[Copyright © 2013 A Deal with the Daredevil]

All rights reserved.

***

Casey's POV

I had always been a fan of the beach. Who wasn't? Laying under the warm sun, burying your toes in the wet sand, swimming in the clear blue waters, what could be better? I had fond memories of the beach, which to me was a big deal, considering that most of my memories weren't good. But the few good memories that I did have, were of the beach.

But of course, going to the beach in Pennsylvania during December was out of the question. Fortunately for us, we would not spend winter break in Pennsylvania, nope, we would be spending it in Laguna Beach, California. Our senior class president had decided to organize the trip, since most of the seniors were whining about having to spend it in the cold—yes, I do realize how weird that is. But...I was not complaining. I had always loved California and spending Christmas away from my empty home with my best friend would be a nice change. On top of that, this would be a great opportunity for me to show Drake that I could be spontaneous.

"Nissa, what the hell?" I asked my best friend with wide eyes as I stared at the four piece of luggage sitting in our foyer. I knew Nissa liked to over pack, I'd been on a lot of trips with her, but this was over-doing it.

She shrugged nonchalantly, "It's a school trip, which means Seth will be there." My mouth formed a silent oh, understandingly.

"Okay, girls, are you sure you have everything?" Nadia asked, walking in the room, a bounce in her step. Nadia was getting the week off and she was traveling down to New York to visit her family, something she was really excited about. When my family had moved to Pennsylvania from New York, Nadia had moved with us, not wanting to leave me alone. Nadia had always taken care of me, she'd always made sure that she was there for me, no matter what. I guess that's why she was like my mom.

I nodded and turned to Nissa, when she nodded, I turned back to Nadia with an excited grin. "I think we're good to go." She nodded and shooed us out the door, following behind. The limo that would take us to the airport, where we would take a flight to Los Angeles was already parked in front of the house.

"Promise me you're going to be careful," Nadia asked from behind me, turning around I grabbed her in a tight hug.

"I promise. I'll see you soon. Have a great Christmas." I pulled back and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Say hi to the family." She smiled fondly with a nod, then turned to Nissa and gave her a quick hug and kiss.

Once we were able to detach ourselves from Nadia, we rushed into the limo and drove off to airport, with Nissa and I gushing about the trip the entire way. As we reached the airport, I helped Nissa haul all of her bags to the entrance, where most of the senior class was already waiting. Most of them looked excited but there were a few who didn't seem fully awake. Usually I would include myself in that group, but I was too excited for this trip to worry about having to be up at the crack of dawn's ass. I was going to use this trip to try to spend some time with Drake—remind him of what we used to have.

I looked around trying to spot him, my eyes scanning the crowd. I almost snorted when they landed on Ryder sprawled out on the floor, his back against a wall, eyes closed. I always thought he was an early bird, considering the hours he would come by my house for the past few weeks we'd been hanging out. I guess he wasn't. I continued my search for Drake, my brows furrowing when I didn't find him. Was he not coming?

"He's over there with that skank," I heard Nissa mutter next to me, her tone hard. Following her gaze, I felt my stomach drop. Drake wasn't alone. Practically hanging from him was a redhead that I remembered seeing in some of my classes. She wasn't the same girl that had rushed to him during the game. This was another girl. Was he sleeping around? He couldn't be. Drake had always been a one woman kind of guy. But as I watched him now, I couldn't help but feel like I didn't really know Drake that well.

He was staring down at her with a grin as she ran her fingers down his torso. I felt tears prick my eyes as I watched them, my heart feeling like someone was slowly squeezing it. I couldn't tear my eyes away as she began to nibble on his jaw. It was pure torture to watch them, but I couldn't look away, no matter how hard I tried. I couldn't believe he'd moved on so fast. Did he not care about me? We'd just broken up. How could he do this? Had I been wrong when I thought he loved me? Was it all lies?

I felt someone's cold fingers grasp my arm, snapping me out of my haze. Tearing my eyes away from the love of my life and the girl wrapped around him, I turned to Nissa, who gave me a sympathetic look. "You okay?"

Blinking away the tears forming in my eyes, I gave her a weak smile. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not, god he is such an asshole," she gritted out as she glared at an unsuspecting Drake. "What is wrong with him?"

"Nissa, he's allowed to move on," I mumbled, lowering my eyes to stare at my boots. "That doesn't mean that I can't get him back."

I heard her sigh angrily next to me. "You don't need him! Case, he's an asshole!"

"I love him, Niece," I told her, my voice pleading with her to understand.

She shook her head. "I really don't know why." I got that she didn't understand why I loved Drake, I was fine with that. She was entitled to her opinion. But she didn't know Drake like I did.

