"Who do you think won, Elijah?" Madeline asked him.

He's definitely going to say Nick. His Nicky. Nicky-Nick.

He looked at Nick, then looked at me. Then at Liam and his nose scrunched up, then back at me. "Emma!" he screamed.

I watched as Nick's face fell before Elijah ran up to me. "Ha!" I teased Nick before picking Elijah up and spinning us around. I kissed his cheek before tickling him. I sat down on a chair with Elijah beside me. I was on my phone and Elijah was looking with me.

"Who's that?" he asked.

"That is Harry Styles, isn't he pretty?" I asked while looking at a picture of him that popped up on my Instagram.

"Not like Nicky," he shrugged.

"You and your Nicky-Nick. Why did you say I won, Elijah? Why not Nicky?" I asked.

"You're pwetty, and I had your chocowate," he shrugged.

"I will get you chocolate any time you want," I laughed while Nick came and sat on the sun lounger beside mine, frowning and folding his arms across his chest. Elijah and I watched him for a moment, eyeing him.

I set Elijah down and he walked over to Nick. "Nicky," he shook his trunks. "Nicky," he tried again when Nick kept ignoring him. "Nicky!" he whined. "Chocowate?" he handed him his chocolate bar but Nick didn't take it. So he ate it. "Nicky, I'm sowwy!" he shouted. "Nicky," he began getting restless. "I lub you," he mumbled before coming back and sitting with me. "Emma, I lub you," he looked up at me.

"I love you too, Elijah," I grinned down at him.

"Can I play games on your phone?" he stammered.

"Sure thing," I handed it to him and stared at Nick who was staring at the water. I went and sat on the other sun lounger beside him and sighed. "He said I won because he ate my chocolate," I sighed.

"That's cheating," Nick huffed.

Elijah's more mature than him.

"He's the referee," I shrugged, "Listen to whatever he says," I sighed while leaning back.

"Emma! Look, it's you and Nicky!" He held my phone out. I looked at it and it was a picture of Nick and me that I had stored in the very back of my gallery. "Look!" he jumped up and down excitedly.

I remember that day. We were at Santa Monica State Beach. He had a hat on backward, an arm around me and he was kissing my cheek while I grinned at the camera and took the picture. It was a date. It was during our spring break and it was when I realized I was falling in love with him.

"Yeah, we used to be friends, you know," I said while reaching out for the phone but Nick took it before me.

"Elijah, come here!" Finn called out and he waddled away.

"Is that the only one you have?"

No.

"Yeah," I lied.

"Then I hope you don't mind if I look," he smirked.

"Nick, give it back!" I stood up with a huff.

"Ah, what's the rush if you have nothing to hide?" he pulled his hand back.

"Nick," I huffed leaning forward. He put his hand on my waist and lightly pushed me back. Tingles shot through my body which I tried to ignore while attempting to grab my phone. "Nick, stop," I groaned.

"Oh, look! Another one," he laughed while swiping through.

There's one that I took at school.

"Nick," I groaned. One at his basketball match. "Nick," I pushed his arm off. One at my house. "Nick!" I yelled. One at his basketball tryouts for the captain, which he got. "Nick, please I-" I leaned forward but his finger stopped at one photo.

He lowered it down and looked at it while I looked at him. We weren't in it. It was a picture of our linked hands and it focused on the bracelet that I had on. It's from the day he gave it to me.

"Thanks a lot," I huffed, snatching my phone and shoving it in my bag, getting ready to walk away but he grabbed my wrist and held me in place.

"Why do you still have those?" he questioned while looking straight at me.

"Because I want to," I shrugged, "It's my right as the ex-girlfriend, I'm sure you deleted all the ones on your phone," I huffed while trying to walk past but he wasn't having it.

"And why do you still wear that?" he glanced at the bracelet.

"You know what? I don't know. I was actually thinking of giving it back to you, now that you're here, I might as well," I shrugged while unclasping it and taking it off. "Here," I held it out for him to take.

"What do I do with this?" he asked, still not taking it.

