Work Text:
Trying to End Not Only an Alliance but a Relationship
Millie O'Shea walked back to her cabin, anticipating reading the next volume of The Kane Chronicles series that she had brought from home. However, when she walked into the cabin, her attention was diverted to a note on her stuffed dinosaur. Millie raised an eyebrow before walking over to the note, taking it off of her stuffed animal, and pulling it closer to her face so that she could read it.
"Come meet me at the lake at 7 PM. I have something to show you, love Priya," Millie read to herself, her heart swelling at the thought of whatever surprise Priya Guthrapali had planned for her. She and Priya had been in a relationship with each other since a few episodes ago ever since the two of them confessed their feelings for each other at the same time, which they both had a good laugh about. Millie, rather than get lost in her thoughts, put the note down and decided to make herself a little more presentable before meeting Priya.
While she was re-brushing her hair, Millie couldn't help but wonder what this surprise was.
At the Lake…
Priya Guthrapali was waiting by the lake for Millie. She had gotten a note on her bed when she came back from a shower that Millie had something to show her. However, any excitement she had for her surprise dissipated when she saw the dirty blonde influencer, Julia Eckert, sauntering up to her with a smirk on her face. When Julia noticed that Priya was glaring at her, Julia ignored the obvious tension and waved.
"Hey, Priya."
"What're you doing here, Julia?"
"Harsh, that's not a really nice thing to say to someone who just greeted you," Julia said as she stopped right next to Priya. Priya didn't know what Julia was up to, but her guard was up regardless. The smile on Julia's face seemed friendly to an outside onlooker, but Priya knew Julia's game long enough to know that she was up to something.
"Well I'm not here to see you," Priya countered, turning her head away from Julia with her eyes closed and her arms crossed. Julia's smile didn't leave her eyes, as she simply put a hand on Priya's shoulder.
"Oh, I know. You're here to see Mildred. I'm kind of surprised honestly, since I thought you hated her," Julia said, causing Priya's eyes to shoot open, and her head to turn back towards Julia with a ferocious glare on her face.
"What!? Why would I hate Millie!?"
"Because I heard you call her lazy, and you tried to get me to join your alliance so that I can make up for Mildred's laziness. Kind of tells me that you don't like Mildred as much as you claim," Julia explained as the seemingly innocent smile on her face turned into a condescending smirk, causing Priya's irritation to grow.
"I said that when I was angry! I didn't mean a word of it and Millie knows that!"
"Does she? So if I told Mildred right now what you thought of her, she'd be cool with it?" Julia asked, challenging the Indian girl's assertion. Julia's smirk grew even wider when Priya hesitated to say anything, her intense glare disappearing as her eyebrows shot up, her eyes looking away from the influencer, thinking about how Millie would actually react to the things she said about her. Millie had been a sensitive person, someone who was not the type to just forgive and forget a comment like that. "I wonder how Mildred would feel if I told her what you really think of her," Julia asked herself out loud while stroking her chin, her grayish-purple eyes looking towards the worried look that was growing on Priya's face.
"Millie's getting stronger by the day! She knows better than to listen to you!" Priya argued though she had trouble looking at Julia. While Priya was thinking of what else to say, Julia noticed Millie skipping down the hill to the lake. Julia smirked, seeing that both the notes she sent to Priya and Millie worked, and just as Millie was about to head to their spot, Julia grabbed both of Priya's cheeks and pulled her closer into a kiss. Millie stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her girlfriend kissing one of her arch-enemies, her hands shaking while the present for Priya that was in her hands dropped to the ground.
Priya, shocked by the sudden kiss, didn't think to push Julia away while she continued to kiss her. However, when Priya noticed Millie out of the corner of her eyes, her eyes widened, but before she could push Julia off of her, the dirty-blonde influencer let go of the kiss before turning towards Millie with a shit-eating grin on her face.
"Awww…sorry you had to find out this way, Mildred. I guess Priya actually wanted someone useful instead of some overgrown baby," Julia said, her hands still on Priya's cheeks, pulling her face closer. Priya responded by immediately pushing Julia away from her, noticing that tears were spilling from Millie's eyes, her entire body shaking as she was trying to keep herself from crying.
"Millie…this isn't what it looks like. Millie, please," Priya said softly while walking towards Millie. However, when Priya attempted to put a comforting hand on Millie's shoulders, the aspiring journalist shook Priya's hands off and turned around, running back in the direction of the cabins while crying. Priya's heart broke seeing her girlfriend run away bawling like she did, but she was also furious that Julia had stooped so low as to make her look like a cheater. Priya turned her attention back to Julia, an angry fire in her eyes as she started growling at the disinterested influencer.
