[oneshot]

*set somewhere in season 3 before 'Beach Party'*

Sliding down into a booth seat at Rikki's Café, Cleo smiled at her two best friends and said, "Today, like most days, is a pretty beautiful day. I say we take advantage of this weather and head out to Mako. What do you two say? Are you up for a swim?"

"I don't know about her, but I'm definitely up for a swim," Rikki said, smiling back at Cleo. "The weather is nicer than usual, and not going to Mako today would be a shame, since it's so nice outside. I bet the water's real nice. What do you reckon, Bella?" After not hearing a response, she repeated, "Bella?"

"Oh, sorry. You two were talking about Mako Island, right?"

Rikki smirked and glanced over at her. "You seem more distracted than usual," she commented. "What's gotten you so perky?"

"Nothing, nothing," she said, shaking it off. "It's just a really nice day today, it's got me in a positive mood. So, what were you guys saying about Mako?"

"We wanted to go for a swim, unless you're too preoccupied to come with us," Cleo said, tapping the table impatiently. "We might want to go now, before the good weather is taken away by the sun going down."

"I disagree. Late night swims are always quite nice," Rikki objected, shrugging her shoulders. "Anyways, Bella, are you in or what?"

"Well, actually, Will wanted me to come over to his place and help him train. He has a diving thing coming up soon, and..." Bella began slowly, biting her lip. "Sorry."

Rikki smirked and said, "We should have known that Will was the one who's been texting you all afternoon, and has gotten you all giddy every time you look at your phone. Is there something Cleo and I should know about, hmm?"

"No, not at all," Bella denied, shrugging her shoulders. "We are just going to swim a few laps and stuff. With Sophie working here at the café, he needs his guest coach." She tried not to giggle. "You guys are silly, though. We are just friends."

"Aw, that's what they all say," Cleo teased, winking at Rikki slightly. "Let's leave those two to 'train'. Come on, Rikki. We can still go for a swim while the water's nice."

"Hey, I meant it!" Bella called after them as they left. "We are just friends, and we are just going to be training!" But they giggled as they left the café, not caring about her denial. They saw through her 'just friends' act better than she could.

...

"Bella, is that you?"

She nodded her head, stepping into the practice pools. No one was there except Will, and he had already put on his swim trunks. Bella's bright blue eyes gazed at his shirtless torso for a moment. She tried snapping out of it, and looked back up at him. He offered her a smile.

"I'm glad you could make it," he said, sticking his feet into the water. "Sophie didn't want me to stop training, so while she works at he café, she told me to keep practicing. She made sure no one would come here today, too, which means we are going to be all... alone..." his hand reached over to grab hers, his hot breath brushing against her neck gently. "I mean... so that you can swim with me."

Her body was super tense. She thought he just meant them being alone. It sort of calmed her down when he said for swimming, although she was also somewhat relieved. The thought of being alone with Will scared her just a tiny bit, even though she knew he was a nice guy and wouldn't ever hurt her.

"Are you sure nobody is going to be here?" Bella asked cautiously. "I can't let anybody see me... you know... with my tail."

He stepped a little bit closer and quietly said, "I'm not going to let that happen to you."

He let go of her hand before jumping right into the pool. Bella took a deep breath. She couldn't stop staring at Will. She just couldn't help it. Maybe Cleo and Rikki were right. She felt like she didn't just have a crush on him. She did, but... he was infatuating. How could somebody be so amazing?

"Bella, are you coming in?" he asked, his head popping out of the pool. "Come on in, the water is great."

"Yeah, I'm sure it is..." she mumbled.

"Don't worry, nobody is going to see you," he promised, and offered her a hand into the pool. "Now, come on in."

She sighed, and took his hand. She let the water soak her body. Within seconds, she started her transformation. Her tail slowly began to appear, and Will grinned at her as he watched. Once she transformed, he gave her a nod asking for confirmation to begin swimming, and she nodded back. They both dove their heads into the pool, and started swimming across the lane.

She felt her whole body tense when a hand took hers while she was swimming. She had a pretty good idea whose hand it was, but she was still tensed by it. She looked to her right, and it was obviously exactly the person she thought it belonged to. He smiled as they kept swimming through the lane together.

Popping his head out of the water, Will asked, "Do you want to go inside the shack and have something to eat?"

She popped her head out as well and answered, "I would love to. But... maybe you'd like to swim one more lap with me before we go inside for a break?"

