"Paintball."

"I said no."

"Wait, okay, think about this," Max stands in front of Reece and holds his arms out as if the answer is right in front of him, "Paintball."

Reece rolls his eyes and takes Macy off his shoulders, putting her on the ground, "Saying it in a different tone of voice won't change the answer."

Max pouts, "But it would be so much fun! Macy, you want to go, right?"

Macy looks up at him, "What's paintball?"

Max groans and buries his face in his hands, making me laugh.

"I want to go," Cody says, looking up at me with a smile.

I smile and whisper, "Tell that to Reece."

"Don't go blaming this on me, Sunshine," Reece muttered, digging his hands into his pockets.

"I think paintball would be fun," Anna says, smiling innocently up at Reece.

"Yes!" Max exclaims excitedly, "That's three!"

"Make it four," Bella says, grinning.

"Ha! Suck on that, Reece!" Max calls.

"Still not going. Sophie might not be able to do it with her arm," Reece says, looking down at his little sister who is beside me, holding my hand with her good arm.

Sophie frowns and looks up at Reece, "But I want to do it!"

"I want to do it too! We can just help her!" Macy says, starting to get excited.

"Don't be a party-pooper, Reece," Liam says, ruffling Reece's hair.

Reece glares at him, "Is everyone going against me?"

I smile, "I'm not. I'm staying neutral in this argument."

"Thanks, Sunshine," He gives me a small smile.

"Come on! It's still seven against two," Max says.

Reece sighs, "If I say yes, will you shut up?"

"Yes!" Max exclaims before pretending to zip his lips closed and throw away the key.

It's Sunday mid-day and the Carter's have invited Bella and I over to go out and do something. I guess that something has turned out to be paintball.

We say goodbye to Novah and Lucas before Bella and I jump into my car, everyone else getting into Reece's car. Then we all head towards the paintball place.

Twenty minutes later, both of our cars pull up to the paintball place. There is only a small parking lot out the front, and it's already full, so Reece and I have to park a little way down the street.

We all get out and make our way back to the building, walking inside. We walk up to the front desk and are greeted by a dark-haired girl who looks around my age. She's chewing gum and looking bored as we walk in. Her eyes widen slightly when her eyes fall on Reece and she grins, leaning over the counter as he stands in front of her.

"Hello, Handsome," She says, winking at him.

Reece looks uncomfortable to say the least and I have to stifle a laugh. "Uh, hi."

Her eyes move from him and she looks around at all of us, her lips curling down when she sees me standing beside Reece. It takes a lot of self-control to not roll my eyes.

Reece clears his throat uncomfortably, "Um, can we get a game for nine people?"

The girl grins at Reece sickly-sweet, "Sure thing, Sugar."

When Reece brings out his wallet to pay, I shoot him a glare, "You're not paying."

He frowns, "Of course I am."

"No. You're not," I say simply.

His eyes narrow, "Sunshine."

"Reece."

"Sunshine."

"Reece."

"Neither of you are paying," A new voice interrupts and Reece and I both turn to see the girl handing Liam's credit card back to him. "I am."

Both Reece and I glare at him.

His eyes widen slightly, "What?"

The girl behind the counter pops her gum annoyingly, "Whatever, Gary will get your suits and guns ready around the back," She nods towards a door off to the side. Then she winks at Reece again, "See ya, Handsome."

We all follow her directions towards the back, and I have to laugh when Reece lets out a relieved sigh, his eyes wide.

"What? You don't like flirting?" I ask with a small smirk.

He rolls his eyes, "Not when it's with a girl I'm not even remotely interested in."

I laugh, "Poor girl. She'll be heartbroken."

He rolls his eyes again, "She'll live."

"Keep rolling your eyes, Reece, you might find a brain back there."

Reece meets my eyes with a small smile and I know he's remembering the conversation we had at school just as I am. "Real original, Sunshine."

I grin, doing a small curtsey, "Thank you."

We go through another door after walking down the quite long hallway and we're met with a room, one middle-aged guy there. There are many different sizes of jumpsuits and a bucket of paint-ball guns, stacks of different colored ammunition too.

The guy who I'm guessing is Gary smiles when he sees us. "You guys know what teams you're going to be in?"

"I'm going with Layla," Anna says, standing beside me.

"Well, I'm with Reece," Liam says, patting his best friend on the shoulder.

"We want to be with Layla too!" The twins both say, standing beside Anna and me excitedly.

"So do I," Cody states, standing by my side.

Max and Bella look at each other, then at Reece and Liam, "Guess we're with you then."

"Awesome," Gary says with a clap of his hands, "Get yourselves the right sized suit and chuck it on over your clothes. Then we'll sort out team colors and whether we want to do paint balloons or not."

