We got off the plane at the airport in Bermuda. The air was nice and cool. All around us was clear, blue water. The whole island looked so serene and calm. I breathed in the fresh, Carribbean air, taking in the beauty surrounding me.

"We booked a beach house to stay in," Grandma told us, putting her sunglasses on. A driver came to pick us up and take us to the beach house that we would be staying in.

"Oh my gosh! This place is so beautiful!" Kay cried. She was already going crazy snapping pictures of everything around her.

"There are three bedrooms. Split them however you want, but your grandmother and I have one for us," Grandpa told us.

"I'll share with Ethan!" Kay exclaimed.

"Do you want to share with Kay or Ethan?" Dad asked me. I looked at Ethan, who seemed a bit uncomfortable with the idea of sharing a room with my father.

"I don't care," he said, but I knew he wanted to room with me.

"I'll share with Ethan," I said.

"Noooo!!!!!" Kay complained, pulling a pouty face.

"Cool it, sister," I said, pulling down the bill to her hat. She swatted my hand away and I laughed, picking my bag up. "I'm going to unpack and then go to the beach," I said.

"Eat lunch first," Grandma told me. Until she mentioned food, I wasn't hungry. But now I realized I was starving. Ethan and I went up to the room we'd be staying in. We got the room that was away from the other two.

"No way in hell was I going to share with your dad or Kay. Imagine how awkward it would have been sleeping in the same room as your dad," Ethan said.

"And Kay would have annoyed the hell out of you," I added.

"Exactly!" he exclaimed, pulling out a pair of black swim trunks and a white Adidas windbreaker. He pulled his shirt off to reveal perfectly sculpted abs. I found myself staring at his perfectly muscled body and then I blushed. Why was I blushing? It wasn't the first time he'd taken his shirt off in front of me. I turned my back to him and pulled out a fuschia pink bikini and a white cover-up dress. I went into the bathroom to change because I suddenly felt a lot more self-conscious about my body with Ethan in the room.

After we ate lunch, we all headed down to the beach. There weren't too many people there. It was, after all, off-season in Bermuda. There weren't as many tourists or vacationers. But there were still quite a few.

"I want to play volleyball," Ethan said, pointing at the net where a game was already going.

"Then go," I said, rubbing sunscreen on my legs.

"But I don't know them," he pointed out.

"Since when do you care if you know people or not? Just go up there and ask if you can join in," I said.

"You come with me," he said.

"No, I don't want to play. I just want to sit here in the sun," I said, leaning back on my beach towel and closing my eyes. When he  didn't say anything, I opened my eyes to see if he was still there. I let out a little yelp when I found that his face was just inches over mine. I pushed him away from me as a broad smirk appeared on his face.

"What the hell, Ethan! You scared the crap out of me; stupid creep," I shouted angrily. He laughed and I threw a fist-full of sand at him. He raised his arm to shield himself.

"Please come play with me! Please, please, please!!!" he begged. I glared at him and he broke his straight face and started laughing again. Then I couldn't resist the urge, either, and started laughing, too.

"You're so dumb," I told him, getting up. "Come on," I said.

"Yes!" he cried, pumping his fist in the air. We walked over to the volleyball game and stood amongst the observers. It was a whole bunch of college students playing. A guy with dark, spiked hair glanced at me and nudged his friend, a blonde with similarly spiked hair. They both came over, identical smirks plastered on their faces. I resisted the impulse to roll my eyes at them and smiled.

"Hi," I said, twirling my hair with my index finger. Out of my peripheral view, I saw Ethan roll his eyes.

"Hey, you from around here?" dark-haired douche-bag asked.

"Oh, no. I'm from out of town. I'm just here on vacation and I was looking for something..." I paused and ran my fingers on his chest. "Something fun to do," I finished, batting my eyelashes. I could tell Ethan was getting pissed.

"Oh, well you're asking the right person," he said, his pearly white teeth glinting in the sun. I giggled like a flirty slut and smirked internally to myself as I watched Ethan grow angrier.

"Who're you?" blonde-haired douche-bag asked Ethan.