"Return it, throw it in the trash, give it to someone else, I don't care. It's your money, not mine," I shrugged. I didn't want it anymore. It reminded me too much of what we had. It hurt to think about it.

"Emma, that's yours, not mine. It was for you and it still is, whether we stayed together or not," he shrugged, taking it and clasping it back onto my wrist. "I will never take that back," he looked at it.

"Well, I don't want it," I huffed.

"Well, you're stuck with it," he shrugged, "Same way you're stuck on this trip with me," he stepped closer.

"What are you-"

"Same way you were stuck with me for those four months." Another step closer.

"Nick-"

"Same way you'll be stuck with me in Home Ec."

I looked up at him and rolled my eyes, throwing his arm off my waist. "What are you trying?" I sighed in exasperation. I'm not in the mood for playing games with him. We already did that while we lasted. "Look, I get that Rachel isn't here, but find someone else for your eye candy and flirting. I'm not doing this again," I huffed while pulling my wrist out of his.

"Again?" he asked in confusion.

"This is the same shit. This is exactly what you did when you didn't have me but you wanted me. Exactly when I was the girl on your arm for those few months. I'm not doing this again, Nick. I already felt the heartbreak you gave," I shook my head.

"Who else am I supposed to use for my eye candy?" he smirked.

"Your flirty little comments aren't so charming now that I know what they lead to," I smiled at him sarcastically before sitting down.

"Yeah, but you still feel giddy?" he asked while sitting down beside me.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"You still get butterflies around me, you still secretly like my flirty comments, you still love teasing me, you still love being close. You're still not over me," he turned to me.

I hate it when he knows shit like this. It leaves me with a feeling of vulnerability.

"Whether I'm over you or not is besides the point. You're over me, aren't you? Then what does it matter?" I arched an eyebrow at him.

"What if I'm n-" he began talking but Liam showed up.

"Hey, am I interrupting?" he asked while running a hand through his wet hair.

"No," I said at the same time Nick said yes. "No, you're not interrupting. What's up?" I looked up at him.

"I'm going back into the water, you wanna join?" he asked, holding his hand out for me to take it.

I'm over you, Nick. And I'm done playing your games.

"Sure," I glanced at Nick before placing my hand in Liam's heading to the water with him. I turned around and glared at Nick, flipping him off as I walked with Liam.

He winked with that stupid charming smirk of his before laughing.

-----

"All right, goodnight!" I waved at Zoey while walking down the hall to my room. We all spent the entire day at the beach, we then went out to dinner and we're now finally back at the hotel, exhausted and tired.

I'm sure we'll be going to the beach again sometime soon, what else are we gonna do for three weeks?

I unlocked my door and stepped inside, immediately letting my salty, sandy, damp hair down. I scratched my head, running my fingers through my hair, feeling the roughness the ocean water left behind.

I stood in front of the mirror and analyzed my hair that flowed down to my butt. "Now what do I do with you?" I sighed to myself. My hair is drier than the Sahara.

"Hey!"

I got startled as I looked to my right with a jump at Nick, standing there with a tub of coconut oil. "Asshole," I mumbled to myself.

I should have closed it properly.

"My mom told me to give this to you. Heat it up, put it in your hair, tie it up for thirty minutes then rinse it out in the shower," he tossed it to me.

"You know how to do this?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes, I did it for you when we went to State Beach," he sighed.

I just stood there, staring at the coconut oil.

"Want me to do it?" he offered.

"No," I said quickly.

"Well, good luck finding someone who knows how to do that because you sure as hell don't," he scoffed and began walking away.

"Nick!" I called out, dreading this.

"Yes, Emma, I would love to help you," he smirked while walking inside, closing his door on the way in. "Take your shirt off," he smirked.

"I hate you," I huffed while pulling my tank top over my head and sitting on the floor, crossing my legs.

He heated the oil up in the microwave, pouring it into a cup before sitting behind me.

"You don't," he mumbled while gathering my hair behind my shoulders and running his fingers through it, adding the coconut oil to it. "You love me."

I did. But he never knew.

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Chapter seven

That really is the way to get salt out of your hair if you don't want it fried and dried as hell. Just a tip.