First of all, I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in forever. I was swamped with school and I just had the worst case of writer's block but now I'm on the bend and I'm determined to update every week. Please don't hate me. xD

 Hope you enjoy the chapter! 

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"Is it really skinny dipping if you're doing it in your own pool?" Jason asks as he pulls his shirt over his head.

"Is it my fault that we don't have any water bodies here? We live in a sucky town. Deal with it." Filip says, throwing a wink at me when he catches me staring at his almost naked body.

I blush but honestly, any girl in my position would be foaming at her mouth. I look around Jason's backyard pool and admire the scenery. Belle is lounging on one of the pool chairs and tracing a zig-zag line on Jason's abs who's leaning over her. Filip is already stripped down to his tighty-whities and I try hard to look at his face but my eyes always focus...downwards. I justify my perverted ways by explaining that I'm just curious about the human body. Luckily, Jason still has his pants on and, Cayden and Creed, are boxer guys. My gaze lingers on Cayden who's laughing at something stupid Creed said. Cayden, Filip and Jason have amazing bodies with their chiselled abs and flexed muscles.

Creed, on the other hand, is not a football player subjected to gruelling training. Fortunately for him, he's one of those guys that look good even though they don't have the body of a Greek God. His body might not be sculpted but he's a far cry from unfit.

I look over at Belle who is currently being helped out of her clothes by Jason. Belle looks amazing in her cream bra and panties, complementing her mocha skin. I groan internally. Damn, Belle, you had to wear matching bra and panties.

"Won't you join our little party, Shae?" Creed asks me in a British accent, towering over me. I adjust my position on the low stool and slap his hand away.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" I ask him, wriggling my brows. Creed, in response, throws me a disgusted look.

"Come on, Shae. You have to do it. Everyone else is doing it." Filip says, strolling casually over to us.

"This sounds like the beginning of a peer pressure PSA." I flash Filip a sweet smile, struggling to keep my eyes on his face.

"Geez, Shae! His eyes are up here." Cayden points at Filip's eyes and at that moment, you could probably cook an egg on my face. Creed and Filip laugh their asses off and Cayden shoots me a sly smile.

Maybe it was the challenging look in Cayden's eyes, the annoying laughter of almost-naked boys or the confidence that Belle showed in her own skin but I get up from my seat and shove Cayden lightly.

I look right at him as I unzip my shorts and pull the crop top over my head. At that moment, I don't care that my blue bra doesn't match my purple panties. I stand there for what seems like a long time.

The three cocky guys are staring at me, astonished. I revel in the moment a little bit and chuckle when I catch Cayden checking me out.

"Cayden?" I call out his name sweetly.

"Mmm.." He replies, not quite paying a lot of attention to my words.

"My eyes are up here."

Creed bursts out laughing and Filip starts applauding me.

"So guys, ready to get this party started?" Belle asks us as she walks, hand in hand with Jason, over to our group.

"Cayden, you alright? You're looking a little..." Jason finishes in a confused tone, "..red?"

"Oh, that's just Cayden blushing because Shae owned his ass." Filip clears the confusion for Jason and Shae.

"Wow, Shae, good for you. I didn't expect you to be the ass owning kind."

There is a stunned silence where everyone comprehends just exactly what came out of Belle's mouth.

"You know? The amount of weird sentences I hear has exponentially increased since I started hanging out with you guys." Filip says with an impressive poker face.

"That's not really fair considering you've hung out with us for only a day." Belle counteracts and I inwardly pray for Filip. You don't want to mess with Belle.

"And a night." Jason interjects, earning a dirty look from Belle.

"That's doesn't really matter, though." I try to smooth things over.

"Like hell it doesn't! Creed talks in his sleep." Filip's sentence is met with outright denial by Creed, agreement from Cayden and squeals of delight from Belle and moi.

"What did he say?"

"Did he say something stupid?"

"Calm down, girls." Filip holds up his palms, gesturing Belle and I to calm down. "One question at a time please."

"There, honestly, isn't this much talking in skinny dipping." Creed says with a disgruntled expression on his face.

"Now that's something we can agree upon." With that, Cayden jumps into the pool, splashing all of us with water.

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I stare at the white ceiling of my temporary bedroom waiting for sleep. I'm exhausted from 'skinny dipping' in the pool but for some reason, I can't sleep. My mind replays the events of the day over and over again. So much happened on this one day. I bonded with Cayden and then had a huge fight with him. I might be getting a job in my ideal place and I had so much fun with my friends.

Most of all, I was really amazed by how confident I was at the pool. I like confident Shae way better than meek Shae. It's not that I'm not always confident but I usually hide myself behind Belle, Jason or Creed. I don't enjoy being in the spotlight but fortunately for me, I have friends that don't mind the spotlight at all.

I sigh and sit up on my bed. The moonlight illuminates the foot of the bed and steals my attention towards the open window. I smile as I see a beautiful, starry night blinking at me. Without any hesitation, I rise from my bed and walk out of the room. I tiptoe to the balcony, making sure to not wake any one up.

When I reach the balcony, I notice that someone had the same plan as me.

And that was none other than Cayden.

I contemplate for a moment returning back to my room but I decide that Cayden and I could be adults about this and if he couldn't, the starlit skies would provide a beautiful backdrop for some ass kicking.

"Mind if I join you?" I ask Cayden as I walk towards him. He turns back to look at me and gives me a small smile.

"Not at all." He gestures to the railing over which he was leaning.

As much as I didn't like Cayden now, I had to admit that he looked pretty good with his ruffled hair and sleepy eyes.

Now that I was closer, I noticed that he also looked a little high.

"Were you drinking?" I ask him as I join him at the railing.

He looked taken aback for a moment before continuing. "Yeah, I had a few beers."

I nod in an understanding way even though I don't understand it at all.

"So what's keeping you awake?" I ask him as I look up at the sky.

"Sometimes, I have trouble sleeping." He says in a nonchalant way.

"Anything serious?"

"Nope. Just some thoughts that won't let me sleep."

"Care to share?"

"I'd rather not."

This was followed by an awkward silence with both of us looking anywhere but at each other.

I clear my throat and Cayden glances at me.

"Cayden," I say, taking a deep breath, "I know we've had our differences but I think we need to forget about all that now. Maybe we should just try to get along. It'll make these two weeks a lot less unbearable."

Cayden grins at me. "Am I really that annoying?"

"Since incapable of lying after two in the morning, I'll have to say yes."

"Really? Incapable of lying?" Cayden completely turns towards me. "Do you find me hot?"

"Pfft no!" I deny a little too vehemently.

"Liar." Cayden says and shoves my shoulder lightly.

"See, this is nice. We can be friends. We should be friends."

"Yes, we should. Let's shake on it." Cayden offers me his hand.

I grab his hand and shake it enthusiastically. "You've got yourself a deal, mister. I'll be one of the bestest friends you've ever had." I grin like a maniac.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I think I'm going to go to bed now."

"Good night." I smile at him.

"Good morning." He corrects me.

"If I can't see the sun, it's still night." I shrug at him.

"Good night, it is then." Cayden walks out of the balcony and I divert my attention back towards the beautiful stars.