Drama

Leah and Juliette laid out their large towel on the sand, only a dozen feet from the shoreline. They both took in the atmosphere, looking around. The beach was supernaturally beautiful, with fine grains of sand that weren’t too hot, but had a soothing warmth that made both girls stick their feet into the sand.

The tide perfectly returned to the exact same point with every ebb and flow. The water was almost completely clear, with white caustics all across the ocean floor. There were, surprisingly, different creatures swimming around; an occasional tropical-looking fish, a sea turtle here and there, and even some dolphins deeper in.

Everything reminded Leah of a mix of different places she’d vacationed to, from Greece and Italy to Aruba and Barbados. The whole island itself felt like a combination of the most captivating places she’d ever seen, all brought together flawlessly. One of her most treasured memories was swimming with dolphins when she was younger, so when she saw them, she hoped she had the chance to do it again soon. It would be one good thing to come out of being sent to the island.

The couple was both in swimsuits, with Juliette wearing a black bandeau bikini, leaving much of her pale skin exposed to the sun. It didn’t quite cover her chest completely, leaving the bottom and top of her breasts exposed. Whenever Leah brought her somewhere exotic or tropical, she would often wear one, not just because she liked the style, but also because she found it funny that it sounded similar to her last name.

Leah herself was in a bright emerald-green frilly bikini that covered slightly more skin than Juliette’s, if only because her girlfriend had larger breasts than her and therefore had more skin to cover (or not cover, in this case). She loved her bikini since it was close to the color of Juliette’s hair, if a slightly different shade.

They were sharing a single towel to lie on, one large enough to fit them both and have a bit of space between them. Juliette closed the distance between her and her girlfriend, leaving them side by side with their thighs and shoulders touching when she went to hold Leah’s hand. Leah froze at her touch, twitching slightly before forcing herself to relax and melt into it.

Juliette frowned as she was once again reminded of Leah’s transformation. It was only the start of the week, the first day of the show, and they were already being pulled apart from each other. She wanted to be mad, to yell that the whole situation was unfair and that she was forced into horrible circumstances.

But she couldn’t. She couldn’t do anything but delay the inevitable. And it wasn’t even like she had it the worst. In fact, she objectively had one of the best transformations, with only Paige’s being better since there was no real downside for her. Especially compared to Marissa being randomly put into sexual positions with her brother or Elisa’s whole personality being forced to change.

She wondered if her new roommate really did hate her, or if it was just her transformation turning her feelings up to 11. To Juliette, it didn’t really make any sense that James’ maid of all people was so vehemently on his side. She couldn’t be much more than “the help” to him, could she?

Leah pulled her hand free from Juliette’s, sitting up and leaning forwards to distract herself by drawing in the sand.

Juliette sighed. Now that she was thinking about it, she didn’t actually know much about James beyond the fact he was supposed to be engaged to Leah. She didn’t know if Leah even knew much about him. She, reasonably, went straight to hating him.

But… was it really reasonable? Leah was mad at her father for forcing her to marry someone, as she should be, but he didn’t know about Juliette. He didn’t know that Leah was dating someone, let alone dating another woman. And James didn’t even have a say in it either. He was just as much a victim of his father making decisions for him as Leah was. If anything, it was worse for him.

She hadn’t really gotten to know any of the other contestants very well yet, but she knew how they all knew James, if mostly from context clues in their transformations and the introductions from Isabella at the start. She was the second one to show up, so she heard everyone’s except for Dr. Kane’s, but her transformations filled that gap.

She knew that Mikayla was James’ ex-girlfriend, and that they really, truly loved each other. And if she understood everything correctly, that James was told to break up with her because of the arrangement. James’ father knew he had a girlfriend, and still went along with it.

Juliette silently huffed, shaking her head. Everything going on right now was bad for everyone, even if James had it the best. She still wanted to hate him, if not because of Leah, then because of the whole “Harem” thing. But it still wasn’t really his fault.

She didn’t hate him just for existing or for being a man, or for anything out of his control, but she really did not like authority figures. And his role on the show was literally called “The Master”. He would be her Master regardless of what happened. She would have to have some sort of romantic or sexual relationship with him. Her only options were to choose between those.

It wasn’t like she was only attracted to women, though. She always knew she was bisexual, but she had never really met a guy she had “clicked” with, and definitely not the way she clicked with Leah. And it wasn’t like James was ugly; he was actually pretty attractive. She didn’t know him well enough to know if they “clicked”, but he didn’t seem like a bad guy.

