//One day when the sky is falling, I'll be standing right next to you. Nothing will ever come between us, cause I'll be standing right next to you...// Chris Brown & Justin Bieber.

"I don't like how he keep sending you things," Iverson complained in a stern voice, walking closely behind her. "Or that you seem to be having a kick out of it."

'Maybe I am' Bella thought with a little shrug as she kept walking towards her room, a box of street quality and a single red rose clutched to her chest like she was a goblin and that was her gold.

Blissful would have summed up the next couple of days after the beach if Iverson wasn't constantly breathing down her neck like a possessive jerk whenever Derrick sent her a gift.

She was sincere, got on the phone with Derrick the instant they got home from the beach and told him she was with Iverson now. How could she be blamed that he just laughed in her ears.

"You were there all these while but the minute I showed interest he decided he wants you too and of course you are thrilled, aren't you?"

"I'm not a piece of meat." Bella had snapped at him. Iverson had always been there too and though he didn't say, she knew he wanted her.

"Well I'm not going to just give up on you okay?" Derrick argued. She wouldn't lie, it warmed her heart.

"I know you probably want him because you think he's the good guy and let's face it, you aren't much of a risk taker which is what being with me will be, a risk. But I promise to work hard on my commitment issues if you just give me a chance. I have more excitement to offer you than that piece of shít."

"I'm sorry." She whispered with nothing better to say and ended the call on him. The next day however, she received a bouquet larger than life from him, to replace the one Iverson destroyed, said the message attached to it.

"Are you even listening to me?" Iverson voice brought her back to the present just as she slipped into her room with him right behind her.

"You know Derrick is only doing this to piss me off right?"

"I know right?" She laughed sarcastically, placing the stuffs in her hand on the table before turning to face him with her hands on her hips.

"With how hideous and totally undesirable way I look, god forbid anyone genuinely like me or want to be with me just for me. Makes me wonder why the hell you are with me Ivers, who are you trying to piss off?"

She glared at him as he opened and closed his mouth twice at a lost for words. "Huh, who?" She prompted.

"Goddamn it woman, how do you always turn my words around and hit me in the face with it?" He said with that stupid smirk that has a way of instantly dissipating Bella's anger. He moved to stand before her, leaving only a breath of gap between their bodies.

"You know that's not what I meant." He picked a strand of her hair and twirled it around his forefinger. Her heart began to flutter in the rapid way she had come to associate with having him close.

"You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen and you don't even try." His eyes was sincere, at least he believed what he was saying. He removed one of her hands from her hip and placed it on his chest, where his heart beat.

"I just found you and I don't want to lose you. Ever." He said in an emotionally ladened voice, his eyes brimming with the words left unsaid.

A lump was caught in Bella's throat as she stared up at him, seeing that clear message in his eyes always left her unsettled, even more than the two times she had heard him say it.

The first time, she thought she imagined it as they were just mumbled words that left his mouth in a sleepy state. The second time was when she asked him to wake her in the morning so she could go jogging with him but when morning came and he tried to wake her, she had cursed him to hell and curled further into the blanket. She heard him chuckle as he pressed a kiss to her temple and whispered those dang words again.

"Promise me." Iverson said before her and she blinked rapidly to focus on what he was saying.

"Promise you what?" Her voice came out hoarse.

"Promise me I won't lose you, that I have nothing to worry about even if Derrick buys you a house and a Lamborghini to match."

She smiled. "I hate Lamborghini anyways, who doesn't?"

"Promise me." He insisted, clearly not amused.

"I promise." She rolled her eyes.

"Without the attitude."

"Jeez, you are so demanding. I promise okay?" She clutched the material of his cloth where her fingers laid sprawled on his chest and pulled him closer till they were nose to nose, his exhale, her inhale.

"I promise." She repeated sincerely. "I'm going to have another talk with Derrick and get him to stop."

Iverson physically relaxed and briefly closed his eyes. "I bought you something too."

"Iver..."

"No, not because of Derrick. I wanted to give you something, like I said I would."

"Because of the beach." She sighed and let her hand slipped out of his on his chest. She didn't understand why he attached so much importance to being her first.

A girl's virginity was only as important as the double standard society made it to be, to Bella, it was but an hindrance someone have to get rid off be it early or later and let's face it, eight out of ten people usually don't end up with their first. It decreases their self worth in no way.

Iverson rummaged through the pocket of his track pant that was similar to hers, she'd only remembered she had something like it when she saw him and decided to wear hers to match.

He brought out a silver necklace and held it up to her face. She bit her lower lip as she examined the glistering piece, busting into laughs when she saw the pendant and Iverson smiled shyly.

When he'd insisted she name something she wanted, she had requested for the moon so that he would leave her alone and now, low and behold the necklace in his hand has a coin pendant with half a moon in it middle.

Her heart warmed over and an unidentified feeling brewed in the pit of her stomach, slowly consuming her inside out. 'Unidentified' because she refused to dwell on it whenever she got a burst of it towards him, for the same reason she was unsettled when she heard him say it.

She knew nothing of love, she has never loved anyone beyond platonic unless her mother count? Or the feeling she had for him four years ago and remembering how horribly that turned out made analysing her feelings now even scarier.

But she turned and gave him her back, packing and holding her hair out of the way for him.

Iverson fastened the necklace around her neck slower than necessary, deliberately brushing his fingers along her collarbone, he delighted himself in the instant goosebumps he left in his wake.

She may have made it clear she didn't like him saying 'you are mine' like she was a piece of furniture but he didn't care how she saw it, there was simply no other synonym for it. She was his and that was final. He chanted that in his head until the clasp of the necklace was in place.

"It's beautiful." Bella whispered once the pendant came to rest atop her cleavage. It really was beautiful and she would wear it for as long as she could, a piece of him she'd gladly carry around with her.