"YOU!"
"Me?"
"When I get my hands on you, I'm gonna-!"
"You're gonna what? Chris already had to deal with those Hockey Bums being too injured to compete. I know you can beat me up, Priya, but what do you think Chris will do when he realizes that you took out one of his ratings draws in me," Julia responded, condescendingly poking Priya in the nose. Priya, still furious, did realize that Julia could be right; if there was one thing host Chris McLean cared about, it was ratings, and as much as she HATED to admit it, Julia was one of the biggest new stars of the show. If Priya had sent her to the emergency room like she was thinking of, then Chris would send her right to Playa Del Losers. Priya took a couple of deep breaths before glaring at the dirty-blonde influencer with enough intensity that some would think she was trying to melt her with heat vision.
"You're going to pay for this, one way or another," Priya growled out before stomping away, her fists clenched as if she wanted to punch something. Julia smirked at her handiwork before flipping her hair and sauntering back to her cabin, wanting to check on her social media accounts before the challenge.
Later that night…
Priya was absolutely miserable. She couldn't even focus on the challenge since she was focusing on ways to try and talk to Millie and explain everything. The challenge was just to stand on top of a pole for the longest without eating, drinking, and bathroom breaks. While doing the challenge, Priya tried to talk to Millie, who was on the pole next to her, but Millie turned her back to Priya, shaking her head and refusing to respond to her. Priya also couldn't help but notice that Emma was glaring a hole through her for almost the entire challenge and that Julia had that cocky smirk on her face that Priya just wanted to punch off.
Once the challenge was over, Priya once again tried to catch up with Millie, but Emma immediately moved next to the aspiring journalist, and gave Priya another nasty glare, telling her to stay away. Priya decided to back away for now, especially since Emma, who had won the challenge, had been in such a pissed-off mood already due to not having anything to eat or drink for over 12 hours that Priya didn't want to start a fight. Priya sighed and walked back to her cabin, racking her brain with ideas on how to show Millie that Julia had tricked her. Priya laid in her bed for the next hour, trying to think of something to show Millie just how much she meant to her before Priya noticed Millie's notebook on her bed. Priya immediately sat up, a smile finally forming on her face for the first time since Julia had stolen a kiss from her.
Another couple of hours later, it was time for the elimination ceremony, the campers were waiting for the host of the show, Chris McLean, and his assistant, Chef Hatchett, to come by the campfire to start the ceremony. Millie was sitting next to her best friend, Emma, blubbering at what had happened earlier that day. Chase was eating pizza in the back while Julia was inwardly laughing at how miserable she had made Millie, while Bowie just looked on with a blank expression.
"You…seriously don't believe Priya cheated on you, do you?" Bowie asked Millie, which caused her to start crying even more. Emma, despite being Bowie's friend, smacked him in the shoulder and gave him a glare that had almost as much intensity as the one she gave Priya earlier that night.
"Bowie! Show some empathy! Can't you see how upset Millie is!?" Emma said, pointing to Millie, who was still trying to wipe the tears out of her eyes while taking deep breaths.
"Empathy? I'm just telling the truth, Emma. We all know how Julia is, and I can 1000% guarantee that this was just a plan to break Priya and Millie up," Bowie countered. However, before Emma could counter this, Priya came running to the campfire with a piece of paper in her hands. Emma once again glared at the Indian teen and hugged Millie close to her while Julia looked up briefly from her nail file, and raised an eyebrow at the commotion.
"Bowie's right! I never wanted to kiss Julia! She forced me to kiss her!" Priya exclaimed, pointing her finger right at Julia while the dirty-blonde influencer looked up from filing her nails and rolled her eyes.
"Oh please. You totally enjoyed that kiss, Priya."
"No, I didn't!" Priya yelled back before taking a couple of deep breaths and focusing on Millie. Millie had been looking at the ground, fiddling with her fingers to try and keep herself from looking at her girlfriend. Priya, taking a couple of deep breaths to calm down, walked over to Priya, ignoring Emma trying to glare a hole through her before sitting next to her aspiring journalist girlfriend. Millie continued to try and keep her eyes off of Priya, but Priya grabbed Millie by her cheeks and turned her around so that she could see the look in her eyes. Despite Millie's eyes still clouded by tears, she could see that Priya's eyes were full of the same sorrow that hers were. Millie also couldn't see any evidence of deceit on Priya's face, so she decided to take a deep breath and let Priya say what she needed to say.