“What do you think of James? Aside from the arrangement.”

The question broke Leah’s attention on the sand, causing her to look back at her girlfriend, who was still lying on the towel. She tilted her head, eyebrows furrowing.

“What?”

“What do you think about him? Like, his character, who he is as a person.”

Leah huffed, turning back to her drawings in the sand. She had made a little turtle, as well as a dog-looking animal.

“Why are you even asking?”

She threw her hands down, hitting her thighs and looking upwards, annoyance building on her face as she turned away from the sky to look at Juliette.

“Why are you even asking about him? We’re spending time together right now, and neither of us knows how much of that we’ll be able to do while we’re here, and you’re thinking about some guy.”

He wasn’t really “just some guy” like Leah said, though. He was someone they had to center the rest of their lives around. Juliette thought it was fair to want to know if he was a decent person.

“I know, I know. But can you just humor me? It’s one question.”

Her girlfriend turned back to her sand drawings, wiping the sand flat and erasing what she had made before starting to draw something else.

“I don’t know. I barely even talked to him other than when we were forced to meet.”

She stayed focused on her drawing, annoyed that Juliette was even thinking about him while they were supposed to be spending time with each other. Leah knew that they would have to talk about him eventually, but she didn’t want to talk about anything in the moment.

“But do you think he’s a good person? Is there anything-”

Leah interrupted her, the rich-girl’s annoyance turning into anger.

“Who cares. I don’t want to hear you talking about him like you’re actually considering going along with this bullshit show.”

She saw Juliette sit up out of the corner of her eye. Her girlfriend reached out to touch her arm, but Leah frowned and jerked away at the contact.

Her eyes widened immediately after as she realized what she had just done, quickly turning around to look at Juliette.

Her girlfriend looked heartbroken. Her eyes were already watery, and her mouth was open as if to say something, but no words were coming out. Her eyes focused on Leah’s arm, and her breathing stuttered as a short silence fell over them. Juliette closed her mouth, putting her hands on the ground to lift herself and stand up.

“Wait, Jules, I didn’t-”

“I know. It's because of your transformation. I just… I just need a minute to myself, okay? I’m going to go back inside for a bit.”

Leah reached up, and Juliette hesitated for a moment before meeting her hand in the air. Leah’s hand twitched when she held it, and Juliette’s expression fell just a bit more. She pulled away, letting her hand drop to her side. Leah’s hand stayed hovering in the air, reaching out just a bit more, uselessly trying to follow her girlfriend’s hand and keep contact.

“I’ll see you later.”

Juliette began walking away, but Leah called out to her one more time before she left.

“I- I’m sorry. I love you.”

“...Love you too.”

Leah watched as she walked away, staring at her through the blur that was starting to cloud her vision and ignoring the wetness on her cheeks.

Mikayla splayed herself out over the leather couch, letting her head hang over the back. Just like everything else in the Hotel, the couch was perfect. The only thing she could compare it to was the bed she shared with Leah. Though she wasn’t sharing the couch with the woman who ruined her life, so she bumped it up a few points.

She had ended up finding a fancy lounge inside the Hotel, complete with a bar manned by a robot bartender, a few tables, a few TVs, and a long, curved, leather couch surrounding a stripper pole. The low lighting was relaxing, and the soothing music coming from the speakers around the room only added to the feeling.

It was way too early in the day for Mikayla not to feel like an alcoholic if she got a drink, so she was content with the glass of Coke the bartender produced at her request. The bartender fit the environment surprisingly well, despite being a futuristic-looking robot without a face.

It was wearing a fitted black vest over a white-collared shirt, its sleeves rolled up to its forearms, showing its silver skin. It had a small name tag on the left side of its vest, revealing the robot’s name to be “Blip”.

Other than the outfit clearly meant for the location it was stationed in, Blip looked just like all the other staff-bots that Mikayla had seen so far: an androgynous, silver, humanoid body, and a completely smooth blank face.

Mikayla took another sip of her soda, fidgeting with a small necklace she was wearing with her other hand. She wasn’t wearing it when everyone was brought to the island; she hadn’t actually worn it in months before that, either. But thankfully, just as all their clothing was brought along with them, so was their jewelry.

She hated herself for putting it on when she woke up. It was a small gold heart, engraved with the letters J and M on the front, and a small message, “Love you forever and always”, on the back. The necklace was a gift from James on their first anniversary.

