Thanks to everyone who reviewed:

behindAmask35

Black Thorns Entangled Kay

Liana111

Debbles

And thanks to everyone who added me/my stories to their list:

Black Thorns Entangled Kay

NotAnotherTeenAuthor

Jashelly

behindAmask35

HorseyGal23

docswife522

maligurl18

mojam

Connor stared down at the top of Erin's head that was on his chest, her hands around his waist. Her smell permeated the air, and wafted up to him. It was like heroine to him, flowery with a tinge of girly fruitiness.
Oh God, he thought as he hugged her back.

He was getting in way too deep with this girl.
Everything about her made his stomach drop.

The way her lips curled around her teeth when she smiled, how her deep blue eyes scanned the room, observing the guys as they talked.

The way she did a little jig-like dance when she was excited.
The way her skin rolled around her body, tan and freckled.
The way her long, stocky legs stood out against her short torso.

The way her hair flowed around gently.

The way she looked at him.

It was like there was something more.
Like she felt like he did, that they could get to know each other so much better.
If only this roommates wouldn't intervene.

Stupid plan.

He leaned into the hug, and without thinking, he kissed her head, and rested his own on hers.
It felt good to just be with a girl again. Not romantically, at least, not yet anyway. It felt good to hold another person, to whom he was attracted to. Someone who was almost significantly smaller than he, in almost everyway.

----

Erin stared at the wall behind Connor.
It was almost an effort for her, because she had to stand up on the tips of the tips of her toes in order to let her chin touch his shoulder.
Finally, she gave up after he pulled her closer, and let her head relax on his chest.

She could hear his heart beat, and it was steady, strong, and gently increasing.

She saw his face out of the very corner of her eye when she looked up, and saw that his beautiful hazel-grey eyes were closed, his cheek on her hair.

Then, he sighed, moved his face, and kissed her head.

Erin smiled to herself.

----

The two must have stayed there for a good three minutes, until a group of girls walked by the front of the cabin in the street, laughing boisterously.

Connor pulled her away from him, and stared her in the eyes. "Thank-you," he told her with a genuine smile.
Erin's head naturally tilted to the side, and she flashed him a toothy grin. "Anytime." She quipped.

Connor caught himself thinking of all the different ways he could kiss her. He could tilt her backwards and kiss her neck, or just take her head in his hands, and pull her to him.
He could slowly lean forward and stare at her lips, letting her know what he wanted, and she could choose to respond in her own way.

Or he could just lean forward and kiss her passionately.

No...

Connor stepped away from her and the temptation that was getting to him, and walked over to the door.
"What are we doing today?" he asked her, staring out the window, trying to get rid of the thoughts that had invaded his mind.

Erin shrugged. "I dunno. We could do anything," she replied.

Connor smiled. "Well, I know that. But…what do you want to do?"

Erin's lips scrunched up on the side of her mouth. "We could….knit?" she replied sarcastically, making Connor chuckle.
"I bet Ben is there right now, and he's a little bit mad at me. So…what's your next choice?"

Erin sighed, and blew air out of her mouth. "Uhmm…what is there to do?"
Connor walked back to her. "Well, there are bumper cars, knitting," he told her, giggling. "There's…the gym, where they have like…checkers and soccer and football and volleyball, and next to that is the inside pool, and they have the diving board there and polo. At the outside pool, they just chill. Uhmm...there are art classes, and..."
"What about swimming?" Erin asked, feeling the color in her cheeks tone and change to a rusty rose. She let her eyes drift down his chest and back up to his eyes quickly.

Connor shrugged. "Alright," he replied with a shrug. "You want to get dressed first?" he asked.
Erin nodded. "Sure," she replied, and smiled at him before running up the stairs to grab her swimsuit and lock herself in the bathroom.

Quickly shedding her clothes, she slipped into her orange bikini, and tugged her shorts back on.
She gave herself a quick look over in the mirror. Any make-up she would put on would smear and rub all over her face once she got into the water, so that was a no-go. She couldn't do anything with her hair, because it would, too, would be ruined by the chorine water.
She sighed, and put her hands on the counter, staring at her reflection.
Right about now, she was wishing she would've gone for the checkers idea.

With another sigh, she stood up, and walked out of the bathroom, and shrieked.

Connor jumped from one foot to the other, and fell onto the bed, hitting his hands on a top bunk, which he was using to put a shirt over his head.
"Ouch!" he moaned, retracting his hands immediately, and putting his fingers in his mouth.

Connor had frightened Erin. He wasn't supposed to be in the room, and there he was in his swim trunks and bare skin. His head was covered by the shirt which he had been in the process of putting on when she let out the shriek, and it in turn scared him, making him lose his balance.

