//Never had much faith in love or miracles. Never wanna put my heart on the line. But swimming in your world is something spiritual// Bruno Mars.

Her feet dug into the sand and she reluctantly came to a halt, Claire gasped loudly enough for the both of them when the strange girl beside Iverson began to almost teasingly remove her dress.

She hitched it slowly up her spidery long moisturised legs to reveal a black laced pantie that hung low on her hip bones, the further up she went, the tighter the invisible grip on Bella's heart got.

"Whoa." Biggie breathed out and received a swift jab of Claire's elbow to his rib as the girl revealed her washboard abs and a bra that matched her pantie, then up over her head she removed the dress and shook her long black hair back in place.

She handed the dress to Iverson, who was more than willing to hold on to it for her. They all watched mesmerised as she back stepped a few paces and propelled herself forward towards the sea, she got right to the bank before jumping as high as Anna Chicherova from the Olympics, they followed her high with their eyes and open mouths until she fell back down with a splash and immersed herself in the water.

"Nice!" Iverson called out when she re-emerged.

And she giggled. "Come in for a dip." She called back. How anyone could manage such sultry voice in water, Bella would never know.

"Nah, I'm cool." He waved her dress at her. Both of them in their own world, shielded by their own bubble and completely unaware of the eyes on them.

Bella's heart trashed crazily in her chest with an overwhelming feeling of jealousy. While she had been pathetically getting herself hot and bothered with the thought of him, fangirling over shirtless pics of him like a stupid teenager, he was having the time of his life with Tara Banks' look alike.

The girl took a few laps back towards shore. "You can throw my dress on that chair." She pointed at the recline chair close to where Bella stood with Claire and Biggie, Iverson turned to look where she was pointing, doing a double take when he spotted the three of them there. The response he was undoubtedly about to give died in his throat as his eyes met hers and he snapped his mouth shut.

Bella squared her shoulders and resumed walking towards him, eyes fixated on each other. She saw surprise flicker in his eyes at her approach and he anxiously licked his lips with his tongue, his eyes darted between Claire and Biggie, by the time he looked back at her, she was standing right in front of him.

"Iverson." She said as a form of greeting but with her clipped tone, it sounded a lot like a warning.

His eyes roams her face and he wet his lips again. "What are you doing here?" He asked. The small cut above his eyebrow where Derrick must have got him drew Bella's attention, she almost reached out to it on impulse. Almost, instead she folded her hands on her chest.

"I could ask you the same thing, except I already know the answer to that. Skinny dipping." She said, looking back to see miniature Tara approaching them with a curious frown.

"Is everything alright?" She asked in the same sultry voice. She looked every bit of a sea goddess with the confident way she carried herself despite being practically naked and with the water trickling down her clear skin.

"Who the hell are you?" Bella belted out in irritation before she could control herself. For some reason, this girl she had never met before and who hadn't utter a single word directly at her had managed to get under her skin.

The girl sized her up with an arrogantly arched brow then decided she wasn't worth more than a bug, her unimpressed expression made Bella bristled within and she puffed out her chest in defiance.

"I'm Val, who are you?"

"Val." Bella repeated, letting the disdain she felt towards the girl roll out with the name. "Is that short for Voldermort?" She asked, leaning slightly towards her as if in a conspiratorial whisper. "You know, He-who-must-not-be-named?"

The girl's nostril flared and she took a challenging step forward. "Iverson," She said but her glower remained solely on Bella. "do you know this...person or should I call security?"

Bella smirked smugly and looked back at Iverson who watched her through one narrowed eyes.

"She is just my roommate." He gnashed out.

Truly offended by what he said and how he said it, Bella dramatically held her shoes to her heart, illustrating her pain. "Just your roommate aww," she started sarcastically.

"I have another roommate I've stayed with longer than you and he has never seen me naked, he doesn't sleep in my bed and cuddle with me at night, we've never kissed and never have we almost had séx on the kitchen counter!"

Biggie and Claire cackled up at her words while Iverson's face gradually turned the colour of a ripe tomato in both embarrassment and anger. Val gasped and watched Bella with hanging jaw for a few seconds before shaking her head.

"Wow Iverson," she said as she snatched her dress back from him. "You sure know how to pick them." She eyed Bella with distaste one last time before turning on her heels, hurriedly putting her dress back on as she went.

