I'm in Love With Love

"Becca's turned into such a bitch lately!" Emma complained to Sara. "I was out by the BP station thingy, whatever you call it, the other day because I wanted to buy a little something to help me in the next challenge, and you know what she did? She thought I was trying to buy something in order to seduce Turner or whatever and started accusing me of being into him! It's like she gets more and more paranoid as the week goes on!"

"Well, I don't really know Becca that well, so I don't really know if this is something new-" Sara tried to de-escalate.

"Oh, it's not really that new, it's just that it's gotten worse since she's been here," Emma interrupted. "Ever since she scooped him up in her arms when he was at his lowest point ever, it's been all about her with him. I swear, if he didn't have eight hours where he could be away from her at a job, he'd probably go mental."

"Well, she's fine with him being close friends with girls who aren't her, right?" Sara reasoned. "Abby, her sister, he's pretty close to her, right?"

"I mean, they practically live next door, and she knows, or I guess knew, that Abby wouldn't try anything with Turner," Emma explained. "It's just that...I thought I was a really good friend of Becca, and I thought that we'd have each other's backs while we were here, but now, it seems like she's just lashing out at everybody who's wronged her, which for an island with twelve people, seems to be like a lot."

"She's probably scared," Sara answered. "Some people, when they get scared, their defense mechanism is to go all aggressive and try to paint everybody else as the villain, regardless of the truthfulness of it. I could try and talk to her after I get back in the morning, but I'm not sure how much she'd want to talk to me."

"What about Charlotte?" Emma offered. "We could try to get her to talk to Becca, I'm sure she'd come out of that conversation feeling a little more rejuvenated, right?"

"She probably would, and she doesn't really have any ill-will towards Charlotte, I don't see why not," Sara answered. "You're gonna have to set it up, though, I'm probably gonna be gone by mid-afternoon today."

"Oh, right, you got the last date of the week," Emma remembered. "You got any plans for it?"

"Just gonna see where the night takes us," Sara noncommittally answered. "I know I want to get dinner with him at this restaurant I found when I was gone the other day, and there's a really cool hill off over yonder that we could go to for who knows what. I'll think of something, don't you worry."

"Well, you better think of it quickly, you only got a few hours until this afternoon," Emma laughed.

"I got it covered," Sara winked. "Say, you went ice skating on your date, right? How was that? Was he any good?"

"He was awful," Emma giggled like a high-school girl. "Although, who am I to talk, I was a mess too. We both had an amazing time though, acting like two people who just learned how to walk."

"That sounds wonderful, and so...I know I'd probably get burned by Becca for saying this, but romantic as well!" Sara mused.

"I don't know if I'd go that far," Emma winced. "Especially since Kendra was messing with us."

"Right, right, you told me about that," Sara trailed off. "Well, it was nice to see you this morning, you let me know how that thing with Charlotte goes!"

---

As Becca left in the early morning, she was left with a sour taste in her mouth. It was supposed to be such a good night, but she had to go and ruin it with her stupid transformation.

She wasn't gonna try to hit Kendra though. At least not yet. Maybe after the next round of transformations, she would, but not today.

Abby was absentmindedly trying to skip rocks along the shore, and Becca noticed that she was wearing a shell necklace. Had she gone and made those while Becca was up there, learning new...facts about her sister? It looked nice, whatever the case.

"Hey Abigail," Becca said, which worried her sister. She only called her Abigail when there was something really wrong or she was upset.

"Hey Becca, something the matter?" Abby asked, concerned.

Becca had a million things she wanted to say to her sister right there. "What did you really do with Turner on your date night?" "Was it his idea or yours?" "Do you regret anything?" "Why didn't you tell me?". None of those came out, though. Becca responded with "My date with Turner didn't really go over as planned."

"Aw, that sucks, sis, do you need to talk about it?" Abby patted the spot of sand next to her.

"I mean, I do, but I feel like you're not the best person to talk to about it, especially considering what transpired earlier this week," Becca rolled her eyes.

"Oh, is that what this is about?" Abby realized. "You're upset for what happened with Turner? Did he tell you that it was all accidental...that I didn't mean a thing by it?" She omitted the part that she actually did mean to do, but that was of lesser concern right now.

"He did, but that just seems...weird," Becca eyed her suspiciously. "I'm not entirely sure how that could've transpired with you, since you're not being manipulated by Kendra."

"Not being manipulated by Kendra?" Abby repeated, gesturing to her new physique.

"You know what I mean, not like Emma was," Becca rolled her eyes. "I don't know, I just need some alone time."

"You've had a lot of alone time, that's what's gotten you into this grumpy mindset in the first place," Abby reminded her. "C'mon, let's go talk to Charlotte, she'll be able to cheer you up. Maybe we can all go shopping or something today. We can go to the bookstore, I know you like going there."

"Sure, whatever," Becca all but scoffed. She knew she should be more upset at Abby for what she had done, or maybe even not as upset, but she was stuck in this weird state of limbo, where she was both mad and not mad with her sister. It was weird.