"Alright, you guys, listen up," our Physics teacher yelled over the noise and some of us turned to her, while others kept whispering excitedly among themselves, others just groaned in response and plugged their ears with their earphones. "You guys have your tickets, so get through security and meet us in the waiting room."

I grabbed my stuff and Nissa and I proceeded to get in line to check in for our flight.

***

I slumped down into my seat after placing my small carry-on underneath the seat, with a tired sigh. Getting through security had been hell. A lot of people were trying to get out of Pennsylvania for the holidays, which made the lines very long. My feet were aching and I was beginning to get a headache, I just wanted the stupid flight to be over with.

"Hey, Case, everyone is sitting wherever they want since the plane is full with only us seniors," I peeled my eyes open when Nissa spoke up, "do you mind if I sit with Seth? He asked me to, so..."

I grinned and shooed her away with my hands. "Uh, duh! Go!" She grinned back at me and ran off. As I was about to close my eyes, they landed on Drake as he boarded the plane with the girl that was all over him, in tow. I slid down in my seat, as my heart began to thud, my throat became dry and my hands began to shake slightly. Deep down I was hoping he would see me, ditch the redhead and sit with me, but as he walked past my row, without a second glance, my heart dropped and I felt like someone had just slapped me with a cold douse of reality.

I buried my face in my hands with a sigh and rested my elbows on my knees. I was in that position when I felt someone slide into the seat next to mine. Slowly raising my head, I glanced at the person next to me. Ryder. He was sitting comfortably in the seat, his legs bent at the knees and spread open. His head was resting on the seat's headrest, his eyes closed. Sitting up, I poked his arm. He moved his head in my direction, keeping his eyes closed.

"Mhm?"

"Why are you so tired?" I asked him and he slowly pried his eyes open to stare at me. I couldn't help but notice that for the last few days, he'd seemed really tired. There were days that he didn't even seem himself.

"I'm not," he denied, his expression blank.

Bringing a leg to rest under the other, I rolled my eyes. "Sure you are."

"Now what makes you think that?" he asked with a small smirk. My eyes scanned his tired face and I frowned. There were dark circles under his eyes, which were bloodshot. He'd had those circles under his eyes for days now and they only seemed to be getting darker. His hair was tousled in a way that only he could make look sexy; like he'd ran his fingers through it multiple times.

"Um, you look tired as fuck?" I shrugged, giving him a 'duh' look. He gave me a crooked smile and turned his head to stare at the seat in front of him. I took the chance to study him. He was wearing a black hoodie—which I found odd, since it was 40°F at the moment—a pair of dark jeans, his usual biker boots and a black beanie. "Are you family with Eskimos or something?"

He turned to me with a laugh. "What?"

"The hoodie," I pointed at his hoodie and he followed my gaze, "it's cold as fuck, and that is definitely not enough to keep you warm."

He shrugged lazily as he glanced away. "It's not that cold."

"Are you kidding me?" I gave him a wide-eyed look and he rolled his eyes. "It's freezing."

"If you say so," he replied. I shook my head and unfolded my feet. Turning to stare out the small little window, I couldn't help but think about Drake and the girl. They were probably snuggled up in the back, with his arms wrapped around her, keeping her warm. She would probably smile up at him and he'd lean down and kiss her softly, the way he did with me. How would I prove to Drake that I was changing if he had a girl wrapped around h—

"Stop torturing yourself," I heard Ryder drawl next to me and my head snapped around.

"What?" I asked him, confused.

"Stop torturing yourself," he repeated himself, glancing at me.

My eyes glanced around the cabin in confusion, did he know how to read minds? Looking back at him, I squinted my eyes suspiciously and backed away from him in my seat. He just stared at me with bored eyes.

"Do you read minds?" I asked him in awe.

He rolled his eyes with a smirk and shook his head in amusement. "Casey, you wear your heart on your sleeve. It's pretty easy to tell when you're upset."

I stared at him for a minute. "I'm not upset."

"Whatever makes you sleep at night, sweetheart," he mumbled with a wink and I worried my lip between my teeth. I hated that he was right, but he was. I did tend to show my emotions too clearly. I was good at keeping secrets, but I was horrible at keeping my emotions from others. I watched his hand reach up and slowly grasp my chin, pulling out my bottom lip from between my teeth. I smiled gratefully and he smiled back.

"How come you're not sitting with Oliver?" I asked him curiously, changing the subject. He turned to me with a knowing smirk and I gave him a shrug with innocent eyes.

"He's sitting with Chloe," he answered and I nodded understandingly.

"So I'm basically your second choice?" I widened my eyes with mock-hurt and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, pretty much," he answered casually and I gasped, slapping his arm.

"Dude, not cool." He grinned and I smirked, he had no idea what he was in for. Squinting his eyes, he gave me a dubious look. "You know how I love sleeping?" I paused, "I hate getting up early, it's the worst thing ever, like seriously, I fucking hate it. Also, do you know how long this flight will be?" His eyes widened as he began to look around, probably searching for a different available seat; lucky for me—there wasn't one.