So, we do just that, all getting into the jumpsuits and grabbing a helmet each. We decide that our team will have yellow paint and the other will have green. We also decide to have small buckets of paint balloons around the course as well.

Ten minutes later and the game is in full force. I haven't gotten shot yet – I don't think any of my team has – but I have come close a few times.

I peer around a corner and when I don't see anyone, I step out. As soon as I do, Bella comes around the corner just in front of me. My eyes widen. Immediately, I raise my gun and shoot her twice in the chest.

Her mouth just drops and she looks down at herself. Then she shakes her head at me, "Really, Lay?"

I shrug sheepishly, "Sorry."

Her eyes widen when she catches sight of something behind me and she grins before running away.

"Hello, Sunshine," Reece's deep, familiar voice makes me turn and come face to face with him. I raise my gun and so does he, neither of us shooting.

"Reece," I say calmly and wait a moment.

"Did you just shoot my teammate?"

"Maybe..."

"So, why shouldn't I shoot you now?"

I shrug, "Because I'm your best friend...?"

Keeping his gun aimed at me, with his other hand he undoes his helmet, showing his dark hair messy underneath. "Don't let Liam hear you say that."

I smile, taking off my helmet as well. I don't even want to know what I probably look like right now. "Don't tell Amanda, she'll probably strangle me."

He holds his gun on me for another few seconds before smiling and lowering it. I do the same. "Alright, I'm feeling nice. I won't shoot you."

I roll my eyes, "What a gentleman."

He shrugs, his dimpled smile widening, "I know."

I scoff and start walking past him, my lip quirking up a little more when I see something behind him. "Bye, Reece."

"See ya, Sunshine," I hear him say as I set down my helmet and grab one of the bright yellow paint-filled balloons sitting in the small bucket. I turn with it in my hand and see Reece walking away. The balloon soars through the air and lands with a splat, the yellow paint dripping down his head and neck.

He stops immediately and lifts his hands up, touching his hair only to quickly pull them away when his hands get covered in paint. Reece turns, his intense gaze meeting my own. He has a bit of paint dripping down his forehead and I hold back a laugh. I bite my lip, "You got a little something there..." I point to my own forehead, a small giggle escaping my mouth.

"You might want to run, Sunshine," He says in reply and my eyes widen.

Quickly turning on my heel, I start running, hearing Reece's footsteps close behind me. I squeal when he catches up to me. His hand grabs one of my own and pulls my body into his. I laugh, trying to pull away but he firmly places his hands on my hips to keep me in place. He must have dropped his helmet. I only just manage to catch a glimpse of the grin on his lips before he lowers his head. The paint is cold on my neck and I squeal as Reece nuzzles his head into my shoulder, effectively painting it yellow.

"Reece!" I laugh, my hands reflexively going to his hair. I quickly pull them away though when I feel the paint on them. I wipe the yellow paint from my hands onto his chest.

"Sunshine," He says with a hum, his breath hot on my neck. His hands hold my hips against his, locking me to him.

I chuckle quietly and pull my head back in an effort to see his face. After a moment, he brings his head back and I can't help but stare.

Reece is smiling. Not a smirk, not a grin or a small smile that you can't really see. A real, genuine, dimpled smile. One that makes his eyes crinkle and his nose scrunch up. It shows a perfect set of straight, white teeth and small dimples in each of his cheeks. Some of his yellow-coated hair falls in front of his eyes. I just stand and grin at him, watching the gorgeous smile spread across his face. I don't know how many times I'll get to see that smile in person again, so I want to savor this moment.

I carefully reach up and use my thumb to swipe away the paint that's dripping down his forehead. My other hand slips around to hold the back of his neck, getting paint all over it in the process. But I don't really care.

Reece's hands stay glued to my hips, thumbs gently rubbing circles into my skin through my clothes. My lips pull up into a wide grin that I try to contain by biting down on my bottom lip. I carefully trail my hand from the back of his neck and along his jaw, painting it bright yellow in the process. Reece doesn't seem to care.

"What are you thinking about?" He whispers quietly, moving his hands together at the small of my back, pressing them closer to me to keep my body flush against his.

I pause for a moment before answering, "You."

His eyebrows raise slightly as he chuckles. His cheeks tinge a light shade of pink and I bite my lip to hold back a laugh. "What about me?" His hand moves up to brush through some of my hair and I can't find it in myself to complain about the yellow staining my hair.

I hum quietly and let my hands slide up and lock together behind his head. "You look really cute when you smile."

He laughs, "Cute?"

I nod, "Very."

"I'm not the cute one here, Sunshine," He murmurs.

