Eden

Chapter 2: Noah

Noah's POV

I'm not interested in meeting anyone in a place like this. Never have, never will. Can't say the same for my brother though. Liam flashes his charming smile at a girl across the club and she immediately blushes.

You've gotta be kidding me. I know I heard that same girl talking about her boyfriend when we first walked in. I sit back in my lounge seat and watch the tragedy unfold. Liam rakes his fingers through his dark chestnut hair and readjusts his football team jacket before weaving through the crowd. Even though we're not twins, Dad always said Liam and I look like carbon copies of each other. The biggest difference other than our personalities is that Liam has brown eyes like my Dad and I have green eyes like Mom.

It only takes a minute before he returns, waving a piece of paper in the air with her number on it like it's a football trophy. A part of me was really hoping she'd find some self-respect and tell him to screw off.

"Dude, you gotta come over there with me. I found out that her name's Allison. She's got a friend just as hot as her who I think is into you," he says, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

"What happened to the girl you met at the pool earlier?" I ask.

He looks unbothered.

"Yeah, I mean she's cool and all but Allison-," he pauses, "Allison is hot. Like you should see the size of her ass."

I try my hardest to not roll my eyes as Liam begins to daze off into the disarray of rainbow strobe lights. The smirk on his face tells me he's probably thinking about how to get her back to our room tonight.

I take a sip of my ginger beer and try to relax. Even with Liam's incessant commentary on how attractive all the girls on this ship are, I've actually had a pretty fun night. I met a few guys who play on basketball teams on the East Coast. It's pretty amazing how much you can have in common with someone who lives on the other side of the country.

"You'll never guess who's here." Liam suddenly nudges me in the arm. I don't bother looking. There are probably more people on this ship that live in our city than anywhere else. This ship departed from home, and Los Angeles is huge.

Liam nudges me again. I look up to see a perplexed expression on his face as he opens his mouth to speak. "It's Bella."

I immediately sit up without thinking and scan the crowd. A few months ago, Bella and basketball were my whole world. Memories of her smile flood my mind. I used to love that smile. A smile that was once reserved for me.

"Stop messing with me man." I shrink back into my seat when I don't spot her. What are the odds that she'd be on this ship anyway?

"I swear I just saw her." Liam scans the crowd again. "Whatever, I'd rather she not be here anyway. She's was nothing but drama."

"Hey, chill," I glare at him. Liam might be right about her, and Bella might be my ex, but I loved her once. I'm not gonna let anyone disrespect her. Not even Liam.

He breaks the tension between us. "So are you coming with me? I hear Allison's friend's good at dancing," he says. I glance out at the crowd of girls who like dancing, and the guys who hate dancing but do it hoping to get the girls in bed.

"I'll pass. You know I'm not much of a dancer anyway."

Liam finally retreats. He knows if he kept nagging I'd eventually rip him a new one.

"Liam!" someone squeals. I turn to see two girls standing beside him. It's that girl Allison and her friend Liam had mentioned.

"Do you guys wanna come play pool with us?" Allison asks, twirling her tight black curls.