---

"Aaaand one for you!" Charlotte said as she passed Kathryn the necklace that she had made for her with Emma yesterday.

"Wow, this is really great, where'd you come up with this idea?" Kathryn complimented.

"Just popped into my head, to kinda give us more of a sense of unity I guess," Charlotte reasoned. "If we're gonna be stuck together for all of eternity, why not?"

"Well, I'm really glad you made one for me too," Kathryn remarked. She'd been feeling removed from the group, and while part of that was her own doing with her whole 'I don't get into drama' shtick, it was nice to feel welcomed with everybody else.

"Oh, hey Becca, Abby, what's going on?" Charlotte said as she saw the sisters walking up to her.

"Hey Charlotte, you up for some day-long shopping?" Abby asked.

"Ordinarily I would be, but I don't really have money to spend on those sorts of things," Charlotte denied, but it was the most kindhearted rejection Abby had ever heard.

"Well we don't have to be in the stores all day, we can go to the movie theater or something while we're out," Abby amended. "We can see where the day takes us."

"That sounds wonderful!" Charlotte said delightfully. "Oh, but I do have to finish handing these out. Here's yours, Becca."

She handed Becca her necklace, which reminded her of a gift that Turner had gotten for her during his senior year, when he went on vacation to the beach. It had a beautiful pearl in the middle of it, and if she didn't know any better, Becca would've said that Charlotte was trying to recreate it. Just thinking about Turner, though, made her feel a little uneasy, since things hadn't gone exactly swimmingly.

"It's beautiful, thank you so much," Becca accepted.

---

"Good luck on your date tonight," Kathryn told Sara as she saw Sara getting dressed up for her night on the town.

"Thanks!" Sara responded. "I've been planning this one for a while now."

"'A while' meaning two whole days, right?" Kathryn teased. "That's when you were gone, right?"

"I mean, yeah, but I had been planning this sort of thing for probably five, six days now," Sara amended. "I just came up with the specifics the other day."

"Gotcha, well, have fun," Kathryn somewhat restated as Sara left the house.

Sara had meticulously planned every detail of her date night with Turner, similar to what Becca had initially been trying to do. Sara, however, didn't have any details that she left unaccounted for, nothing she had to talk to Turner about which might derail the night, or anything that would constitute a change of plans. Kendra would likely not even bother her on the date, because she wasn't straying too far away from what she wanted from this date night, at least Sara thought so.

She was wearing a lavender, floral printed, strapless dress for her date night. Not anything that would constitute super fancy, because the only dresses that she had under that umbrella were all dresses you would wear to a law firm, not to go on a romantic date. However, it wasn't like she didn't exactly care about her appearance, which looked to be the case with people such as Kathryn when she left on her date two days prior.

"I'm kinda glad I get to go last this week," Sara thought as she approached the foyer of the hotel. "It's like everything this round has been leading up to this grandiose finale."

After ringing the bell at the entryway, she saw Turner approaching the door a few seconds later. He was wearing his typical polo shirt and khaki pants, which she had been told was his everyday attire for these dates. Glancing behind her, she noticed that the sun still had a little over an hour before it hit the horizon. "Perfect," she thought.

"Hey Turner, you ready for your last date this round?" she asked him.

"I didn't even know you owned anything like this," he gestured to her dress. "Although, to be fair, I've only ever seen you when you were with Phoebe."

"Well, thank you very much, monsieur," Sara curtsied jokingly. "Alright, let's get going, we don't have much time before we'll miss the reservation."

"You had to make a reservation at a place here?" Turner asked quizzically as the duo started walking. "Isn't this island basically empty aside from the eleven of us and Kendra?"

"That's what I thought," Sara agreed. "But I just decided to, just in case something went wrong. It was one of the many many things that I did when I was out two days ago, I actually remember seeing you and Kathryn coming out of the escape room."

"Wait, really?" he rhetorically asked. "That's such a coincidence."

"I'm surprised you didn't see me hustling around," Sara mused. "Were you a little too...preoccupied...on your date with Kathryn?"

"Not in THAT way, we were just riding a high from crushing those escape rooms," Turner clarified.

"Gotcha, well here we are!" Sara suddenly changed the subject, stopping in front of an Italian restaurant that looked exactly like one in their hometown. It was basically just a slightly classier Olive Garden, but that was the fanciest restaurant they had in town growing up.

"I remember this, my mom dragged me here after we took pictures for your and Phoebe's homecoming," Turner groaned, remembering how much he dreaded that day.

---

"Nervous about your transformations tomorrow?" Abby asked Liam.

"A little bit," Liam admitted. "There's several archetypes that Kendra's trying to stick me into, none of which I really like all that much. Plus, after taking that deal that she struck up with me, I'm a bit worried about how it'll bite me in the ass."

"Oh, right, you're getting last-place transformations, right?" Abby recalled.

"Yep," Liam verified, sighing deeply. "I wouldn't be surprised if she just straight-up takes away my ability to wear whatever I want, just undoing all the progress I made this week, and then some."

"Maybe they're not too bad, is there something you can buy to bypass a round of transformations with BP?" Abby offered.

