Strap in:3

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"I uh— I was wondering if you'd like to go with me?"

Calling Mason for fashion advice would most likely end up on this year's list of dumbest decisions made by mankind. Clothes in all colors of the fucking rainbow covered the just-not-white floor of my room, forming a hazard for anyone who dared to enter. One t-shirt even somehow ended up on the corner of a canvas— one of which I wasn't sure had completely dried, I realized a little too late. 

"Is that seriously a question-? No, you can't wear that to a bonfire," Mason's glitchy voice huffed through my phone's speaker —which I'd attempted to balance on the rim of my easel— motioning at the pink t-shirt in my hand with a disapproving, pixelated face. 

This is gonna take forever. I let out a loud groan and fell back onto my bed, sending pillows flying all around me. Tossing the damn shirt in a random direction, I dragged a hand across my face. "I shouldn't have called you."

I heard a snort. "Well, in my defense, you called the group chat. I just happened to pick up!"

"I'm gonna ignore that you're right." Flopping over onto my stomach, I reached out and grabbed a light blue squishmallow, poking its soft belly. A total disaster. This whole thing hadn't even started yet and it was already a disaster. 

To be fair, this probably wasn't even as big of a deal as I made it out to be. It would be just like any other time we hung out. But the itchy bugs crawling around my stomach said otherwise, and those bugs were simply difficult to ignore.

"Robbie? What in the world happened there-?" Reagan's voice suddenly spoke, a lot softer than Mason's constant judging.

Before I could turn around to explain everything, Mason had to open his mouth. "Robbie has terrible fashion taste," he stated, gaining a chuckle from Reagan. This bitch.

At this point, I was honestly tempted to just kick him out of the call. But, alas, I decided against it. After all, there were more important troubles to worry about. I jumped off my bed —and almost tripped over a bunch of other, disapproved shirts— before walking up to my phone. "And Mason's being a jerk," I countered with a slight grin and narrow eyes pointed at the pouting guy, before glancing at Reagan. "Anyway, I need help. Like, emergency level."

Reagan, whose hair had been wrapped up in a teal towel, smiled. "What's the occasion?"

Glancing around the mess in my room with a whirlwind of thoughts hurling through my head, I felt heat creep up my face. The white rug had been fully covered in various shades of pink, yellow, blue, and orange, doused in a bath of colored sunlight— split into shapes by the suncatcher dangling in front of my window. I smiled. "The bonfire.."

A high-pitched gasp followed. "He actually asked you?! Oh my god!" She shrieked and applauded in excitement which, thanks to the wonderful wifi this place had, sounded like choppy fragments of nails scratching against a chalkboard. Upon seeing my pained face, she shot me a bashful smile and cleared her throat. "Sorry, sorry. I figure Mason hasn't been of much help?"

"I'm seriously gonna hang up on both of you." Mason's voice got muffled by the crunching of those disgusting vinegar chips he for some reason always had on him before I heard distant yelling, followed by less distant yelling. 

Judging by her furrowed eyebrows, both Reagan and I seemed equally confused. I decided to take the lead and chuckled, eyeing Mason with a frown. "What was that about?"

Mason shrugged, wiping his greasy hand against a black hoodie. "We got family over downstairs. Mom wants Nyx and me to join them," he explained.

Bent down like a shrimp with annoying curls, I blew a lock of hair out of my face with a confused chuckle. "Then why the fuck are you here-?"

"Because I gotta help you out! And Nyx—" he paused and sprang up from a slouched position, maneuvring across a dark, pixelated screen before switching on a bright light "—is being anti-social in their room."

Mood. I laughed and shook my head, throwing those damn curls right back into my eyes. "Well okay, maybe you're not a total jerk." Glancing at the alarm clock on my bedstand, I mentally cursed myself for letting time slip away. Neon green dots told me I had exactly twenty minutes to get to the beach. So with the most pathetic smile ever, I turned to Reagan. "Help. Please."

Her eyes scanned the mess on my floor for a second before they widened and she hesitantly raised her hand. "What's that one, right there?"

I followed her gaze into a shoved-aside pile of shirts from the very back of my closet, ones that normally only made it out if I needed something else and they were in the way. Interesting choice. After making sure I'd found the one Reagan meant, I fished out a sunset-tinted floral button-up. "This?"

Reagan laughed. "No need to look so confused," she teased, nodding at the shirt. "Put it on, but leave some buttons open. You're not going to a business meeting right?"

Throwing all my faith in the always beautifully dressed redhead, I turned around and switched out my white shirt for the button-up, following her instructions best I could. My collarbones felt oddly exposed. 

