Chapter 15

To say Una was surprised to wake up to loud screaming the day after her - wonderful - night with Gus was an understatement. Gus wasn't beside her in bed and after going to sleep naked she was yet again surprised to see her dressed in his hoodie with no clue as to how. She figured that he dressed her when he woke, knowing that she loved to be warm.

She sighed, figuring that she should go see what all the screaming was coming from the main room and reluctantly got out of bed. Her bare legs formed goosebumps in the cold and she had to stop in order to protect her feet with the fluffy socks that Flynn got her.

Her eyes widened when she reached the kitchen, Flynn was at the counter trying to shout above the two boys screaming at each other, and Delilah was trying to hold back Elysia from doing anything. She seemed to be the last one there as River leaned against the wall closest to her and she nudged him in a silent question of what the hell was going on?

"You should be ashamed!" Ferris shouted with eyes narrowed to slits at the boy in front of him.

And that boy being Gus.

"They've been fighting for half an hour," River mumbled, shrugging, "but none of us knows why."

She shook her head, pushing herself closer and grabbing hold of each of their arms, "guys, guys! What the hell are you two doing?!"

"Una Reynolds, just the girl I need to see!" Ferris exclaimed, pulling on her arm and slinging his around her shoulder, "tell me, did you have fun with Gus last night?!"

Her cheeks flushed red, but she pushed the thought to the back of her mind and nodded, "yes, but if it's too much for you to bear then we won't do anything."

"Oh no," Ferris shook his head, "I can try my hardest to block it out, it doesn't bother me as much as it could! But you know what does bother me, you!"

He had pointed to Gus who was fuming, eyes trailing to Ferris' arm around her and she rolled her eyes, "Gus are you seriously still on this jealousy thing? Is that what this is about?! Please tell me you're over this!"

"Oh, I wish!" Ferris exclaimed, "tell her, Gus, tell her why you fucked her last night!"

"Because she's my girlfriend and we both wanted to," Gus growled and Una roughly nudged Ferris at his choice of words.

"Tell her the truth," Ferris spat. Una looked between the two of them, eyes wide and lips parted as to what else could have caused their night, she was terribly confused at Ferris' anger but he seemed to be on her side for whatever reason. She didn't know she needed to have a side, but her stomach had dropped, entirely curious as to what Gus could have possibly done wrong.

She wanted to be with him because he made her feel good and he was more than inviting.

"You made a vow to keep our thoughts to yourself," Gus said, his hand curling around the stool of the chair and Una was still curious, as was the rest of their friends.

"You can't break that vow."

"I can break vows when I need to, and Una deserves to know why you used her!" he was livid and Una was getting more and more scared to the point that Flynn reached over and tightly took her hand, offering a small smile that she failed to return.

"Used me?" she whispered, eyeing both boys and even going as far as to move closer to Flynn, "what do you mean, use me?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It does fucking matter, what the fuck does he mean Gus?!" she shouted, her nostrils flaring with anger and her stance changing, "Ferris, what do you mean?"

"No," he shook his head, angrily pointing to Gus, "he can tell you."

She shared a look with Flynn, and then Elysia, then Delilah, and then River, all of which were looking at Gus as though he did something terrible, and she knew why. Ferris made a vow, he promised to never break his vow and he was on the verge of doing so because of her, because of Una and she wanted to know why she wanted to know what was so bad that made him snap.

She had never seen Ferris so angry before, his fists had curled, and he was panting in order to control himself, but she knew that if Gus said one more thing to provoke him she was scared that their anger would turn physical and she didn't want that to happen.

"Tell me." Her voice had returned to barely a whisper, and she hoped that it wasn't as bad as Ferris was making it out to be - that maybe he was just looking out for her and he was overreacting just a bit.

"If you don't tell her in the next two minutes," Ferris spoke calmly, too calmly, "then I will."

"We had fun last night," Gus said, looking at Una but she shook her head with a bitter laugh.

"We have had plenty of fun, Gus, and you know that's not the point. If there is something else to us being together, something other than you wanting me and me wanting you then what is the point of it? I thought we were together because of passion and love and because you understood everything that I said and now there's something else to it? Tell. Me."

"I'm sorry."

"I said tell me," she ignored his apology, her arms crossed over her chest, "why did you want to have sex last night?"

"It was a way," he took a deep breath, "to get back at Ferris."

"Get back at Ferris for what?!" she shrieked, "for being there for me?! For now?! For looking out for me and being my best friend?!"