Erin groaned, and put a finger in her mouth, rushing forward to Connor. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she told him
Connor looked at her, the shirt halfway down his arms, all ten fingers stuffed in his mouth. "Isth oquaay," he mumbled at her, trying not to smile.
Erin pouted, sticking her lower lip out, not knowing what to say.

Connor gave his fingers one last suck, and took them out of his mouth. "It's fine," he told her, and smiled, standing up.

The white t-shirt slid down to his wrists, and Erin caught a glance of his rippled tan skin on his stomach, and it reminded her that she, too, was shirtless.

She rushed to her suitcase, ripped open a new pack of white undershirts, and threw one over her bare stomach.

She knew she would be shirtless and bottomless in front of him later. He'd be able to see her in only a bathing suit. But she had no idea why it bothered her now.

Connor smiled at her. "Sorry I scared you," he told her. His shirt was on now.
Erin laughed. "I'm sorry too," she replied.

"You ready?" he added.

Erin grabbed her phone off it's charger, and nodded. "Yeah."

They took Erin's car down to the pool, deciding that they didn't want to walk the two miles, half up-hill to the pool.

"Nice car," Connor told her when he got in.
Erin smiled. "Thanks," she said, and giggled as he buckled his seatbelt.
"What?" he asked, confused.
Erin pulled out of the drive-way, and headed down the gravel road.

"The speed limit is ten miles per hour. Nothing is going to happen." She said, and pushed the car to go eleven.
"Oh, oh, look at that. It's eleven. We're gonna die," Connor pointed at her speed-o-meter dramatically.

Erin snorted. "Sorry," she replied sarcastically, and slowed down until she was under ten.

"So, the outside pool, or the inside??" asked Connor.
Erin shrugged. "I don't know, eeny-meeny-miney-moe it." She told him.
She turned a corner. "But do it fast," she added, gesturing to the sign that led them in different directions.
"Outside," Connor replied quickly, and Erin veered left.

Erin passed a group of girls, boldly walking around in nothing but their bathing suits, and she felt the pounds on her hips that she'd been gaining after she'd stopped running about two weeks ago and the heat in her cheeks rose again.

Why on earth did I agree to get into this stupid thing?? She screamed at herself, gripping the steering wheel nervously.

When they got to the pool, Erin cut off her AC first, and then shut off the engine, sitting back in the seat for a minute.
Connor waited patiently for her. "You okay?" he asked her.

Erin nodded. "Just…some insecurities." She replied.

Connor scoffed. "About what?" he demanded.
Erin looked around. "Uhmm...nothing. It's nothing." She replied, and opened her door, getting out promptly.
Connor followed suit, and opened the back door to get his towel and shorts. "You know you look great, right?" he asked her.
Erin faked a smile, knowing he was catching onto her disagreement. "Thanks," she replied indifferently.
"You don't believe me?" he asked her.

Erin grimaced, her mouth becoming a straight line. She shook her head. "No," she replied flatly.

Connor leaned across the backseat, and pulled her by the shoulder strap. "Believe me. You look great." He told her, his face only centimeters it seemed away from her face.

Erin stared into his grey-green-hazel eyes, still unsure exactly what color they were.
She couldn't disobey him now. He's get mad. And he seemed genuinely serious.
Erin shrugged, grabbed her bag with sunscreen in it, along with her towel and flip-flops, and closed the door, clicking the lock button.
The car beeped twice for her.

They walked into the pool area together, and Erin's stomach dropped the second she saw them.
A group of beautiful girls, whose make-up didn't smear when it got wet, their hair was down and dry, impossibly dry to be in a pool, and they were all wearing bikinis, all beautifully tanned, and all popularly skinny.
She sighed, and followed Connor to a table for the two of them.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Carissa, the girl from the party the night before, and she groaned.
Connor looked behind him at her with a confused look.
Erin shook her head, and set her stuff on the table.

"You…don't want to be here, do you?" Connor asked her, shoving his hands in his trunk pockets.
Erin looked up at him.
Should she tell him the truth? Should she tell him that she felt completely out of place with him and completely unsure about herself, like she'd never been about herself in her life? Should she tell him that she didn't think she was good enough for him?

Erin shook her head. "I'm fine." She replied. "I just saw a girl that doesn't particularly like me, and I was hoping she wasn't going to recognize me, but after last night, I would expect her to," she replied blandly, taking out her sunscreen.

Connor looked around casually, and caught her meaning.
"You want to leave?" he asked her.

Erin shook her head. "No, it's really not a big deal. She'd be stupid to mess with me here," She replied, wishing that what would really come out of her mouth was, 'let's go paint or something?'

But of course, she was too wimp to let this kid who she'd only known for a day or so down.

She had SUCKER writing straight across her forehead.

Erin put her stuff on a table, and hid her phone in her bag, and looked at Connor, who sat down.
"You don't want to go swimming?" she asked him blandly.
Connor frowned at Erin. "No, because something's wrong with you." He replied.

