"Oh gosh, Valerie, hi! It's great to see you again, sweetie." Gareth's mom greeted me with a huge smile, instantly pulling me into a tight hug.

She's so sweet, I think she believes I'm a good influence on Gareth for some reason.

"The boys are out the back, if you end up having too much to drink then I'll happily drive you back home, okay?" she smiles down at me.

Interesting, I'm assuming Eddie and Gareth had drinks out there.

"Okay, thank you." I grin.

Gareth's house wasn't exactly on the small side, it was quite literally huge. Finding out he had a pool was even more surprising, his parents must've been absolutely loaded.

As Gareth's mom lead me through the house I began to simply admire my surroundings, you could tell Gareth's family was definitely rich but there was also this coziness in every room, we walked past his cats at one point too, they were a little dopey looking but still cute.

When Gareth's mom and I reached the back door, she took a moment to glance through the glass door and see what the guys were up to. I watched her eyes crease in a smile as she saw Gareth diving into the pool.

"Have fun, sweetie." Gareth's mom smiles to me before leaving me there with the guys.

I stepped outside into the heat and noticed both Eddie and Gareth swimming towards the ledge of the pool once they'd realised I was there.

"Gareth, your mom is adorable." I tell Gareth.

"Are you gonna swim in your clothes or something?" Eddie asks, pointing at my outfit.

I had put my bikini on underneath my clothes so that I wouldn't have to get changed at Gareth's house, I could simply just slip out of my clothes and get into the pool.

"I have my bikini on underneath this, smart ass."

I began to lift my shirt over my head, Gareth swam away but Eddie's gaze seemed to linger. When my shirt was completely off I couldn't help but notice his eyes roaming my body, he's shameless, and the worst part? I don't even care, crap, I actually like this.

I began to undo the buttons on my shorts, Eddie's eyes monitoring my every movement. I slipped my thumbs under the waist of my shorts and began to take them off too. I pretended that I hadn't noticed Eddie staring until our eyes met, and instead of awkwardly looking away he held the eye contact.

Jesus.

"I need a drink." I utter to myself, snapping out of whatever trance Eddie seemed to have me under.

"I think I'm gonna need one too." I hear Eddie say.

Holy crap.

I was no better than him, the minute he stepped out of the pool my eyes were practically locked on his body, his tattoos, his V-line. Oh my god. He'd been hiding all of this under his Hellfire club shirt.

"It's rude to stare, princess." he smirks, grabbing a drink.

"Just admiring your tattoos." I tell him, taking a sip of my drink, "And that's a little hypocritical for you to say after you just watched me undress."

"You say that as if you weren't staring back at me while stripping." he says quietly, making sure Gareth couldn't hear.

His words were driving me fucking insane, this is exactly what I mean when I say that he's constantly flirting with me but nothing ever comes of it.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I smile, playing along.

"Mhm. Sure."

"Stop flirting and get over here!" Gareth yells to us, half laughing.

Without warning, Eddie grabs my hand and begins running towards the pool, dragging me along with him. I had no choice but to jump in with him.

Drinks, Eddie, swimsuits. Today is going to be interesting.

...

"Truth or dare, Valerie?" Gareth asks me.

We were sat in Gareth's room playing truth or dare, it had gotten too late at night for Gareth's mom to take us home and both Eddie and I had been drinking so we couldn't drive. We just decided to stay over at Gareth's house for the night.

"Hm... truth." I settle on as my decision.

I glanced over at Eddie, he was slumped up against Gareth's bed, tossing a tennis ball into the air and catching it, he seemed a little uninterested but Gareth was having fun playing truth or dare so I continued to play.

"Describe your first kiss in one word."

Well, this is slightly embarrassing because I've never actually kissed anyone, except Chris Campbell when we performed Romeo & Juliet but that doesn't count because it was scripted and awful.

"Non-existent." I laugh.

This piqued Eddie's interest, he leaned forward back into the conversation in confusion.

"What?" Eddie and Gareth said in unison, turning to each other.

"You haven't had your first kiss?" Eddie asks, I can tell he's not judging me, he's just interested.

"Nope." I answer, I was a little surprised that they seemed this shocked about it.

Eddie and Gareth were still staring at each other in utter disbelief, maybe they didn't believe me, but it was true.

"Why do you both seem so shocked about that?" I laugh.

"Because you're fucking perfect, and nobody's kissed you." Eddie utters under his breath.

Oh.

My eyes widened a little, not in shock, but in gentle surprise. I wasn't expecting those words to leave his mouth, I thought he'd make some comment about how many guys want me or something, but no. He called me perfect, fucking perfect.

"That slipped out." he adds, embarrassed, and then he continues to play with the tennis ball as if nothing happened.

Of course it did.

I sighed, I wasn't quite sure if it was audible or not, I didn't really care. The constant mixed signals were driving me insane.

Gareth stood up from his seat and stumbled towards me, clumsily sitting himself down next to me, almost falling onto me.

"Drunk words are sober thoughts." he tells me in a whisper, glancing over at Eddie who was too busy playing with the tennis ball to care about what we were discussing.

"He meant what he said, I promise." Gareth adds, smiling softly.

☆ ☆ ☆

thought i'd be nice again and do another double update day 😇

also people may disagree with me here but i think eddie would be just as inexperienced as valerie 😳 this may or may not be expanded on in later chapters

again i haven't proofread IM SORRYYY if there's any errors feel free to point them out tyyy mwah