"If I could go into your eyes I would get lost forever"

Song- Tongue tied;Grouplove

Time seemed to drift away from me like the sun drifted under the ocean. The stars and moon lit the sky up. I was lost in my thoughts until I saw a figure on the beach. It was the middle of the night and no one else was outside.

When I squinted my eyes I could make out the shape of Theo. I grabbed a hoodie to protect myself from the cool wind and snuck outside. When I got there the only light source was the moon reflecting off of the ocean. I saw Theo raise a bottle to his lips and take a swig.

I creep down the beach with sand between my toes and sit next to him. His looks up and sends me a nod. The alcohol surrounds him letting me know he's drunk.

"Hey." I say softly, brining my knees to my chest.

"Hey." He reply's plainly while taking another drink and chucking the empty bottle beside him.

"What are you doing?" The sound of the waves meeting the earth fills the silence.

"Having a party." He chuckles, motioning around him.

"With yourself." My brows furrow as I look to him.

"I'm my own company." He grins drunkenly. "And my own best friend."

I know what he means when he says that. I finally get why he was so upset. He was afraid he was not going to just loose Cam but me as well. I grab his hand and squeeze it in mine.

"You're not going to lose either of us. We're still your best friends and always will be. No matter what." I reassure him, his eyes seem to soften in some way, a weight was lifted from him.

"How can you be sure?" He sniffles, his hand meets his curls for a second.

"I don't know." I say truthfully. "But what I do know is that as long as I'm alive you will be my other half and nothing can change that."

"Promise?" He holds up his pinky like a child but the small gesture brings a smile to my face.

"Promise." I interlock our pinky's and shake my head. He pulls me in for a hug and the air leaves my lungs from how tight he squeezes me. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, so much." He replies tearfully and for the second time today I'm crying. We talk and laugh and cry until the sun rises. When it does another pair of footsteps sound from behind us. Cam sits next to me and Theo with sleep still in his eyes.

"Are we good now?" He yawns, covering his mouth. I look to Theo and smile.

"Yeah, we're good." I wrap my arm around both of the boys and hold them close to me.

Once everyone is awake we all get ready for the day. The parents took Ella to a museum they wanted to go to. The rest of us decide to stay at the house and swim all day. I change into a bikini while the boys head outside.

When I go to meet them I stop and watch all of them. They were chasing each other down the beach while laughing and splashing in the water. When I'm distracted arms swoop me up and bring me to the ocean.

"Cam! Let me down!" I squeal trying to wriggle out of his arms.

"Not happening babe." He chuckles, when a large waves comes he slams both of us in it. Theo, Grayson and Connor join in on our water fight. We spend hours swimming and playing games until our parents came back.

I took a quick shower and got dressed in a sun dress. We all headed down to town where we decide to grab some dinner. The restaurant we pick is ocean side with a balcony that you can eat on. We get to our seats and order our drinks.

The table is filled with conversations from our childhood and what we want to do the next day. The chaos of my crazy family surrounds me in a way that brings peace to me. Then I realize something.

Getting better isn't a straight path. There's going to be bad days and bad weeks. But there's also going to be great days. Days where I feel like nothing could hurt me. It's just life, bad days are normal and the bad days don't determine who I am as a person.

"I'm just saying we could totally build a boat out of sticks." Grayson stuffs some of his food into his mouth and chews it while talking.

"And then we can put it in the ocean and paddle to the middle." Connor agrees, stabbing his food with a fork.

"If you want to go missing at sea." Dave chuckles with a playful look on his face.

"I'm not going out there to rescue you guys when you get stuck." Cameron tells them, leaning back in his chair next to me. His hand is placed on my knee, his thumb rubbing up and down.

"Marlee will." Grayson beams at me hopefully.

"Whatever you think." I say sarcastically patting his arm.

"We won't need to be rescued anyways." Connor grins, rolling up the wrapper to his straw and throwing it at my head.

"Yeah, our boat will be so sturdy it could survive a tornado." Grayson proudly beams.

"Oh really?" Sara's voice holds laughter behind it.

"You guys have no faith in us!" Connor whines, his bottom lip sticking out.

"No we have faith in you." I say sweetly. "Faith in you dying if you go out on that boat."

I'm asleep in bed when I'm suddenly woken up. "Lee!"

I groan and roll back over when he whispers again. "Lee, wake up."

"Go away" I mumble half asleep, rolling away from him.

"No, wake up." Cam shakes me harshly. I sit up and glare at him angrily.

"What do you want?!" I ask, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"Get up, I have a surprise for you."

Too tired to argue I throw on some random clothes and follow him outside. He interlocks our fingers and leads me down the beach where there's no houses around. I spot a blanket with some candles lit around it and gasp.

