Twenty-five minutes later, the nine of us pull up in three spread cars to Riker's favourite section of Malibu beach. Not unknown to me, or my friends but possibly new to Felix who has only ever taken me to the other side of the beach. When I open the passenger door to Felix's car, I'm met by the scent of sea salt mixed with Felix's cologne.

"What are you doing?" Felix laughs when he joins me on my side of the car and sees me leaning over in my seat, trying to untangle the strap from its clasp on my shoe.

"My mom paid a fortune for these and I'm not about to let the sand ruin them," I explain and groan when I fumble to undo them.

"Give it here," he holds his hand out with a smile.

"What makes you think you'll be able get them off?" I hum out and he just shakes his head before leaning down and grasping my heel with his hand. "I could get used to this."

"Oh, yeah?" Felix narrows his eyes at me as he gets my sandal off, holding it out for me to take before taking my other foot to do the same.

"Thank you," I laugh lightly when I take the second shoe, and set them on the floorboards of his car. I slip forward on the seat and step onto the running board, my eyes falling to the tiny little rocks in the gravel.

"Come on," he smiles gently and turns around, offering me his back.

"Are you gonna give me a piggy back ride?" I tease and my favourite sound falls from his lips as he ushers me to climb on.

A giggle falls from my lips as I rest my hands on his shoulder, lifting one leg up for him to grab a hold of before I jump up. He holds onto my legs and I loosely hang my arms around his shoulders, closing the door to the car when he steps back. Felix carries me down towards the flicker of light from the fire Riker and Isaac started, everyone sitting around laughing as I scramble to my feet when he sets me down.

"Nice of you to join us, your majesty," Riker teases. "I can't believe we convinced our homecoming king to leave the dance."

"Funny," Felix laughs as he sits down. "I could say the same for the class president. I thought you thrived on this stuff, Lena."

"Oh, I do," she agrees, "But I much prefer these nights with my favourite people."

"Agreed," Isla nods, joining in on the conversation.

"But, I'm just class president," Lena adds. "What about you, homecoming king? You abandoned your court."

He shrugs, "I think my court can survive without me."

Riker's ribbing continues and eventually everyone is joining in, teasing Felix about the honor of winning the crown at homecoming. He doesn't let it get to him and cracks jokes at his own suspense, but it dies down and we're eventually left with the silences of the crackling wood. It being the only noise we need.

"I guess, I should probably give this back to you," I say quietly as I reach for his crown still rested neatly on top of my hair.

His fingers brush my wrist, stopping me before I can even pull it off my head. "You keep it."

"It's yours," I frown. "To reminisce on in twenty years. You're supposed to look through a box of keepsakes and remember your night as homecoming king."

"How about you keep that to think about me when you're reminiscing and I'll just keep you?" He hums out and I almost giggle at the sweetness in the gesture.

"Smooth!" Robyn, Isla and Riker hoot in response at the comment, having been eavesdropping on our conversation causing me to giggle.

I ignore them and lean forward, kissing him quickly. "You're cute."

"Gross," Robyn makes a gaging noise, followed by the gesture. "I've never felt more like a ninth wheel in my entire life. I didn't know it was possible to feel like a ninth wheel until this very moment."

"Awe, Robby!" Isla laughs and leans over, wrapping her arms around her.

"We love you," I tell her as I join in on their hug, grinning brightly as I press tighter into the two of them. Robyn sandwiched between the two of us.

"We should play a game," Mika suggests.

"I'm in," Miles nods in agreement. "What are you thinking?"

"Paranoia?" Isaac suggests.

"What's paranoia?"

"It's usually a drinking game," I explain. "The person on your right whispers a question in your ear so only you can hear it and then you give everyone the answer. If someone in the group is curious about the question, they can ask for it but usually they have to drink to get the answer. In this case, I guess we won't be doing that."

"A sober paranoia?" Lena asks. "That doesn't sound as fun, but okay."

"It's a simple enough game," Mika explains. "Everyone in?"

"What the hell?" Felix shrugs. "Who's starting?"

"Give it a whirl, homecoming king," Riker smirks. "You can pick the direction."

Felix rolls his eyes but leans over to me, his lips nearing my ear. "I think your brother's a little jealous he doesn't have his own plastic crown."

A snicker leaves my lips as I lean to the side to look at him. "That's not a question."

"Out of everyone here, who do you think wants my crown the most?" He whispers to me and I press my lips together, laughing to myself over Felix's quiet need to get back at Riker for all the nagging.

"Riker," I say my answer to satisfy his need to get back at my brother.

Riker's eyes widen, "Me? Why me?"

I shrug, "I can't tell you that."

"That's not fair!" He frowns. "What was the question?"

"Well, you need a punishment seeing as you can't drink," Isaac notes.

"Who's side are you on?" Riker asks.

"You're the one that said he should go first!" He laughs. "Come on, we have to think of a punishment."

"Vee, just tell me what the question was," Riker begs. "Please?"

"I don't know. I kind of like seeing you squirm," I tell him and wrap my arms around myself, rubbing my hands up my biceps to bring some warmth back to my body. I suddenly feel the warmth of an extra layer of fabric wrap around my shoulders and turn my head to see Felix has taken his suit jacket off to give to me. "Thank you."