"Millie, you've been the light of my life since I've come onto this show. You've shown me support and kindness that I could've only dreamed of from my parents, and I've had the time of my life teaming up with you. Even if you aren't always the best at challenges, you're always there for me, and I…I know we've only known each other for a couple of months, but…I can't imagine my life without you," Priya said while continuing to gaze at Millie, who was listening to her girlfriend with stars in her eyes, wiping the remaining tears before the upset frown turned into a small and shaky smile. Julia, meanwhile, scoffed before rising up from the log she was sitting on, and sauntered over to the couple, sitting next to Priya with an arm around the back of her neck.
"That's really nice to say, Priya, but we all know how you REALLY feel. You felt something during our kiss. Plus, what about all the times that you called Millie lazy and the fact you wanted to add me to your little alliance so that you wouldn't be the only one doing the work?" Julia asked with a smirk on her face, running her hand through Priya's jet-black hair while looking right at Millie. Priya responded by elbowing Julia in the gut and pushing her off the log she was sitting on before standing up, and pulling a folded-up piece of paper out of her pants pocket.
"Millie, I'm going to show you just how much I care. I've spent the past couple of hours writing this poem for you," Priya responded, clearing her throat before unfolding the poem and reading it.
"Hair soft like cotton candy and eyes bright like stars
A girl I've been in love with from the start
My heart belongs to her and her alone
I love her more than Julia loves her phone
I've been angry and said mean things in the past
But my love for you is going to last
For years and years until we're buried in the grave
You have a light in your soul bright enough to light up a cave
I love you, Millie, and always will
Our lives together are going to be a thrill"
"Wow…that was really cringe," Bowie responded with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, I think you might've wanted to proofread that before you read it out loud," Emma said while rubbing Millie's back.
"I really don't know what you expect that lame little poem to accomplish," Julia continued. However, when they all turned their attention to Millie, she was crying again, though she was also smiling with both her hands pressed together. Before Priya could respond to the criticism she was receiving, Millie jumped off the log she was sitting on and almost tackled Priya down with a hug. Millie continued to swing Priya around while keeping her in a Bearhug and crying while Priya was struggling to breathe.
"Priya! That was so beautiful! You really wrote that poem for me!?" Millie asked
"Yeah…it was…for you," Priya croaked out, coughing while she was trying to get air back in her lungs.
"Thank you so much, Priya! I'm so sorry I thought you cheated on me!" Millie exclaimed. Right as the hug was approaching the two-minute mark, Priya tapped on Millie's shoulder, prompting the aspiring journalist to let Priya go. Priya took in several deep breaths before kissing Millie on the cheek.
"I'm sorry about saying all that stuff behind your back, Millie. I never meant any of it. I was just mad and took it out on you, and I shouldn't have. You're not lazy and you definitely can't be replaced, especially by some anorexic wannabe celebrity," Priya said, Julia blowing Priya a raspberry in response before she and Millie hugged again, this time Millie controlling her strength. After a moment, the two began kissing in front of the rest of the cast, where Emma seemed to be the only one really happy that Millie and Priya hadn't broken up and that they were staying together.
"Well, that was all…interesting. But we only have a minute or two before we're off the air, so…Chase, you've been eliminated and you're going home," Chris said, trying to interrupt the moment. It didn't work, as Priya and Millie were in their own little world, continuing to kiss each other while Chase, who was in the back eating some pizza and hadn't paid a single iota of attention to what had been going on in front of him, dropped the slice he had in his hand while his mouth stayed open in complete shock. Emma couldn't help but laugh at the fate of her ex-boyfriend while Bowie and Julia smirked that they were still on the show for another episode.
"Wait…huh!?" Chase asked in shock as he was led away from the campfire by Chef and Chris while Priya and Millie continued kissing each other, trying to make up for lost time while completely temporarily shutting out the rest of the world. Emma took pictures of Chase being dragged away while Bowie and Julia decided to leave, with the dirty-blonde influencer mumbling about how her plan failed and that she'd get Priya and Millie back. However, Priya and Millie were too engrossed in each other to really care what Julia was planning for them. But, before Julia could leave, Priya and Millie let go of each other before Priya grabbed Julia by the back of her shirt turning her around and socking her in the side of the face with a hard punch.
The show faded to black while Emma continued reveling in her ex-boyfriend being flown off the island thanks to the Drone of Despair while Priya and Millie went back to kissing, showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. Julia, meanwhile, pulled herself back up to her feet and held the side of her head in pain as a dark circle was growing underneath her right eye.