The start of something new

*Saphira's POV*

Zach, Lynn and I arrived at an enormous harbor. "There he is." Lynn pointed towards Benjamin. He was wearing a dark-grey vest and a blue blouse beneath. He is hot, I sighed.

Oh no… "How could that be?" I glanced at Lynn. "I didn't know they were coming," Lynn said. "It will be so much fun." Lynn seemed to be more exited then I was.

"Hi." I sheepishly greeted Ben. He stood on deck, next to Naomi, Janice and Sierra who were sunbathing.

"Oh Benjamin," Sierra said in a deliberately seductive voice. He only winked at me.

As the coast seemed to disappear, we all sat at a dark colonial table, with big leather chairs, inside one of the cabins.

"What do we have planned?" Naomi asked. "We can go swim in a few," Lynn answered. "Sounds excellent," Sierra said.

"What are we having for dinner?" Janice questioned. "You'll start the barbeque, right Ben?." Lynn said turning towards her brother. Benjamin flashed her a smile with his ultra-white teeth.

Benjamin started playing on his guitar. 'Wishing star' he said that the song was called, as his eyes were smoldering mine. His voice was absolutely stunning.

I wasn't the only one who thought so. "Oh Ben." Sierra giddied. "I am going to change into my bathing suit," I said wanting to escape the moment.

My mind was preoccupied, while walking down the stairs and I foolishly bumped into Ben. He caught me. Holding me close against his body, with both his hands on my lower back.

He had changed too. As he held me close, my hands were pressed against his bare chest. The warmth and the closeness gave me a sense of dejavu.

"I'm so sorry," I said looking down, inhaling his scent. He still didn't release me though. Not that I wanted him to. Get a grip. Get a grip I told myself over and over again.

"My pleasure," he said, fighting a smile on his lips. He gave up though and started to laugh a soft musical laugh, right into my ear. I got goose bumps all over my body.

"I'm glad you came this weekend," ge said whispering in my ear. I had to remember to breathe. Get a grip. Get a grip. I chanted to myself again. Then we heard someone approach and he released me. But remained close, very close.

Lynn approached us. "See, Saphira. I told you the bikini," she looked at me, as if saying she approved.

"The bikini looks good on her, doesn't it," she said trying to humor Ben. Of course he answered very seriously.

"Your beautiful," he said holding my gaze.

"But do you know, what I like most about this bikini?" he asked Lynn, when he was looking at me, from head to toe.

"Her smile," he said. Lynn rolled her eyes at that.

I felt extremely uncomfortable. What was up with Lynn?

"I know, I've got the prettiest friend in the world," she said hugging me and then she put a golden bracelet around my wrist. With a golden slice of pizza on it.

"Let's show the others," Lynn said while towing me towards deck.

Then I noticed that the other girls all wore the same bracelet. When you put together all the slices they'd made a pizza.

Everyone was swimming right now. I was sitting at the edge of the pool with my feet in the water. I couldn't swim. I never spoke about it much, but I was really afraid of depths. It seemed rather silly now the we were all surrounded by water.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Sierra took advantage of the fact I couldn't go into the pool. She hung around Ben's neck again. Trying to provoke him into playing with her, while teasing him.

I knew I had to get a better hold on myself, but I just couldn't stand Sierra around him. I couldn't take this anymore and I wanted to get up, but then he swam towards me.

"Hey, Evangeline," he said with that priggish tone again. I made a face at him. He held his head sideways, while smiling at me.

"Why don't you join me in the water?" he asked persuasively, while yanking gently at my feet under water.

"I don't swim," I said sternly .

"Come on, what are you afraid of? The water won't hurt you," he said trying to be funny now.

"And if it will... I'll save you." He said smirking at me.

"Didn't you know that before I went to college, I volunteered as life guard down at Malibu beach. You are safe with me." He saw that he wasn't getting anywhere, so he tried again.

"The water is warm..." he said trying to make a point, I had no reason not to get in.

"I really don't want to." I sighed. Then Sierra was behind him and jumped on his back. I felt nauseated again.

After swimming we all got ourselves dressed. Lynn and I were alone in the bedroom cabin, we would be spending the night in. "What do you think I should wear?" I asked. "Did you bring the four sets of clothing I asked you to bring?" Lynn said eying me. "Yes boss." I said while making a salute.

"Then we'll knock out the competition." Lynn said darkly.

"What competition?" I asked.

Don't be silly saph. You know I'm talking about Sierra. She's my friend too of course, but if he was truly interested in her, something would of happened already." Lynn rolled her eyes.

"And come on… I'm not blind… I've seen how you look at him. If he has to be married to someone someday, I'd like it to be with you." She hugged me.