"You like it?" Iverson asked.

"I do. Thank you." She said, still familiarising herself with the pendant.

Iverson moved away from her and flopped down on her bed, quickly sitting back up to pull his shirt off above his head. "So, how was your job hunting?" He asked.

Her eyes snapped up and fastened unto his toned chest as he laid back down, her breath kicked up a pace and a need began to throb between her legs. It was an instant reaction her body and mind get into at the mere sight of his exposed skin and she believed he actually get a kick out of it.

She had thought it would lessen by frequently seeing him but with the amount of time they've showered together, her reactions only grew stronger and instantaneous.

A knowing smirk tugged the corner of Iverson's lips and he stretched out to give her a full view. "Job hunting Blue, tell me about it."

"Right." She said, trying and failing miserably to act unaffected. Contrary to Daniel, Claire and Jenna's believe she and Iverson haven't been going at it like rabbits on heat.

Twice since the beach, he had turned her into a quivering mess at the mercy of his expertised fingers and tongue but he has been holding himself out on her.

She crawled into the bed beside him and threw her legs over him, she wanted him and it was only a matter of time before she'd take matters into her own hands.

"You know, I'm not sore anymore right?" She tested the water, already she suspected that was the reason he was giving himself a hard time, because he wanted her too, she was as sure of that as the sky could be kaleidoscope.

Iverson placed his hand on her thigh, slid to the side slowly and she squirmed her legs together in an attempt to add pressure on the mounting throb somewhere close to where his hand laid.

"Tell me about your job hunting." He said, ignoring her question.

Bella inhaled. "I'm afraid there seem to be zero decent job for low class citizens in this Metropolis."

"Have you heard of Silver Orchids?" He wanted to know.

"Yes." She replied, it was one if not the biggest five star hotel in Metropolis.

"Yeah well, my sister got a contract to shoot a commercial for them. It's a fifty fifty thing, since she'll be advertising her clothes too and as usual she's robbed me into it but she's short of a female model to send over, so I was thinking...."

She started to laugh before he had the chance to finish and rolled away from him. "I know you said I'm the prettiest girl you've ever seen and though I don't believe you, I'm genuinely flattered but come on, look at me."

She scrambled to her knees on the bed and yanked her shirt off in the most unromantic way possible, leaving herself exposed to him in a mundane black bra and still, Iverson looked like it was the sexiest thing he has ever seen. And she was. She could wear a potato sack and cover her hair in ashes and she would still be the sexiest thing in his eyes.

His eyes devour her hungrily as he took her in, he loved her just the way she was but compare to the girls that work for his sister? If he was being sincere, a little exercise won't hurt her lazy àss.

"I mean, you could use some toning and firming and I can help with that, just a little workout, evening jogging since I know you aren't a morning person." He chuckled. "The shoot isn't till next week so we have time if you are game?"

"Really?" She asked sceptically.

"Trust me babe." He said and held out his hand to her. "C'mere." He pulled her until she was straddling him, the evidence of his arousal prominent for her to feel.

****
Iverson was out of bed as usual by the time Bella managed to wake up after two snoozes of her alarm the next morning, but his essence lingered. She spent a good moment ravelling in the warmth and scent left on his side of the bed before eventually forcing herself out. Unfortunately, classes would not attend itself now would it?

The little unfamiliar cold from the pendant resting on her bare skin reminded her of the presence of her necklace and she reached up to caress it tenderly. She didn't need a mirror to know that she was glowing. Iverson made her feel beautiful and she believe it, she could give a model a run for their money with him by her side.

After neatly arranging the bed, a ritual she now practice only because Iverson sleep in it too she made her way out of the bedroom towards the bathroom to brush her teeth, her senses waking up more as the rich aroma of coffee assaulted her nose in the hallway. 'God, bless Daniel this day' she thought with a smile.

She entered their living room after quickly washing her face to find Iverson sitting before his laptop, already bathed and obviously ready for school. He looked up and gave her one of his charming smile that effect the release of beautiful butterflies in her stomach. His blue eyes shone brighter than normal for that time of the morning but unlike her, he'd been long awake and been on a run.

She smile back, she should tell him the only reason blue was her favourite color and why he still called her that, was because of his eyes.

A sound came from his laptop and his eyes flickered down, giving her an effect of his enviable long lashes but thankfulky also broke the hypnosis of her just standing across like a twerp marveling in his good looks.

She was on an important mission to find the coffee pot, so she slipped into the kitchen at his distraction.

"Blue come here for a bit." He called after her but that won't be happening until she got a cup of coffee.

Daniel bless his heart, was in the kitchen already holding out a cup for her with a smile. Bella felt blessed, she had two of the best men the universe had to offer, shame on her deadbeat father.

She accepted the cup from Daniel and kissed him on the cheek in gratitude. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"Don't." Daniel chuckled. "Iverson is in the living room and I like my throat where it is."

"Too late." Iverson yelled and she rolled her eyes good naturedly, walking back to the livingroom.

It didn't escape her how easy it was to use the L word with Daniel yet having Iverson say it or show it to her unsettled her.

He gesture for her to come seat beside him and she did. Big mistake.

On the screen of his laptop, a lady was staring back at her. Bella two hands tightened subconsciously around her mug as she stared unbelievably into familiar blue eyes.

"I'm guessing you are Blue?" Said Marie Ivy, Iverson's sister. Or just Ivory like he preferred to call her, a B list celebrity, a woman of power, one of Bella's role models, one she closely followed on all social media just said her name.

Like...she was actually communicating with her and Bella just....well, Bella did the only thing that came naturally to her.

Bella screamed!

Sorry if this chapter was hella boring, it is a necessary filler for the next step of the story but some of you already know that. Lol.

Please don't forget to vote and stay tuned?