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francesca can't remember the last time the villa felt this peaceful.
the spanish sun is shining down, bright and warm, as she spreads out across the daybeds, her head resting on youcef’s chest as he toys lazily with her hair. it had been about a week since they’d finally coupled up, and things just felt right. after weeks of back and forth, what felt like a never-ending game of cat and mouse, friends quickly turned into something more, it was as if everything had finally fallen into place.
“do you think anything exciting's going to happen today?” she muses, pushing her sunglasses up so that they’re resting in her hair, shifting her gaze to look up at youcef. it felt like it had been a few days since anything had happened - no dates, no challenges, no new people.. nothing.
it was almost eerily quiet, but maybe that’s just because they were nearing the finale. none of them quite knew how much time they had left, but they knew it was coming soon - you could feel it in the air around them, a quiet, static electricity that foretold the end was near.
“we’ve only been together for one week, and you’re already getting tired of me?” youcef teases, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. “shut up,” francesca laughs, her mouth twitching up into a smile. “i could never.” she wraps her arms around him, settling in comfortably against his chest.
“besides, if i was going to get tired of you, it would have happened weeks ago.” they’d only officially been coupled up for a week, but it had been much longer than that - filled with longing glances, almost kisses, and a million what ifs. if she was going to grow tired, it would have been then, it would have died with the agony and the not knowing, the silent screams of ‘what are we’ - but she couldn’t grow tired of him, not when he looked at her like that.
like he was looking at her now, like he’d willingly sacrifice all of his worldly possessions, like he’d give up the moon and more, if only for another moment by her side.
“being right here with you is all the excitement i need,” youcef murmurs after a moment, his hand resting on her lower back as he pulls her in for a kiss. in this moment, everything felt right.
somewhere across the villa, a text tone rings out, followed by thabi’s familiar squeal of, “i got a text!”
—
the text reveals that they’ll be testing their relationships by taking part in the lie detector challenge. the girls are all huddled in the living room, sprawled across various surfaces, the room filled with anxious sighs and the frantic scribbling of pens against paper.
najuma is sat next to francesca, and can’t help but to steal glances over to the other girl’s notepad, before she finally just pipes up and asks, “what do you think you’re going to ask, fran?” she was curious, more than curious - it’d been a week since she and youcef had broken up for the last time, after a rollercoaster of a summer, and it felt like he’d turned into a completely different person with francesca.
he’d always looked at najuma like he was surprised to see her there, and sometimes it was a happy surprise, but other times she couldn’t tell what he was feeling. but he’d always looked at francesca like she contained galaxies. like the entire universe laid beneath the surface of her skin, and he’d give anything to explore it’s depths.
but it’d taken them too long to admit it - not until tom had fucked up royally, letting dylan blow up their relationship like dynamite. it was a bit amusing, seeing the demolitions she dealt with at work everyday make their way into love island, or it was amusing until it was her relationship.
she wanted to be happy for them. francesca had always been a good friend to her, stood up for her against lexi’s snide comments, supported her through all of her arguments with youcef. and if she was being honest - wasn’t that what today was all about? - she and youcef had never really been that compatible. they were driven by lust, more than anything, and it didn’t take long for that to fizzle out.
that didn’t mean that it didn’t fucking hurt though.
“i don’t know,” francesca sighs, tapping her pen against her notepad. this is perhaps the most ungraceful that najuma has seen her - she always looked so poised, towering over the rest of the girls like a supermodel - but she’s hunched over now, notepad resting on her knees, and najuma notices it’s mostly filled with scribbled out words and half finished questions.
“d’you need help?” she offers, and francesca shakes her head no, blowing out a huff of air. they’d spoken to each other so freely and openly for the past week, and everything felt like bliss. she knew that youcef would tell her anything, if she just asked, so why did this feel so difficult?
and francesca knew what she wanted to ask. more than anything, she wanted answers on what had felt like years worth of back and forth condense into a few short weeks - but by asking, did she admit her own complicity? that she had been just as stubborn and selfish and foolish as he had?
but it had been nearly a month and a half to the day since he’d entered the villa - she’d been counting, even if the producers took away all of their clocks and calendars - and she’d known she’d been falling for him from the very beginning. and even though he had confessed his feelings, and they were now happily coupled up, there’s a small part of her that wanted to hear him say it: he had been falling for her too.