"You like it?"

"No" I say monotonously. "Of course I like it you dumbass." I smack him in the back of the head playfully before reaching up and kissing him.

We settle in and face the ocean. His arm wraps around me and I lean into his chest. His heart pounds in my ears and I realize he's nervous. Knowing him he wouldn't tell me so I interlock our fingers and kissed his cheek, silently consoling him.

"Hey Marlee." He moves his head and looks down at me. I brush stray hairs out of his face and nod.

"Yeah?"

"I love you." He says. My stomach does a little flip but it isn't the first time we've said I love you. I don't remember the first time, we were so young.

"I love you too." I reply, smiling up at him.

"No, I mean I love you." He sits up and so do I. "Like I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Like my heart stops when you aren't around. Like I want to stop anyone from ever hurting you again because when you're hurt it hurts me. I love you."

I'm frozen in place for a second. My smile is so wide my cheeks hurt. I bite my lip to stop my grin from growing but he reaches over and pulls it away from my teeth.

"Say something." He urges, nerves covering him.

"I love you too." That's all it takes for me to be swept up to him and connected. We watch the sunrise over the ocean, never letting go of each other.

After a week of swimming, eating, playing around and spending time together we head home burnt and tired.

Senior year passed much more smoothly than junior year. Next thing I know I'm in a cap and gown and have a diploma in my hands with my friends around me and my family in the audience.

During the past year a lot of things have changed. For one Brianna and Miles got together. Bri grew feelings for Miles over the summer and apparently Miles has liked her since the beginning of high school.

They went on a few dates and now are inseparable. Addie left during senior year but still came to visit during weekends and holidays. Her track team at her new school earned her a scholarship to her dream college.

Ashers still Asher but deep, deep down I love him even if he pushes all of my buttons. All three of the boys got scholarships to the university of Georgia where they all committed to.

Grayson has been working on himself and being more bold. He acts like himself around people that aren't his family. It makes me proud to see him growing and hopefully he won't turn out like Theo.

Don't get me wrong, I love Theo but I can't handle two of him. Connor got his first ever girlfriend and then broke up with her because he didn't like relationships. Their relationship consisted of him walking her to class and eating lunch together so it wasn't a heartbreaking event.

My dad got arrested for gambling and he was forced to pay all the child support he owed us. With the large sum of money mom was able to quit her jobs and buy a building on main street. We spent months fixing it up and last month was the grand opening.

Shes happier, less exhausted and has more time for us. The restaurant is always packed since the only other food place in town is the diner that is still doing good too. Most people eat lunch at the diner and dinner at moms place.

As for me, I'm got a job to start saving. I decided to go to college even though I never thought I could before. I'll be able to figure it out and I won't be doing it alone. Bri and Miles helped me find some scholarships and when I applied I was accepted.

I decided to go to university of Georgia with the boys, Miles and Bri. Even if they weren't going there I would still go. It was Moms dream school before she got married and I fell in love when I toured it.

There's so many art related opportunities in Athens. I'm going to school to be an art teacher. Art is my passion and I want to teach kids how to express themselves through it just like I did.

After graduation there was a big party for Theo, Cameron, Miles, Asher and me. We had the party at moms restaurant with all of our family's, Carol from the diner and even James and Caleb came down.

Ellas gotten so big. She's walking and talking like crazy. Her energy exhaust all of us but we all love her like crazy. After we eat tacos mom made and the cake she also made people start to pile out.

The only ones left where Cams family, my mom and the rest of the group. The moms demand a photo shoot before we all decide to look through some pictures they had printed of all of us.

I sit in Cams lap with everyone gathered around me. We laugh and get embarrassed and even tear up while looking at the younger versions of ourselves with gapped teeth, messy hair and dirty clothes.

Everyone's laughing at one of Theo eating mud as I look around at the group.

I used to think that growing up on "the wrong side of the tracks" was bad. That I had it worse and wasn't going to amount to anything. But I was wrong.

When I look back I wouldn't change a thing about my life. Not the good or the bad. Everything that has happened got me to where I am today. It made me who I am.

It gave me more than just blood family, the best friends I could ask for and the love of my life.

Cam brushes a piece of hair behind my ear and kisses my cheek. "Everything okay?"

I look around the room once again at everyone who supported me through the bad, helped me through the worse and unconditionally loved me no matter what. I look at my family. unconventional, insane, chaotic family and feel my heart fill with joy.

I turn back to Cam and kiss him quickly, staring into his eyes. "Everything's perfect."

Maybe growing up on the wrong side of the tracks isn't so bad after all...

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