Time for a splash

Christian dives into the pool, using proper form to break through the surface and begin gliding through the water with seemingly no effort. For kicks he does a few laps, flipping and kicking off of the wall each time as his powerful arms carry him from one side to the next. Once he's content he's shown off enough, he emerges at the corner of the pool and looks up at Amy, still standing there in her two piece bikini, a little purple number that leaves most of her out on display.

"Coming in babe?" he asks,

"Yeah, just waiting for you to finish doing the thing you always do whenever there's a pool" she replies tauntingly before sitting down on the ledge of the pool and slowly lowering herself into the cool water. "Brr! Little chilly isn't it?"

"Hahaha, just give it a minute and you'll get used to it" Christian tells her, giving her a kiss on the cheek as he finds the step and sits on it, submerged up to his waist.

"Oooor, maybe you could help warm me up a little?" the bodacious blonde suggests, rubbing her hand over his knee before the voice of Dani cuts them off.

"Hey! Easy you two, don't need anything muddying the water" the cheer captain chastises with a smirk, stepping down into the pool and joining the other two.

The couple smiles bashfully for a moment, before Amy tilts her head and looks towards the balcony door. "Where's Mike? Didn't you go to get changed together?"

Dani just smiles deviously, leading Christian to put two and two together.

"You left the poor fucker up there with a boner didn't you?" the swimmer accuses,

"Mm, maybe I did, maybe I didn't" Dani shrugs noncommitally, letting her body float to the surface as she enjoys the afternoon sun on her skin,

Christian rolled his eyes, he liked Michael, and certainly no part of him was opposed to seeing him and Dani having some fun during the vacation. Though something nagged at him, the two guys weren't the closest, but they've talked about girls before, and Mike seemingly had no end to the bad experiences.

"You think maybe Mike's not one of those guys you fuck with?" Christian says sternly, prompting a frown from Dani,

"And by that you mean?" she replies curtly,

"Come on Dani. We both know what your MO is, you'll tease him, mess around with him a few times and then you'll do what you always do and get cold feet, kick him to the curb and move onto the next guy before anyone's the wiser." Christian spoke sternly,

"Hey now," Amy interjected, "Let's not get into this here."

"Relax Christian. Mike's a smart guy, he should figure out pretty quickly I'm not a relationship girl." Dani said defensively, "This vacation's just about having fun, we're not exactly here window shopping for spouse material."

"No but you are a relationship girl Dani. You always have been, you just need to actually put all that Troy shit to bed and move on. Hookups are all well and good but fabricating this version of yourself that doesn't care about anything? That just wants to fuck around? Come on, that isn't you." Christian insists, prompting Amy to put her hand on his chest and firmly shake her head, dissuading him from continuing,

"Just because it worked out for you two doesn't mean it works out for everyone." Dani deflected, failing to fully conceal the indecision in her voice. No doubt she was of two minds. The half of her that had planned to not get into any relationships until college, and the half of her that saw herself in the mirror with Mike and didn't mind the sight.

"Okay guys really, shoosh. He's coming out" Amy harshly whispers as Mike steps out onto the deck and sees the three of them in an awkward silence.

"Everything all good out here?" Mike questions,

"Just fine now that you've arrived" Danielle shamelessly greets, Michael not seeing the frown coming over Christian's face, though the athlete says nothing.

The Aussie drops down into the pool with a sizeable splash, coming up to reach his arms across the ledge and suspend himself there as he sees Dani straighten up and smile at him. Amy observes that same blemish on his hip, narrowing her eyes for a moment as she gets a closer look and sees a messy looking scar across his skin.

"Hey Mike, what's that there on your hip?" the blonde asks,

"Hm? Oh this?" he notes, looking down to the scar and waving it off, "Nah, it's nothing. Just leftovers from when I had my appendix out."

"Must have been a shitty doctor if the scar looks like that though" Christian adds, nodding towards the imperfection.

"For sure. You know how it is, healthcare's a bit of a potluck" Mike justifies, Dani looking over at him with an inquisitive stare. "Anyway! Meant to ask earlier, how long have you two been a thing?" he quickly diverts, gesturing at the happy couple,

"Coming up on three years!" Amy states proudly, leaning her head on Christian's shoulder, the two of them striking the perfect 'happy relationship' pose.

"Just after New Year's, we met at a party but exchanged numbers, couple weeks later we started going out" Christian smiles.

"Nice! Well done you two, hell of a feat for a high school relo' huh?" Mike congratulates, coining a bit of slang which gets an amused look out of both girls,

"Ah well you know, like with healthcare, I guess dating can also be a bit of a potluck" Christian says, shooting a barely perceptible look over to Dani, who shoots him a dirty in response. "But it's safe to say I lucked out."

Back inside, Kate looks over at both Brianna and James who are just sitting there on one of the couches, talking about something or other, probably nerdy. Briefly glancing outside, she sees the two lovebirds plus the two possibly soon-to-be lovebirds and sighs. When she heard some other guys besides Nathan were showing up, she'd held out a little hope she'd get to have some fun of her own. But with the queen bee having set her sights on Mike and James being a bit of a recluse, her options weren't exactly ideal.

Stepping over to the couches, Kate drops onto one of them and inserts herself into the conversation Brianna and James are having,

"Not going outside?" she questions abruptly, leaving both Brianna and James a little surprised as they were cut off from their conversation,

"Um. Maybe in a few minutes? Why?" Brianna asks,

"Meh, wanted to head outside myself but between Christian and Amy sucking face and Dani making the googly eyes at your friend, I'm holding off, not really looking to make myself a fifth wheel." the punk explains,

Brianna looks over her shoulder, checking on the rest. Sure enough Christian and Amy are in the corner of the pool making out, while Dani and Michael are locked in a discussion about something.

James notes the look of concern on Brianna's face, and quietly says, "He can look after himself Bri..."

"Can he?" she snaps back, "I warn him every time but he never listens, and it's going to be us who picks the pieces up, you know that right?" The tone that Brianna uses causes James to shrink away for a moment, leading to her looking apologetic and squeezing his shoulder, "Sorry."

"Dude's a bit hopeless with chicks I take it?" Kate deduces,

Brianna, a little flustered just sighs, "Sorry to you too, didn't mean to have an outburst like that."

Kate shrugs, "Doesn't bother me, but yknow, Dani's my friend so I'd rather not see anything happen to her"

"No, no it's not like that at all" Brianna insists, "If anything Mike's the one I'm more concerned for. I hear people talking about how good Dani is at getting guys, I just... I also hear she's not always the best at sticking around."

"That's fair." Kate nods, "But I wouldn't write her off as one of those girls, you get what I mean? She was in a relationship for ages and got fucked around a lot towards the end. So, I dunno. The way I see it, it's between them, not us. So while it's fine to worry, gotta let people live their lives right?"

"You're right..." Brianna relents, "I'll uh, I'll spend a few more minutes in here with James and then, I'll meet you out there?" she offers,

"Fine by me" Kate agrees, standing up and finally heading out towards the pool.