Chapter 5

It didn't take me long to slip on my bathing suit. In fact, as soon as Cory brought in my bag that I knew I packed my bathing suit in, I tossed it on our… yes, our… bed and cracked that bad boy open. Thankfully, I packed about twenty different options, and the first one that I pulled out was the sexiest option that I had packed. Why start out slow when you can just whip out the big guns right away, literally? I retreated into our own personal (!) bathroom and quickly slipped out of the clothes I came here in and into my black string bikini that was detailed with small silver beads around the trim of the top. I fixed my hair so that my waves fell gently and spontaneously over my shoulders. Quickly, I shuffled over to the full-length mirror that hung over the bathroom door and I looked at myself. Shit, I looked good. All of the craziness from the show and the tour really put me in good shape. Time for me to get out there and go straight to the pool, which was where everyone else was starting to gather once again.

With confidence, I pulled the bathroom door open and walked out into the bedroom. I padded over to the suitcases and found my matching black flip flops and a fun pink and white polka dot towel. I knew I wouldn't need a hat or sunglasses, as the sun was beginning to set over southern California. And just as I was about to walk out of the bedroom, Cory came in. I watched eyes widen as he saw me in my bathing suit, and I'm not going to bullshit you, that was easily one of the best feelings in the world.

"Coming out to the pool?" I asked with a small smirk as his eyes studied my body. Clearly, I was doing something right.

He nodded and made eye contact with me. "Yeah, I was just coming in here for my trunks. The cooler is filled with beer out there. I know you like Coronas, so I got you your own twelve-pack."

Baby boy, you know me so well. "Sounds great," I smiled. "You might have to get me another pack tomorrow, you know," I chuckled.

"You better pace yourself, Sarfati. I don't want to have to carry you to bed tonight," Cory replied with a smirk as he continued to walk towards his one suitcase that he had placed in the corner of the bedroom.

I couldn't help but just press my lips together in a tight smile. What the hell did he mean by that? Did he not want to carry me like the princess I am back to my room and lay me down in bed gently as he dressed me in my silky pajamas so gently as to not wake me before kissing me sweetly goodnight? Not that I've had that sort of thing play out in my head before… But still!

"You should know by now that I know how to hold my alcohol!" I protested out of force. "I'm the queen of shots!"

Cory laughed as he unzipped his suitcase and rummaged through his clothing, wrinkling them as he dug to the bottom of the pile. "I'm pretty sure you can't take as many shots as me. Look at the size of my body, and then look at the size of yours. I'm built to handle alcohol." He found his bathing suit and placed it on the bed before he picked up his suitcase and tossed it back into the corner of the room.

"We're just going to have to see about this," I smirked as I crossed my arms over my chest. "I have a feeling we're going to be doing a liquor store run by the end of the night."

And then, right in front of me like he didn't even think twice, he pulled his t-shirt off over his head. As many times as I've seen this man shirtless, it never gets old. I seriously couldn't help but pull on my bottom lip with my teeth as I looked at him, and I knew I had to turn around before I made an ass out of myself. "I'll see you out there," I told him as I walked out of the bedroom. It wasn't my first choice of options in the "Things to do when Cory Monteith starts undressing in front of you" category, but I knew I couldn't just stand there and stare at him like some sort of creep.

So, I went to find that cooler full of Coronas with my beach towel over my arm and my flip flops on my feet. I went up the stairs and entered the kitchen, where coolers were lined up like we were in a department store. I opened the first one I saw, and that was all filled with water. I grabbed a bottle of water, since you never know when you'll want to switch it up. I moved on to the second cooler, and that was all soda. Reserved for breakfast, I figured, so I didn't take one. Cooler number three was filled with my personal heaven. I quickly grabbed a Corona and shut the lid before picking up a slice of lime from the countertop. I was going to have to thank that someone once I figure out who they were. I quickly popped the top off of the beer and pushed the slice of lime in before walking out of the kitchen and through the sliding glass doors that led to the deck that featured the pool and hot tub.

"Woo!" Kevin called out from the pool as he watched me walk over to an empty chair. "Girl, you lookin' fine!"

