“Come on, wake up sleepy heads,” a voice spoke, gently shaking me out of a dream.

I looked over, dazed and half asleep to see Callie and Melissa looking just as tired. Kevin stood at the opening of the car grinning.

“We’re here.”

We looked around us. Saying that it was beautiful would have been a colossal understatement. We’d entered the gated property and a large white house loomed in front of us, almost looking as if it was made out of some kind of glass. Through the gates behind us, the sea stretched as far and wide as we could see. Palm trees dotted the pure white sand.

We got up excitedly and scrambled out of the car, now fully awake.

“Ahhh, the sea is calling me,” Callie said, taking a deep breath of the salty air.

Melissa stretched in the warmth of the sun and smiled contentedly. Trey and Demetri milled out of the car and looked around in appreciation.

“You have a really cool place,” Trey complimented.

Demetri nodded in agreement.

“You should have told us about this place earlier,” Callie said, giving Kevin a slap on his chest. Then she massaged her hand with a scowl. “You’re so hard!”

“That’s what she- you what, never mind,” he chuckled, opening up the house. “Let’s enjoy ourselves today.”

“Yeah!” we cheered.

Melissa linked arms with me and on the other side of her was Trey. I didn’t really want to be a third wheel, but she wasn’t going to make me feel left out.

Trey was telling us about the time he had helped to rescue a seal that had washed up at the beach. I eventually managed to break away from them once we were inside the house.

“Okay, so there are five bedrooms here…” Kevin trailed off. “But the girls agreed to share a room so I guess it works out. You can have any room you choose, they’re on the second floor.”

Everyone went off to go find their rooms. I looked back to see Kevin and Ashton talking in low tones. I wonder what that was about. I couldn’t see Kevin’s expression, but Ashton looked out of it. I would have to find out what was bothering him later, I decided.

It was just 11 a.m when we finished arranging our stuff in our rooms and changed into our swimsuits. We applied sunscreen and put on some cover ups. I grabbed the book that I had placed into my bag. I had no intention of going into the water. I just wanted to read and enjoy the sunshine.

The girls went to go find their boyfriends and I headed downstairs, looking for Kevin and Ashton. I found Kevin in the kitchen slicing some watermelons.

“Let me help with that,” I said, getting a knife.

In a minute or so we were done and we put them to chill in ice.

“Are you heading out to the beach now?” Kevin asked, eyeing the book in my hand.

“Yeah. Where’s Ashton?” I asked as casually as I could.

A hint of concern appeared in Kevin’s eyes. “Probably in his room… he had a hell of a weekend.”

I arched my brow in curiosity. “What happened?”

“He-”

“Elizabeth,” Ashton interrupted, coming downstairs.

I turned to face him and he whistled. “You are pretty hot.”

I scrunched up my nose and pulled my cover up closer around me. He crossed the distance between us and slung a hand over my shoulder. “Let’s hit the beach.”

Kevin stared at us for a moment and then smiled. “Let’s go.”

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I plopped down on a beach chair underneath a shady palm tree and opened my book. I inhaled deeply. It still had that new book smell. This was heaven. I sighed happily.

“What are you doing?” Ashton scoffed.

“I think it’s called reading,” I said, tapping my chin in pretend thought.

“Did you come all the way here just to read?”

“I’ll have you know that reading at the beach is a whole different kind of reading.”

He stared at me skeptically. “You’re such a nerd.”

“Yup,” I said, popping the p. I patted the deck chair beside me. “Come read with me.”

“Not a chance,” he scoffed and then tried to grab the book out of my hands, but I held onto it for dear life and refused to let go.

“Don’t make me do this,” he said darkly.

I glanced up at him. “I’m not scared of you.”

“This is your final warning. It’s either me or the boo-”

“The book,” I said without waiting for him to finish

He sighed. “I didn’t want to do this, but you leave me no choice.”

He came closer to me until he was standing right above me, but I ignored him and continued reading.

The next thing I know I was wiggling around the deck chair trying to get away from his hands. The laughter was uncontrollable as I kicked at him blindly.

“Ash- Ashton!” I laughed hysterically. “S-stop tickling me,” I gasped as he attacked my sides.

I was very ticklish so this was an attack that I couldn’t endure.

“Are you going to put the book down?”

I tried to stand my ground, but he just increased the intensity of the tickles.

“Pffft!” I laughed as I dropped the book and slid out of the deck chair.

Ashton stood back proudly. I glared up at him.