Married? She was kidding right?! We were way too young for her to be serious. "Team Saphira," she said laughing. "Team Saphmin," she said proud of her wordplay. Now I was the one rolling my eyes.

She made me wear a white v-neck, long sleeved, very thin wide dress. Around the v-line there was a pattern of gold and green beats. The dress had a lot of Arabian influences.

I almost got a heart-attack when she told me to wear the white heals. I let my hair hang loose. "Sierra is not going to be happy," she said while looking at me.

I made my face seem like a question "If he wasn't already at your feet, he is going to kiss them now," she said smug. What was Lynn babbling about. Surely he would never pick me over Sierra. Or just me, at any rate. Did I want him too?

Benjamin's surfer friends, Tyler, Thomas and of course Zack were standing at the grill, watching Ben flip meat. Daniel was chatting with the girls. I laid myself down on one of those beach chairs near the pool and closed my eyes. When I opened them, Zachary was right beside me.

"Hi there, gorgeous," he said cheerfully. "Hey Zack," I responded smiling back at him. He seemed to take that as an encouragement, because he took a strain of my hair and started to play with it. This really made me feel uncomfortable. Then out of nowhere there was Benjamin.

"Can you help me in the kitchen?!" he asked. It didn't sound much like a question to me though, so I followed him back inside. All playfulness was gone now. He looked very serious... Mad even.

"Season the steaks for me," Ben commanded. I bit my lips and did as I was told.

I finished the steaks. Benjamin was standing against the kitchen counter with his arms locked. This way his muscles really showed.

"How can I cheer you up?" I asked. He said nothing in response and ignored me for the rest of the evening. I didn't like it. Sierra claimed his attention most of the time. I tried to find some distraction at Zachary.

He didn't seem to mind to distract me at all. We talked all evening and laughed a lot. He was so easy to talk to. He could pass for my brother, if he wasn't blond and all.

We spend the night polishing our nails, putting masks on our faces and discussing guys. Janice didn't seem happy about me spending time with Zachary. Of course I meant nothing by it. Luckily for her, she didn't know about that night at the cinema.

The girls were all sleeping, but I still didn't feel tired. I climbed out of bed and stood on deck for a while. Then I saw that the light of Benjamin's cabin was still on. Would that mean he was awake as well?

Should I go to see him? What the heck would I say to him? I pondered for a moment and then thought of something. Trying not to wake up Lynn, I grabbed a deck of playing cards out of my bag and walked up to Benjamin.

I gently knocked on the door. "Come in," I heard Ben say. His cabin seemed much larger than ours was. He was sitting on his bed, and didn't look up at me.

"Hey uhm Ben…-" I said trailing of my sentence, while peeking around the corner of Benjamin's cabin. "Mhh," he mumbled absently.

I barged right in and Ben continued doing whatever on his laptop. I quietly sat across him, fumbling with the deck of playing cards, waiting for him to look up at me. "What are you doing here?" He asked indifferent, while continuing to type on his laptop.

"Actually I was kind of bored. Lynn is asleep and so are the boys."

"I'm busy Evangeline," Ben stated. "Oh okay, I see," I said feeling humiliated. I stood up, making my way out of the luxurious cabin. "Wait," he murmured closing the laptop.

"It's awesome your dad lets you lend this boat for the weekend," I offered trying to lighten the atmosphere. ''It's a super yacht, not a boat and quit frankly, it's mine." Okay. It's back to aggravation, I thought. I was quiet, not knowing how to respond. My gosh, this 127ft boat was his?!

"So," we said at the same time. Ben smirked and his golden eyes were dancing. I would one day get a whiplash because of his mood swings.

"Yes, well… I actually wanted to check if you were still angry with me," I asked softly.

"Evangeline, I was not mad, I was merely astonished, that saying you are pretty, is all it takes to have you," he muttered. "To have me," I almost shouted.

What the heck was his problem... this was only the second time I had ever seen him. 

"Yeah, you let Zachary touch you earlier, didn't you?" Ben said with clear irritation in his voice. "That, well-" I got so angry, that I lost my train of thoughts. "It was nothing," I added in a whisper, uncertain of why he would care about that at all. He did not know me.

"What does the guy know about you, besides the fact that you have a set of deep blue eyes, a flattering figure and appealing full lips," Ben shrugged. He thinks I have appealing lips… "See, nothing." He pointed out my lack of words.

Benjamin sighed deeply. "You can't fall in love purely based on how someone looks," he said while slowly spinning his glass of cognac. "Why do you imply that I am in love with Zach?"

"And besides… are you seriously saying physical attraction does not exist?!" I said looking him straight in the eye.