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I woke up with my phone pressed against the side of my face and it took me a few long moments before I realized that I fell asleep on the phone with Carter. Last night, we talked in whispers and airy laughs until the sun was almost out. Sometime in between trying to convince him to finish telling me his secret and feeling my heart almost leap out of my chest, I must've dozed off.

I took my time getting out of bed and instead tried to recall everything we talked about in the middle of the night. The fluttery feeling in my stomach didn't cease, even after I got up and took a shower and tried to move on with my day. By the time I was out of my shower, it was well past noon, and I went downstairs to find myself in an empty house.

There was a note taped to the refrigerator with my dad's chicken scratch carved onto the page torn out of a notebook telling me that he and my mom went to my aunt's house for the day. I took the note down and sighed as I glanced around the empty kitchen and tried to think what I should do today. However, an unexpected and loud knock from the front door interrupted my short lived pondering.

As I walked toward the door, more knocks came from the door, and it sounded like there were multiple people pounding on the wood. My brow pulled together in confusion and annoyance and when I finally reached the door, I yanked it open quickly to glare at the culprit. However, my harsh gaze softened into confusion when I saw Joey, Wes, and Georgina standing outside.

"Hey?" I greet them in obvious surprise. "What are you guys doing here?"

Joey grinned at me brightly. "We're going to the beach."

"So go get your bathing suit," Wes demanded. "We will give you five minutes to get ready."

With that, the boys walked past me and into my house, as if they had been there multiple times before. I frown at them and then glance back at Georgina in the doorway and notice that she looks as weary and tired as I probably do.

I lift an eyebrow and ask her, "Did they do this to you, too?"

Georgina gives me a blank stare. "They literally threw rocks at my window for a half hour before I finally woke up and let them in. I was dragged to the car."

Despite the annoyance in her tone, I couldn't help but laugh a little, and her resolve breaks as she cracks a smile. I eye her outfit and realize she isn't dressed for the beach at all and ask, "Are you wearing a bathing suit?"

She shakes her head and says despondently, "Like I said: I was dragged to the car."

I can't hold back another laugh as I shake my head. "Those boys are ridiculous," I mutter before I brighten. "Come on, you can borrow my clothes."

Georgina trails through my door and I shut it behind her before starting toward the stairs. Before I go up, I glance at the doorway leading into the kitchen and I'm not surprised to see Wes and Joey raiding my food pantry.

They really were something. Those boys had become my friends mere weeks ago; they've never been to my house, yet they were making themselves at home. Admittedly, I didn't mind it. They were ridiculous, but they were good friends.

I also couldn't help but appreciate the unexpected plans with them. Otherwise, I would've probably ended up either a) binge watching Netflix or, the unfortunately more realistic scenario, b) drive myself crazy thinking about Carter.

So, I show Georgina my bathing suits in the top right drawer of my dresser feeling grateful for the distraction. I change into my favorite floral bikini while Georgina puts on a plain dark blue suit. I loaned her shorts and a tank top and opted for a simple lilac dress myself.

I gather towels, sunscreen, and a book into a bag as I'm walking out my bedroom door. When we reach the bottom of the steps, I snatch my sunglasses sitting on the foyer table before peaking back into the kitchen.

"Are you guys-" I stop when my eyes fall on Wes, who had Joey in a headlock as Joey held a bag of chips in his far left hand. "What are you doing?"

Wes looks up and immediately drops his hold on Joey upon seeing Georgina's smirk. "Uh, he wouldn't-"

"The chips!" Joey cried as he stood up straight and glared at Wes. "He attacked me because I wouldn't give up my chips."

I raise an eyebrow at Joey and repeat, "Your chips?"

He smiles sheepishly and slowly puts the bag of chips behind his back to hide them from me. "What chips?"

Wes snatches the bag from Joey's hands and smirks victoriously at his friend. "My chips now, asshole."

I roll my eyes at them and reach forward to pluck the chips out of Wes' clutches. His smirk falls as he looks at me accusingly and I point out, "Actually, they're my chips. I'll bring them to the beach for everyone-" I give them both a look. "If you stop fighting and we leave."