"Of course. The more I train, the better," Will said, nodding his head. "See? I don't get why Sophie thinks you're such a bad influence on me. You influence me to train even more. This is training, isn't it?"

She nodded her head, but she couldn't help but feel a slight bit disappointed. Maybe part of her wanted it to be more than just training. He always wanted to train with her. She wanted him to just want to talk to her, and sit down with her. Not swim with her. The break was seeming all the more appealing.

They both sunk their heads back into the water. Will started doing his mermaid swim, and Bella naturally did hers. When they were approaching the end of the lane, Bella felt shocked. A pair of lips landed on hers. And once again, she knew whose lips...

Her eyes were wide as he kissed her underneath the water. His hands cupped her cheeks gently. Pulling back, she floated up to the surface, still in shock. Will reached the surface with her, biting his lip. He was a slight bit nervous, seeing that she didn't seem to have the best reaction.

"S-sorry..." he mumbled, his body trembling. "Was that too soon?"

They had almost kissed several times, but that time, they really did. When she looked up at him, she could tell he was nervous. Of course he was nervous. He was Will. He had always been a shy guy, so never had she expected for him to make that move of going in to kiss her.

"I..." Bella began, but couldn't think of anything to say.

"I was being stupid," he said, staring at the blue water below them. "I'm sorry, Bella, I'm really sorry."

A surge of confidence rushed through her. Roughly gripping onto his cheeks, Bella leaned back in and pressed her lips against Will's. He was startled by the intensity, but placed his hands on her petite waist and kissed her back. He could feel the scales of her tail as he ran his hands down her.

All of a sudden, Bella felt herself get insecure again. What if she was messing everything up? It couldn't go any further, anyways. She was her mermaid self. She pulled back quickly, feeling embarrassed about kissing him. He stood there, paddling in the water, holding on to her.

"So... how about we go back to the shack for that break?" Bella suggested, biting her lip.

He didn't know what else to do, so he nodded and went along with it. Climbing out of the pool, he took her hand and helped her out. He grabbed a few towels for her so she could dry herself and transform back. Once she got her legs again, the two of them went back to the shack. Will got a juice for her, and a juice for himself.

"Bella, I know you weren't expecting what happened at the pool, and..." he started.

"Yeah," she cut him off, nodding her head. "I know, I wasn't. It's all right. We can just forget about it if you want."

He furrowed his eyebrows and said, "But the thing is, I don't want to just forget about it. I liked it. I like you. A lot. And it's been this way for a long time. Cleo and Rikki are my friends, but I want you to be more than that."

She was shocked how forward he was being about it. She wasn't ready for him to blurt that out, she just wasn't expecting it. She loved hearing it, but she wasn't expecting it. Like how she wasn't expecting that kiss.

"Those are some really nice shells you've got there," she changed the subject, turning around and glancing at some of the shells in his collection.

"Thanks, but you've never really cared for my collection," he reminded.

"I haven't?" she said, biting her lip. "Wow, I really should have paid more attention. These are, um, amazing. I love them."

"No... you don't," he said, stepping near the collection, and beside her. "You've never cared about my shells. You zone out whenever I talk about them. Why is this changing? Why are you changing the subject?" He stared at the floor. "Oh... I get it. You don't see me that way. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you into kissing me and I shouldn't have confessed all that stuff. It was stupid."

But it wasn't stupid. I'm stupid, she thought, glancing down at his still shirtless body.

She did see him that way, and she could only think of one way to show him that without saying it out loud, which she was too scared to say. Propping onto her tip toes, Bella pressed her lips against Will's. She ran her fingertips up his muscular back, until they reached his neck. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him harder. Luckily for her, he wasn't even hesitant to kiss her back.

It was like every emotion, every feeling, every glance, they ever shared was just being magnified. All that desire had been bottled up for so long, but at that moment, it was just bursting open like a soda bottle after it had been shaken. They were both exploding.

Will's mouth collided roughly with Bella's. His tongue wandered into her mouth, and he was gripping onto the hem of her tank top. She was left breathless as her hands ran down his chiseled chest. She had waited far too long to touch his abdominal muscles. Every time she swam with him, there was always that desire to touch his muscular body, and at that moment, she finally could. She had him. He had her.