"Because you are mine!" he took a step forward, but she took one back, and Elysia instead took one forward, "baby, please."

"Don't," she whispered, "we talked about this last night, and this is what you do?!"

"Un-"

"No!" she cut him off, "what else is there to this?"

"He wanted to make you moan as loud as you could so that I would suffer from it," Ferris spoke and Delilah squeaked, her eyes narrowed into slits at Gus who leaned against the counter, "so that I would have to hear you with someone else as if it matters to me but regardless of me liking you or not - and no offence to you, my wonderful friend, I don't, but regardless of that...the only thing I want is you to be happy so if in some way I did like you, I would have to deal with it."

"You are mine, Una-"

"Stop saying that!" she snapped, pinching the bridge of her nose, "I am not a possession, Gus, I am not an object that you can show off! I am a human being, I am a girl and I can be friends with whoever I want!"

"What are you saying?" he whispered, "Una I always want to be with you, I wanted you last night too!"

"But you had a double meaning, Gus," she frowned, her hand gripping Flynn's tighter and her stomach swirling with nausea, "you wanted me, and you wanted to make Ferris suffer, for what?! So, what if he likes me, but I don't like him, and you can't seem to understand that!

Ferris doesn't have control over me no one does, and I liked you-"

"Don't say liked," he cut her off, shaking his head with tears glazing his eyes, "please don't say liked."

"Gus, you have been amazing to me, but this jealousy has got to stop," she leaned into Ferris and she was sure she saw the anger flash in her boyfriend's eyes, "you need to realise that I don't like him, I don't like anyone like that except you, you are my boyfriend and you have to stop seeing me as nothing more than an object!"

"Una you are my world, I can't lose you-"

"You are losing me, Gus!" she shouted, "if you keep going on the way you are then you will lose me!"

He seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in, the bubble of anger had popped, and his shoulders slumped, and he stared at her for the longest time, she was angry, and her cheeks had tinged red and when he stood forward she didn't step back.

His hand slid over her cheek and for just a second he stood so close to her that she could feel him breathing, and he kissed her forehead for a lingering moment, whispered, "I'm sorry," to her and then to Ferris and then glanced at all of his friends and he soon hurried out of the door of the apartment.

She collapsed into the empty stool, her anger still flowing through her and a frown on her lips. Her head fell onto the table, she was angry at him - at the double meaning of his intimacy with her, that the reason Ferris had to suffer was that of Gus' toxic jealousy.

"Not to stir the pot even more than it already has been," Elysia Ari stepped forward, across from her at the other side of the island with the smallest smile on her lips, and said, "how are you feeling about him?"

"I'm angry," Una mumbled, feeling a hand on her shoulder and forcing a smile for Ferris. He was just trying to look out for her, and she was glad that he did - she would never want to be oblivious to that sort of thing, especially when Gus' jealousy was greatly irritating and unneeded.

"Are you angry enough to despise him?" asked Ferris. He didn't despise him, he was his best friend, but he was fuming with him - absolutely livid that he would even consider doing such a thing to her.

"No," she frowned, "of course not but he needs to realise he's in the wrong - he apologised but still, he left and that doesn't help anything. I want him to realise that I'm my own person, is that too hard to understand? I don't need him getting jealous of friendships!"

"Every single one of us is close to you," Elysia said, roughly nudging River who was ready to speak, "if Ferris likes you then who's to say I don't? or Del doesn't? or hell even River?"

River snorted at that and Una flipped him off, her head on Flynn's shoulder. She was terribly annoyed at the boy, for walking out and for the way he acted. She had made sure, she had told him a million times that there was nothing to be jealous about, that she was his and he was hers and she liked him and only him and that they were together, but it was as though he had a barrier up that blocked out everything but jealousy.

"What are you going to do?" asked Delilah, reaching her hand over the island and squeezing Una's.

"There's not much I can do," she whispered, "I need to talk to him but I'm not going to apologise for doing something wrong when I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Exactly, Una," Flynn said, "you haven't done anything wrong and Gus needs to realise that. I say you wait for him to come home and then, whatever happens, you can go from there."

"Why don't we go to the beach?"

Her head lifted to River, eyebrow raised, "the beach?"

"It's an hour out of the city - still in the cities territory but you haven't been before," he shrugged, looking around at everyone, "to take your mind off of Gus."

She moved her head to do the same as him, looking around at the faces of her friends all who were nodding, and said, "alright. The beach it is."