Bella could have melted from Iverson's glare if she was a plastic doll, but she wasn't so she glared right back at him.

"Valeria, wait." He looked away from Bella and ran after her.

Bella could almost hear her heart snapping in two equal halves as she watched him leave, picking the girl over her like he picked Jasmine in highschool.

It all came rushing back to her but this time, she owned up to it. Iverson be damned, she won't do this circle no more. She was a big girl and she had successfully been on a date with an equally handsome guy who told her she was pretty and he liked her, so what if Derrick didn't want to commit? There were many more fishes in the ocean. She straighten her spined and blanked any expression on her face as she turned to face Claire and Biggie.

"So, I guess this is me." She smiled tightly, feeling her phone start to vibrate again. "I'll be going now and let you have your beach fun."

"Stay with us?" Claire perked up. "We are spending the night and I'm sure we can find something for you to wear from my stuffs Biggie brought yesterday. Where is my bag?" She turned to ask Biggie the last part and he wordlessly pointed at one of the camping tent up north.

"How long has Iverson been here?" Bella asked Biggie with a frown.

"Three days I think, he goes to school and places then return here. He does that when he want some isolation, and you know, with his up coming final exams."

"Well, wasn't that a lot of socialising for someone who is supposed to be isolating." She mumbled under her breath and finally reached into her pocket for the insistently vibrating phone. "Don't worry Claire, I might as well go face the project I told you about. I'll see you in school tomorrow." She smiled again and hugged her friend goodbye.

"Will you take your laptop?" Biggie asked thrusting it at her.

She eyed it and shook her head. "I didn't give it to you."

Unable to resist, she glanced behind her to where Iverson stood seemingly explaining whatever to his new girl.

She managed to dissolve a lump from forming in her throat and walked back the way they came with what was left of her dignity.

"Should I tell her?" Biggie asked quietly as they watched her leave.

"No." Claire stated firmly. "I love her but she also purposely made him believe that she slept with Derrick. This is only fair."

"We are going to hell, you know that?" He asked, snaking an arm around her waist, he pulled her closer to him and spread little kisses along her jaw.

"As long as we are together, I won't mind." She giggled as a reply.

He smiled at her. "Let's go inside the tent, there's something I need to show you."

Claire moved away from him and squinted her eyes at the glint in his eyes. "I don't think I should, in fact, I think I should stay right here or call for help now." She began to playfully back away from him.

Biggie's smile turned into a full blown mischievous grin as he approached his girlfriend slowly like a predator. "Daddy is gonna spank you, if you disobey."

"Daddy will have to catch me first." She squealed and took off towards the tent. Biggie put two fingers in his mouth and whistled out to Iverson, signalling him to Bella's retreating form before taking off after his girl.

Stop avoiding me Bella, I miss you. Have dinner with me and Cynthia? I promise we won't talk about your counter top extra curriculum.

She felt a blush worked up her face as she read the text message Daniel resorted to when she missed his calls. He kept saying he wouldn't talk about the kitchen incident while unsubtly talking about it, which was why she had been avoiding him.

He made it his life mission to remind her anytime she spent more than 5seconds in his presence, dropping snide comments like: 'poor table, I picked it up for a really good price, now I'll never eat on it again. I can't even look at it' 'is it possible unsee some things? I fear my eyes have forever been scarred'

She smiled slightly, Daniel was a good friend and she was beginning to dread what she would do without him once he finished his final exams. She haven't found enough courage to ask him what his plans were, would he be moving back to London? What will happened to his and Cynthia's relationship?

She will most definitely be keeping the apartment to herself for another college year that she had left, which means she needed a job for additional income and would also have to look for new roommates.

Iverson would be leaving too but she couldn't care less, it didn't matter that her heart galloped each time it crossed her mind.

Daniel on the other hand, she would have to get his London address somehow, because he was always close off about sharing that. Aside that his father had drinking problem, an information that only slipped when Cynthia was being her usual talkative self, Bella knew next to nothing about his family and some holidays she tried inviting him home to her mother he had looked about to pass out and made up flimsy excuses. He wasn't much of a family person, Bella had derived and left it at that.

"Blue!"