"I'm her-" Ethan began to say angrily and then stopped. He blinked. "I'm her boyfriend," he said coolly. I nearly choked on air. I glared at him and he smirked at me. He was getting back at me.

"She doesn't seem to give a f**k about you, though, so I'd just get out of here," blonde-hair said, stepping closer to Ethan.

"Oho, it's you that I don't give a f**k about. Don't talk to my boyfriend like that," I said, pushing him away. I took Ethan's hand and began walking away.

"So much for that," Ethan said.

"You're an ass, Ethan," I told him.

"What did I do?!" he exclaimed, snatching his hand away from mine.

"Why'd you say you were my boyfriend?" I asked, turning and facing him angrily. He seemed caught off-guard.

"Because, technically, I am a boy and your friend. Hence, boyfriend," he replied, a cocky grin spreading on his face.

"It's not funny, Ethan," I told him.

"Don't be mad," he said.

"I'm not. You were the one that was getting angry. Who cares if I was flirting with them?" I asked him.

"Ummm, you seem to be forgetting that you have an actual boyfriend," he pointed out.  "Austin? Remember him?" he asked. I squared my jaw at him. He was right. I shouldn't have done what I was doing. But Austin and I weren't talking right now. We still hadn't spoken about the necklace incident at Christmas. Ethan sighed, bringing me from my thoughts. "I really did want to play volleyball," he said, looking back at the net. I rolled my eyes at him and began walking back to my blanket. Kay and Dad were out now. I saw Kay talking to a guy that looked like he was in high school. He had long brown hair and tanned skin and was fairly attractive.

"Want to go mess with Kay?" I asked Ethan. He followed my gaze to where she was standing.

"No way. I'm not going to turn your sister against me. I need her on my side in case of an argument," he said.

"Oh, be quiet. I'm going to embarrass her like she always does to me," I said, a mischievious grin on my face. I picked up the tube of sunscreen and ripped off the label.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

"You'll see," I replied, making my way over to Kay.

"Hey! Makayla!!! Daddy said to tell you to put your cream on!" I called, coming up to her. Kay turned around, looking annoyed.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. The boy she was with grinned uncomfortably at me.

"Hi, if you could just excuse my sister for a minute. She has this rash that she needs to put this cream on--" I began saying, struggling to keep a straight face. Kay's eyes narrowed in anger at me. The guy's face turned to revulsion.

"Uhh, I have to go. Nice talking to you," he muttered to Kay and then quickly walked away.

"WHAT THE HELL, AVERY!" Kay screamed at me.

"I think your rash is making you...rash," I snorted. "Get it? Rash? Angry?" I laughed at my own corny joke. She glared at me and my face grew serious. "I think I'll run now," I said.

"Oh, it doesn't matter if you run. I'm still going to KILL YOU!" she yelled and I took off as she chased after.

"It was just a joke!" I cried, sprinting to Dad and Ethan.

"You're such a JERK!" she yelled. I laughed and jumped behind Ethan. Kay pounced at me, but I cowered behind him. Dad came over and grabbed Kay by the waist, holding her down.

"Did you see what she just did?!" Kay exclaimed, pointing at me.

"She was just joking..." Dad said.

"She totally embarassed me in front of that cute guy!" she whimpered.

"I'm sure he was too old for you anyway," Dad said.

"That's not fair!" Kay pouted.

"Avery, apologize to your sister," Dad told me. I widened my eyes, mostly in amusement.

"What? Why? It was just a joke. And she's pulled stuff like that on me plenty of times," I retorted.

"But you're good at handling embarassment!" Kay said. I smiled. That's what I wanted to hear. She inadvertantly complimented me.

"Ok, I'm sorry for playing a joke on you," I apologized, stepping out from behind Ethan. Dad let go of Kay, who was still glaring at me.

"You shouldn't do that too long. Your face might stay like that permanently," I said, ruffling her hair and sitting down on my blanket, stretching out. She kicked sand onto me and walked back to the beach house.

