POV: Skylar

A few months later.

"You seem pretty happy," Darleen points out to me as we walk up the steps of the fancy apartment.

"Huh, oh, I'm just excited. I've never been to London before."

"Heard from Jade?" Kenzie asks.

"Emm, yeah. I checked on her before I left."

When we walk inside Aphrodite is waiting for us. Her eyes light up when she sees us.

"Hey!" she runs over to me and into my arms.

I giggle and whirl her around.

Kenzie and Darleen share a look.

Truth is, things have been on the up and up for me since Jade and I officially separated. Things got bad at first. It only took a day before it leaked to the public. Jade had to make a statement and confirm the rumors that we indeed had broke things off.

Of course, all her crazy fans started harassing me and all that. I had to delete all my social media accounts and go off the grid for a while. Even at school, they would come to my track meets to boo me and throw things at me.

It was... a lot to handle.

Eventually, the hate died down and people started to leave me alone after Jade chastised her fans for doing those things to me. Then I finally qualified for the Olympics. Which was like a highlight for me. I was so happy and excited. I mean, I get to compete for America, in Paris.

How could I not be excited?

It took a while for Jade to finally start talking to me again. Even though we aren't engaged anymore we are still best friends. I check up on her regularly and she calls to talk to me at least once a week. Crazy that now we are separated from each other, our relationship is healthier than ever.

Does it still hurt?

Obviously, no one gets over a relationship like that overnight. But I'm remaining strong. Plus I had a little help in moving on to bigger and better things.

"Look at you, Olympian. Ready to win that gold?" Aphrodite asks me.

"More than ready, I was born for gold," I say.

"That's the spirit."

Darleen clears her throat.

"Oh, hey!" Aphrodite walks over to them and embraces them together for a fraction of a second before walking back over to me and leading us to her apartment.

After Jade and I broke up, for real, Aphrodite was really there for me. She'd come and visit me every weekend, sometimes even more than that. Always cheering me up and getting me to get out of bed and train for track.

We never became an item, but we did get pretty close. We are, like, friends with benefits. Sometimes things get heated and romantic between us, but we never let it get in the way of our friendship. We are just friends... with fun perks.

Besides, Aphrodite was finally able to move on from Darleen too. She even started dating this other girl she told me all about. But that didn't last long, the other girl was still in the closet and didn't want to come out for Aphrodite, so they broke up.

Aphrodite went back to Cambridge after her semester abroad, I had to stay in LA to qualify for the Olympics. This is the first time I've seen her since she went back, it's been at least a month, maybe 2 since we've seen each other in person.

But we still talk constantly.

Darleen and Mackenzie don't know about any of this though.

Out of the blue Aphrodite invited me to London to see her, and I said yes. But then we found out Darleen and Kenzie were also going to visit London this summer, so we all just went together. I'll stay with Aphrodite while they get their own place. They plan to stay here for the summer.

"She's potty-trained right?" Aphrodite says to Kenzie who holds Sprinkle in her arms.

They are going to be staying with Aphrodite while Darleen makes sure everything is ready for them. A week tops.

"Yes, who do you think you are talking about?" Kenzie says in a cute little baby voice before she kisses Sprinkle.

Darleen giggles at the two.

"Well, welcome to my domain. If your dog soils anything, I will kill her." Aphrodite says in a sweet and nice voice causing me to laugh.

She smiles at me.

"So, you two are close now?" Darleen says, unable to hold her tongue anymore.

"Something like that," Aphrodite booty bumps me.

"Jerk, you know you love me." I booty bump her back.

"Since when?" Kenzie asks.

"Since the whole Disney reunion thing. Where do you think I was when I skipped out on all our study groups?" She asks.

"Oh," Darleen says, an unreadable expression on her face.

"Speaking of which, my cats missed you when you left," I say.

"You should have brought them." She pouts.

"They are on their way. My mom and Oli are going to bring them when they come to visit." I say.

"They are more than welcome to stay here."

"You just want to keep the Countess for yourself."

"Guilty as charged. Me and that cat just get each other." She sighs.

I laugh.

"So, where is our room?" Kenzie asks.

