The Perks of Being Too Beautiful

Ch7; Drowning

Chapter Seven

Even though this place was huge, having its own acre of land as its own, every place of this house, or mansion should I say, was occupied. I don't know how many other guests came, but this place seemed to be filled with almost the entire senior class.

I decide to sit on a bench in Sara's private garden. There's still people here but it wasn't as crowded. I find my ex, Stein, making out with the brunette that was always lingering around Sara. He notices me and smirks at me, devilishly. He begins to kiss her harder, but keeping his eyes on me, as if he's trying to intimidate me. His hands grip her waist closer to him and she moans his name. He pulls away, and continues to look at me, biting his lip. I blush a little, but I look away, disgusted. I don't know why he had that affect on me, like he could control me, but I knew better and knew he was bad news. But still... what he did always had some effect on me.

My thoughts are interrupted when Cullen steps in front of me, blocking my view of Stein. I notice his suit again. Hmm... I wonder...

"Cullen?"

"Yes, Aria?"

"Did you wear that because you were planning to say those things about Sara, and thought we weren't going to stay?"

He chuckles. "Nice assumption."

"Well, am I right?" I stick out my tongue.

He pauses for a while. "Sort of," he says, smiling a little. My cheeks flush red. Sigh, he is so handsome...

Then, he gives me a weird face. "Are you checking me out, Aria?"

I blink quickly and look away. "No! That's ridiculous!" I sputter out.

He smirks and he grabs my hand to pull me to his chest. Suddenly, he spins me away from him and I trip on my own leg, falling on my bum.

He scoffs, "still tripping over your own feet, I see."

"I didn't know we were going to dance," I argue.

"More like you don't know how to dance," he teases.

He helps me up and hold me tighter to his chest, and we sway together.

"I'm going to spin you, and this time, don't fall."

I roll my eyes, and he spins me slowly. Our fingers barely touch until he pulls me back again. My back now against his chest, and he just holds me still like that, occasionally swaying left and right. It feels so good being in Cullen's arms like this.

Then, he lets me go and turns me around. We stare at each other in

silence. His hand finds my cheek, and caress it, down to my neck. With his other hand, he brushes my hair out of my face. He leans down, adjusting his face so it is aligned with mines. His lips are so close to mines... Is he going to kiss me? He goes closer, and closer, until we're not even a centimeter apart. Both of our lips are slightly open, and I can feel his breath brushing along my face. The small distance away from him makes it a little more intense, because I feel like I have to resist from him. His arms wrap around me and pulls my body against him, our faces are still not touching. He tilts his head and whispers my name.

"Cullen..." I whisper back. I half close my eyes. My heartbeat is pulsing in my ear.

"Aria..." he says again. He finally leans in further, but he doesn't kiss my lips. Instead, he only kisses the corner of my lips and then, just hugs me tight.

What does this mean...? Cullen sort of kissing me... Cullen holds me tighter, and it gets harder to breathe. "Cullen," I call out.

"Shh."

"Cullen," I say again.

He ignores me this time.

I'm so confused... I like being in his arms like this but does this... mean anything?

All of a sudden, he pushes me away and laughs. Confused, I ask him what's going on.

Still laughing, he says, "Stein kept staring at you, so I decided to give him a show."

I felt my heart fall down to my feet. So it was just nothing. Nothing but a show. Anger flood through my veins and I tightened my fists. Cullen stops laughing and asks me what's wrong. I glare at him and run off. I feel so embarrassed. It was the first time Cullen has given me that kind of attention, and it was fake. I sigh, and I stop running, realizing I already reached back to Sara's mansion. "How stupid of me," I mutter to myself. "Why can't you just accept that he will never think of you other than just a sister?"

I look back once and see Cullen hasn't followed me. Good, I think to myself. Except when I walk back inside, I wished he chased me back.

The next thing I knew, I am looking down at my reflection in the pool. I had changed to my bikini earlier and I'm ready to jump in. A lot of people has gotten out of the pool already, girls tanning on the beachside chairs, and the guys sitting by the bar.

Again, everyone stares at me, like how they did yesterday. Most of them are still not used to me like this. The reactions I get from the girls still ranges from anger, disgust, and even a little of admiration. The guys are all noticing me, nodding and winking of approval. Instinctively, I cover myself with my arms. But I look down at the pool again, and my desire to swim wakens me up.

I see Cullen walking in, but I don't care. I bend my knees and jump off, lifting my arms above my head, making a perfect dive into the pool.

The cold water blankets over my skin as I reach the bottom, eight feet from the surface. My caramel hair wraps around my face, looking more golden in the chlorine filled sunlight. I stay close to the floor, and open my eyes. It stings at first but I can handle it. I like to do this sometimes... Just float here underwater. It's something I've done a lot ever since I was able to hold my breath for over a minute.

And the fact that the day I met Cullen was not the first time I fell into that lake.

I sit here for a while. It doesn't occur to me that I'm holding my breath because it's such a natural tendency for humans to do so when underwater. I'm not struggling either so I don't notice. The shadows of some people hover above the pool and they're probably wondering when I'll be coming up, which won't be anytime soon.

I look at my hair, which appears like seaweed. I've always loved my hair when it floated like this. It reminded me of the stories of the mermaid princess my mother used to tell me.

My mother.

I had forgotten all about the affair. Well, no, that wasn't exactly true. I think about Cullen's father constantly but I always forget that it was with my own mother.

I had began thinking about it so much that I had forgotten I was underwater. My breath seeped through my mouth while I was thinking! I didn't have any air left and I was way at the bottom. My arms are trying to force its way up, but they are weak now and I keep sinking back to the bottom. My butt and legs remain anchors at the bottom, my lungs are on fire. All I can do now is blow air out so bubbles can burst at the surface... Hopefully someone would save me.

After a few seconds, someone dove down underwater as my lungs were being filled with water. Arms are wrapped around me and I am brought up to the surface. I don't do that gasp of air right away like how it's seen in movies. Instead, I continue choking, until I vomit out water.

And the piña colada.

I groan out of disgust. My eyes are burning from chlorine and sunlight. Everything looks white, and I squint to see. But I can hear them perfectly fine. They don't necessarily sound worried for me. Instead, I hear things like "Oh my god, was she drunk?" or "Ew. We can't swim now." I sigh and realize I am still being held by someone.

Cullen.

I blink a few times to see if it's really him. Then I realize I don't need to because I can feel his suit still on him and drenched.

He sighs and only says one thing.

"It appears that I saved you again."