"Wake up, hello?" someone sang. I opened my eyes, groaning, and stirring. I saw Noah lying there, his finger poking at my cheek.

"What?" I asked.

"We're going swimming, let's go," he said, shaking me.

"Noah, let me sleep!" I groaned into the pillow.

"No can do, we're going swimming," he said.

Wait a damn minute. "How the hell did you get in?" I asked, sitting upright.

"I have a key. One of them. Well actually, I swiped it on the way out so I could wake you up, here you go," he said, fishing it out of his pocket and leaning over me, putting it on the nightstand. I stared at him in confusion. "Wake up, we're going swimming and it stopped raining now, get up, meet you in ten!" He stood up and left.

I whined, getting out of bed and grabbing a bikini from my suitcase. I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, splashed my face with cold water, threw my hair up in a bun, and changed into the bikini. I grabbed the towel, pulled on my flip flops, my phone with the room key, and then headed to my door.

I looked around to make sure I had everything before opening the door, getting startled at Noah just standing there. "Hi," he grinned.

"You scared the shit out of me," I chuckled.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Not that much, I thought we're eating lunch after swimming?" I voiced.

"Yeah, we are. I was just asking, you didn't eat anything in the morning, the others went to grab a bite," he shrugged.

"Aww, were you worried about me?" I teased as we stepped into the elevator.

He rolled his eyes with a smile tugging at his lips. He hit the button to the rooftop, where the pool was, and then we started the ascend. When we got there, Oli and Charlotte were already here, but nobody had seen Lucas and Ava. "They'll probably join us. At some point. Right?" Charlotte shrugged. We all brushed it aside before I sat on a lounger beside Charlotte and we talked for a little bit while the boys were swimming.

A couple of minutes later, Lucas and Ava showed up. Ava came and sat with us and Lucas went over to the guys. "Hey," she said.

"Hey," I replied.

"Where the hell were you two?" Charlotte asked.

"We're like five minutes late, chill grandma," Ava chuckled. Charlotte and I looked at each other knowingly. I'm sitting in the middle. This won't be good.

"Ava," Charlotte said slowly.

"Yes?" Ava sang.

Charlotte and I looked at each other again. "Oh my god, you got laid," Charlotte and I said together.

"What? No," she scoffed, not even trying to sound believable.

"She got laid, she definitely got laid," Charlotte nodded.

"Ava, you aren't even trying to hide it," I laughed.

"Shut up," she mumbled, grabbing the sunblock and slapping it onto her arms and legs.

I took some and put it on as well and then passed it on to Charlotte. "We're not getting any details are we?" I asked as we all stood up.

"Yeah," she laughed, "No," she deadpanned.

"Thought so," I shrugged, "Does he know you like him?" I asked, sitting with her by the pool while Charlotte went with Oli to swim.

"Yeah, I um- I told him," she shrugged.

"And?"

"What do you mean 'and?' if he didn't like me back why would we- Bella," she groaned.

"I like seeing you riled up, it's actually really funny, you should see your face," I laughed.

"Can I steal her for a minute?" We looked forward and saw Lucas standing there.

"She's all yours," I shrugged. He helped her into the pool and then they went off to one end.

"Hello." I looked down and saw Noah standing in front of my legs.

"Hello," I replied.

"Why are you sitting by yourself?" he asked.

I pointed to Ava and Lucas, then to Charlotte and Oli. "I'm not one for third-wheeling," I scrunched up my nose, shaking my head.

"Are you planning on actually getting in the water?" he chuckled, "Or are you like Ariel? You get in the water and your tail shows?"

"Ariel? That literally never happened to Ariel," I laughed.

"Did it not?" he frowned in confusion.

"I think you're thinking of Barbie in a Mermaid Tale. Where she's a surfer and a mermaid?"

"Why do I know this?" he laughed.

"You tell me," I shrugged.

"Either way, are you swimming or not?" he asked.