She was about to call Daniel back when the familiar voice boomed behind her and she instinctively jerked around like it was her name, surprised and aggravated to see a now clothed Iverson racing after her.

What in hell does he want now? Didn't he already made his choice? Without another thought she let her legs shoot forward and began to run away from him too.

She would have gotten away, despite Iverson's long legs she wasn't a bad runner herself but unfortunately fate decided to pull a Cinderella moment on her as one of her shoes dropped and she had to stop to pick it. By the time she shot back up, Iverson had covered enough ground to luckily grabbed her by the waist band of her trouser.

He however didn't anticipate her putting all her weight down and massively kicking out her legs once he circled his hands around her.

He lost his footing in the sand from her vigorous jerk and they both went tumbling down on their sides.

"Ough." She gruffed at the impact of their fall.

He turned and placed himself in a push up position above her, caging her in place with his hands on each side of her, his face ghosting over hers.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Why don't we let the judge decide that when I sue the hell out of your àss for manhandling? Why you gotta be so extra, what do you want from me? Get off! Get off now and go be with your he-who-must-not-be-named." She rambled out, panting hard and it wasn't because of her little run but having his body loom over hers like a bad weather.

It was a strange position to be in with people around, throwing them disapproving looks.

His lips twitched in a barely there smile as he gazed down at her with darkening eyes.

"Her name is Valeria," he said with light amusement. "stop referring to her as the dark lord. Is this jealousy?"

"Oh please." Bella scoffed, rolling her eyes. "We both know I'm just your roommate and to be jealous would mean I have feelings for you which God forbid..."

"Do you?" He cut off her rambling 102 and gently eased himself on her, his eyes bored into hers with such intensity, she swallowed hard.

"What does it matter?" She said in a small voice. "You have you-know-who now."

"Stop referencing her as the dark lord, her name is Valeria and she's just a friend. You were rude to her, so I have to apologise before coming after you. Anyone close to me could have told you she's just a friend. Daniel, Biggie, Claire even Derrick, ask any of them."

She swallowed hard again, searched his eyes for a sign that he was lying and found none.

"Her dad's in charge of the buggy rentals so she's almost always out here." He added, she believed him.

"Do you feel anything for me Blue?" He asked again, his voice suddenly smaller than hers and he wore vulnerability on his face like a mask.

If she wanted to break his heart and get her revenge, now was a good time. She could push him off of her and tell him she felt nothing, she could watch the tiny speck of hope in his eyes slowly die out, she could take pleasure in seeing his vulnerability and uncertainty swallow him whole and then she would call them even and walk away.

She couldn't think pass her lust though, she wanted him with so much intensity that keeping her pelvic rooted on the ground to avoid shamelessly grinding on him was really challenging. She wanted his mouth on hers and then every other part of her, she wanted his hands in her hair and where she ached the most. She wanted him, damn consequences.

She touched her thumb to the small cut above his brow. "Does it hurt?"

His eyes fluttered and he leaned into her touch. "Not anymore."

"You said I'm not allow to date anyone else, you said you have feelings for me too?" She asked huskily, instead of asking why he looked at her like she was someone else, instead of asking why he ran out of the house and never came back.

She really didn't want to know at that moment, if it was what she thought.

"There has to be a reason why I love to sleep in your bed and cuddle with you." He said, tenderly brushing the back of his forefinger on her cheek before replacing it with his lips, she shivered from the sheer contact.

"Why the thought of you with anyone else turns me into a madman," He whispered low into her ear. "Why the taste of your lips has lingered on mine for the past three days and all I think about at night is kissing you again, having you in my arms, feeling you all around me and getting intoxicated by your scent, making you breathless, swallowing your moans and..."

"Do it." She interrupted him, almost moaning from his words and his warm breath on her cheek. "Do them all, kiss me Iverson." She practically plead.

"What if I can't stop with just kissing you?" He sucked the soft skin between her ear and jaw into his mouth and she involuntarily closed her eyes.

"You have a tent here, don't you?"

"I do."

"Is there a bed in it?"

"A sleeping bag."

"Take me there now Iverson, before I lose my mind."

Who was he to deny a lady's request? She interlocked her legs around him and he manage to get on his feet with her draped around his torso, the walk back to his tent seem like the longest journey of his life yet.