"I think Zack likes what he sees," Mikayla said with a sidelong glance towards London.

"Why wouldn't he?" the heiress replied with a confident smile. "We are gorgeous."

Zack had no argument at all with that statement. Both of the girls looked stunning in their swimsuits. Mikayla's was a designer black and white suit that London had bought for her on their last shopping trip. While it was a one-piece, it had large diamond-shaped windows cut out of the sides, revealing tantalizing glimpses of bare skin. But London was not to be out done when it came to bare skin. The heiress was wearing the same azure-colored string bikini that Cody had seen her in a couple of weeks earlier.

The three teens entered the hot tub and settled into the soothing waters. Conversation stayed light hearted, with Zack and London telling stories about their time out at sea.

"That sounds so cool," Mikayla said. "I'd love to go on a cruise someday."

"We should totally do that," London said. "Except without having to go to school while we're out there."

"When summer is over, are you two going back to the ship for another semester?" the singer asked.

"I don't know yet," London replied. "Haven't really thought about it."

"Me neither," Zack added. "School's the last thing on my mind right now. I just want to enjoy the summer."

The three continued talking, and the girls were treated to a collection of Zack's favorite jokes. Some of them were genuinely funny, many of them hopelessly corny...so both of the girls took turns laughing and groaning. Mikayla however had to repeatedly deal with a minor annoyance. Like London, she'd pinned her hair up to keep it out of the water, but the singer's long locks kept coming loose.

"Oh enough already," she said as she removed the hair pins and tossed them aside.

"You're going to get your hair wet," London said.

"Ya think?" Mikayla replied with a grin before dunking her head underneath the water. She tilted her head back as she came up so that her dark tresses were slicked back and didn't fall in her face.

"The wet look works for you," Zack commented.

"Then why don't you try it?" she asked before quickly reaching down into the water and grabbing his ankle. Before Zack could react, Mikayla had pulled him underwater. He came back up sputtering as the singer giggled.

"You got him good," London laughed, causing Zack to turn his attention to her.

"Hmm...looks like it's your turn now," he said.

The heiress stopped laughing and grabbed onto the edge of the hot tub. "Don't even think about it," she gasped.

Zack and Mikayla exchanged evil grins and the each went for one of London's ankles. The rich girl kicked and screamed but her friends were determined and each managed to grab hold of her.

"Wait!" London cried, realizing she couldn't fight the inevitable. "I surrender." She let go of the tub's edge and unpinned her hair, letting the ends of it fall into the water before she took a deep breath and submerged herself completely. "There, happy now?" she asked when she came back up.

Neither Mikayla nor Zack responded verbally. Instead, they started a splash fight.

Down in his bedroom, Cody had grown too tired to continue with his book. He put it down and turned off his reading light, but was surprised when he glanced at the clock.

It's almost three in the morning, he thought. And Zack's not back?

While the twins could pretty much stay up as late as they liked during the summer, Zack being out at this hour was unusual. Cody started to worry. While they may not have been getting along perfectly as of late, Zack was still his brother.

He probably just sat down in the lobby and fell asleep, Cody thought as he reluctantly got out of bed. But I'd better go check.

"Wow, it's late," Mikayla said.

"Geez," Zack replied when he looked at the clock on London's wall. "I'm not even tired."

"Me neither," London said, but then yawned. "Okay, maybe just a little."

"I guess we should call it a night," Mikayla sighed, as she exited the hot tub. "Otherwise I'll sleep the whole day away tomorrow."

Zack was disappointed that his fun with the girls was coming to an end. "I think I'll soak for just a few more minutes," he said as he watched Mikayla walk to the other room to dry off and change.

"Don't let her catch you staring like that," London told Zack as soon as Mikayla exited.

"Who was staring? I wasn't staring," he protested, then looked slightly worried. "Was it that bad?"

"Not really," the heiress answered. "I don't think she noticed."

They both got out of the hot tub at the same time, continuing their conversation as they did so.

"What if she had seen me staring a little?" Zack asked. "It's not like it's a bad thing. She'd just know that I think she's hot. It's a compliment."

"That's one way of looking at it," London replied. "Or she could think you're an obsessed stalker."

"Well, what do you think when you catch guys staring at you?" Zack handed the heiress a towel as he waited for her answer.

"It depends on whether I think the guy's cute or not," she admitted with a smile.

"Okay," Zack said. "So if a guy who looked like me was staring at you, what would you think? That I'm complimenting you, or that I'm stalker material?"

