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The constant buzzing of my phone with the sound of my alarm ringing stirred me awake. I groaned softly, blindly following the sound and reaching for the nightstand, feeling around until the cold screen on my phone touched my fingers and I guessed where the 'stop' button to the alarm would be, shutting it off.

The alarm I set for today was a bit later than usual since we weren't going anywhere in the morning and I wasn't in the mood to wake up for breakfast. It was only after lunchtime that we'd be heading to the beach. I didn't want to wake up when my alarm rang but I had to get ready and go and have something to eat too.

I rolled over, expecting the bed to be empty. I mean, just because I slept in doesn't mean Adam would, so I thought he would have left, but when I rolled over and opened my eyes, stretching a bit, I realized he wasn't gone, he was sleeping right there. With his arm draped over my waist. With my leg thrown over his. My eyes widened and I froze, staring at him.

He was still fast asleep but he was also beginning to stir from the sound of my alarm.

Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. No, no, no.

I breathed in as softly as I could and slowly eased my leg away from his, pulling it back to my side of the bed.

What the hell happened to our pillow barrier? Oh... My... head is on it.

I scooted back but stiffened when he hummed in his sleep and moved forward, tightening his hold on me. I let out a small squeal but stopped myself quickly, pulling my lips together and closing my eyes. I waited a couple of seconds before reaching down and taking a hold of his wrist.

He took in a soft breath and I glanced up at his face, seeing his eyes slowly open. I let go of his wrist almost immediately and pulled my hands away from him. He blinked once, his eyes locked in place with mine. We both just stared at each other in silence for a while, not knowing what exactly to do or say.

Then I didn't hesitate to kick him in his thigh. "I said not to cross the barrier."

He rolled his eyes and pulled his hands away, rolling onto his back. "You're the one who crossed it first. Not me," he mumbled sleepily, his voice coming out raspy and hoarse.

"What?" I mumbled, moving away from him and sitting up.

"You threw your hand over to me last night and when I tried pushing it away, you weren't letting me go."

"Please, as if I'd believe that," I scoffed.

"Well, you should because it's exactly what you did."

"Whatever. That still doesn't mean you can just... grab me or whatever."

"I didn't grab you."

"You put an arm around me!"

"You put a leg around me," he replied mockingly. "It's not such a big deal," he said, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. "It's not like it hasn't happened before," he added, sitting up slowly.

I pulled myself up into a sitting position as well, resting my back against the headboard while thinking back to that one night.

While he stood up and stretched and then headed to the balcony, pulling the curtains and the door open, I let my hair out of its braid and pulled it back into a low bun, watching him. He ruffled his hair and then walked to his suitcase, taking out clothes for today before turning to me. "Lunch is in twenty minutes and we leave for the beach right after. Don't you want to get ready?"

"I thought you're going in there first," I mumbled with a small shrug.

He replied with his own shrug and then went into the bathroom. By the time he changed and freshened up, I grabbed my own clothes and took out a beach bag that I brought with me, knowing that we have a beach day on the itinerary.

I went onto the balcony and looked at the view once and got some fresh air. My elbows were resting on the railing as I stood there until Adam showed up, kicking the back of my knees, making them buckle. I caught the railing, turning to glare at him over my shoulder.

He watched me in amusement and then nodded towards the bathroom. "Off you go."

I snatched my clothes off my suitcase, glaring at him over my shoulder, and then went into the bathroom, glancing at his clothes.

He wore a pair of white shorts with a loose button-up with white and baby blue stripes running down. He rolled up the sleeves up to his elbows and had a pair of sunglasses hanging onto his shirt.

I brushed my teeth and washed my face first. I put on some sunscreen and then changed, wearing my plain black bikini under my clothes itself. On top of that, I pulled on high-waisted denim shorts with a halter green top that had light green and dark green thick and thin mismatched stripes running down it. After that, I pulled my hair down, raked my fingers through it, and then pulled it up in a high ponytail. I put sunscreen all over my arms and legs as well before leaving the bathroom, dropping the bottle into the beach bag along with a towel from the hotel.

"Emmy."

I stopped, taking my sunglasses and placing them on my head before glancing at him, and then proceeded to ignore him and continue.

He sighed, "Emilia."

"Yes?" I lifted a brow at him.

"Lend me your bag too. I need to carry a towel."

I frowned, "Carry your own bag."