"That looks so cute!"

"Huh. Not bad, Ray. Not bad."

On my phone, a small portion of the screen showed the peachy material covering my upper body— for the most part. Guava pink flowers blended in perfectly; just like a sunset. I smiled. "I like it."

Nodding eagerly, Reagan's eyes fell on my sweat shorts. Her brows pulled into a frown. "I don't think that'll do," she admitted with a laugh, gaining a hum from Mason. "You got any jeans?"

I ran a hand through my hair and once again glanced around the piles of fabric in my room, wondering how the fuck I was ever going to clean it all up. But those were worries for later. Much later. For now, I tugged at the ragged ends of some light jeans and pulled them up to my phone with a hesitant smile. "How about these?"

Reagan pursed her lips. "Do you have a thin belt, by any chance?"

Mason nodded thoughtfully, his chin placed between his index finger and thumb like some sort of fancy photographer. I bet you twenty bucks he was thinking about rainbow obbies or something.

"I... I might-?" To be fair, I usually just grabbed the first belt to show up, if I even needed one. "Let me just—" I skipped over to my closet and dove into it, rummaging through the back shelf with determination before pulling out a brown leather belt. Perfect. "Found one!" I yelled out, causing Reagan to cheer me on. 

Right as I was about to return to sight with my belt on, my eyes fell on the small container with jewelry hidden in a dark corner of my closet. The butterflies in my abdomen told me to put some on, and so I did—like a normal person. A seashell necklace and some colorful bracelets made it through the selection process. 

"So," I began, walking up to my phone, "what do we think?"

Mason snorted to himself. "You look colorful."

"And it looks perfect," Reagan added with a smile, applauding when I gave her a twirl. She laughed. "But hey, you need to get going!"

I shot an anxious glance at my alarm clock and was horrified to find out twenty minutes had magically turned into twelve. I swear to god, time is rigged. "Right. Yes. B— bonfire."

Once the room had filled with silence —it most likely took another five minutes until I'd actually hung up— I fell back onto my bed with a loud sigh. Nerves began to creep up my stomach for no fucking reason, I mean, Seth and I were just hanging out. Just like any other day. Right..?

Pulling out my phone once again, I opened Nyx's contact and stood up. I took a very questionable selfie of my outfit, captioning it with; wish me luck help im gonba die weee

Not even a second later, a typing bubble popped up at the bottom of my screen. 

Nyx 21:19; fit looks good on you🖤n you can do this┗|｀O′|┛

I prayed to god they were right.

-

The beach had never looked this beautiful.

It's not like I had any comparison material, but my god. A chill summer breeze ran through me as I walked closer to the promenade and all the people it held. They were laughing and dancing to summer songs that brought back memories I didn't know I had, clinking their filled glasses against one another with not a care in the world. I smiled. This was it.

Sand crunched under the soles of my flip-flops. The straw canopy, shadowing part of the scorching concrete walkway, quickly came to an end and I was doused in a bath of sunlight spilling from the colorful sky above. Blue met an aflame sun that reached for the ocean, whose soft waves lapped at the sand. Where the beach was normally empty and peaceful, it now buzzed with all sorts of people, grouping together around various of wooden stands and booths. 

Lemonade stands, pop-up sandwich shops, donation booths, jewelry stands, and a ginormous wooden stage with a DJ table. It was big enough to classify as an open-air podium, to be honest. A string of colorful lanterns decorated the wooden arch, as did the two speakers on either side, blasting off their music into the world. 

And of course, in the middle of it all, a pit had been made in the sand. Surrounded by rocks and seashells, tall flames flickered left and right, warm orange tips licking the sky. Dried logs circled the fire, functioning as seats for whoever wanted to warm up. Not that it was cold out, but the chilled ocean could tempt anyone with her sweet constellation of blues and greens. 

A shaky breath escaped past my lips before I could stop it. This was.. a lot. Summery melodies filled my ears, effectively drowning out the fanfare of nerve-wracking thoughts. After taking a final breath, I smoothed out the fabric of my button-up, hopped off the concrete edge —without falling, this time— and landed on the soft sand with a thud. My poor ankles.

Scanning the buzzing crowds, I didn't see Seth anywhere. Ants of anxiety began to crawl up my skin and just as I was about to pull out my phone to send a panicked text, a girl caught my attention. Her blonde hair and green bikini seemed to ring a bell somewhere in the back of my head. 

Laughing with her friends at one of the jewelry stands, that fierce voice sprung out above all the distinct chatter. Her eyes fell on me when she turned around to type something on her phone and they widened immediately, causing me to offer her an awkward smile. She returned the effort and waved me over. 