"I don't understand why you girls can't just get along," Dad said, sitting down next to me.

"We're supposed to fight. It's what sisters do," I told him. "Aren't you going to sit?" I asked Ethan, who was looking off in the distance.

"They're playing soccer over there. I'll be back for dinner," he said, walking off. I shook my head and closed my eyes again.

"So, how're things with Austin going?" Dad asked me casually.

"Ugh, Dad, I honestly don't want to talk about him right now," I told him.

"You guys fighting?" he asked. I opened my eyes and propped myself up on my elbow.

"He doesn't like that I spend so much time with Ethan," I told him. He nodded.

"I have noticed that you two are a lot closer than you used to be," he said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, laying back down.

"Have you two talked at all?" he asked.

"Who two? Me and Ethan? Or Me and Austin?" I questioned.

"You and Ethan," he replied.

"Dad, we talk all the time," I said.

"You know what I mean," Dad said. I looked at him.

"We're best friends, Dad. I was worried about him after the whole thing with his mom. I just don't want him to feel like he's alone," I explained. He pursed his lips and nodded, dropping the subject.

                                                                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, they really know how to party here," Ethan said. We were at the beach. It was New Year's Eve and everyone was getting drunk and having a blast.

"It's a cruise island. What do you expect?" I replied. We sat side by side, a little ways away from the large crowd of partiers. Kay had found another little boy friend and had snuck away to "talk" with him. Dad had also met a single woman and was busy chatting her up. Grandma and Grandpa were in the beach house, away from the noise. I rested my head on Ethan's shoulder.

"I wonder how Austin's celebrating New Year's," I said, absent-mindedly.

"You guys haven't talked since the fight?" he asked. I shook my head. "You never told me what it was about," he said. I lifted my head and looked at him. He looked down at me and met my eyes. Our faces were about half a foot from one another. I saw the green-blue of his eyes sparkle in the firelight.

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5..." people began chanting. The countdown had begun. Ethan and I were still looking at one another, our faces getting closer. "3, 2, 1..." we heard in the background. Our lips were just centimeters away from each other and then a huge display of fireworks burst into life overhead. We jumped back from each other, our eyes confused. I felt my heart racing. What was I doing?!

                                                                          ~~~~~~~~~~~

                                                                            Ethan's POV

Avery rested her head on my shoulder. I smiled slightly at the touch and became more aware of the fact that her arm was resting against mine.

"I wonder how Austin's celebrating New Year's," she said in a conversational tone. Hearing her say his name cut through me like a knife. Austin.

"You guys haven't talked since the fight?" I asked, trying to make it seem like I was interested. I didn't want to talk to her about Austin. I didn't want to hear about him. Ever. I hated him. Hated him because he was with Avery and treated her so badly.

"You never told me what it was about," I said.  As much as I hated him, I wanted to know why they were fighting. I wanted to know if there was any possible way that I could make it worse so that they'd break up. Couldn't she see? Couldn't she see how wrong they were for each other? He was an ass. And she was perfect.

She lifted her head off my shoulder and the loss of warmth from where her head lay was sudden. I looked down at her and saw that she was gazing up at me with her dark brown eyes. It seemed like they were lit to life as the reflection of the fire roared inside of them. Her long eyelashes curled up, her little snow-slope nose was slightly freckled, and her lips were so...

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5..." people began chanting. The countdown had started. I found myself looking longingly down at her lips. What were these feelings that kept coming up inside of me? Why did I suddenly have the urge to kiss her? She was my best friend. I had known her for sixteen years. It was wrong. Then why was I leaning in?

"4, 3, 2, 1..." people shouted. And as our lips grew closer to each other, an eruption of noise blew up over our heads. We both jumped back, away from each other. I read confusion all over her face and was sure that I had the same expression on mine. The fireworks burst into life overhead and I felt my own fireworks of emotion bursting inside of me.

Suddenly I knew what these feelings were. It was as if the loud noise had triggered the realization.

I loved her.

                                                                         End of Ethan's POV

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A/N: Bow chika wah wah. Emotions runnin' wild. =)

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