called a truce. it's just a challenge anyway, y'know? it's made to get us all pissed off." clearly it worked for some people. josh glances back at jude again, daring himself to ask, "you and jenny okay?"

𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲𝘆.

it's just a challenge. it's made to get us pissed off.  josh isn't to know, but it's basically the same thing jenny had said, and hearing it again from the reason he's pissed is like waving a red rag before a bull. just because something's meant to piss them off, doesn't mean jenny should go directly out of her way to succeed in rattling him. had it not crossed her mind that maybe he wouldn't be cool with her grinding on her ex in front of him?  "obviously i get that, yeah, but there's like, a level of respect there, too. if i was chirpsing a girl and she started grinding on my mate in the club there's no way i'd give her the time of day. that's muggy." closing his notes app, he hits the button on the side of his phone to lock it and drop it into the mattress, leaning back against the pillows, hands folded behind his head. "i just think it's pretty bait that she went for you and dante when she could have picked literally anyone else." evidently, she did it to make herself feel good with little thought spared to how jude would take it. "it's selfish. it makes me look like a mug. d'you get where i'm coming from?" 

𝙟𝙤𝙨𝙝 𝙫𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙨.

josh isn't really sure what he's supposed to do in this conversation. on the one hand, he relishes in the potential power he could have over jenny's new guy, testing just how much he likes the blonde with a remark or two that jude probably wouldn't appreciate. but on the other hand, josh still does feel a level of protectiveness over jenny. god knows he shouldn't, after everything she had done to him, but it's not like josh isn't aware that one of the reasons him and naomi are able to be as good as they are right now is because jenny is wrapped around this new guy of hers. so he holds back an eyeroll on jude's behalf, and speaks on jenny's. "listen, i'm gonna be honest with you," he says, turning to face jude better. "you can't compare this shit to the real world, because in no reality would anyone be in the position to dance on their ex or whatever you wanna call it. and calling her selfish is only going to ruin any chance you have with her, so i wouldn't advertise that shit. jenny and i are over," josh says, firmly. "naomi danced on kangaroo boy, and you don't see me whining about it, because i know that it's not serious. yeah, it sucks that all of us date each other and have to deal with watching them go onto different relationships or whatever, but i don't think anyone was taking shit seriously yesterday. it was just fun. i get where you're coming from, especially in something new, but i've done the whole jealous guy schtick, and trust me, it's only gonna push her away if you get pissed at every little thing that happens here," josh shrugs, going back to his closet. "your call, dude. but i'm not trying to fuck jenny again, if that's what you're worried about." maybe next time jude shouldn't wear makeup, and maybe he'd be ranking higher for jenny.

𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲𝘆.

“i’m not saying she’s selfish, i’m saying the action was selfish. she’s not an intrinsically selfish person.” look who’s swallowed a dictionary. “it is the real world though? stuff is different here, i get that, but, it’s still the real world.” maybe everything’s more intense in here, because it’s some weird horny echo chamber, but that doesn’t mean shit he wouldn’t permis on the outside’s allowed to fly in here. “okay. but when you say you’re over, are you serious about it? because i’m fuckin’ serious about her, man, and somehow we seem to keeping going in circles with the two of you. it’s like fuckin’ groundhog day and i hate that movie.” it’s not so much a warning as it is a desperate need to know the truth, paranoia up to his eyeballs when it comes to jenny and josh.  “she grinded on you, you’re squeezing her legs. can you see why that might piss me off?” sighing, he pushes up from the bed, running his fingers through his hair, and paces over to the wardrobe. irritatingly, before the whole firepit saga, he’d actually thought him and josh could be friends, but that’s gone out the window now. “what, so now you want a medal because you weren’t mad about her dancing with dylan?” honestly, this whole i’ve been you, buddy routine is kinda tired and fucking patronising, and it leaves jude with a sour taste in his mouth, wishing he’d never asked. “maybe we’re fuckin’ built different, bro. i can’t be arsed with this.” 

𝙟𝙤𝙨𝙝 𝙫𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙨.

"it's the same thing to girls, dude." calling someone selfish verses their action being selfish. potato, potahto. josh is taken aback a little at the candor in jude's tone, speaking about how serious he is about jenny. maybe it's because of the timing of jenny and jude getting together, or maybe it's the fact that after the way him and jenny imploded, it's hard to take her in a real relationship seriously. it does make him wonder whether she feels the same, a surprising stab of jealousy reach his chest that he hadn't expected to feel. part of him wants to point out that he's done far worse than just squeeze her legs before, but instead he just shakes his head. "i don't know what you're talking about, man. we're not some will-they-won't-they ross and rachel shit." that's him and naomi. "we tried it out, it didn't work. both of us are in other relationships now, and i can't speak for jenny, but i'm happy where i am. i think she is too," he admits, albeit begrudgingly. "what, do you want me to pinky swear i'm not gonna steal her from you? i pinky swear it." so much attitude from someone who josh is trying to help with unsolicited advice, jeez. "maybe we are, but we're both in the same place, and if you're gonna blow a gasket every time they make us do something like that, then you're on the wrong show. not trying to be a dick, but."  it's the truth.