Round eyes hidden by fake lashes gave me a quick scan. "Hi! You're that guy from Jackson's party, right? Oh my gosh, I was so drunk that night," the blonde said with a laugh once I was close enough, taking a sip from something that definitely wasn't lemonade. I'm not surprised. 

I nodded with a chuckle, feeling weirdly out of place with all her girl friends staring at me. "Uh, yeah, haha. I was— I was very drunk too. What uh," I ran a hand through my hair, "what's your name?" 

Look, of course there was a pretty big chance she'd already told me her name. But for fuck's sake, I barely remembered anything from that night. God knows what else she told me.

"I'm Bailey!" She stuck her hand out with an excited smile, not even waiting for me to shake it before moving on to introduce me to all her friends. There were at least six other girls, and I did not remember any of their names. Great.

"Nice to meet uh.. all of you." It was the best I could come up with, okay?

Bailey tugged at the strap of her bikini with a grin. "Sooo, what are you doing here? Meeting up with anyone?"

I was supposed to. "I uhm... I'm meeting with m—

—with me?"

Safe to say my heart had launched itself out of my ribcage as everyone's heads snapped to the sudden voice interrupting me. An avalanche of butterflies stormed through me when I saw Seth, grinning at me with his stupid gorgeous face and simple brown necklace resting on a nirvana t-shirt. 

Suddenly, my ability to form decent sentences had been wiped from my brain. Instead, those fucking butterflies settled in my stomach while ants crawled beneath my skin, faster and faster with every step Seth took toward me. I'm seriously gonna explode. Stepping aside from the girls, I attempted a smile of my own. "H-hi."

Seth flashed me a smile. "Hey." His eyes gave me a once-over before resting on my face. "You look.." He fell silent for a moment, moisturizing his lips as he looked me over again, face now morphing into a shy smile that just barely reached my eyes "..really nice."

Oh. "I— Thanks." Oh. My. God. You could've said fucking anything, and you said 'thanks'?! Mentally cursing my stupidity, I offered him a smile before glancing around the beach. "This is huge," I said, motioning to all the booths and people. 

Humming in agreement, Seth followed my gaze. "It sure is. Lucky for us, we have all night to see everything." He turned to look at me, smiling a smile that made my insides melt. He stuck out his hand. "Shall we?"

Just like all other times, I obediently placed my hand in his, fingertips brushing against the leather of his bracelets. "After you," I replied with a stupid smile, swallowing hard when my knees almost fucking collapsed as he dragged me along— a consequence of the electricity that rushed through me every time our hands touched. 

Someone save me.

"So," Seth began as we walked toward a booth closer to the open-air stage, trudging through the sand at a pace I could barely keep up with, "we don't have a booth this year. But, some of our friends do!" he exclaimed with a grin that made my heart happy, swaying our intertwined hands up and down. 

I seriously need to exercise more. My eyes widened when I noticed rows of tiny bracelets coming into sight, hanging from wooden pegboards in the back of a booth, colors varying from pink to yellow and everything in between. "Do you and your mom normally have a booth?" I asked, only half paying attention as I fastened my pace toward the booth. 

Noticing my excitement, Seth laughed and followed after me. "Yeah, we usually do. My mom's uh— she's out of town. Visiting a friend, I think."

I paused and turned around, watching a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Oh. That must be weird then, right?"

Seth smiled. A real smile this time. "It's fine, blue eyes. Besides, now I have all day to hang out with you," he said with a cheeky grin while poking my arm, words falling hushed as we reached the booth. 

A girl with blue box braids smiled at us. "Hi you two!"

I gave her a small wave. "I like your hair, it's really pretty." The bright blue colors complimented her dark skin perfectly, contrasting a white tank top with matching necklaces.

The girl's smile widened before her eyes fell on Seth. "I like this one, Erriquez. È carino."

While my brain was still comprehending the sudden switch to Italian, I looked aside to see Seth's face reddening as he chuckled. He pointed her a look before clearing his throat, turning to me with the resemblance of a smile. "Blue eyes, meet Sierra. Her family owns the frozen yogurt shop down the promenade."

He turned back to Sierra with a sigh. "Be nice, yeah?"

I'm just... standing here.

Sierra grinned. "When have I not been?" Taking a quick glance at me, she narrowed her eyes at Seth and lowered her voice. "È questo il famigerato occhi blu-? Gli chiederai finalmente di uscire stasera?"

I might not have had a single clue what the fuck she was talking about, but judging by the pure panic overtaking Seth's face, it probably wasn't any good. He glared at her, stepping closer until he could place his hands on the counter. With a dead-serious face, he said, "forse."

