"Hey Sean" I grin and hand him one of the two beers I brought with me. I can feel Mollys eyes on us as she watches closely, probably trying to gauge Sean's reactions

"Hey" he smiles "thanks"

I nod "so you and Molly huh? I don't wanna say I was right, but I was right"

He rolls his eyes, laughing "I guess you were"

I take a drink and nod "so what do you want from it?" I ask "just one night, friends with benefits, a relationship?"

He laughs

"What?"

He sobers you before looking back up at me "don't think I don't know that Molly asked you to come talk to me"

I huff "she's just worried"

"And I'm not?" He asks "and I get why she's worried, but she's going to need to talk to me about it herself"

I nod "that's totally fair" I stand up and give him a small smile "but that girl, really likes you. Don't say something you don't mean and have to dwell on the what ifs because of it"

"You talking from experience?"

I shrug "I haven't talked to your bestie in awhile now"

"Have you told him how you feel?"

"What?" My voice goes up an octave

"Everyone can see it except the two of you, Talia"

I sigh "he's the one who doesn't want to ruin our friendship"

"But have you told him how you actually feel? Does he know there's feelings there? Does he think it's just another friends with benefits thing you want?"

I laugh but deep down I realise Sean's right, I've never actually told him how I feel "why are feeling so hard"

"Tell me about it"

I glance over at Molly who's nervously tapping on the bar while looking at the water "you should go talk to Molly, at least one of us can fix this tonight"

"You sure about that?" When I raise an eyebrow he points behind me

I turn around to see Ryder standing on the opposite side of the bonfire as me. He has one of his hats on backwards which he's paired with some black sunglasses. He's wearing some black Adidas swimming trunks and has a light blue and white towel draped across his shoulders

"Looks like we could both fix it tonight" Sean says before turning back around and walking towards Molly

I turn back to face Ryder who's now walking towards me. I leave my beer down on one of the logs and walk to meet him.

"Hey" I say softly"I didn't think you were gonna come"

He shrugs "and let another boy snatch you up?" He grabs my hand and his thumb rubs gently over mine "will you come with me?"

"Where?" I ask confused about what his actions mean

"You'll see"

He leads us to an empty side of the beach. There's a picnic blanket laid out surrounded by candles. In the centre there's a bowl of strawberries dipped in chocolate along with a bottle of wine.

"Sit down" he directs me. I do as told and he takes a seat beside me after a minute.

"Your probably confused as hell" he laughs "and I know we haven't been talking for awhile, but I may or may not have done that on purpose"

"I knew you were avoiding me!"

He smirks and nods "I realised you were right"

"When am I not?" I grin

He rolls his eyes playfully "see that's what I like about you"

"You like me?" I ask, feeling stupid for my sudden nervousness

His hand rests on my thigh "You didn't know?"

"How would I know you've been trying to keep me at the friend zone for weeks now"

"Because you were doing the same to me!"

"No I wasn't" I exclaim "I've literally been giving you every hint in the book"

"I thought you were just trying to drive me crazy" we both laugh and after a minute we've both sobered up "no but honestly Tal, I really really like you" he laughs to himself "and I hate sounding like a cringe idiot but I want you to know what Helen said is so far from the truth. You are it for me, you're beautiful, sarcastic and stupidly funny and as long as your in the room I'm always so happy. So I was wondering if you'd be my girlfriend?"

I nod frantically a huge grin on my face "I'd love that"

I grin and move so I'm now straddling his waist "did I forget to mention you look extra sexy in that bikini"

I grin using my thumb to caress his cheek "key detail to leave out there boyfriend"

He smirks and his fingers travel up and down my back "Without me also making a fool of myself, I want you to know you're it for me too. After everything we've been through this year, the fact that we can sit here now and smile shows we're perfect for each other. I mean I'd be stupid not to keep someone as funny and hot as you while I have the chance. Not to mention I make a mean lasagna, once you taste it you'll never go back"

He smirks "I look forward to having it" he pulls me further up his lap and moves so our lips are only a centimetre apart "and a lot more"

I grin "mhm. I'd say let's skip this party but I want to see what happens with Sean and Molly"

"I'm so glad we can finally say we were right" he grins

"You know?"

"They actually got together yesterday" he tells me "what you seen was their plan to keep you at the party"

I gasp "they were in on it"

He nods

I smirk leaning forward again "well in that case. Let's get out of here"

"So it worked?" I turn around to see Molly and Sean walking towards up

"Or not" I mutter before turning to them with a grin on my face "I'm totally going to get you two back by the way"

Sean laughs "I'm going to take that as a thank you and in that case your welcome"

I grab one of the chocolate strawberries and pop it in my mouth. Ryders hand doesn't leave my waist as he pops one of his own in his mouth.

Molly and Sean sit beside us, wrapped in each other's arms "now that I know you two are actually official, congratulations. I officially told you so"

They grin and peck each other's lips. Even with my jokes I'm really happy for them. I'm also really happy that I can officially call Ryder my boyfriend.

"Double dates pending!"

The end

💞