Before I can reply, I'm hit twice in the back and I turn, seeing Liam standing there with a shít-eating grin on his face. I twist a little and see green paint splattered on the back of my jumpsuit.

"Aren't you two supposed to be on opposing teams?" Liam asks, raising an eyebrow at us with a smirk.

I roll my eyes as Reece and I pull away from each other, clearly a little reluctantly. "Can you not see the yellow paint all over him?"

His smirk deepens, "I can. I can also see the yellow handprints on your waist."

I glance down at myself and find that I do indeed have two large yellow handprints on my jumpsuit from where Reece rested his hands on my hips.

Reece chuckles sheepishly, "Oops?"

~

We all dash towards the front door of the Carter house, immediately getting pelted by the pouring rain. When we left the paintball building, it was raining heavily. And it hasn't gotten any better now that we're back at the Carter's.

Reece fumbles with his house keys in his cold, slippery hands before eventually unlocking the front door. We all scurry inside hurriedly.

My blonde hair is soaked, and I push it back from my face. The grey sweater I'm wearing is drenched and so are my blue jeans, the denim sticking to my legs uncomfortably.

I look around and see everyone else looking just as wet as me. Everyone takes off their shoes and starts making their way towards the family room. I start taking off my shoes too, but my black high-tops take a little longer.

My teeth start chattering a bit and I shiver as I set my shoes down against the wall.

"Sunshine, you're shivering," Reece says from behind me and I turn, meeting his stare. His hair is soaking too, still slightly yellow as it hangs a little into his eyes. We'd both washed off our hands in the bathrooms at the paintballing place, but our hair and necks are still bright yellow. He still has a yellow streak down his jaw as well, thanks to me.

"Because it's really fúcking cold," I mutter, rubbing my hands up and down my arms.

"C'mere," He whispers softly, holding his arms out to me. My eyes widen slightly but I only hesitate a second. I close the distance between us and hook my arms around his waist. He wraps his arms around my back and rubs his hands up and down gently.

"You're freezing, Sunshine," He murmurs. His arms wrap around me more firmly and I smile. Reece is just a big, cuddly teddy bear.

I slip my arms under his leather jacket and am instantly greeted by more warmth. Resting my head on his shoulder, I let out a content breath. My hands begin tracing random patterns over the back of his t-shirt. It rises up slightly and I absentmindedly slip my hands underneath.

He hisses slightly but doesn't pull away. Instead, he holds me closer as I chuckle quietly. "Your hands are cold," He says.

I laugh but didn't move my hands, "Sorry. You're just really warm."

My fingertips gently trace patterns over the bare skin of his back. My mind drifts to the many tattoos that are inked all over his skin under my fingertips. I want to know every one of them.

The key to deciphering the mystery that is Reece Carter is written all over him. But the only person who can read it is him.

"Let's go," He murmurs softly by my ear as he starts walking forward, pulling me with him.

A laugh bubbles through my chest and I slide out of his embrace, "Fine. Only because we need to continue watching Friends."

He laughs as well and follows me into the living room. "Alright. We should probably get changed though."

"Already got that sorted," Anna says, already in a fresh pair of clothes as she walks into the room from the other door, holding some clothes. "I got some clothes for you, Layla."

I smile and walk over to her, "Thanks."

I walk down the hallway and into her bathroom to get changed. Peeling off my wet clothes, I quickly change into the new, much warmer clothes. A smile lifts my lips when I see the familiar navy-blue hoodie. It's Reece's hoodie that I've borrowed multiple times before.

Lifting up one of the white drawstrings, I remember those nights. Reece's familiar scent of washing powder and cologne engulfs me and I smile. It's a weird combination, but it works.

I finish changing into the hoodie and a pair of Anna's sweatpants before walking out of the room. I leave my clothes in Anna's room before going back into the living room. It's just Anna and Cody in here. The others must still be getting changed.

"Friends?" Anna asks from the loveseat as I sit down on the couch.

I nod with a smile, "Friends."

Liam and Reece both join us a moment later. Liam sits down beside Anna on the loveseat. Reece, on the other hand, lies down on the couch with me, his head in my lap.

I look down at him and catch his gaze, smiling. My hand automatically goes to his slightly yellow-tinged hair to brush it back from his face. My other hand rests on his chest.

"Has this just become our thing?" I ask as Friends begins playing on the screen. I don't pay much attention to it though. Reece's dimpled smile has my gaze locked.

"I guess so. Are you complaining?" He asks teasingly, one eyebrow raising.

I laugh quietly as my hand resting on his chest moves up to rest against his jaw. "Not at all. Are you?"

His eyes move across my face for a few seconds. "Not one bit."

I nod once, "Good. Now shh. I love this episode."