Italian is so weird. I'm so confused. "Uhm— uh, do you uh, do you sell those-?" I finally decided to ask, pointing at the bracelets behind Sierra. 

Switching her facial expression to a somewhat less intimidating one, Sierra turned to me with an excited nod. "Sure do! You wanna buy one?"

Did my wallet want me to buy one? Absolutely not. Would that stop me? Absolutely not. I nodded. "Yeah! They're all so pretty, oh my god. I already have a few at home, but like, not a lot of them. I don't know why. Guess I just never bought them-? I totally should have though." Oh my god shut up. I could almost feel Seth staring at me, and the silence was painful.

After a few seconds, both Sierra and Seth let out a laugh. "That's a yes, then? They're 2,50 a piece. Two for 3,75!"

There goes all my money. "I'll just take o—

"How much if I were to buy one?" Seth interrupted, stepping forward with a glance narrowed at the blue-haired girl. He shot me a quick wink that made me want to explode. 

Sierra rose a brow. "Stai cercando di fare il romantico, eh? Well, you don't have a booth this year. No discount then."

Feeling awkward, I tugged at Seth's sleeve. "It's fine, I can just pa—

"Ti sto letteralmente implorando. I'll.. give you a free haircut..?"

"You don't even know how to cut hair!" Sierra called out with a snort, shaking her head in disappointment. "Besides, even if you did, you wouldn't know how to work with my hair type, smart-ass. But fine, a dollar for the brown-haired gentleman."

No way. What the fuck did she say to her? Immediately, I sprang back and shook my head. "I can't take that!"

Out of nowhere, Seth slammed a one-dollar bill onto the counter. "Yes you can. Which one do you want?"

Well then. My eyes fell on a bracelet with dark brown, orange, and yellow beads—  Harvey's colors. "Uhm.. th-that one is cute," I managed to croak out, pointing at it. 

Sierra nodded and spun around, grabbed it off the pegboard, and snipped the tag off. "Take good care of it, yeah?" she said with a smile, waving us off as a new song began to play, catching her attention. 

After saying goodbye to a now humming Sierra, we walked away with the bracelet secured around my wrist. 

-

Time passed by quickly. Strokes of orange drifted across the wrinkling sea that softly lapped at darkened sand, draping the world in a dim blanket of infinite blue and shimmering stars. Music swirled around the beach, blending in with cheerful chatter of all those people still crowding the place. 

After strolling past most of the booths, we'd sat down on one of the logs surrounding tall flocks of flickering fire. Cool air coated by the thick heat of flames filled up my lungs, as that smokey smell overpowered the sea's salt. I stretched out my arms, holding them just close enough for the warmth to erupt across my fingertips.  "That's nice," I mumbled, mainly to myself, glancing up when I heard Seth chuckle. 

"It is, isn't it?" He rubbed his hands together before stretching them out above his head, tensing up all sorts of muscles in all the wrong places and I had to think about stepping on lego in order to look away. This is bad. 

Seemingly unaware of my flustered state, Seth took my silence for an answer and sat back down with a satisfied sigh. Suddenly, an evil grin crept up his face as he looked at me, golden complexion illuminated in an orange glow. His eyes flitted toward the distance. "I still can't believe we met because you fell off that wall."

Oh my god. Heat burned at my skin —and not because of the fire— as I followed his gaze. "Can't we just forget about that-!?" I cried out, burying my face in my hands, memories flooding my brain. That incident would have most definitely made it onto the list of like, top 10 worst ways to introduce yourself. I'm sure there's a reddit post for that somewhere.

Seth laughed, the heavenly sound immediately blocking out the rampage of thoughts in my mind and snapping me back to reality. "I don't think I could ever forget that," he teased, very clearly enjoying this torture. "Besides, shouldn't you be thanking me? I did save your life."

I attempted a scoff, though it came out as more of a laugh. "Shut up. You're the one who came crashing through the hallway first." Not that I minded, but he didn't have to know that. 

Shifting around on the log, Seth smiled. "Touché. He gazed off into the distance, eyes narrowed and jaw flexed —keep it together— before glancing back at me. "Can I ask you a question? It— it's kinda personal."

Oh? "Shoot," I said with a grin, though my confidence lacked.

"Uh—" he paused and leaned forward, smiling when I let out a panicked gasp. He raised a teasing brow. "Didn't mean to make you blush, blue eyes. Anyway, my question."