"I hate this game," Riker sighs.

"Oh, we know," Lena teases him and ushers me to continue the game.

And I do until we're all on the edge of our seats. Having no way to penalize the people paranoid enough to ask the question, eventually the game just turns into conversation until it's nearly midnight and Riker decides to call it a night.

"Stevie, you want to ride with us?" Riker asks, to which Lena swats his chest.

"I think her date would like to drive her home, Rik," she rolls her eyes at him and I find myself laughing.

"Thanks, but I'm spending the night at Isla's anyways," I explain, having gotten ready over there too. "Mom knows. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright," he bobs his head before waving to the rest of the group. "Night guys."

"Night," Robyn and Isla sing in union as they wave.

"Have fun, Vee," Isaac smiles as he kneels down to give me a tight hug. "Bye."

"Bye Ike," I smile and wave to him and Mika as they run to catch up to their ride.

My heart sings in contentment with how peaceful everything has become in the last few weeks. Weather Felix is just a distraction to it, or things are actually getting better - I haven't figured it out yet, but I know things aren't as tense. I'm not as tense.

"What's that face?" I laugh when I turn my head to find Felix looking at me.

"Nothing," he shakes his head. "Spending the night at Isla's, huh?"

"That's the plan," I nod my head, waiting in anticipation as his lips part to say something else before Robyn interrupts and they close.

"Alright, boo, I think it's time we call it a night too," she says as she gets up, brushing her pants off. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, sounds good," I nod and scramble up to my feet before holding my hands out for Felix. "Tonight's been fun."

"Lots," he smiles gently as he leans down, kissing my cheek. "Shall we?" He asks and offers me his back again so I don't have to walk in the gravel.

"Look how cute they are," Isla happily sighs in our direction as she hangs onto Miles arm, their hands intertwined with one another.

"Yeah, it's gross," Robyn teases, scrunching her nose up at me.

"Shush," I wave her off as I press closer into Felix, leaning my head against his. "You are kind of cute."

"Just kind of," he laughs as he unlocks his car to get my shoes. I step onto the running board with his support for balance before sitting down to put them back on. "So...Isla's?" He hums as he leans into the door, watching as I slip the heels back on.

"Yeah, Isla's," I nod my head before looking up and seeing something different in his eyes. "Why? You have another suggestion?"

"Maybe," he hums out.

"Being?" I smile gently in his direction, though he avoids meeting my eyes. "Felix, what is it?"

"I thought maybe you might want to spend the night with me instead," he says quickly and my lips curl up slightly as he nervously scratches the back of his neck. "My parents are out of town. I have my big house all to myself...and you know, maybe you."

"Oh," I say, not expecting to hear that at all and I know what he's hinting at. "Um...I'm not sure."

He nods and holds his hand out to me, and brings it up to kiss my fingers when I rest my hand in his. "It's okay. I just thought I'd ask. I'm just not ready to say goodbye to you yet."

"I'm not either," I admit, truthfully and chew my bottom lip. "Can you give me a minute?"

"Sure," he nods and holds his hand out to me, helping me down to my feet as I run around the front of his car towards Miles'.

My heart is racing as I come up to the passenger side window, my stomach in knots as Isla rolls it down and looks at me with a raised eyebrow. A night with Felix sounds amazing. More than amazing, it sounds perfect but I know what I night in a big house all by ourselves could mean and I'm not sure I'm there yet. Though I know he's not asking, or expecting anything. At least, I'm hoping he isn't.

"What's that face?" Isla questions as she twists in her seat.

"Felix just asked me to spend the night with him," I whisper shout at them.

"Oh, shit!" Robyn swears from the backseat as she leans forward between the seats. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," I nod.

"What are you going to do?" Isla asks softly.

"I don't know," I mumble, running my hand over my shoulder before moving my fingers to the outline of the pendant rested on my collar.

"Are you ready to...?" Miles asks, trailing off as his eyes do the rest of the asking for him and I find my stomach in knots. Taking things to another level is a huge thing and the thought of it has been one I've always avoided, but now it's right in front of me on a silver platter.

"Maybe..." I swallow. "How do you know when you're ready?"

"You just do," Isla smiles gently. "I know it's a lot to think about, but it's kind of just an in the moment thing. You'll know in the moment if it's right."

I nod and look over at Robyn who is trying to hold her laughter in. "What's that face?"

"Nothing!" She laughs. "I just never thought I'd be the last virgin out of the three of us. I always thought it'd be Isla last and now it's me."

"Hey!" Isla swats at her, the conversation settling my nerves as I peek over my shoulder at Felix who's still waiting on the passenger side of his car.

"Call me if you need me to come get you, okay?" Miles tells when he sees the look my face. "And you don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with, Stevie. You both have to want this."

The corners of my lips curl up, "Thanks Miles."

"Promise you'll call if you need a ride home, okay?" He says a second time and I nod my head.

"I will," I smile and give Isla's hand a squeeze before taking a deep breath, turning back towards Felix car. My head is in the clouds as I walk around to the passenger side. "So...your place?"

Felix's lips curl up as he leans over, kissing my cheek before helping me into the passenger seat. My nerves settle in my stomach and I know I'm making the right decision, no matter what happens tonight because I trust him and he trusts me.

a/n;