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Their spontaneous trip to the beach almost fell short when Una realised she didn't have a swimming costume, but Elysia managed to help her with a spare one. She was a little-worried considering Elysia was much smaller than her but when she tried it on she was glad that she liked how it looked on her. It was a bikini and a little small, but it covered what it needed to, and she wore it under a white summery dress that followed midway down her legs.

She was rather surprised that she didn't bring out a jumper to wear over it but she was warm enough and more clothes than needed would be unnecessary at the beach. She hadn't seen the sea since her road trip with Gus and as much as she liked the city, she was excited to relax with her friends in the sun.

Her bag was packed on her bag with beach necessities, with a book that didn't revolve around magic - thankfully - and everything she could fit to relax. She was twirling in the mirror when she heard a small knock on the door and without looking away, she shouted, "come in!"

"Are you ready to go?" it was River, and seeing him in something other than a suit was entirely odd. He was dressed for the beach, swim trunks and a simple t-shirt and converse like her own on his feet and she nodded.

She grabbed her bag, turning the light of her room off on the way out and entered the main room beside River. Ferris was dressed the same as River, except instead of blue swim trunks he wore red, Elysia was in a dress in a similar fashion to Una's but a little shorter and instead of white it had little lilac polka dots dotting it.

Delilah was in shorts with her bikini showing and a simple zipper thrown over her arms and sunglasses on her face. Una had to stop her giggles when she reached Flynn, he had really gone all out in getting dressed for the day and she couldn't keep the smile off of her lips.

"You look lovely, Flynn," she grinned. He had on yellow swim trunks, very eye-catching bright yellow trunks, a t-shirt and an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt on over his outfit. On his head, he wore a very floppy sunhat with sunglasses around his eyes.

His outfit wasn't too bad, well it wouldn't have been if he hadn't paired the look with socks and sandals.

"Thanks!" he beamed, kicking out his leg, "my inspiration was a dad on holiday."

She clasped her hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter, nodding her head she finally was able to choke out, "you really captured that look well!"

Piling into River's car was a little bit of a struggle with the amount they had with them and Una had dived for the passenger's seat so that she didn't have to struggle in the back with four others and to say those said others were pissed was an understatement.

She wasn't exactly surprised that River had a very fancy car, it was a very dark navy and she swore it was black until she looked closer, very sleek and shiny and brand new that she felt terribly out of place as she sat in it.

She didn't know if being in the back was the worst or the passenger seat where she sat when River kept whining about her doing stuff she shouldn't, "all I did was put the heat up!"

"It's too warm!"

"It is not!" she exclaimed, throwing him a glare which he returned out of the side of his eye. She moved to turn on the radio and he smacked her hand away, warning her not to touch anything else whilst she grumbled about him being an asshole under her breath.

"The driver is the DJ," River said, putting in a cd that he had. Her eyes almost widened when the very familiar song floated through her ears, it was the song she danced with Gus too and it bubbled the sadness in her stomach at the thought of being mad at him.

That night was the best night ever, it was just those two under the stars basking in each other's touch with no double meaning and she loved it - she missed it. She wished he didn't leave, that maybe they could have sorted it and he would've taken his car to the beach too and that song would come on and she would smile, and so would he and he would reach for her hand and she'd lean over and kiss him quickly.

"Una are you alright?" it was Delilah from the back seat and Una hadn't realised that she was crying until she blinked, and the tears fell. I'm fine," she laughed softly, shaking her head, "this is me and Gus' song."

River turned it over silently to the next song, he didn't want her to cry - none of them did, their trip to the beach was to make her happy, not to make her sadder than she was before. But she wasn't sad, she was just annoyed - she was annoyed at him, at Gus, for wanting to do that, for wanting her just to get back at Ferris for his own enjoyment.

It didn't matter if they were dating because they were just having fun, wanting each other more than anything with no other meaning, that was how it was supposed to be, but it wasn't. He had his own vile reason and every time she thought of it made her angry, her mind was racing with every thought that she was silent the whole way to the beach that took the hour.

Her eyes had finally met the coast when she looked up from her twiddling hands on her legs, and just like every part of Somnium, or Somnium territory, the beach was absolutely heavenly.

It was a small town, like her village but so much more - so much brighter and cleaner and a lot more beautiful and she was already in love with it before they had reached the first shop. There was a few café's she could already see and even a Diner that sat alone in the distance on the pier.

The pier also held what looked to be a full theme park and she could hear the excitement from the people from where she was in the car. She couldn't help the smile on her face as they passed clothes shops and little shops selling knickknacks, there was anything she could possibly think of that made up a town like this and she treasured it.