“At least let me finish this chapter.”

“No.” And with that he picked me up, bridal style and ran towards the water.

Melissa and Callie stared at us and two big Cheshire cat grins spread across their faces as they looked at each other. I buried my head in my hands as my face heated up.

“Ashton, this is embarrassing. Put me down, my friends are watching,” I protested, kicking my feet in the air but he ignored me.

“Ashton!” I yelled as he waded into the water.

“You had the option to walk down here, but you refused,” he grinned. “Where’s your necklace?”

“Hmm…” I felt my neck instinctively. “I left it in the room because I didn’t want it to get lost.”

“Good girl.”

The water was just below my back now and I was getting worried. There’s no way he planned to dunk me.

“Uhh… Ashton?” I asked as he kept going out further. “How far out are you planning to go? As you might have realized I’m no Michael Phelps.”

He just looked down at me and grinned. Mischief played in his blue eyes. I looked past Ashton, searching for Kevin, but he was peacefully floating along the waves with his eyes closed. Callie and Demetri were enjoying the water, and Melissa was burying Trey in the sand.

Kevin seemed to be my only hope of escaping. He was far away, but he might still be able to hear me with his super creepy but super awesome Origen hearing.

I took a deep breath.

“Ke-” I started to yell, but then Ashton loosed his hold on me considerably. I clutched at him in panic as I hit the water.

He leaned down to whisper in my ear. “If you call for another guy, you’re going in the water."

“Ashton,” I croaked as the salty spray of the water splashed my face.

“Yes, princess?” he smiled.

“You’re such a jerk.” Words I regretted as soon as I said them.

He glared at me mischievously. “Take a deep breath.”

“Wha-” I started, but hurriedly took a gulp of air as Ashton submerged me in the water.

It only lasted a second, but it was enough for me to throw my arms around his neck in panic.

“Ashton!” I yelled, pounding on his chest.

He chuckled and then leaned down to plant a quick kiss on my lips. I kicked my legs and that splashed some of the salty water in his face.

We stayed in the water longer than I had expected. He had carried me closer to the shore and was teaching me how to float. He insisted that I should at least learn to do that much.

At first it was terrifying, but feeling his strong arms beneath my back and seeing a reliable look in his eyes, I managed to feel more relaxed and after a few minutes I was floating on my own. I grinned up at him as he stayed beside me in case I got panicked or cramped.

I did notice a slight black tint around his eyes, but the timing didn’t feel right to ask about that yet. Instead, I tried to keep him occupied with some fun as we splashed around in the water.

At lunch, he was definitely more animated than during the car ride this morning. He played with my hair and talked with the guys. He even joked around with Melissa and Callie. They had put all of his past actions aside and had welcomed him into the little group.

Well, Callie had. It would take a bit more than that to win Melissa over.

Melissa’s phone was playing music in the background and we were all talking and laughing while eating. I never imagined that the beach trip could have been so much fun.

Callie, Melissa, Kevin and I made sure to take lots of videos and pictures together. Regular pictures, goofy pictures, aesthetic pictures… everything.

Ashton and the guys were engaged in a football competition, so I finally got around to reading my book while Callie practiced lines for an upcoming audition.

Melissa and Kevin were having some sort of heart to heart talk by the water. Everything was so fun and peaceful. I wished it would last forever.

Nothing could spoil this day.

Evening went by pretty quickly and after we had rejuvenated ourselves with some nice warm baths, we headed down to the shore where the guys had constructed a small camp fire. There were four logs around the fire.

Melissa and Trey sat on one while Callie and Demetri shared another. Ashton pulled me down beside him and Kevin sat on the last one. He looked around and pouted.

“Why am I the seventh wheel?” he complained.

“You should have invited someone. Any girl at school would have been more than happy to come with you,” Melissa said.

“I honestly don’t understand how you’re single when you’re so popular,” Callie teased.

Kevin shrugged. “I’m a lost cause.”

We laughed at this. We roasted marshmallows and made smores and played some games like Would You Rather and Never Have I Ever. Kevin had even brought a guitar out and it turned out that Trey was a pretty good singer. The stars had begun to come out and the waves crashed softly behind us.

“Hey,” Ashton whispered. “Come take a walk with me.”

I shot him a confused look, but took the hand he extended and stood up.

“We’ll be back,” he said, flashing my friends a smile.

Callie nodded and winked at me while Melissa told us to be careful. Kevin gave Ashton a curious look, but didn’t say anything.

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