“no, i know what i want to say,” she admits, dragging her pen lazily across the page. “i just need to figure out how to word it, you know?” she shrugs, looking over at najuma’s notepad with a half smile. “what about you? have you worked out what you’re going to ask oliver yet?”
najuma’s heart does a flip at just the sound of his name, and she makes no attempts to hide the smile creeping on her cheeks. “i think i’m going to take it easy on him,” she responds, “it’s early days and all that, you know?” it was early days, but he made her blush in a way that youcef never could, and she found herself melting every time he smiled at her.
he was sweet , had come in and immediately swept her off her feet, and had made the past week and a half much easier to swallow than it would have been if she’d braved it alone. but she couldn’t help the sinking feeling that he deserved better - someone who wasn’t so hung up on her past couple - he’d had most of her attention, but she always felt guilty when her mind strayed elsewhere.
it was such an odd feeling, having to reconcile the ending of one relationship with the beginning of another one - but that was love island, wasn’t it?
“look at you, blushing,” francesca playfully nudges her knee against najuma’s, smile spreading across her lips. “i’m so glad you’ve found each other.”
—
the challenge seems to have everybody on edge. once they’ve all finished writing their questions, they congregate in the living room, where the producers have set up a large screen tv, projecting in from the hideaway. there’s a lull of silence before the challenge starts, as they’re all anxiously awaiting the first text to signal the challenge has begun.
“i don’t know what everyone is so nervous about,” youcef is the first one to break the silence, as he seemingly always was. francesca seems to know what he’s going to say before he begins, and braces herself from the groans and the eyerolls from her fellow islanders. “if everybody is honest, then there’s nothing to worry about with this challenge, no?”
“that’s rich, coming from you,” angie retorts from further down the room, and francesca’s stomach winces at her response. “how long did it take you to tell fran you were into her, huh?”
her voice is riddled with her typical sarcasm and snark, and next to her there’s an anguished look that passes over tom’s eyes, if only for a second. they had ended up together if only by default in the last recoupling, with tom being one of the last to pick, sending tiffany and dylan home.
“hey -” francesca starts, and angie just shrugs. “i’m just.. not saying it’s wrong or anything, but, he’s certainly one to talk about honesty.” at this, youcef lets out a light, airy laugh, as if he was completely unaffected by the tension in the room. he wraps his arms around francesca next to him, pulling her in close and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
“i will be utterly and completely honest today, amour, you have my promise,” he murmurs, just loud enough for her to hear. she rests her chin on his shoulder, looks up at him to find his hazel eyes staring at her with the same intensity he always had when looking at her. “so i hope you didn’t go too easy on me, no?” he teases, and she laughs, reaching up to brush his hair back and out of the way, giving her a better view of his face.
“i wouldn’t dream of it.” there’s a playful smirk tugging at her lips, and it feels like they’re in their own little world - his arm around her waist, her head against his shoulder, this was exactly where she was meant to be.
—
they’re one of the last couples to go. some of the others had been rocked by the answers they’d received - valentina had to look away as she failed miserably not to tear up when will’s admission that his head wouldn’t be turned on the outside came back as a lie, and they had all had to witness the way bruno’s face fell when cora admitted that she didn’t think they were compatible.
francesca had asked hard questions. she knew she had. but she was feeling confident - the other’s relationships were teetering on the edge, but not hers. not them. not today.
it seems like a cruel twist of fate that najuma is assigned to ask youcef fran’s questions, but they’re stood in the hideaway, a lab coat draped over her body, as she stares down at the same notepad that she had witnessed francesca scribbling in earlier, now with three questions clearly outlined at the bottom.
youcef’s face appears cool and collected as he sits before her, but the way he taps his fingers on the arm of the chair tells najuma that he’s just as anxious as the rest of them had been, he was just better at hiding it. “you ready, youcef?” she asks, trying to ignore how backwards this all felt.