Erin was shocked by his statement.
"What do you mean?" she asked, sitting in a chair beside him, trying to stall as long as she could so she could keep her shirt on.

Connor gave her a long, interrogating look. "You're kidding, right?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow.

Erin replied with her own silence, and a cross look his way.
Connor shrugged. "About five minutes ago, you were all ready to go swimming, and you chose. Now, it's like you're repulsed to go with me." He told her openly.

It's not you, it's me.

"So, I'm just trying to understand what's going on." He told her.

There's a bunch of insanely beautiful girls here, and you're worried about me being upset.

Erin sighed. "Nothing. It's nothing. I was just…preoccupied. I'm sorry," she told him, giving up.

Connor gave her a wary look, and leaned back into his chair defiantly.
Erin's lips went to the side of her mouth, and in rebellion, she stood up, unbuttoned her shorts, and they fell down to her ankles.
She hid a smirk as she watched Connor's eyes, head, and body follow them.
She crossed her arms, grabbed the hem of her boys t-shirt, and lifted it up off of her head.
She could almost feel his hot gaze on her skin, and she shivered in spite.

Connor stood up, his eyes lingering as long as possible on her mid-section until he was standing erect, and he returned his gaze to her eyes.
"That's more like it," he grinned, and grabbed her hand, leading her out to the pool.

Erin led herself be led away, wishing she'd brought a one-piece. Much more comforting.

Connor stopped at an area that was relatively abandoned in the deep-end.
"Can you swim?" he asked her, staring down into the water.
Erin peered cautiously over the edge. "Yes," she replied. "Why?"

"Just because," he said, and leaped off the edge, Erin's hand grasped firmly in his, and she fell in after him, letting out a shriek.

Water rushed around her body, immediately soaking her body with warm chlorine, and she opened her eyes underwater, and saw Connor just below her, kicking for the surface.

Erin followed him, her body streamlined.

When she broke the surface, Connor was laughing at her, pushing water-soaked hair out of his multi-colored eyes.

Erin leaned her head back in the water to make her hair go out of her face, and she brought it back up, treading water the entire time.

"You are a good swimmer, aren't you?" Connor said to her rhetorically.

Erin shook her head to the side twice, trying to get water out of her ear. "A good thing too, otherwise, you'd have to save me."

Connor grinned. "So…" he said, pushing himself up in the water using only his legs. "I'm pretty sure by now that you don't have a boyfriend."

Erin grinned. "That, as well, is a good thing that I don't." she said to him, swimming around him slowly.
"Why is that?" he asked her.

Erin laughed. "Because I like you, silly." She told him, took a deep breath, and dove underwater.

After a little while, Erin got used to the idea of being in a bathing suit, and eventually forgot about her insecurity worries and enjoyed being herself around Connor.
They started a splashing fit, which caused people around them to start one, and pretty soon, lifeguards were blowing their whistles to stop massive splashing that was getting the pavement eight feet away from the pool wet.

Erin pulled herself out of the pool, followed by Connor, and walked towards her table, dripping the entire way.
She grabbed her towel, and wiped off her face, grabbing Connor's and throwing it to him as he walked up, who in turn wiped his own face, and then scrubbed his hair.

"That was fun," Connor told her with a smile, and threw the towel over his shoulders.

Erin smiled at him. "It was," she replied, and sat down to wipe off her legs.
"You wanna go sit in the chairs over there?" he asked her, pointing to an area with lounge chairs that went all the way back.

Erin nodded. "Yeah, sure. Let me put on sunscreen first," she said, and bent over to wipe the excess water off her legs.
"Why?" Connor asked, noticing her lightly tanned skin.

"So I don't get sunburned…" Erin replied as though it was the easiest question in the world.

Connor sat down, confused. "Do you burn?" he asked.

Erin touched the skin on her arm. "This isn't my normal skin color." She told him, and pulled aside the strap to her bikini, and a very white patch shone out.
"Wow," Connor mumbled.
Erin smiled. "I go outside a lot. You know, soccer and track and stuff." She said.
"You kinda have to get sunburned sometime, and overtime, I just got dark. It's a lot easier to do this than get a burned tan. It just takes longer," she told him expertly, wiping off any more water she could find, and fanned herself with a laminated sheet of pool rules that was at each table.

Once she was satisfied, she opened the cap, and squirted a large amount of SPF 50 into her palm, and evenly distributed some to each ligament of her body, and coated her belly and neck.

After she rubbed it all in, she looked up at Connor helplessly.
"Get my back?" she asked him, and offered him the bottle.

Connor scooted closer, and squirted some into his hand, rubbed them together, and pressed them to her back, making two large, white handprints on her back, and he laughed a little when Erin shivered.

