adelaide was waiting patiently in front of the villa as a car turned up. she squinted, recognising the guy stepping out, but not thinking too much of it. she walked over to him, ready to introduce herself. as she got closer, it dawned on her —

"i swear you're that joey essex fella?"

joey chuckled to himself as he leaned in to give her a hug, "well hello to you too darlin, lovely to meet you. i'm joey." his cockney accent a drastic contrast to her thick scottish one.

she returned the hug, smiling, "i'm adelaide, lovely to meet you too."

the two turned to the producers, who explained to them what was about to happen. adelaide suddenly felt a pang of nervousness in the pit of her stomach, which quickly began to settle as soon as joey grabbed her hand in his, gently squeezing it.

after the producers stopped talking, joey turned to adelaide. "don't be so nervous addy."

she smiled fondly at the nickname he so quickly gave her.

"you look reem so act reem. we get to cause a load of unease and stir up the pot, it'll be a laugh."

adelaide laughed, having absolutely no clue what reem was but she assumed it was a good thing, "you're right joey, this will be fun."

"i always am, we're in this together now."

adelaide and joey waited in the hot tub, having a nice get-to-know-you chat as they waited for their dates to arrive. the two bombshells stopped their conversation, hearing a text message notification come from the fire pit, where the unknowing islanders are gathered.

a man with a welsh accent read out, "samantha and ciaran, joey and adelaide are waiting for you in the hideaway hot-tub. get your sexiest swimwear on and get ready to get hot and steamy. #doubledate #reem"

"#reem?! what do you mean #reem?!" an excited scouse voice screamed.

"what the hell is a reem", asked the same voice that read out the text.

"joey essex!!!!!!!" replied the scouser.

adelaide looked at joey, "seems like you've got some fans in here."

"when they see you they'll completely forget about me babe, trust." joey flirted.

adelaide simply laughed, "can they hurry? i'm desperate to crack open that bottle of bubbly".

"innit", joey replied, "i've been eyeing it up since we got here".

just then, two figures walked in. one boy, quite tall, with curly brown hair. he looked straight to adelaide and seemingly couldn't tear his eyes from her... that was until samantha snapped him out of his trance with her excited voice, "no fucking way?! joey essex?!"

joey stepped out of the hot-tub, adelaide deciding to follow his movements. "the one and only, i'm guessing you're samantha?" joey said, pulling her for a hug.

"i am indeed." she hugged back.

ciaran moved from behind samantha to in front of adelaide, "hi, i'm ciaran, nice to meet you"

"nice to meet you too, i'm adelaide", she hugged him.

"that's a beautiful name. very fitting", he flirted.

adelaide giggled, "thanks ciaran."

they all stepped into the hot tub, as joey popped open the bottle of champagne, pouring everyone a glass. they all clinked their glasses together as sam made a little toast.

"so ciaran, tell me about yourself."

"i'm 21, i'm a surveyor, and i'm from south wales — if you couldn't already tell from the accent."

"i could tell from the accent, yes", adelaide laughed, "don't hate me but... i've never really been a fan of the welsh accent."

"oh you are such a liar, i've never met a girl that doesn't love the welsh accent"

"in that case, hi, i'm adelaide", she joked.

"you're one to talk little miss scottish", he teased, bumping his shoulder into hers a little, "i'll have you know, this accent is a hit with the ladies".

"i can guarantee my accent is an even bigger hit".

ciaran chuckled and then raised an eyebrow. he paused for a second, before asking "do you seriously not like my accent?" he smirked, leaned closer to her ear and whispered, "because i bet i can change that opinion of yours very quickly".

adelaide blushed, quickly masking her embarrassed face with a confident smirk of her own, "i'd like to see you try".

"so, how come you picked me then?", ciaran asked, "you know, considering you don't like my accent and all", he joked.

"you seem like someone i'd get along with personality wise, and you're obviously not awful on the eyes".

"not awful? wow, you flatter me", he replied sarcastically.

"i could give better compliments, but you have to earn them".

"interesting, okay".

"who are you currently coupled up with?"

"i'm currently with harriett... not by choice, we all had to rate each other based on the most and least girlfriend/boyfriend material and, um, harriett and i were voted last so we were put together".

"why do you think you were voted last?"

"i'm not sure honestly, i think maybe because of my age".

"how so?"

"well i'm 21, so i'm a lot younger than most people in here... i think they think that because i'm younger i'm more immature than them, so i think they use my age as a cop out".

"and how does that make you feel?"

"i'm not too butt hurt over it, they had to pick someone at the end of the day, i just can't wait to prove them wrong".

"and how do you feel about being coupled up with harriett?"

"addy", joey cut in, laughing, "you're interrogating the poor fella".

adelaide looked to ciaran, noticing his slightly widened eyes. she laughed, "oh shit, i'm sorry... i have no idea how to be on a date".

"no no it's fine, i just feel like i'm at a job interview", he paused for a moment, "the weirdest job interview of my life actually... how come you don't know how to be on a date?"

"it's been a while... come to think of it, i don't think i've really been on a proper date before".

"you've never dated?"

"i've been in a relationship before but he never took me out on dates".

"you'll get used to it when you're with me".

"when? don't you mean 'if'?" addy joked but also asked half seriously.

"if i'm lucky, yes".

the two get to know each other, discussing age — the two both being 21, but ciaran being a few months older, amongst other topics, before the producers entered, handing them towels and telling them it's time to get changed and join the rest of the villa.

"it was really nice getting to know you adelaide, i'm glad you chose me".

"it was nice getting to know you too! see you in a min".

addy and sam linked arms, going to the dressing room to changed out of their swimwear.

"what do you think of joey then?" adelaide asked, putting on a beautiful white maxi dress.

"i think he's a proper sort", she replied, getting changed into what she was wearing before, "i think we could really be something more but it's still early days", she turned and stopped in her tracks.

"hello?"

"babe that dress is perfect... you look like you could rule the world in it... or destroy the world".

"i'd like to think a bit of both".

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heya so um i love reading but actually cannot write to save a life... i'm trying 🩷 any advice/tips are welcome just don't be nasty. struggling a lot with tenses for some reason. i'm currently learning to speak french but i can't even speak my first language (english) lmao

anyway, hope u still enjoyed despite the lack of skill :))