I woke up to my phone ringing the next morning. "Hello?" I asked while rubbing my eyes open.

"Wake up!" Madeline yelled through the phone.

"Madeline, do that one more fucking time and I swear I will come for you," I groaned.

"Get up, sunshine, we're heading to breakfast," she laughed before hanging up.

If you're wondering what happened last night, the answer is nothing. Like always, I blew it off, joked about something because sarcasm was literally my defense for everything and then I scattered out of there, mumbling a goodnight. I was scared he was gonna figure out that I like him, then I got scared that he was gonna kiss me, and right now I'm kicking myself for running out because maybe if I had stayed, he would have kissed me.

God damn it.

I got dressed and freshened up before packing up a bag for tonight before going downstairs for breakfast.

"Hey," someone whispered in my ear from behind me, making me jump. I sighed in relief when I turned around and saw Nick. "Are you planning on going inside or not?" he chuckled.

I rolled my eyes before going inside and grabbing a plate, getting whatever I wanted before finding a seat.

"Emma," Nick cleared his throat while sitting beside me.

I can't even look at him, I embarrassed myself for absolutely no reason last night.

"Emma," he took my plate away.

"Ay!" I looked up, irritated at my sudden loss of food.

"Why are you ignoring me?" he asked in confusion.

"I'm not," I shrugged, reaching for my plate but he only pulled it further away from me.

"Emma, look at me," he sighed. And so I did and he cracked my code instantly. "Is this about last night?" he questioned.

"No, this is about me and my food that you're taking away from me," I groaned.

He eyed me warily for a second before setting my plate back down in front of me.

"So this has nothing to do with last night? Last night was insignificant?" he questioned.

"I didn't say that, Nick," I huffed while eating.

It was so not insignificant.

-----

We were at the beach and we'd had our day. The sun was beginning to set and most of us were lounging around, some of the guys were playing volleyball, while the others were putting up the tents, some people were swimming, Elijah was working on his collapsing sandcastle.

"Emma?" Zoey asked from beside me, "What's going on between you and Liam?" she questioned while looking at him. He was staring at me.

"That's what you're asking her?" Madeline asked from my left, "Ask her what's going on between her and Nick," Madeline scoffed while rolling her eyes.

"There is nothing going on with me and Liam or me and Nick," I stated.

"That second one is a lie. You were hell-bent on avoiding him for eternity when we got here and now he's the only person who you hang out with regularly," Zoey laughed.

"Well, you ditched me for Landon and you're having an early honeymoon, where am I supposed to go?" I chuckled looking at both of them.

"Wait, so why not Liam?" Zoey asked, sitting up, squinting lightly at the sun.

"Because I just don't like him in that way," I shrugged.

"No, you like Nick," Madeline huffed, also sitting up.

I opened my mouth to argue and say no but I froze when I began gawking at him.

Get it together.

"Again?" Zoey asked.

"I don't know, okay? I'm figuring it out and I'll tell you when I know," I sighed in defeat.

"You mean you'll tell us when you two get back together," Zo gave me a pointed look.

Yes, that's exactly what I mean.

Until then, how I feel is between me and my heart and mind. It's nobody's business.

"If you will," I shrugged while tying my hair up in a bun.

"Well, you're lucky because he's coming this way," she mumbled.

I looked up and he was coming this way. "Ladies," he nodded at all three of us.

"Nick," Mads and Zo sang.

I laughed while putting my sunglasses up to my head. "Hey," I looked up.

"Do you wanna take a walk with me?" he asked.

"Ooh," Zoey and Madeline sang teasingly.

Nick chuckled while I rolled my eyes and I stood up. "Sure," I adjusted my shorts before following him to the shoreline, walking along with it till we were a little further away from everyone else.

"Emma!" Liam called out. "You left your phone, it was ringing, Zoey told me to give it to you," he breathed heavily while handing it over to me.

I took but he turned around before I could thank him. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him back. "Thank you, sorry you had to run," I smiled while tucking it in my pocket.

"No problem," he nodded before running back.

"You used to pull me closer like that," Nick mumbled while pulling his shirt over his head.

"I still can," I shrugged while pulling him closer by his shirt. I chuckled while sitting down as he sat down beside me.

"What are you doing with him? You don't even like him. Not like you liked me anyway," Nick asked while turning to me.

"You're the one who pushed me away, Nick. I didn't want to leave but you didn't leave me with any other choice. You cheated on me," I scoffed.

We sat in silence for a moment, before he sighed in frustration, running his hand through his hair. "But I didn't," he mumbled.

"What?" I asked in confusion, "You told me that you did, and I saw you go into that room with her. Nick, if you're messing with me and this is a joke, then-"

He interrupted me, "It's not a fucking joke. I didn't cheat on you, I just told you I did," he admitted.

"Why the hell would you do that?" I asked in disbelief. Why would he lie? That too about something like that.

"Because um-" he cleared his throat, "Because I was falling in love with you," he sighed in defeat, scratching the back of his neck, "And it scared the absolute shit out of me because I've never felt anything like that towards anybody. Ever. And I was terrified that if I fell in love with you..." he trailed off reluctantly.

We were far too deep into this conversation to forget and move past it now.

"You thought I'd hurt you? Nick, I would never hurt you," I sighed, contemplating whether I should say my next words because I wasn't choosing them very wisely. "I was already falling in love with you," I huffed in defeat, blurting it out before I could comprehend.

"You were?" he asked, extremely surprised and shocked at my words.

"Yes," I laughed, "Unbelievable, idiotically, pathetically falling in love with you. And I couldn't get around it, I never told you because I wanted you to say it first. I wanted to hear it first so I wouldn't look like an idiot coming out and saying that, but I did that anyway," I mumbled with a shrug.

"Do you think you can do it again?" he asked.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Find it in you to fall in love with me?"

Yes, in a fucking heartbeat.

I would have said that to him. I really wish I did, but now I don't think I'll ever get the chance to.

"Nick!" someone called out. We both turned around in confusion and saw Rachel coming our way.

Yes, Rachel Davidson.

"She wasn't invited to the wedding, I have no idea what she's doing here, just give me one second," he huffed, getting up and running over to her.

I didn't want to see him with her, so I kept my gaze on the ocean in front of me while hearing their voices faintly in the background.

I'm not going to look.

I truly think this is the worst sunset I have ever experienced and witnessed. I heard them argue for a while about how she wasn't invited and she can't just show up but she said she wanted to surprise her boyfriend and join him on vacation.

I knew they were dating.

He continued to ramble on about how they're not dating, they never have and she's not his girlfriend and a few moments had gone by and no one said anything. So I made the stupid move of looking back. And I felt my heartbreak.

This is like that stupid party all over again except I actually get to see it happen this time.

They kissed. Her arms were around him and her hands were tangled in his hair and I felt sick to my fucking stomach. Just like that night, I felt the tears pricking my eyes, threatening to spill out and make me vulnerable all over again. So I did the one thing I could think of doing right now.

I stood up and I ran.

Hiding in the first tent that I stumbled across. I wiped my face dry and bit back any sob that was aching to come out while sitting down. I looked at the stuff and I instantly knew whose tent this was.

Liam's.

Kill me now.

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