The heiress considered this and then laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"I don't know how to answer," she explained. "We've been friends for years...I don't think about you like I do about other guys. Besides, you never look at me that way."

"Not true," Zack said.

London raised an eyebrow at this. "You've looked at me...that way?"

His response was a charming smile, with just the barest hint of embarrassment. "Sort of hard not to when you're dressed like that."

The heiress blushed and felt suddenly self-conscious. This was a new experience for her. She'd seen Zack hit on countless girls over the years, but had never been on the receiving end of his flirtations. It was odd...but not exactly unenjoyable.

Zack was experiencing similar feelings. He was suddenly struck by the fact that he'd never flirted with London before, and he couldn't figure out why that was. And though he was flirting now, he hadn't even intended to. He'd just been asking London questions to try and guess how Mikayla's mind worked.

After a few moments, the two friends experienced another shared thought. They both wondered how they'd ended up standing so close to each other. In fact, their faces were close enough that if either of them wanted to lean in...just a little....

"Um...Zack," the heiress finally said in a quiet tone. "I need to go change. It's late."

"S-sure," he answered, taking a step back. "Uh...thanks for inviting me up. It was...fun."

Cody had been unable to find Zack in the lobby, or anywhere else in the hotel that would have been open at three in the morning. Having run out of places to look, Cody found himself standing outside the door of Mikayla's suite. He was still concerned that something may have happened to his brother, however there was also a nagging suspicion that had taken hold in his mind. What if his twin's disappearance was merely a plot of Zack's to spend time with Mikayla? But even if that were true, it wasn't like Cody could knock on the singer's door at such an ungodly hour

I should just go back to bed, he thought. Maybe Zack came home while I was out looking for him.

But when Cody went to the elevator, he was shocked when the doors opened to reveal Mikayla. The singer was wide-awake, her hair was damp, and the expression of surprise on her face matched Cody's own.

"What are you doing up?" they asked each other at once.

"I was looking for Zack," Cody managed to answer the question first. "Do you know where he is?"

"Yeah, probably back in your suite," she answered. "We both just left London's."

"You two were with London?"

"Yeah, we were all using her hot tub," she explained. "We had a great time. I wish you could have been there too, but Zack told us you were asleep."

"I see," Cody said in a measured, if somewhat cold tone. He was quite upset with his brother now, but didn't want to show his anger in front of Mikayla.

"So, you woke up and went looking for Zack when you saw he wasn't home?" the singer guessed.

"Something like that," he replied.

"You're such a thoughtful guy." Mikayla smiled warmly. Her voice took on a lower, softer tone as she continued speaking. "I really wish you'd been there. I like spending time with you."

"I like spending time with you too," he said as he looked into the singer's sparkling eyes. His anger at Zack drifted towards the back of his mind as all he could focus on the beautiful girl in front of him.

"You know, everyone here had been so great to me," she went on. "But I keep worrying it's not going to last. I'm scared that everything I have could just be taken away at any moment."

Cody tried to speak some reassuring words, but Mikayla stopped him.

"No, let me finish," she continued. "I hate feeling scared. So whenever I can forget about my fears and relax, those times really matter to me. Like when I'm hanging with London, or joking around with Zack...or when I'm with you." She moved closer to him. "It feels good when we're together. I want to feel that way all the time."

The next thing Cody knew, Mikayla had taken hold of his hand and led him to the doorway of her suite. She opened her door and then looked into his eyes as she tightened her grip on his hand. His heart beat faster as he realized she had no intention of letting go.

"Don't leave," she said in a tone that was seductive yet also pleading. "Make me feel good."

After returning home from London's, Zack had snuck quietly into the bedroom without turning on the light. As a result, he hadn't noticed that Cody wasn't there.

And when he woke up the next morning he didn't think twice about the fact that Cody's bed was empty. Zack just assumed his brother, who was usually an early riser, had already gotten up.

He had no idea that Cody was still sound asleep, one floor below.

Or that Mikayla was sleeping in his arms.

To be continued...

author's note: Gasp! What has Cody done? Will this story need to change to an "M" rating? Find out in the next chapter. Now on a more serious note...I hate to complain but last week I posted 5 chapters of this story, and got a grand total of 5 new reviews. Thank you very much to those that did read and review, I truly appreciate it. However, if this story continues to get so little attention I can only assume that it's just not that good and not worth continuing.