"Meh," I shrugged.

"I'll pull you in." He grabbed my ankles threateningly.

"Okay, okay." I placed my hands in his and he pulled me in. The water was a little cold but it felt nice. "Now what do we do?" I asked.

"I can race you," he smirked.

"Hard pass. I don't like losing," I said, shaking my head.

"That's such a bullshit reason," he laughed.

"Would you do something if you knew you would lose or fail?" I lifted an eyebrow at him.

"If I wanted it, yeah," he shrugged.

I lost focus on what we were talking about and smiled, looking at the little kid who was here with his parents. It was a little boy with arm floats on, swimming back and forth between his mom and dad. I guess they're trying to teach him how to swim.

"You like kids?"

"Yeah, for the most part. Just not when they're screaming," I answered.

"They scream all the time," he retorted.

"True," I chuckled.

"I would name my daughter Bella," he shrugged.

"Thanks?" I said in confusion.

"If I don't have her with you," he smirked.

"For the love of God," I laughed, looking anywhere but at him. Even little jokes like that are making me blush.

"You blush a lot," he stated.

"I do not," I argued.

"Mm, yeah you do."

"I slept through the night. In the dark. What do I get?" I asked, changing the subject not-so-subtly.

"Nothing because you were terrified," he shrugged.

"So? We just bet that I could do it, and I did it. What do I get?" I asked, leaning against the wall.

"What do you want?" he asked, stepping closer.

"What have you got to give?" I smirked.

He lifted an amused eyebrow at me, biting back a smile. "Hmm," he hummed in thought, his hands on the wall beside me, caging me in. "I can get you your lunch," he said, "And a date."

"A date?" I chuckled.

"Mm-hmm," he nodded, "I'll take you out for ice cream tonight and pay for your lunch right now, deal?"

"I'll take it," I chortled.

"All right, what do you want for lunch?" he asked.

"Hmm," I said mockingly, "I want a piggyback ride first, actually." He chuckled, turning around so I could climb on. I did and he began walking around. "I want a burger."

"Mm-hmm."

"French fries."

"Okay," he chuckled.

"And some iced tea," I said.

"Anything else for Ms. Bella?" he asked.

"No, that'll be it," I replied.

We spent around an hour swimming around, me getting on and off his back multiple times. After that, I was starving because I hadn't eaten anything since this morning, so Noah stepped out with me and we sat there by the pool, ordered our lunch there, and ate while the others continued swimming for a little longer.

At first, we ate in silence just focusing on the food but after that, we started talking about random stuff, and then he asked me, "When was your last boyfriend?" he asked.

"I don't know, junior year I think? I think we started dating in sophomore year," I answered.

"Two years?" he asked, slightly surprised.

"On and off," I shrugged. He visibly winced. "Yeah," I laughed, "More off than it was on but you know, it was high school, it all went to shit anyway," I spoke.

"What happened?"

"It just fizzled out if anything. I don't know," I chuckled, "It was another one of those on and off moments, it was on for a long time, then off, and we just never spoke to each other again. I would normally apologize, you know, even if it wasn't my fault. But this one time I just didn't care anymore, I didn't apologize. I didn't do anything wrong in the first place."

He was looking at me, waiting for me to continue.

"There's always one person who puts in more effort and that was always me. Trying to make him happy, to make him stay, it was just so fucking exhausted," I sighed, "So I just stopped. We literally never spoke to each other after that."

"That doesn't sound very nice," he said, his nose scrunching up.

"No," I laughed, shaking my head, "No it wasn't very nice. Not nice at all," I said, staring at the water.

We fell into a short silence until he broke it, "You deserve better than that, Bella."

"I do?"

"Of course, you do. Everyone does. But you certainly do," he smiled.

"What exactly would you say I deserve?" I lifted a brow at him.

"You deserve someone who loves you with everything they have. You deserve to be treated like someone's world," he shrugged.

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