Being young and dumb, they fell back onto Will's bed, their mouths still passionately pressed against each other's. As his tongue went deeper into her mouth, a moan escaped. More moans escaped her mouth once Will laid kisses down her neck. He hovered on top of her. He had never imagined Bella being in his bed. He never thought the day would come where he actually got to touch her like that. He thought he would be friend zoned forever.

Will's heartbeat was faster than ever. None of his diving warm ups to lower his heart rate could help, because touching Bella like that made his heart race like never before. He gripped the hem of her tank too again, but the second time, he started to pull it over Bella's head. She didn't reject the action.

Next, he started to pull her short shorts down her tan legs. He pressed kisses to the top of her head, stroking her beautiful blonde hair as her short shorts came off of her legs. Being dangerous, Bella ran her hand over the crotch of Will's swim trunks. He bit his lip to stop the moan from escaping his mouth, but Bella didn't stop there. She kept rubbing. His eyes glanced at her. She could feel him breathing, since he was on top of her, his body pressed against hers.

"Sophie wouldn't like this..." Bella whispered.

"Forget Sophie."

She never thought she would hear her Will say that. She tried not to giggle when he said that. She liked the thought of forgetting Sophie for a change. Sure, she was Will's beloved sister, but the girl was a bitch, and everybody agreed on that.

Will was going to laugh with her, but then he realized that he was on top of his crush, who was half naked, too. He couldn't believe Bella was there, in her lingerie. Who would have thought it would be happening?

His hands wrapped around her, slowly unhooking her bra. He pushed it off of her body slowly, but only because he was so nervous. She realized his nervousness, and pressed a kiss to his lips, despite how nervous she was as well. Her bright blue eyes were unable to look at him. She knew he was going to look at her body, and she wasn't sure that she wanted to see his reaction. How many insensitive pigs called her hot and whistled at her as they walked by on the beach? Enough to make her sick of it. She knew Will was a good guy, but she really hoped he didn't just like her for her body.

"You," Will began quietly, sucking on her neck gently, "are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen."

Beautiful? That was new. Her heart fluttered as his hands stroked down her bare torso. His fingertips gripped the hem of her panties, and he looped his fingers around. He buried his nose into her neck, leaving a light kiss as her panties started to go further down her long, tan legs.

Bella looped her fingers around the waistband of Will's swim trunks. Nervousness was rushing through her. The whole thing felt real... so real. But, she had never done it before. She had never taken a guy's shorts off before. All the boys thought she would be so experienced at it, but she wasn't. It was all new to her. But if anyone, she was glad that the first experience could be with Will.

He, nervous as well, sunk down lower and pressed a kiss to her lips, his hands running through her blonde hair. Kissing him back fiercely, Bella wrapped her legs around his waist. Her hands ran down his chest, until they met back at the hem of his swim trunks, where they had been not long ago. She pushed them all the way down. It was necessary for her to bite her tongue in order to not be overwhelmed when she saw what was underneath his trunks.

They stopped their mouth action for a minute. Will's thumbs brushed against Bella's cheeks gently. He pressed his nose to hers, and looked into her deep blue eyes. She was shocked. He wasn't even looking at her body. He was looking straight into her eyes. At that moment, she was more certain than ever that Will was different from all the other guys in the world. He didn't care about her looks or her body. He cared about her, as a person. He liked her for who she was.

After taking a moment to protect himself, he allowed Bella to wrap her legs around his waist again. It took him a while to figure out where to go, since he was just as new at it as she was. He found the place to go, and pushed in as slowly as he could. As his member went deeper inside of her, tears were jerked from Bella's eyes. She wasn't crying out of sadness. It just was uncontrollable. She figured it was just because it was her first time, so she didn't really worry too much about it. She didn't want to stop the whole perfect thing because there was a little pain.

Rocking back and forth on top of her, Will snuggled into her neck. He left soft kisses as he kept pushing. His breaths were unsteady, and so was his heart beat. His hands held onto the rim of his bed. The only thing Bella could grip onto was Will's bare back. Her hands scratched down his muscular back, leaving obvious scratch marks on it. She knew Sophie wouldn't like that. Sophie would never approve of them having sex, especially in their shack. But if Will could forget her for that moment, so could Bella.

As he continued to rock, both of their breathing patterns grew unsteadier. At that moment, he felt more close to her than ever. They were as close as two human beings could get. Being that close to Bella made him realize something. He watched her run her hands down his back, her eyes closed. She looked so perfect, so he couldn't help but smile. Still smiling, he thought, I think... I think I love her.