It was late at night, long after the sun had set. They were alone together at the top of a hill, having just finished a picnic date. He told her that he had a surprise for her, walking behind her and asking her to close her eyes. She did so, struggling to keep her smile in control. She felt him place the necklace on her, locking the clasp before stepping back, telling her to open her eyes.

She couldn’t even begin to count the number of times she’d cried thinking of that memory, both tears of joy and of grief. It’d been a whole year since he broke up with her, and in that time he never left her mind.

Mikayla’s train of thought was broken as the door to the lounge opened, letting in the bright outside light temporarily before it was closed. She quickly wiped away any evidence of her tears, standing up to see who entered.

She froze as she saw Juliette walking past the door, the green-haired girl doing the same. Immediately, both girls noticed that the other had been crying, and Mikayla noticed that the other girl was wearing only a pair of jean shorts and a bikini top. Juliette coughed awkwardly, speaking first.

“Oh, uhm, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize anyone was in here.”

Mikayla wiped her eyes a bit more as she responded.

“Y-yeah. I’m, uh, just chilling in here. It’s relaxing, and I didn’t really have much else to do.”

Juliette moved as if to leave, but paused before she fully turned to the door. She looked back over to Mikayla, a nervousness obvious on her face.

“Would you mind if I maybe sat here? With you?”

Mikayla’s confusion at the other girl’s question forced her brain to reboot, leaving an awkward pause before she answered. She didn’t really want to say yes, but it would be nice for her to have some company. She’d have to get to know the others she didn’t already know eventually.

“...Sure.”

She sat back down on the couch, watching as Juliette slowly made her way over. She sat a few feet away from Mikayla, not too close for comfort but not so far that it’d be (even more) awkward to talk. Mikayla looked at the other girl out of the corner of her eye, focusing on her drink and fidgeting with her necklace again.

Juliette noticed the engraving on the necklace, the initials of James and Mikayla. She softly giggled to herself at the irony of who she found herself with. Her little… hiccup with Leah was because she wanted to know more about James’ personality. Who better than his ex-girlfriend to ask? Even if it may be a bit biased.

Mikayla held back a glare at Juliette’s giggle. She didn’t know why she was laughing, but if it was because she had obviously been crying, there would be other issues.

“Do you think you could tell me about James? About what he’s like as a person? I never even met him until this whole thing.”

Mikayla’s anger died down, turning into slight confusion, though she went along with it anyway, answering her question.

“He’s not a bad guy, if that's what you're worried about. He’d never hurt anyone, or make us do something against our will. He’s smart, even though sometimes he can be a little stupid or miss small things. He’s funny, but never makes anyone else the butt of the joke.”

Her eyes began watering as she stared at her almost-empty glass, playing with her necklace absent-mindedly as she continued to speak, a smile subtly growing on her face.

“He’s so sweet, and is super patient with everyone. He would always open the car door for me when we drove somewhere, always pulled my chair out for me when we went to restaurants.”

She traced the letters on her necklace with her finger.

“He never let anyone get away with saying anything bad about me and always walked me to my door after a date, or even just when he was dropping me off at home. I remember seeing the smile on his face when he said that he loved me for the first time, and I said it back. The way he would hold me when we fell asleep together…”

Mikayla stopped speaking, realizing she had stopped answering Juliette’s question and had started reliving memories that she treasured. She turned away from the glass she had been staring a hole into, looking at the other girl on the couch. Juliette was silent, quickly realizing she had a small smile on her face as she watched the other girl talk about James.

They both remained silent after she finished speaking, soaking in the atmosphere of the lounge. Juliette was the first to break the silence, looking down at the ground as she spoke.

“Leah and I were sitting on the beach together, and I wanted to ask her about James. She got annoyed, and then because of her transformation, I just…”

She wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye, Mikayla doing the same just after.

“It’s a lot. Knowing that my girlfriend, the woman I love, can barely stand any contact with me. So I just needed a bit of space.”

She turned to Mikayla, a small smile on her face.

“I know you probably don’t like me, and you probably hate Leah. So I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry for what happened with you and James. I know that doesn’t really-”

Mikayla snorted, interrupting Juliette.

“I was jealous of you. I mean, I still am. The fact that Leah ran away instead of just ending things… That’s the part that hurt the most for me, knowing that James and I could have still been together all this time if either of us had just thought of doing that.”

The silence came back, much less awkward than before, even with the tension that was still present in the air.