"Five hours, it's five hours, just in case you were wondering. That's five hours of me whining and going on and on about how much I hate waking up this early. It's worst than a blonde finding out that blueberries are purple at their natural pH." He stared at me with wide eyes as he tried to back away from me as far as he could in his seat.

"Please don't," he pleaded and I almost laughed. It was adorable how scared he was of me spending the entire trip whining.

"Sorry, you asked for it," I replied with a shrug.

"Okay, if I say that you were my first choice, will you have pity on me?" he asked, giving me the biggest puppy eyes I've ever seen him make. Rolling my eyes, I patted his cheek with a smirk.

"How many times do I have to tell you those big sad eyes won't work on me? Mhm?" He sighed in defeat. "I'm just kidding...by the time this plane takes off, I'll be passed out." He breathed out a breath of relief and got comfortable in his seat, shoving his hands into his hoodie and closing his eyes.

I smiled with a small chuckle and turned in my seat. Opening the small sling bag purse sitting in my lap, I pulled out my earphones and iPod touch. Looking for one of my favorite songs at the moment I plugged in my earphones and placed them in my ears. As Jace Everett's 'Bad Things' began to blast in my ears, I felt myself begin to drift into a—hopefully dreamless—sleep.

"Hello?" Someone was saying as I drifted in and out of consciousnesses. They needed to go away, like now. I needed sleep, I needed it so bad and they were disturbing me. When I didn't hear their voice again, I sighed happily and snuggled closer into my comfortable pillow. I was so sleepy and for some odd reason, my pillow seemed more comfortable. It was like I was floating on a cloud that smelt like chocolate. Mm, maybe it was made of chocolate? I found myself softly biting into it. Mhm, doesn't really taste like chocolate.

"Excuse me? Miss?" There was the voice again. Why the hell couldn't it go away? "Sir?" Sir? Why was she calling me a 'sir'?

That's when I felt it. A heartbeat. Someone else's heartbeat, right below my ear. My eyes snapped open as I became aware that I was currently sleeping on top of someone, one of their arms wrapped tightly around me. My head was resting on a broad, hard chest, my arm swung loosely over a firm torso. My eyes widened in horror.

Pillow? My ass! It was a freaking chocolate-smelling person. My entire body froze when something occurred to me: Ryder was the only person I knew who smelled like chocolate. Oh god! Oh god! Please tell me I hadn't become another notch on his bedpost...Please. I was a whore. Oh dear, god, I was a whore.

"Miss?" My eyes traveled up a pair of long legs, a small waist, boobs, neck and an impatient-looking face attached to it. My mind and body began to register where I was. The plane. I was in the plane. I hadn't slept with Ryder. Phew.

Slowly raising my head off of a still-sleeping-soundly Ryder, I gazed up at the stewardess questioningly. She swept a hand around the airplane, motioning for me to look around, which I did. Only to realize that the plane was completely empty and Ryder and I were the only ones still there. I turned to the stewardess, who now stood with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face, and gave her an apologizing smile. She huffed and turned around, walking down the aisle to the front of the plane.

Turning to Ryder, I went to shake him, but stopped mid-action. I could get payback. I could get revenge for the waking me up with cold water. Glancing back at my purse, I began to think of everything I had in it. I had gum, tissue, tampons, a small mirror...Lipstick! I had a red lipstick. Quietly zipping open the zipper, I searched for the lipstick. When my hand came in contact with it, I almost celebrated, but remembered that I had to keep quiet if I wanted this to work.

I turned around towards him and pulled the lipstick's cap off. Raising my hand, I began to move slowly towards his face. The lipstick was an inch away from his face, when I felt his hand slap down on my wrist.

"I don't think so," he mumbled, his voice deeper than usual and a little raspy, making him sound so fucking sexy that I almost moaned. What the fudge? Did I...? No...right? I mean, it was an average reaction. What girl wouldn't find his voice sexy as hell when he just woke up? My body was chemically engineered. It was practically supposed to react that way.

He slowly opened his eyes and gave me a crooked smile, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Come on! You couldn't let me have that?" I complained with a pout.

"What did I tell you about pouting?" he questioned, arching an eyebrow and I rolled my eyes. "Only pout your lips when you want me to kiss you."

"That'll never happen," I told him smugly and he smirked.

"Never is a strong word, sweetheart." I shook my head and he gave me a bemused smile, before unfolding his body and standing in the aisle to stretch. I looked away as his shirt slid up, exposing part of his torso, when he raised his arms over his head. Grabbing my purse and my small carry-on from under the seat, I stood up and waited for Ryder to begin walking.

I was so excited for this trip. It was going to be life-changing.