Apparently this was the right thing to say, because both of the boys straighten up and brighten considerably. Without any more instruction, Wes and Joey filed out of the kitchen, and I heard the front door open a moment later.

I turned around to see Georgina laughing as she shakes her head in disbelief. "They would do anything for chips, I guess."

"Good to know," I noted jokingly.

We followed them out the front door and I saw Wes' sleek black Escalade parked in front of my house. Georgina perked up beside me and took off toward the passenger seat, effectively passing Joey as he made his way there.

"Shotgun!" Georgina cried instinctively, and a moment later, her hand was firmly on the door handle.

Wes smirked and opened his door. "Nicely done."

She grinned proudly at him. "I told you I'd get him back for earlier."

Joey pouted as I caught up to him and muttered, "I hate sitting in the back seat."

As I seem to frequently do around these boys, I roll my eyes at his childishness and say flatly, "Poor you."

He continues to pout while I climb in the back seat of Wes' car. Wes turns it on and rap music starts playing loudly through the stereo. I jump in surprise as Kanye pours through the speakers, but everyone else seems unaffected by it.

Wes started driving down my street, but instead of turning right toward the highway, he turned left. I watched in confusion as he turned onto Carter's street and felt my stomach pinch when I wondered if they were picking him up, too.

"Georgina," Joey continues whining. "Can we switch spots? I don't want to be squished back here with Carter, too."

His words confirmed my suspicions and I felt my mind reel back to our conversation last night. At the mention of Carter's name, nervous chills roll down my spine in waves, and I felt my nerves grow. His words from last night rang in my ears: I knew from the moment I saw you across the fire at camp. You'll figure it out soon.

Georgina glances at him over her shoulder with an unamused expression. "And you think I do?"

"Stop complaining Joey," Wes reprimands from the drivers seat.

Joey mimics Wes childishly and Wes stops in front of Carter's house. The boys waste no time in climbing out of the car, but Joey rounds the front and knocks on Georgina's window. She rolls it down and gives him a blank look.

"Yes, Joey?" Georgina asks flatly.

"Aren't you going to come in to get Carter?" He asks innocently, shooting her a casual smile. "Come on."

She laughs at his failed attempt and tuts at him. "You seriously think that I'm going to get up and give you the perfect opportunity to steal my seat? Think again, dude."

Joey's smile drops and he grumbles something under his breath while Wes laughs at the expense of his best friend. They trail off toward the front door of Carter's admittedly perfect house and, once they're out of earshot, I lean up toward the front seat.

"Are you sure you don't want to switch spots?" I ask her with a nervous smile. "I'd love to swap with you."

She glances at me and shoots me a smirk. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll have fun cozying up to Carter during the drive."

Something about the evil glint in her eye reminded me of Poppy, though I wasn't amused by her answer. My hopeful yet shaky smile falls as quickly as Joey's had when Georgina rejected him and I let out a labored breath. I leaned back in my seat and glanced out the window toward Carter's house.

Minutes later, Wes and Joey emerge with Carter in tow. Carter has a wide grin on his face as he holds a towel in one hand and shoves Wes with the other. They were all laughing about something, and the mere sight of his smile made my heart skip a beat in my chest. I looked away as they approached the car and tried to pretend unfazed.

When the back seat door opens on both sides, I glance to my right in time to watch Carter's gaze lift from the ground to meet mine. That gorgeous smile was still on his lips as his hazel eyes appraised mine with his ever sparkling golden flecks illuminating his iris.

"Hey," Carter greets coolly, his voice somehow deeper than it was on the phone.

I smile back tentatively. "Hey."

Joey climbs in the car and pushes me over a little while Carter slides in on my other side. By the time the doors were shut, my legs were flush against Carter's swim trunks and our shoulders knocked together every time Wes turned or went over a pothole.

Joey, Wes, and Georgina fell into conversation about the drive to the beach while I let my gaze rest on the window to watch the residences turn into large plots of land. That's something that I loved about growing up in Maine: you're never far from natural beauty.

