“It’s not a date?”

“No. It’s definitely not a date.” I confirmed as Holly asked yet again as she was brushing her hair before she was bound to leave with Kale to go to a late lunch together. “In fact, Taylor’s coming too.” And that part was true. Last night, Taylor had stopped by- I don’t remember why, I think she just wanted to see Jackson again- and I invited her so that this couldn’t even be classified as a date.

“Okay, whatever you say.” Holly sang teasingly. “But if it was a date, that’d be cool too, because that Damon guy is hot.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “I need something to do while you guys are all occupied with your boyfriends.”

“Yes.” She grinned. “You do need something to do.”

“Get your mind out of the gutter.” I chuckled at her, causing Holly to giggle.

“Yeah, yeah. Anywho, I’m off. I’m already fifteen minutes late.” Holly mumbled, slipping on a pair of flip flops and hurrying out of my room with a last goodbye.

I was wearing a bikini with a black cover up tunic top and black flip flops with my hair in a high pony tail and a pair of sunglasses on my head as two o’clock rolled around and Damon and Taylor should be here soon. I told them I’d meet them on the beach and then we’d walk around the mansion-castle to get to the pool.

“Have fun on your date.” Jackson called as I passed him in the hallway.

“Have fun…” I trailed off, not being able to think of a good come back. “being stupid.” I finally sputtered.

That made Jackson laugh and wink before turning into one of the rooms in the hall. I stuck my tongue out at him, but I knew that he couldn’t see it because he was already through the door of where he was going.

Ten minutes later, I was staring with a dropped jaw at the sight in front of me. A pool? No, this was a heavenly pond of water and love. The water was encased in an in ground hole surrounded by rocks and flowers with a small cement beach that lead into the water. On the other side of the pool, the rocks faded into nothing and there was a diving board with a small slide. I couldn’t wait to bruise my tummy on the diving board which is what I will probably do.

“This is so cool!” Taylor shrieked beside me, voicing my own thoughts. “I can’t believe I’ve lived next door to this place for years and I’ve never seen this thing.”

“I can’t wait to get in.” I beamed, leading both Taylor and Damon over to the lawn chairs near the diving board. I laid my towel out and then eagerly stripped into my bikini. “Last one in is the lonely asparagus!” I shouted as I threw my sunglasses onto the lawn chair and darted for the deep end of the luxurious-looking pool.

I was suddenly encased in the cool, chlorine-filled water as it bubbled around me before I gained my sense of direction and started heading for the surface. When my head bobbed out of the water, Damon and Taylor were both jumping in after me, splashing me as they dove into the water around me.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After two and a half hours in the pool, I had realized that both Damon and his sister, Taylor, were both really cool people. We had a splash war in which I surrendered to Damon because his arms were freakishly long and very good for splashing large amounts of water onto people. We also played Marco Polo, a game in which I dominated in with my cat-like reflexes and super human hearing. Taylor showed us up at Sharks and Minnows, though, with a victorious winning streak.

When we’d exhausted all of our childhood pool games and our fingers were turning to prunes, we all agreed to get out of the pool, at least for a little while.

“So how long are you staying here for?” Damon asked curiously.

“Well, the wedding is on August 20th, so I assume we are leaving with a few days after that, besides our classes start at the beginning of September.” I replied, laying down on the lawn chair that was cushioned with my long beach towel.

“That’s all summer.” Taylor chirped. “I’m going to become your best friend, just to swim in this pool all day long.”

I chuckled. “Suit yourself. Don’t you guys have a pool?”

She shook her head. “Sadly, no.”

“Our house is a lot smaller than this one. I mean, it’s still really big, but it’s definitely not this big.” Damon explained. “There’s no pool, only a hot tub.”

“But really? It’s never cold here, what on earth do we need a hot tub for if it’s already hot?” Taylor mumbled incredulously. “It’s stupid, really. I begged my mom for a pool, but she said that when she had grandkids, she’s afraid they’ll drown.”

“You can use a hot tub in the summer.” I scoffed. “Anyway, you guys are welcome to come over whenever you want. Unless Ryder, Andy, or Kale say no because it’s kind of their family’s house.”

“I can’t believe that I’ve been living next door to Ryder West’s vacation house for almost my whole life and I didn’t even know it.” Taylor gushed. “How have I never noticed that?”

“For being a celebrity, he’s very antisocial.” I laughed. “Unless he wants in your pants.”

“I have no problem with that.” Taylor scoffed, causing Damon to crinkle his nose in disgust.

“Alright, I’m leaving, I don’t need to be here for your girl talk stuff.” He announced, standing to his feet and grabbing his shirt from the cement ground. “I’ll see you later, Libby.”

“Okay.” I chirped. “Bye.”

I watched his toned back as he exited the pool area and headed towards the beach where his house was on the other side of a huge privacy fence.

“So what are they like?” Taylor asked curiously.

“Who?” I asked curiously.

She rolled her eyes at me. “Tommy Kidder, Jackson Thorne, and Ryder West. What are they like?”

“Oh, well Tommy’s a sweetheart, Ryder’s an egotistical jerk, but at the same time, he’s also a sweetheart, and Jackson… I mean, he’s just Jackson.”

“How have you not fallen in love with at least one of them? You live your life around three of the most famous, most hot guys in the world and you haven’t even dated one of them?” She asked with raised eyebrows. “Where is the sanity in that?”

I laughed softly at that. “Well, when I moved to LA, Tommy was already with Andy and they were already in love. Ryder was hopelessly in love with my best friend, so that was a major no no. And Jackson… I mean, he’s just Jackson.”

“Is that your answer to everything?” Taylor asked with a laugh. “He’s just Jackson?”