"I would if I had one. Just lend it to me, come on. You can leave my stuff on a chair over there if you want, that's fine too."

"Oh, is it?" I turned to him, resting one hand on my hip. "It's so kind of you to let me do that," I said sarcastically.

"Isn't it?" he replied, stealing the bag out of my hand and taking it into the bathroom, coming back and placing a towel for himself in there.

I watched him, not being able to bring myself to get over the fact that I slept... cuddling... him. Or he cuddled me, whatever, it makes no difference. "I'll keep the keys," I said, holding a hand out.

"In your phone case?"

I blinked, surprised that he knew that but I nodded nonetheless.

"Where's your phone?" he questioned.

"In my pocket."

He nodded once and then took a step closer, taking me by surprise. He leaned forward, pulling my phone out of my back pocket.

I stared at him in surprise before pushing him away with a hand on his chest. "What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing, I'm just messing with you."

"Well, don't."

He rolled his eyes, "Fine." He slipped the key card into my phone case before handing it back to me.

I pocketed it again and then we left, heading downstairs for lunch. It was a buffet today so once we grabbed our plates, we headed to sit down and I stopped when I realized that today Adam had decided to sit next to me rather than across from me. I couldn't exactly stop him in front of everybody, so I just sat down, scooting my chair away from him a little bit.

We all ate while chatting a bit and then headed out, walking to the beach right in front of the hotel. I was walking with Emma, both of us pointing at everything we spotted and talking about how pretty the beach looked when someone caught up with us, calling my name, "Emilia."

I turned over, recognizing Brett.

"Hey," he chuckled.

"Hey," I flashed him a small smile. My eyes went down to the volleyball in his hand. "Where'd you get that?"

"Oh, I went and bought it. I figured everybody won't swim and we should all have something to do. Why not volleyball?"

"Are you any good at it?" Emma asked him, lifting a brow.

He watched her in amusement, pushing his sunglasses up to his curls. "Are you?" he retorted.

"I'm on the volleyball team for my school," she answered smartly.

"Well, I was on the basketball team back in high school."

"Yeah..." Emma said slowly, "Basketball is nothing like volleyball."

"I think I can still play," Brett shrugged.

"If you say it like that, so can Adam. He's played football all his life, hasn't he, Em?" Emma asked, turning to me.

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, he's played all his life."

"He's in the NFL too," Emma added, almost bragging about it.

I watched her in confusion while Brett chuckled. "Good for him. What else can I say?"

I heard Emma mumble, "This would be so much easier if he wasn't so good-looking."

I watched her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Are you really that good at volleyball, little Ms. Emma?" Brett cut in, glancing at her.

I looked between them as they challenged each other. "You bet I am, Mr. Brett," she retorted, folding her arms across her chest.

"Want to play then? You pick your team, I'll pick mine."

She glanced at me and I simply raised my brows at her. "What does the winning team get?"

"Why don't we decide that once a team wins, hmm? Are you up for a challenge?"

She turned to me.

"Don't look at me," I chuckled.

"You used to be good at volleyball too. You'd always play with me," she said to me.

"It's been years since I played, Emma. I don't know. I'll play for whatever team I'm on. But maybe you both should ask the others if they even want to play before declaring war," I snickered as we reached the beach, everybody taking their sandals and flip flops off. I took mine off, carrying them in my hands until we reached a specific area with plenty of empty sun chairs with big umbrellas providing shade on top of each chair.

Everybody took a chair, one chair for two people and as I set my bag down and sat down, Adam made his way over to me, standing in front of me, pushing his sunglasses to his head. "Are you going to swim?" he asked me.

I watched him. "What's it to you?"

He stared at me blankly until Emma and Brett stole everyone's attention. "Hello, hello!" Emma called out.

Brett chuckled at her and then turned to everybody else. "Does anyone want to join us for a volleyball match?"

"Emma and you are captains?" Aspen asked.

They both nodded. "Winning team gets one prize they all have to settle on. They can even make the losing team do something," Emma added.

"Who wants to play?" Brett asked.

Grandparents aside, everybody was willing.

"All right then, let's choose our team members, shall we? Rock, paper, scissors, the winner gets to choose first," Emma said, facing him. They did rock, paper, scissors, and Brett one. Emma huffed but then agreed. "All right, you first. I wonder who you'll choose," she scoffed sarcastically, her eyes meeting mine.

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