Come on, dude, and get serious.

Connor smoothly applied the white SPF, making sure he got her shoulders, and under the straps to her bathing suit and under her arms.

Finally, and unfortunately, when there was nothing more to spread, he tapped her lightly, and stood up.

"Come with me, my darling, and we'll skip to my lou?" he asked.
Erin laughed. "You're so corny," she replied, and stood up, grabbing her shades, and tucked the bottle of sunscreen away inside her bag.

"So." Connor said after getting comfortable on his chair.
"So." Erin replied, her sunglasses on her nose.

"So…you said you liked me." He told her cautiously.
Erin smiled. "I did, didn't I?' she asked.

She's such a tease, Connor thought.

"Yes."
"Hmmmm."

"So…what did you mean by that?"

Erin sniffed. "That…you're really nice, and I like your company, and I like you…" Erin told him.

"Ah, okay," Connor replied, hiding his disappointment.
"So, where are you from?"
"Tucson, Arizona." Erin replied promptly. "You?"

Connor scratched his back. "Well…I'm from pretty much all over the place. We move a lot."
"I'm in the military too," Erin replied. "Well, my dad is, anyway."

Connor smiled. "We're not military." He told her, and Erin tilted her head.

There go her lips again…
Erin's lips went to the side of her mouth again.

"So…your parents are divorced or something?" she asked.

Connor shook his head. "No…we just...go places. Dad is a realtor inverter person, and goes to real estate businesses all over the U.S to help them with their financial stuff, and gets paid big bucks."
Erin didn't seem convinced.
"I don't know exactly what he does. I stopped caring when he got mad because I didn't understand anything he was saying. So my mom and I just nod out heads and eat dinner while he explains how real estate businesses are going down all over the country, and that we're going to be in big trouble if people like him don't know what they're doing in life."

Erin nodded.

"Anyway, he makes like…1,000 dollars a day, if it's a bad day, so…we have a bit of extra money laying around."
Erin's eyes popped. "Seriously?? I don't think anyone makes that kind of money," she told him, doubting every word he's just said.

Connor shrugged. "Dad's dad got him in the business, and yeah, he makes that kind of money."
"So you're filthy rich?" Erin asked curiously.
Connor let his finger shake at her lightly. "No. My father is. I'm just a dependant." He replied.
Erin shrugged. "Fair enough. So, where are you from originally, Connor Bishop?"
Connor sighed, leaning back, and putting his arms behind his head.
"I was born in Maryland eighteen years ago, lived there for like…three years, I think. Then my dad went to work in Kentucky, and then three months later, we packed up again and went to Montana. A year later, we moved back to Kentucky, but to the opposite side of the state, and then we went around New England, Maine, Virginia, West Virginia, to Pennsylvania and Ohio…so on and so forth like that for fifteen years.
When I was sixteen, dad moved here, to California, and we've stayed here for a while." Connor finished.

Erin had a hard time following his story. "I'm sure that's hard to remember." She said to him.
Connor shrugged, and turned onto his side. "People ask so much, I have to recite it, and I used to forget so much, so I'd tell them to ask me the next day after I went home and tracked it all down on a map."

"Ah," Erin replied.

"So, enough about me, what about you?" Connor said, searching for her eyes under the sunglasses.

Erin smiled.
So he was interested in her. And he wanted to know about her, get inside her head.
Suddenly the sun seemed really to burn her stomach, so she turned over on her stomach, her head turned toward Connor.

His face was on her, a goofy grin on his face.
But all the same, his attention was all on her, completely and undistracted.
So maybe he didn't think any of those other girls were appealing.
Ha, unlikely. Unless he's gay,
Erin giggled to herself.

"I am from Tucson, Arizona, born and raised." She told him with a stretch.
"Oh," Connor said. "Thus why you're lightly tanned," he confirmed.
Erin shrugged. "I suppose. You should see me in the winter. It's like a white Christmas."
Connor snickered. "Is that so?" he asked.
Erin nodded. "It is. You really should see it." She replied, laughing too.

Connor became oddly quiet. "I'd like to," he said, not to her, but more to himself out loud.

Erin cast him a sideways look, her head now facing in front of her. "You would?" she asked.

Connor tilted his head from side to side. "Yes." He said.

The sun was shining outside.

People were in the pool, laughing and having a great time.
It was the beginning of the summer, and all these kids were at summer camp for the next three months.
There were going to be heartbreaks and homesickness, frantic calls home, and frantic calls to the next cabin.
There were going to be fights, new friendships, and broken friendships.
\But for two people at that moment in time, there was nothing else but each other.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you read, you should review.
I accept all kinds of critisism and please, if something is misspelled, or grammatically incorrect, copy it and paste it,and tell me in a review.

=]

Thanks

xoxo,
-Leo