"You want a piece of this?" I giggled as I took a seat next to Amber. Kevin always knew how to make a woman feel good about herself, which was one of the many, many reasons why we all loved him. I kicked my feet up on the pool chair and took a sip of my beer. Oh, sweet vacation.

"How's the room situation?" Amber asked with a smile as she held onto some sort of blue mixed drink.

I looked at her and I just had to smile. "It's fine. I have no problem with it, he has no problems with it. We'll make it work."

And it was true. Cory and I were going to make the best roomies this house was ever going to see. We were going to share the bathroom space equally, respect the suitcase space, and give each other enough of the blanket for comfortable sleeping. Well, I mean, he doesn't know we're going to do these things yet, but I know. I'll inform him soon enough.

Amber and I spoke for a while about anything that really came into our minds. We were always good at random, pointless conversation, and we were also really good at cracking each other up. Amber has the loudest and most infectious laugh out of all of us, and I'm fairly sure if there was ever some sort of laughing competition, she would take grand prize. In all of the laughter that Amber and I shared, I didn't even notice that Cory had come out from the house and jumped right into the pool with Kevin, Chris, Darren, and Harry.

"Pool full of sexy," Amber muttered under her breath before taking a sip of her drink.

I laughed and nodded. "It's not complete until you get in there."

She held up her hand and I gave her a quick high-five. "I'll see you in a few," she said before putting down her drink and taking off her bathing suit cover-up to reveal a silver one-piece. Before I knew it, she was in the pool.

I surveyed the deck area while taking another sip of my beer. Sitting alone on this chair, I couldn't help but notice where everyone else was. Mark, Jenna, and Ashley were talking over by an umbrella-covered table diagonal from me. Dianna was bent over her iPhone, texting her boyfriend, I'm sure. Chord wasn't by the pool at all, and in fact, I hadn't seen him since we greeted each other since I arrived. Wonder where he was. Naya and Heather were in the pool on the far end having handstand competitions underwater. I wasn't even under the water and I knew Heather was kicking ass. You can't challenge Heather at any sort of body contest without knowing you were going to lose.

"You coming in?" I heard from the pool, drawing my attention away from Heather and Naya. I snapped my head towards the boys, and my eyes connected with Cory's. I smiled like a fool instinctively. I couldn't even control it.

"Now?" I asked coyly. "I haven't even finished my first beer."

"Neither have I," Kevin responded as he raised his empty beer bottle. He looked at it, and lowered his eyes. "Oh, wait…"

I laughed before taking another sip. I placed my bottle on a table next to the chair, swung my feet over the side, and stood up. With my hands on my hips and my feet together in a very Rachel Berry pose, I looked into the pool at the boys and smirked. They all looked so cute, the way the water made all of their hair lay flat, and the way that drops of water beaded up on their arms and bare chests. I had to get in there. They were just too much to resist.

I walked quickly around to the stairs of the pool. "Oh, no, no," Cory said as he swam over to the stairs that I was approaching. "That's the easy way in."

"That's the only way in," I said as I stepped into the pool. Shit, the water was FREEZING cold! You'd think a house like this would at least have a heated pool! I stood on the first step, waiting for my body to adjust to the temperature before taking another step.

"You're getting in this pool now," Cory smirked as he swam up to my legs and locked his arms around them.

I felt paralyzed in fear. I couldn't help but screech and scream as Cory managed to pick me up from around my knees, spun around until my back was facing the rest of the pool, and jumped up in the air before bringing me under the water with him. And as we were under the water, he moved his arms from my knees to around my waist as he swam with me to the deep end.

Now, while the water was still freezing and he did everything that I completely wanted to avoid, I wanted to stay under that water with him for as long as possible (or until I lost the small amount of breath I caught during my screaming), just to have that time alone together. But it didn't last long. He popped up with me after only a few short seconds, bringing me with him. The two of us were in the deep end with everyone else over on the shallow end. Cory swam back over to the guys and Amber while I worked on getting all of my wet hair off of my face. As I fixed myself, Dianna and I looked at each other. She smiled and winked at me, before shaking her head slightly, careful not to let everyone else notice.

This was going to be a ridiculously long week.