He did. He loved her. Being that close to her made him sure of it. He had never loved anyone the way he loved Bella. That's why he let his desire for her get the best of him. That's why he was sitting there, sleeping with her, while he should have been training. He loved diving, he really did. But he loved Bella more. He loved Bella more than anything.

He could tell she was in pain. He was happy that she hadn't shared this kind of experience with anybody else. He knew how many guys had taken an interest in her, so he felt lucky to be the one to get to hold her at that moment. Out of all the guys, she wanted him.

He held her petite frame, not wanting to crush her or anything of that sort. He pressed his lips against her cheek. He didn't like seeing her cry, even though he knew it was probably due to the pain or soreness of her first time. Making love to her was better than being in the ocean. He always thought being out there in the ocean, diving, doing what he loved... He thought that was his home. But, he, from then on, knew that there was nothing better than being with Bella.

Bella's whole body started to tense. It was some feeling that she never experienced before. It was like nothing else in the world. Her toes started to curl, and she held on to Will's back tightly. What the hell was happening? It was an unexplainable feeling. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't really give a description of it. She could say it was sensational, but she didn't really know. Will realized her change, and pressed a kiss to her lips, passionate and perfect. While it did help soothe her a little, the weird sensation still hadn't gone away.

She had dealt with all sorts of crazy mermaid whacko stuff, but she couldn't deal with that sensation. It was good, bad, awkward, messy, she didn't even know what to say. It wasn't what she was expecting.

But then she realized what was happening. She came. She had orgasmed. It was so hard to think of herself doing that. She always thought of herself as innocent, but was she really? For some reason, she felt embarrassed. She couldn't make eye contact with Will. Again, she knew he was a good guy, but... it was embarrassing. Orgasming. The word was so iffy to her. She thought she would be able to control herself, but she couldn't.

She closed her eyes, and thought. She thought about every touch. She thought about the way Will touched her, kissed her, made love to her. It was perfect. It was all so damn perfect. Finally, he pulled out of her. She furrowed her eyebrows curiously. It seemed that he had came, too, only when he came, it didn't seem as obvious. He flipped them over so Bella could lay on his chest. She buried her head into his bare chest, wrapping his arms around him.

He wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her that he loved her. But, he didn't want to scare her away. They weren't even officially dating. Technically, all they did was have sex. If he said he loved her, it would be too soon, wouldn't it? Instead, he toyed with her hair, looking up at her lovingly. She had taken her head out of his chest, and was hovering over him. He smiled at her, and she smiled at him. They made eye contact for the first time since she came. His smile made her melt.

She leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on his lips, and cupped his cheeks, brushing her thumbs against his cheeks. He held her waist, gently stroking her lower back. He closed his eyes, and their foreheads touched. Then, their lips connected again, with pure passion. He rose up from the bed, kissing her harder. His hands ran through her blonde hair wildly.

"Um... we should... we should go," she mumbled, speaking up, breaking their passionate kiss.

"You're right. Sophie is due home from the café in only a little bit," Will agreed, sitting up. He held her hand in his. "She would murder us."

Bella offered him a smile, but she could barely process what was going on. She was talking to Will about how Sophie would be furious about them having sex while she was gone. The thought that they just had sex was still appalling to Bella! She wanted to tell Cleo and Rikki about how she had her first time, but she knew they would ask questions, and she knew Rikki would get pissed at her for sleeping with him before they had a relationship.

Bella popped off his chest, and out of his lap. She grabbed her clothes from the floor, and started to re-dress herself. She put her short shorts on first, biting her lip as she looked over at Will, who was putting on a pair of khaki shorts that he got from his closet. In his hand, he had not one, but two shirts. And Bella couldn't figure out why.

"Do you want a fresh shirt?" Will asked, unable to look her in the eyes. "I mean, you wouldn't want to wear the same shirt... right? I know it is a shirt intended for boys, but... I think it would look fine on you."

"Your shirt?" Bella inquired, her jaw about to drop. "Will, you don't have—"

"But I want to," he said, handing her the shirt with a smile. "I like the idea of it, too."

There it was again. The butterflies. She hated how Will could make her feel that way so easily. All the words he said to her caused her to get those damn butterflies. Their hands touched for a brief moment as he handed his large shirt to her. It was a loose, short-sleeved shirt. Without putting her bra back on, Bella slid his shirt over. Will's grin was adorable and large. He stopped staring at how perfect she looked in his shirt, and slid another shirt on his own self.