"So," Carter says conversationally beside me, and I almost start when I hear his voice so close to my ear. "Did you get dragged out of your house, too?"

I glance at him with the beginnings of an amused smile on my lips. "There was even a chip incident."

My words catch Carter off guard and he blinks at me. "A chip incident?" I nod and he seems to ponder this for a moment. "Please, explain."

"Wes and Joey were wrestling over chips or something-" I begin to say, but quickly get cut off.

"I was winning," Wes interrupts smugly. "I had him in a head lock."

"You were only winning because you caught me off guard," Joey insists as he leans forward and almost over my lap to get in between the driver and passenger seats. In doing so, Joey consequently pushes me further into Carter, and my breathing hitched. "I was about to flip you over."

One of Carter's arms was somehow caught between my back and the car seat, while his other hand suddenly rested on my leg, just above my knee. His sudden touch sent electricity through me and I worked very hard to keep my knee from jerking from the feeling.

"Well," Carter hums in a sexy almost whisper as his gaze locks with mine. He was so close. When did he get this close? "We should sit in the back seat more often."

My body became hyper aware of every part of me that was touching him. My ankle, calf, kneecap, thigh, waist, side, arms. Our faces were only inches apart instead of the safe distance that they previously established.

The sounds of Joey and Wes fighting were becoming mere background noise as I got stuck in Carter's golden flecked stare. Before I could think better of it, I let my eyes fall down to his lips- which were dangerously close to mine- then quickly met his gaze again.

"How presumptuous of you," I somehow choked out and managed a playful grin that I hoped showed him I was definitely not thinking about kissing him.

His grip on my leg squeezed a tiny bit and I felt my breath catch in my throat again. My gaze fell to his hand as it slowly slid dangerously high on my thigh and I was certain that I was going to pass out. Carter had definitely, one hundred percent caught me out. He so knew I wanted him.

The car jerked left and suddenly I was being pulled away from Carter and instead crashed into Joey's side as I slid over in the back seat. My thigh felt on fire from where his hand had been but I felt myself finally able to regain some kind of composure once distance was placed between us.

"Amelia," Joey whines with his face practically pressed against the window. "You're hurting me!"

I roll my eyes and push off of him to find my original place in the middle. "It's not my fault that the driver is whipping the car around."

I give Wes a look when our gazes connect through the rearview mirror, and his eyes crinkle as he smirks at my expense. My gaze narrows when I realize that he was driving like a lunatic on purpose.

"Sorry," Wes apologizes with a noncommittal shrug.

Luckily, he drove like a normal human being for the rest of the short drive, and I didn't end up back in Carter's lap at any point. By the time we pulled into a parking spot by the entrance of the beach, I was practically shoving Joey out the door so I could escape the hellish confines of the back seat.

"Land!" I cry dramatically as I stumble out of the car. "Finally!"

Wes shuts his door and snorts at me. "Don't be dramatic," And then he lowers his voice and adds sweetly, "I could see how much you were enjoying the backseat."

I narrowed my eyes at him as he just laughed heartily and rounded the car to pull some things out of the trunk. I let out a huff and cross my arms before redirecting my gaze toward the sand waiting only yards away and the promising sounds of the ocean a little ways beyond.

Any traces of annoyance instantly escaped me upon smelling the salty air and hearing the seagulls cries down by the waterfront. I pull my bag closer to me and feel a lazy smile set itself on my lips as I start walking toward the sandy dunes.

Unsurprisingly, the beach was pretty packed on a beautiful Saturday like today. I stood at the base of the entrance and tried to scope out an empty spot and eventually found one a few yards to my right. The sounds of the boys joking got louder as they approached behind me, and I led the way to our new spot.

I set my towel down to claim our territory and Wes set up two beach chairs nearby to do the same. At the sound of rustling beside me, I looked to my left and saw Carter spread out his beach towel beside mine, and felt my heart skip a beat in anticipation. After all, we were at the beach, which meant that I would be very exposed to his very impressive body.

"Someone grab the speaker from the blue bag," Joey instructed as he drops his towel on the sand with his bag following closely behind it.