"Oh, you two will stay in the guest room." Aphrodite leads the way.

Her apartment is huge. If it can even be called an apartment. She has a whole floor of this building to herself.

"Nice, thanks," Darleen says.

"No dogs on furniture please," Aphrodite says.

"No promises." Kenzie sets Sprinkle down and she immediately starts sniffing everything.

I giggle and pet Sprinkle as she wags her tail and looks around.

"And you, get to stay with me in my room. At least until Darleen and Kenzie leave, then you can have the guest room." Aphrodite pulls me away and leads me to her room.

"I don't mind." I set my bag down in her huge room.

"I had a feeling you wouldn't." she smiles at me now that we are somewhat alone.

I smile back.

"I missed you," she says.

"I missed you too." I grab her hands and interlock our fingers.

"Your cuddles are unmatched." She says.

"Well, you'll get your fill of cuddles tonight."

She just keeps smiling at me, and I smile back and we are just a couple of smiling idiots.

She breaks first, pushing up on her toes to kiss me. I close my eyes and kiss her back, passionately.

Things quickly take a hot and heated turn.

She pushes me and I stumble back into the wall, wrapping my arms around her. She moans into my mouth and grabs fistfuls of my shirt.

"Hey Kenzie and I are hungry we—" Darleen walks in on us.

We quickly pull apart and fix ourselves.

Darleen blinks at us in surprise.

I blush and avoid her gaze.

"So where are we going?" Kenzie walks up behind Darleen.

We all stare at each other in silence.

"What? What'd I miss?" Kenzie asks.

"We aren't like—" I start.

"Yeah, it's not, I mean she and I aren't..." Aphrodite adds.

"Yeah." I finish.

"Err okay, um anyway, we are hungry," Darleen says, her face full of awkward tension.

"What'd I miss?" Kenzie pouts.

"I'll tell you later," Darleen says to her.

"I know just the place, it's on a little strip. I can show you around some." Aphrodite says to me.

"I'd like that," I grab her hand.

She interlocks our fingers.

Kenzie eyes our hands and then looks back at Darleen who is bleeding awkward and panic as she meets Kenzie's eyes.

Kenzie raises an eyebrow at her.

The four of us go get something to eat. The streets and directions are very confusing here to me. If it wasn't for Aphrodite, I'd be hopelessly lost. Everyone drives on the wrong side of the road and the cars are backward too.

"Okay I can't take it, what did I miss, come on tell me." Kenzie pouts as we all sit in awkward silence eating our food.

I sigh.

Aphrodite and I share a look.

"Wait, are you two like... a thing?" Kenzie asks.

"I walked in on them um... kissing. Kissing with lots of tongue." Darleen says.

"Don't be a baby," Aphrodite rolls her eyes.

Kenzie makes a face.

"We aren't together, together. We are just like... I don't know, like friends with benefits." I say.

"Wow, that's weird," Kenzie says.

"How?" Aphrodite challenges.

"You two, together, but not together. Last I checked you two hated each other. Plus you're both Darleen's ex." Kenzie says.

"We worked out our differences," Aphrodite says.

"Plus we found out we have more in common than different," I add.

"Therapy here I come," Darleen sighs.

We all laugh.

"Please don't make it awkward. We're just friends." I say.

"Good friends," Aphrodite adds.

"Oh, this is going to be weird," Kenzie says.

"Very," Darleen adds, covering her face.

We giggle again.

"Let's just keep things civilized," Aphrodite says.

Darleen holds a thumbs up.

I can't help but laugh at her reaction. I mean, come on. She had to have known out of all her exes, Aphrodite and I were the most similar. I mean other than our social status, we are practically the same. We like a lot of the same things. Other than sports, she's not a fan of sports. But she still cheers me on, just like I listen to her music rants, even though I don't understand any of it.

We like the same food, have similar social and political views, and like the same movies. We even have similar ideas of fun activities to do. The only reason why I'm not dating her and probably never will date her is that we both dated the same person and that would be beyond weird. Plus, I'm still not really over Jade. I think I'm happy with being single for a while.