The door all of a sudden burst open, and they thought it would be Sophie, but it wasn't. It was Cleo and Rikki, smiling as they walked in. Will glanced at Bella, surprised. She couldn't believe that he didn't even lock the door while they were... doing stuff together. What if somebody had walked in while they were in the middle of it?

"We knew you would still be here," Rikki said, giggling. "We went for a nice swim without you. Any chance you could come back to the café with us? Zane was being a nice guy and let me off of work for the rest of the day. I would like to relax during my day off, and have a little fun. And that includes going to the café to watch Zane suffer and work while I relax."

"If you keep taunting your own boyfriend, he won't give you any more days off," Cleo warned.

"Ahh, well, I'll risk it," Rikki said, chuckling and shrugging her shoulders. "Are you coming, Bella? You should come, too, Will."

He nodded his head and choked out in a muffled voice, "Um, I'll... I'll go if Bella goes."

"I'm alright with it," Bella said, nodding her head. She glanced at Will for a moment. "So, we should go now, right?"

...

Rikki slid into the booth seat, sliding smoothies over to each person. She watched Bella carefully, noticing her constant glances at Will. She was picking up on something. The girls all started to sip their smoothies, but Will didn't drink his just yet.

"I'm going to go wash my hands in the restroom," he spoke up. "I'll be right back."

As soon as he walked to the restroom, Rikki asked, "You better speak up now! What happened between you two at his place?"

Bella raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean? Nothing happened. We were just training."

"Right, right," Rikki said, smirking. "So, when did you get that new shirt of yours? And where? Will's men's clothing store? I've seen him wear that shirt. He was wearing it today."

"Yes, and my shirt got soaked when I was changing into my swimsuit before we changed, so he let me wear his shirt," Bella lied.

"Oh, okay, and since when do mermaids have to wear swimsuits in the pool?" Rikki interrogated. "Hello! You've got a magical tail that shows up when you touch water."

"We were going to the beach for a swim in the ocean first," Bella made up. "But then he changed his mind. Sophie had some sponsor coming for his laps rather than his free diving stuff. He wanted to please her. Plus, Sophie called and told him that she got the pool free so he could focus on his training, and I could swim with my tail."

"Oh, Rikki, would you just leave the poor girl alone?" Cleo said, laughing quietly. "She's shaking just because of your questions. Let her have fun with her beau."

Rikki shrugged her shoulders and said, "I just wanted her to be safe and cautious of what she's doing."

"Safe and cautious? No one saw my tail, and we were alone in the pool. I think I was being safe. He already knows about us, and he's the only one who saw me," Bella defended. "So what do you mean by cautious? I was as cautious as I could be!"

"No, you weren't. Think real hard about safety, Bella," Rikki said, biting her lip with a smirk.

"Oh lord, Rikki, you don't mean what I think you mean, do you?" Cleo asked, sighing loudly. "Ignore her, Bella. She's just being immature."

"Thanks, but I still don't know—" she started. "Oh. Oh!" She instantly felt nervous, because that un-safety was exactly what happened. However, they were safe with it! Maybe she should have waited longer, but she wouldn't take it back. The experience was perfect.

Will finally returned from the restroom, sliding back into the booth seat. Luckily for Bella, Rikki didn't bring it up anymore. They all drank their smoothies and had regular conversations. After glancing at his wrist watch, Will looked back up and faced his crush.

"Hey, it's my second training time of the day," he announced. "You should come with me, Bella. Training with you earlier was a lot of fun."

She smiled at him and said, "Yeah... yeah, it was. I would love to. Cleo, Rikki, I'm going to head off early and do some more training with Will. I'll see you both later today, or maybe tomorrow."

Will grabbed Bella's hand and started walking towards the exit of Rikki's Café.

"I forgot my bag," she said, letting go of his hand. "I'll be right back. You can keep walking."

He nodded his head, and did as told. She returned to Rikki and Cleo's booth seat in the café, grabbing her bag from the table. Before she could go, Rikki grabbed her hand.

Quietly, she whispered, "Use condoms."

Bella was startled, and yanked herself away from Rikki.

"Bella, are you coming?" Will called, peeping back into the restaurant. "Come on!"

"I am going o leave right now," she said, and walked away from Rikki quickly.

Catching back up to Will, she took his hand again. Their fingers laced, and it felt right. Being with Will felt right.