"Which blue bag?" Georgina asks in anguish. I glance over to see her staring at three bags, different shades of blue, sitting in the sand in front of the beach chairs. "They're all blue!"

Apparently Wes knew exactly which blue bag to look in, because he reached his hand into the leftmost bag and withdrew a speaker. Joey rolled his eyes at Georgina and said, "That blue bag, obviously."

I bit back a laugh as Georgina swatted Joey in the shoulder and glanced down at my own bag. Although I wanted nothing more than to grab my book and nuzzle into it for the next few hours, I knew that I had to deal with my sunscreen first.

Slowly, I get up from the towel and grab the spray on sunscreen from my bag. I take a few steps away from everyone so the spray wouldn't end up in their faces before I peel off my dress and get comfortable in my suit.

I toss my dress onto the towel and begin spraying my arms when I see Carter stand up in my peripheral and approach me. "Is that sunscreen?"

"No," I tell him sarcastically as I continue to spray my arms. "It's spray paint."

I peek over at him and smirk when I see his blank expression. "Ha-ha. You sure got me." Carter deadpanned, and I laughed a little. "Do you want me to get your back?"

My laughing stopped when I realized that I had been trying- unsuccessfully- to spray past my shoulders. For some reason, the simple question created a bolt of energy in the pit of my stomach. My lips felt particularly difficult to move, so instead I nodded and handed him the spray.

As I turned around to expose my back to Carter, I caught Georgina's eye and watched a knowing smirk slide onto her lips. I narrowed my eyes at her. After a moment of hesitation, I felt the cool spray stick to the already sweaty skin on my exposed back, and felt goosebumps prickle my arms when the spray slowly inched lower.

It felt like an eternity before Carter finally mumbled throatily behind me, "Uh, I'm done," and I finally turned around.

Our gazes caught each other immediately and I nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem," He drawls slowly, his eyes searching mine, but he gives up after a moment and holds the sunscreen a little higher. "Can I use this?"

The air between us was thick as I nodded. "Knock yourself out."

I give him a small, forced smile before I lay back on my towel and catch my breath. For some reason, even the simplest encounters with Carter seemed ten times more heated. The desire I had for him was as clear as day as the pure want gnawed at me whenever he was near.

This was going to be a long day.

In an attempt to ignore the insanely sexy boy lying on the towel beside me, I delve into my book. All was going well for about an hour, too. The sun was grazing my skin and warming my entire body as my eyes scanned the pages from over my favorite pair of sunglasses.

But eventually the warming skin on the back of my legs became too hot and the promise of a cool ocean only yards away became too enticing. I put my book down and sat up before glancing around at everyone else.

"Does anyone want to come in the water?" I ask optimistically, but nobody moves from their position.

"I'm not hot enough yet," Georgina mumbles from her seat.

Wes smirks a little. "I beg to differ."

Either Georgina's face caught a sunburn pretty quickly or she flushed immediately upon hearing Wes' remark. A loud snore brought my attention over to Joey, who was face down on a towel with his mouth hanging open.

I chuckled a little at Joey before glancing over at Carter on my side. He looked mouthwateringly attractive with sweat glistening his muscles and his hair pushed back effortlessly, to the point that I almost forgot what I was going to say.

"What about you?" I finally choke out. "Do you want to swim?"

To my relief or disappointment, I wasn't quite sure which, Carter shakes his head. "Not really. I'm going to nap instead."

I nod and force my gaze off of his extremely impressive body to turn around and head for the water. I walked through scattered towels and was careful to avoid all the artfully crafted sand castles until my toes sunk into the wet sand while the salty water washed over my feet.

There were a lot of people tanning under the sun, but not too many in the water. Some children ran along the shoreline where the water only reached their ankles while others sat on their knees and made drip castles with the wet sand.

The water was cold, but I didn't let that deter me. I acclimated to the temperature as I waded further in, and eventually, when the water was up to my waist and a wave was crashing, I dove under. I felt a gust wash over me before I break free and wipe the water droplets from my eyes.