"Oh, there is, but I'm nowhere near affording it with under 2000 of them," Liam snorted. "In fact, I doubt that if everybody on the island pooled their BP together, we could even buy one of them. It's 15000."

"That hardly seems worth it, even if you did manage to scrounge up that much," Abby considered. "You'd be better off just trying to get first in the next competition."

"I know, Kendra told us that these BP were supposed to be a lifeline or something, but it seems like at the same time she doesn't want us to buy anything with them," Liam sighed again. "Anyways, what about you, are you nervous?"

"I am too," Abby agreed. "Although for different reasons for you. I already know what path I'm being shoved down, and it's not really a path that I want to follow. I love Becca, and I love Turner, and now I'm being changed into a wedge driven between the two of them."

"Huh, sounds like Becca when it came to him and I," Liam thought to himself, but didn't dare say it out loud after Abby just got done saying how she loved her sister. "Yeah, that really sucks, I'm sure the only person who isn't dreading these upcoming changes is Paige, and maybe Charlotte. She's had pretty good luck when it comes to her options, they're essentially just turning her into more of an optimist, which I would definitely take over any of these."

"That might not stick though," Abby smiled wryly. "She didn't fare too well in the challenge either, who knows what they've been cooking up for her tomorrow?"

"Fair point," Liam relented. "I guess we'll see what they have in store for everybody tomorrow."

"Guess so," Abby responded.

---

"Come on, we're going to be late!" Sara practically dragged Turner out of the restaurant once they finished eating. The food was good, nothing super spectacular, but Sara was really excited about just how romantic it was. It was the stereotypical intimate dinner, but she had a lot more planned when it came to that regard.

"Where are we going?" Turner picked up the pace in order to keep up with Sara, who was all but running down the street, back towards the hotel.

"You'll see when we get there, now come on, we don't have too much time!"

It was about now that Turner really wished he went to the gym more often. He wasn't out of shape, per se, but it was still a chore to keep up with Sara, lightly jogging away from the town and towards the jungle that the challenge had taken place in back at the beginning of their stay here.

Everything was worth it though once they made it to the top of a hill that she was running to. The pair faced westwards...or whichever the direction the sunset was on this planet. Sara had timed it perfectly, as they made it just in time to start seeing the colorful swirls streak through the sky like a famous painting. Everything on the color wheel was present in the picturesque moment before them; the typical reds, oranges, and yellows making up the majority of the sky, purples dotted around the light cloud cover everywhere, with the blue of the sea and green of the trees completing the ensemble.

"Wow...I've seen sunsets before, even a few here, but this...I never expected this," Turner stared at the scene, awestruck.

Sara didn't respond, but she was feeling exactly the same as he was. They sat down on the grassy knoll, hand in hand, watching the show evolve with more intensity than any action movie. Once the sun dipped behind the surface, giving the ocean a goodnight kiss, she finally spoke up.

"Here, lay back, the best part is coming soon," she said.

"What do you mean, there's more?" Turner wondered out loud.

"Trust me, you'll be thanking me soon," she responded with a knowing smirk.

Behind the façade that she was setting up, she was getting really hot and bothered. It had felt like she was feeling the full heat of the sun on her, the last two hours had been just like a chapter in one of her many, many romance novels that she read as a teenager.

As the two of them made some more small talk about what had been going on in their lives back on Earth, the first white dot appeared. Slowly and steadily, more spots appeared as the sky grew darker, the more distant stars making their appearance with the sun's light dimming. Eventually, they were treated to a sky full of stars winking at them. Taking a look at the ocean, the water was shimmering under the moonlight.

This was something he had always wanted to do with someone, but Paige was always either busy or uninterested, and Becca hated going outside at night.

"I...I have no words," he stammered. "It's like...there's so much to say, but the words just won't come to my mouth."

"Well, then let me say it for you," Sara answered, giving into her urges, rolling on top of him, and kissing him passionately.

Kissed Turner: +3 VP!

Emma was a go-getter, Paige was forceful, Becca felt homely, but with Sara, she was taking her time and savoring every moment, which felt better in its own way. Each movement felt like it took an eternity, but felt just slow enough at the same time. Sara moved her hands from holding herself up above Turner to around the back of his neck, allowing herself to rest on top of him.

"This is just part of the game," Turner thought. "I know I just got done with my date with Becca, and this isn't something I should be doing, but Kendra did tell me not to take sides too much, otherwise harsh things could happen to these girls. I don't really want to risk it, especially this close to the transformations."

After several minutes of this, Sara motioned for him to move to her neck, which he picked up on. As he sucked on various spots of her neck, he did speed up a little bit, but not in a way that changed the mood a little bit.

"After Becca's weird antics yesterday, it's not like she doesn't want me to do anything, right?" he rationalized. "She didn't really get upset, even when I mentioned what happened with Paige. Plus, there'll be another round of transformations soon, who knows what'll happen with her?"

"Let's take this back to the hotel," Sara seductively whispered. "There's so much more that I want to do that isn't really the most comfortable in a field."