“Well, yeah.” I admitted shyly. “I’ve known him for my whole life, so I can’t imagine looking at him any other way than just Jackson.” I tried to explain, but I knew I sounded crazy.

“But you have to admit that they’re hot.” Taylor told me. “At least, admit to that.”

“Oh, they are. All of them.” I admitted with ease.

“Even Jackson?” Taylor teased.

I laughed. “Definitely.” I chuckled. “I could lick his abs, happily.”

“Talking about me again?” A deep voice piped, walking into view from the house.

I jumped with a loud squeal and my commotion caused the flimsy lawn chair to turn on me. Literally, turn on me. As in it flipped over, throwing me to the concrete ground below, along with my towel and sunglasses. When I recovered, I looked up to see a smirking Jackson looking in my direction and Taylor, who was ogling over Jackson.

“N-no.” I stuttered. “We weren’t talking about you.”

His smirk grew wider as he sat down beside Taylor on her lawn chair that was next to mine that was currently upside down with me sitting beside it with a major blush on my face. I think Taylor was going to melt as Jackson looked at her with his “I’m going to be a jerk to this girl because she’s a fan” kinda smile.

“Taylor,” He said calmly. “Who was Libby talking about?”

“You.” She said quickly, obviously still starstruck by his appearance. “But she said it all! I didn’t say anything, I’m totally innocent.”

“Oh, you’re a cheater!” I snapped at Jackson, standing to my feet. “You can’t use Taylor against me!”

“I was just asking her a question.” Jackson said innocently, standing up from Taylor’s lawn chair. “Anyway, I didn’t come out here to eavesdrop. I thought that your date was still here and I was going to tell him something, but I’ll just tell you instead.” Jackson said nicely to the melting girl beside me.

“Okay, well tell her so that you can leave.” I told Jackson with an embarrassed glare. I tried to look threatening, but I knew that I was still blushing profusely and probably looked as threatening as a distracted toddler.

“I was wondering if you wanted to come to Tommy’s party?” Jackson asked Taylor, looking at her with a normal smile now, not his “I can eat you for breakfast” smile. “We’re going to dinner and then coming back to relax on the beach. Invite your brothers, too.”

“R-really?!” Taylor squealed. “You mean like, like, like actually going to dinner… w-with you?”

“Yeah, well, all of us.” Jackson responded. “We have reservations for 6:30 at some fancy steakhouse that I don’t know the name of.”

“Um, y-yeah.” She squeaked. “I-I… that would be, um, yeah, that’s cool. I’ll ask my brothers.”

“Great, can you go now?” I mumbled towards Jackson. “We’re busy.”

“Oh, right. I interrupted you talking about my delicious abdomen.” He smirked at me. “My bad.”

I scowled at him and my blush returned full force as I tried to find a plausible excuse, but nothing was coming to mind so I had to settle with a good comeback. “Shut up.” I mumbled. I don’t know how he would be able to recover from that burn.

“You’re face looks like it’s burning up.” Jackson commented, walking closer to me with a troublemaking smirk on his face. “Being the amazing friend that I am, I’ll help you cool off.”

I gasped loudly and started backing away from his advances. “Don’t you dare, Jackson Thorne.”

“Hey, I’m helping you out.” He said innocently.

“No, I’m drying off, I’m already dry.” I pleaded with him.

“You can dry off again.” He told me.

“If I’m going in that pool then you’re going with me.” I threatened him, continuing to back up as Jackson stepped forward.

This threat only made Jackson laugh. “I’d love to see you try, Princess.”

“Jackson, please?” I whined, giving him one last plea.

“This is too irresistible.” He grinned before launching himself towards me.

I let out a squeal as I jumped backwards and then turned on my heal to start running in the other direction. I started running and I ran for a good five seconds before I felt his strong arms wrap around my midsection.

“No, Jackson, don’t!” I squealed thrashing around, but it was useless because Jackson was stupidly strong. “Taylor, help me!” But I knew she wouldn’t because she was still sitting in her seat, melting into goop on her lawn chair.

“Have a nice swim.” Jackson chirped right before leaning over one of the small rocks at the poolside and dropping me into the water like a weightless pebble.

I frantically found the surface, but when I did, Jackson was already sprinting for the house.

“Oh, I am so going to beat him up.” I growled, hopping out of the pool and grabbing my towel, drying off my hair.

“See? I knew it was impossible to live around them and not fall in love with one of them.” Taylor said smugly.

“What are you talking about?” I asked her, flipping the chair back over to its rightful position and sitting down on my towel once again.

“Please, you two obviously have feelings for each other. I’m Australian, we know this kind of stuff.” She told me smugly.

“Me and Jackson?” I laughed incredulously. That was probably the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard in all of my twenty years of life. “Yeah, right.”

“I’m serious.” Taylor told me. “It’s incredibly obvious. You’re in love and you don’t even know it, that’s like a tragic love story if I’ve ever seen one.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “I’m not in love with anybody and especially not Jackson Thorne.” I told her. I mean, the idea of me having feelings for Jackson was just the craziest thing I’d heard in a long time. Jackson is Holly’s brother. My best friend’s brother.

“Don’t you read any love stories?” Taylor asked me. “The best friend’s brother is the center of most love stories, girly.”

“Well, my life is certainly not a love story.” I snorted.

“That’s because you’re in denial.” She sang.

I rolled my eyes yet again at just the sheer thought of having feelings for Jackson. But, yet, there was a small part of me, buried way down deep, that felt excited and as the image of me and Jackson being together lingered in my head longer, that small part of me was beginning to grow and form a life of her own. I had to quickly kill her before she changed my views on life because with that small glimpse of excitement, there was also dreaded fear.

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Happy Friday (: Heads up, things get interesting in the next chapter!