When she got out of the car it seemed as though the air was warmer, and she was basking in it, she loved the rain and she loved storms, but she was loving the warmth more and more and she was already starting to feel relaxed with the sun beaming down.

"You look high." Flynn snorted, attracting Una's attention.

"High on life, Flynny boy."

"You know sometimes you say things that are so weird I understand," Flynn said, placing his hands on his hips whilst she grinned at him.

"You're taking the dad look to a new level with that pose," she giggled, pushing past him to help the rest of the squad get what they needed out of the car.

She was trying her hardest to get everything she could carry at once, almost tumbling to the ground but managing to keep herself up and dumping everything on the warmest spot the beach offered. Her friends weren't very far behind her with the rest of the stuff and River made sure to lock his car up before strolling towards the beach empty-handed.

"Y'know you could have helped," Una glared at him, setting out her towel on the ground whilst River merely shrugged.

"If it wasn't for me we wouldn't be here," he waved her off, a smirk on his lips when she flipped him off as he walked away.

Elysia and Flynn had already run into the water and Una had to stop herself from eye-rolling at the wolf whistles from boys around them as they stared at the girl with Flynn. She had to cover her mouth to stop from laughing to loudly when Flynn turned around with a grin, and shouted, "thanks, boys!"

"He does it all the time," Delilah whispered as she sat beside them, pointing to Flynn and the two boys setting up their things, "they all do."

"Really?"

Delilah smiled, nodding, "I was out with River once and this boy kept pestering me, so River turned around and said, "I'm flattered, really, but you're just not my type," took my hand and pulled me away."

Una couldn't help her giggles at the very thought, and then Delilah said, "we were all at a party and this boy had gotten really drunk and pulled me into him. I was trying to get him off of me, but he wouldn't move so Ferris pulls him right off me, checks as quickly as he could to see if I was alright and I wanted out of there, so he distracted the boy by saying really loudly, "why have her when you can have me?!" whilst I got myself away."

"I've never been catcalled before, or anything along those lines - thank god," she said.

"As bad as this sounds, I'd say that's surprising. People can be terrible, and catcalling is horrible, but it's just inevitable."

"If you appeal to what a stupid idiotic male wants, then yes, it's inevitable," she didn't realise that Delilah wasn't the only one listening to her.

"Are you trying to tell me you're ugly, Una? You shouldn't define your beauty by boys who wish to shout degrading things at you," Delilah said, and Una furiously shook her head.

"No, no." she shrugged her shoulders, "Delilah I am nothing more than average, I don't care what boys - or anyone thinks of me! but I'm not going to lie to myself and say that I am the most beautiful being to roam the earth when that's simply not true."

"Una, I could tell you it a million times, you are simply stunning," Delilah frowned, "who cares if you don't cater to the standards set by today's world? You are you and that is the most beautiful you I can think of."

Una smiled softly, arms hugging her body as she sat with her knees to her chest, "thank you, Del."

"You know, Una," Ferris said, "when I first saw you, I thought you were absolutely beautiful and I still do."

"Thanks, Ferris," she chuckled, shaking her head.

"Who knows," he teased, winking at her, "if things with Gus don't work out-"

She cut him off by flipping him off and he let out a loud laugh, "you know what Ferris Fisher you really love to stir the pot of drama, don't you?"

"Favourite hobby," he smirked, "now are you two lovely ladies going to sit there all day or are you going to join us swimming?"

"I'll take you up on that offer," Delilah grinned, pushing herself up from the ground and closer to Ferris whilst she removed her shorts that she wore.

"What about you, Una?" River said, pulling off his own t-shirt, "are you coming?"

She looked at the three in front of her, and to Flynn and Elysia already in the water and soon nodded. She slipped off her converse, pulling on the dress she wore so that she was in just the bikini that Elysia had given to her and pushed herself up.

She had grown fond of her body regardless of feeling average. She would never be the thinnest girl and although it took her a long time - she finally accepted that. She didn't care if her arms were bigger, or her stomach rounder, or that her thighs were big and jiggled. She didn't care that her waist indented a little more prominently or that the curve of her back stood out more because it was all her.

Her body, her skin, everything was her. She wore the stretch marks proudly, the freckles that dotted her arms and stomach and legs and face were hers and she had grown to like them because they made her who she was. She liked how she looked, she didn't need to pretend to love her body because she did.

Loving all of her was a work in progress, she wasn't quite there yet but she was well on her way.