“of course,” his voice is as collected as always, and najuma draws in a deep breath, takes it as a sign to begin. they run through the first two questions - is your name youcef? are you from france? - as a sign that the machine is working properly, and when both answers light up the machine green, she knows it’s time to dive in.
najuma shakes her head, tries her hardest not to scoff as she reads francesca’s first question. “do you think your head could be turned this late?” she reads out, studying youcef’s face for a reaction. could it, youcef?
there was a bitter irony to the question, knowing that he had dumped her not only a week ago - but she supposed his head had actually turned long before that.
“no,” youcef’s answer comes so easily, and his voice is sincere. “of course not.”
no, of course not. if it could, najuma wouldn’t be standing here, she’d be out there, and perhaps francesca would be the one asking the questions - nothing could have turned his head from her. they had found something truly special in here. what more could she do than accept it?
“looks like you’re telling the truth,” najuma remarks, the machine flashing green.
of course he was. it’s all that francesca can think as she watches the exchange from out in the living room, trying to hide the smile that spreads across her features. she had included the question as an easy one, having already known the answer. they were both all in to making this work, after everything.
“that’s a good sign, right?” thabi asks cheerfully. she’s sat next to fran in youcef’s absence, arms wrapped around her in a warm embrace. they’d been close from the very beginning, and francesca was grateful for her presence. “yeah,” francesca breathes out, “i think they’ll all be good. i trust him.”
—
najuma sucks in her teeth as she reads the second question. it was something she’d been wondering too, for the longest time, and she’s on pins and needles to know youcef’s answer. “did you have feelings for francesca during the kiss or miss challenge?”
the challenge had been weeks ago - it felt like a lifetime, now - but it had caused her first major fight with youcef, the first of what would be many. after the new girls had come in, and it felt like he was wandering, and after everyone had told her about how he kissed francesca during the challenge, how it didn’t look like just a challenge kiss, but like he meant it -
“yes.” youcef’s voice rings loud within her ears, and najuma draws in a breath. she doesn’t know what she’d been expecting. of course he had. of course he had. she’d have been more shocked if he said no, she thinks, because then that meant that fight, everything, would have all been for nothing. because he was bored?
she didn’t know what to think of him anymore. they’d been coupled up for weeks, but who had she been coupled up with, really? it felt like she was staring at a stranger.
“that’s the truth, too,” najuma gives a playful half smile, “looks like you were telling the truth about being honest, huh?” and at this youcef gives his signature french scoff, “of course i was.”
in the living room, the exchange draws a few laughs from some of the islanders, who seem to be relieved by his answers, grateful for the break in the drama. francesca and thabi are holding hands now, and fran digs her nails into thabi’s palm slightly, her smile growing wider by the second.
that was one of the harder questions for her to ask, because they’d both been so fucking stupid back then, refusing to admit their feelings, but she could feel it during that challenge, could feel it in the way he kissed her, could feel it in every kiss they’ve shared since then. and it seems like they’ve shared a million in the past week alone - as if they were making up for lost time, as if all that either of them wanted was to get lost within one another.
“how are you feeling?” thabi whispers next to her, and francesca squeezes her hand. “happy, he makes me so happy,” she murmurs, “but it’s the next question that i’m nervous about.”
—
“last question, how are you feeling?” najuma asks, tapping her pen against the notepad. she’s asking to be polite more than anything, but it’s clear that it’s not needed, as youcef responds back, “confident. happy. good. i thought she was going to go hard on me, but ah, i suppose she’s saving that for when we’re alone later,” he laughs at his own joke, and najuma forces a smile. “don’t get too cocky just yet, there’s still one question left.”
and fuck, what a question it was, she thinks as she reads the page.
