After her chat with Elladine, Reine was heading to the other side of the boat. She was looking for some peace when Nicky jumped out at her, “Boo!”

Reine jumped, laughing. “How is our very own Reine today?” Nicky asked.

“Why do I feel you are trying to sell me something?” Reine answered his question with a question.

“That’s because he is,” Seb laughed. He was wearing the sunglasses Reine bought him.

“They look great,” Reine said.

“Thanks,” Seb said, putting an arm over her shoulder, “How would my bestie feel about going on our podcast?”

Reine smiled, “I’d love to.”

“Great, Let’s go,” Nicky said, leading them to the cabin.

“We’ve been using this cabin while we’re here,” Seb explained as he set up the equipment.

They sat on the bed with Reine between them. “You ready?” Nicky asked.
“Sure,” Reine said.

Seb nodded, “In three, two, one… Mark.”

Nicky’s body posture changed as he went into podcaster mode. “Welcome back to Doom and Gloom. Today we got a special guest. The one, the only, Reine! Winner of Love Island!”

“How does it feel to be an official podcast guest?” Nicky asked.

“I’m hyped,” Reine said, smiling. “But it begs the question why you’ve never asked me before?”

“I thought you were too busy,” Seb answered, but “I glad we’ve got the time now.”

“We’ve got some questions for you,” Nicky said, “first up, tell us your favorite music style.”

“At the moment, I’m listening to retro pop, but before that, it was heavily feeling emo,” Reine said. “it depends on what I’m doing at the time. Usually, some indie band you’ve never heard of.”

The guys double over laughing. “Prove it.”

Reine pulled out her phone. “Have you heard of the Collapsing Hearts?” She pulled up a song and let it play for a minute. “The song is called The Number of your Heart.” Both men listened to the music, shaking their heads.

“You win,” Reine,” Nicky grinned, “We’ve never heard of them.”

“Now we have a question from our loyal listeners,” Seb said, “Dear Reine, I hope you have the best holiday ever. What would make this the perfect trip for you?”

“To have fun with my friends,” Reine said with a smile. “That’s what this trip is all about, right?”

“Exactly,” Seb said, squeezing her.

“Seriously,” Nicky said, “It’s been an amazing trip so far. I’m glad Elladine came up with it.”

“I thought you both did,” Seb said.

“Elladine is the brains of the operation,” Nicky said before turning his gaze to Reine, “Alright, we’ve got one more question for you. Who is your favorite? Seb or me?”

Reine smiled, “Trick question, you are both as good as each other.”

Nicky beamed, “Good answer.”

“Wait a minute, doesn’t that also mean we are as bad as each other?” Seb asked, giving Reine a dirty look.

“I’m going to take it as a good thing,” Nicky said. “OK, it’s time to wrap things up. What message do you want to leave with our listeners?”

“If you are listening to this, I know you have good taste. Follow your dreams! You’re fantastic!” Reine said, smiling.

“Aw, I love it,” Nicky put an arm around her shoulders, giving her a squeeze. “Now we’ll say goodbye. See you later, Reine!”

“Bye, Everyone,” Reine said. Seb switched off the recording.

“The fans are going to love this,” Nicky said.

“I’m starved. Let’s get this cleaned up so I can eat,” Seb said, hurrying to put the equipment away.

“We can clean up, Seb. Go get something to eat.” Nicky offered. Seb left, and Nicky looked over at Reine. “I could use some advice.”

“What’s up?” Reine asked.

“Seb and I have disagreed lately,” he explained.

“You aren’t arguing Scandinavian pop bands again,” Reine asked only half-jokingly.

“Nah, we’d never hold a grudge about that,” Nicky explained. “A little while back, I got an email from Content Cast. They’re this big podcasting network. At first, I thought it was a prank. But it was for real they want to buy the show.”

“Wow! An opportunity for sure. How much did they offer you?” Reine asked.

“A lot,” He said, “enough where we could both do the podcast full-time.”

“OK, what’s the catch?” Reine asked.

“Seb said we shouldn’t do it. That we’d lose our creative freedoms.”

“Would you?”

“It’s not a clear-cut thing.” Nicky sighed, pushing his dreads back. “We’d make a lot of money. Plus, you can do a podcast wherever you are, so Seb could even move closer to Viv. But Content Cast wants to have input over the kinds of bands we cover. I tried to get Seb to see that they wouldn’t want us to change our voice. He doesn’t want to talk about it. “

“That is not what Seb is worried about. He enjoys talking about a variety of bands,” Reine said. “He doesn’t want to be told what bands to review. I would talk to Seb again but tell him you want to counter offer Content Cast’s offer. I would take the contract to a lawyer and make some revisions to it that would make Seb happy and make sure that Content Cast gets something out of it. I don’t see any reason not to try it.”

“True,” Nicky said, giving Reine a thoughtful look. “I mean, the worst-case scenario is that things stay as they are. Best case, we get to do the podcast while getting paid for it.”