"It's freezing!" Una shrieked, jumping back from the ocean when the ice-cold water washed over her feet. Her eyes were wide, and she was warier than ever to go any further, her eyes met River's and she saw a glint in them - it was a very mischievous glint and she only got out, "River don't yo-" when he flicked his finger and she was drenched in water.

"River!" she shrieked, rushing into the water and kicking it as much as she could so that it waved over him and his laugh rang out.

Her time in the water was spent getting back at River for splashing her once and she had splashed him well over ten times, as well as the rest of them. If they splashed her with the tiniest drop of water, she was ruthless in getting them back.

That was, of course, until River flicked his finger and she was continuously drenched in water whilst she tried her best to get him to stop. After their splashing war was over, they decided to have a competition to see who could swim out into the ocean the furthest without getting tired.

She was almost certain she was going to lose, and River was the judge considering he could breathe underwater, and he was used to swimming. When River shouted go, she dived under, swimming as fast as she could and rising to the surface for a gulp of air for just a moment before diving back down again.

The four swimming normally were pushing each other out of the way as they swam, and she managed to beat that and ended up coming in second to Elysia Ari. The water was hardly cold as they all stayed in it, and she was moving it through her fingers, sitting on the shore as it waved over her and then fell away.

"How do you do it?" she asked River who sat beside her, flicking the water so that it would make a small swirl in his hands, "control it?"

"Focus." He said, his eyes on his friends in front of them and she was looking at them too. She was trying her hardest not to laugh at Elysia who was doing a different dance each time a wave fell over her, "it's about thinking of what you can do and then do it."

"Sounds simple," she said.

"It's simple when you know what you're doing," he said, "if somehow I got Delilah's powers if I was a giver all of a sudden - I'd barely be able to form a leaf never mind full on vines. We have all been practising our powers since birth, and some people learn faster than others but that depends on the skill.

Some fields are crazy in the sense that they do a lot of damage regardless of the level," he nudged towards Ferris, "he could always read minds no matter what, and shielding their minds so he doesn't need to hear is something he can do - at first, he just chose not to so practicing now is really hard for him. When he was starting to control minds, he tried to get a teacher out of giving him homework, but she realised what he was doing, by his last year he was able to do anything he wanted."

Una laughed at that. Ferris was two years older than she was at nineteen, of course, she was eighteen in just under two months and she didn't know the exact age difference between them. River was already eighteen and ready to turn nineteen just like Flynn whilst Elysia and Delilah were her age, with Delilah being youngest.

"Controllers - fire controllers, are able to conjure flames regardless of their skill. They're known as reckless, and some of them are. A lot of younger teenagers - they are hardly controllable with their powers, and not because they're reckless but because it's literally uncontrollable. I remember sitting in class once back when I was at school, I was maybe eleven or twelve and the boy next to me set his desk on fire!"

"Seriously?!" she gasped, her eyes wide, "how do they learn to control it?"

"All fields take focus," he shrugged, "anger is a clear trigger for fire controllers...whilst lust is a trigger for water controllers."

She snorted, "lust, seriously?"

"Oh yeah," he nodded, trying to keep his smirk from showing but terribly failing, "I liked this girl when I was maybe thirteen. She was a horrible person but that's beside the point, she somehow said she liked me back and we were at my house - well my family's houses - and taking a walk by this lake we have. She kept wanting to kiss me, but I was a terrified thirteen-year-old and I wanted to kiss her but I didn't know what to do and then before I could even over think it anymore, the water from the lake comes up and splashes her then and there."

"Oh my god," Una clasped her hand over her mouth trying to muffle her giggles. She didn't know why River was being so open with her after him usually being so closed off, but she wasn't complaining, "I bet she loved you after that."

"Yeah, of course," he scoffed, "no, she actually decided that she wanted my best friend more than she wanted me."

"What was your best friend like before you met the squad?" she asked.

"Oh no," he shook his head, "she wanted Gus."

"Don't tell me they dated," she frowned. She didn't at all care for Gus' past relationships, but she didn't think it was right for him to date the girl if River liked her.

"Not for long," he scoffed, "he was a stupid thirteen-year-old at the time, he's grown up a bit."

"Was he as possessive of her?"

"No." River shook his head and she was sure there was a glint of anger in his eye, "what he did was wrong, Una. I'm not defending him in the slightest but he's falling in love with you."

Una nodded silently, she liked Gus, she loved spending time with him, she wanted to be on her way to loving him too but his possessiveness wasn't something she could grow to love, "I don't want to lose him," she whispered, hugging her knees, "but if he continues the way he is then he's going to lose me."