“would you tell francesca if you fell in love with her?”
it’s the first question that makes youcef pause. he hesitates, his hands curling up into tight fists, and najuma doesn’t know what to do. why was he hesitating?
it was easy for her to make sense of the end of their relationship when he was so clearly head over heels for fran. she’d have to have been blind not to see their chemistry. and of course she was happy with oliver - so why was he hesitating? why was he complicating things? and why did she feel so complicated about it?
this was the question francesca had been the most nervous about, she can feel a lump forming in her throat as she watches him pause on the screen before her. she’d wanted to ask the question because it had taken him so long to admit he’d even had feelings for her, if he had fallen for her, would he say it? would she have to force it out of him?
if she had fallen in love with him, what would he say if she told him? she knows that she has. she’s known for a while now, this was more than just some summer fling, that the feeling that rose in her chest whenever he was around was more intense than anything she’d ever felt. and so she needs to know: could he say it? would he say it?
it feels like a lifetime before he finally speaks.
“if i’m being honest,” youcef sighs, spreading out his fingers as he grips the arms of the chair. “no.”
there’s a shared, loud gasp that resonates around the living room, and francesca can feel thabi’s hand on her knee comfortingly, not quite sure what this meant, but there for her regardless.
the machine dings green, but it almost doesn’t matter, because youcef continues speaking, his eyes staring straight ahead into one of the cameras that was recording them. “no, because, i have already fallen in love with you, francesca, and i have simply been too much of a coward to admit it. but, so much for that, hey?” he lets out a nervous laugh he hadn’t known he was holding in, his hands gripping the chair tight.
“i am sorry i couldn’t work up the courage to tell you sooner. but i hope you can forgive me, because i am in love with you, francesca. i think i always have been.”
it feels like time stops.
najuma can hear the clapping and cheers from the other islanders on just the other side of the door, everyone just as shocked by his revelation as she was. she knows she didn’t have feelings for him anymore. she knows that she had moved on. she knows that whatever feelings she did have for him were nothing like what he shared with francesca. those were all objective truths. they could not be disputed.
but hearing his answer? hearing that he was in love with her? that it felt like he always loved her? it painted the past month in an entirely new light, and she feels sick, like the room is going to start spinning. she doesn’t know how to feel. she doesn’t know what she’s allowed to feel. should she be happy for them? should she be upset, feel fucked over, like her time had been wasted?
was she even allowed to be upset - in a place like here, when francesca was her friend? was there any space for her emotions?
—
francesca is trying her hardest not to run to the hideaway door, her smile so bright she thinks her face might break, but she’s there to greet him when he exits, and she doesn’t even get a chance to say anything before he’s lifting her up, pulling her into a kiss.
everything around them fades to black. the other islanders have crowded around, to celebrate the happy couple, but francesca couldn’t care less about them, instead letting herself melt into his kiss, reveling in the feeling of his hand on the small of her back, the smile that spreads across his lips. knowing that he was hers, utterly and completely, hers.
“you bring out the absolute worst in me, you know, cherie?” youcef laughs after a moment, his voice quiet and breathy, and there’s an incredulous look to his eyes as he gazes down at her, as if he can’t believe this is real, as if he can’t believe they’re sharing this moment. “everyone thinks that i am so smooth, or so confident, but with you.. i always worry i’m going to fail you, or say the wrong thing. i’m sorry -”
francesca cuts him off before he can finish with another kiss, small and sweet, before she pulls back, resting her forehead against his. “youcef,” she whispers, and the sound of his name on her lips sends a shiver down his spine. “i know. i love you, too,” she admits, and they both break into wide, unbreakable grins. “i love you, i love you, i love you,” she murmurs against his lips, her hand cupping his cheek.
she’s never felt such bliss than in this moment. there was never a doubt in her mind, that she was in love.
this, this is what happiness felt like.
najuma is standing back from the group, still stood in the entrance to the hideaway as she watches the scene play out before her. she’s wrapped her arms around herself, holding the clipboard with francesca’s notepad tight to her chest, sucked in a breath of air, not sure how she should feel.
the rest of the islanders are quietly buzzing around her, as if the declaration of love was healing them from the drama of the day, but najuma can’t help but to fold in on herself. thabi seems to be the only one who notices, stepping away from the group to approach her. “hey,” her face softens into a sympathetic smile. “are you okay?”
najuma’s body seems to go into autopilot, and she’s responding before she’s even had a chance to process the question. “yeah,” she puts on a fake smile, wide and too bright, “i’m just happy for them, you know?”