Aphrodite gives me what I need without needing or asking for more. Sure I get lonely and crave affection but I'm working on it, slowly pushing through this need. She's helping me, and I like that about her.

After lunch we walk around the city for a while, we end up splitting up so Kenzie and Darleen can do their own thing. Aphrodite takes me to the music hall and we sit in on someone rehearsing their French horn. Then we go for a walk in the park, just talking and holding hands. Finally, we grab some ice cream before making our way back to her apartment.

"Then I made a fool of myself and said, and I quote, if you're not into girls I don't have to be a girl." I groan.

She laughs so hard she nearly chokes on her ice cream.

I laugh too.

"Not my best line," I admit.

"Did it work?" she asks.

"No! I'm surprised she didn't put in a complaint on me." I sigh.

"Hitting on the towel girl, that's a new one." She says.

"I don't know, I thought she was cute and funny, and she's always sweet to me. I was getting the vibes you know?" I say as we walk upstairs.

"and now?"

"Now she never works when I'm there." I sigh.

She laughs again.

"Don't laugh at my misery," I playfully push her and pout.

"You have no game." She says as we approach her door.

"Tell me something I don't know."

She unlocks the door and we walk inside.

Darleen and Kenzie must have been back because the lights are on and Sprinkle is gone. They must have come to get her to take her for a walk. Aphrodite gave them the spare key.

"I'll probably be single forever," I sigh as I sit on the couch.

"Being single isn't so bad." She sits next to me.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm actually enjoying it. Somewhat. Can get lonely though. Sometimes I still miss Jade." I say.

"I thought you two were talking again." She points out.

"We are, but we keep it short and friendly. Just checking in on each other and whatnot. She's still struggling with it."

"Emm."

"What about you? Any luck with the ladies?" I ask.

"Hardly, my last relationship was a shipwreck, as you know. Haven't really seen anyone that's caught my attention since. Just been here, catching up on some things. Doing family stuff."

"Well, at least you're happy."

"Yeah," she smiles at me.

I finish up my ice cream and cuddle up with her on the couch. We sit in comfortable silence.

"I've never met your family," I say out of nowhere.

"They are busy people. Plus we like to keep to ourselves. They don't mess with me, and I don't mess with them. Always been that way with them. I have a new stepsister, we don't get along."

"Having a sister can be fun."

"Not when she's literal trash and tries to copy everything you do."

"When you put it that way." I chuckle.

"Humph," she sticks up her nose.

"You don't have to be so mean all the time." I squeeze her in my arms.

"I'm not mean." She pouts.

"You know they say imitation is the biggest form of flattery."

"Well, I find it annoying and unoriginal."

I peck her on the neck.

She gets quiet.

I do it again.

She turns in my arms and kisses me. I kiss her back. Soon she pushes me down onto my back and gets on top of me. I wrap my arms around her waist as we make out. Her luscious curly black hair falls into my face.

"You think we have time?" I ask between kisses.

"Yeah." She starts unbuttoning my shirt.

I lift her shirt over her head and toss it to the floor.

She opens my shirt up and runs her hands up and down the sides of my stomach.

She pulls back a moment to unbutton my shorts.

We spring apart when we hear the door unlock.

We don't have time to make ourselves decent before Sprinkle runs in and over to us and Darleen and Kenzie walk through the door.

I quickly close my shirt with my hands and cringe, feeling blush spread all over my face and neck.

Everyone is silent for a moment except for Sprinkle who barks happily at us and wags her tail.

Aphrodite grabs her shirt off the floor and storms into her room, her entire face as red as a tomato.

I sigh and let my head fall back on the couch, Sprinkle jumps up and starts licking me.

"Uh... sorry?" Kenzie says.

I grab a pillow and scream into it.

I wish they would just leave already.

I know that's mean but I'm pretty sure Aphrodite is rubbing off on me because I don't really care.

"Come on Sprinkle," Darleen grabs the dog away from me.

Kenzie pats my head on her way to the room.

They go inside and leave me out in the living room alone.

I sit up and make myself decent, buttoning up my shirt and zipping up my shorts.

It's going to be a long week. A very, long week.