I'm gonna crash. Was he.. flirting with me?! My throat ran dry as I racked my mind for a response. There was still a good distance between us, so it shouldn't have been hard. "R-right." But with those warm eyes following my face, darkened in a mischievous haze, all words had been wiped off my brain. 

He smiled once again, turning around to watch the fire. "I was curious about your family. I mean— I know you live with your sister, but you also talk to your dad.. right?" Eyes falling onto his lap, Seth's smile faltered as he fidgeted with teal beads. Orange light flickered against his skin, a simple sight that somehow ignited a similar flame within my chest. 

I found myself smiling. Maybe for once, I could tell my stupid brain to shut up. With my heart ramming through my ribcage, I reached over and pried his fingers away one by one. He glanced up at me. "Fidget with mine," I offered, nodding at my hand while biting back a smile. "I used to live in Miami with my dad and Aleksia. Our mom.. she left a long time ago. Eventually, Lex left for college and well.. now I'm here."

Seth hummed. He'd looped his fingers around mine. "And how'd ya end up here?"

Solely focused on the feeling of his hand holding mine, I swallowed. "Our mom paid for Aleksia's apartment. Part of her tuition too. Guess she didn't want me to feel left out," I said with a dry chuckle, heartbeat still racing. "I didn't want to accept anything from her. But my dad knew this place would give me a better future than he ever could, so..yeah."

I glanced up to find Seth smiling at me. "I'm.. really glad you listened to your dad, then."

Butterflies stormed through my body. I copied his smile. "Yeah... me too." 

Laughter drifted through a late-night breeze, flowing around the dancing flames in a dangerous game of physics. Groups of people moved along to summery tunes like there was no tomorrow, screeching when one of them would fall and splash everyone with salted water. Amongst the crowds, I saw Bailey laughing loudly as she chatted with someone. I narrowed my eyes at the familiar figure, darkened silhouette hidden behind one of the bar's wooden pillars. 

They stepped into the light, laughing at something Bailey must've said. My eyes widened. Even with the colorful lights spilling down on his pale face, I could recognize that voice anytime. Jackson. What was he doing here? 

"His father likes to blow some money on us lower-class peasants every once in a while. And every year, he sends Jackson off to play mascot for him."

I turned to Seth, who'd apparently followed my gaze. I assumed he'd meant to come off as joking, but it was clear he wasn't too thrilled with Jackson's presence either. I snorted. "Seems like he loves his job."

Seth hummed, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Cute. 

The fire crackled gently, almost as if encouraging me to speak. That's ridiculous. I curled my toes, digging into the soft sand until it began collecting in my nails. Ew. Fucking hate that feeling. Repeating the motion, I peeked at Seth's hand. His pinky now barely touched mine. "What... What about you?"

Seth glanced up. "Hm?"

I swallowed again. "What about your uhm— your family-?"

"Oh—" he paused and cleared his throat, eyes flitting left and right as he retracted his hand back to the bracelets. "You surprised me with that one," he said, regaining his composure within the second it disappeared. An easy smile flashed across his face. "It's just me and my mom—" he folded his hands behind his head and leaned back "— dad's long gone."

"I—

Eyes widening, Seth hastily leaped forward. "He's not dead-!" he exclaimed, letting out a laugh at my shocked face. "God, no. He was just.." his gaze lowered, "..not very fond of me."

Before I could do literally anything, Seth bloomed up again and clapped his hands together, that same easy smile back on his face. "But-! Enough with all the serious stuff."

His smile was infectious. I smiled too. "Okay. Give me something fun, then!"

That smile made place for a kind of expression I couldn't quite describe. But god, did it make me feel things. He grinned, eyes sparkling with tease. Resting his chin on the palm of his hand, he leaned forward. "How come you're not dating anyone?"

........what? "Uh—" I swallowed, suddenly very aware of every little fucking detail around me. Including the scent of jasmine —which I hadn't noticed at all for all the hours I'd been here, but okay. The heat— god, the heat— and butterflies. Too many of them. Everywhere. Setting my insides on fire. Eye contact was out of the question. "I... I don't know! I'm stupid, I guess?"

With an amused smile, Seth raised a brow. "I don't think that's a valid answer, blue eyes."

Face burning fucking fifty shades of red, I pouted. Yes, you read that right. Pouted. I'm so fucking screwed. "S-shut up." Finally daring to look at him —and immediately regretting it— I huffed. "Well, if anyone should be asking questions, it's me. You have literal fangirls. Why the fuck are you still single?"

In that moment, our eyes locked. Biting at his lip to contain a grin, Seth's face reddened. He chuckled to himself, shaking his head before glancing back up at me. "Because you're an idiot, I guess." 

"Shut u— wait... w-what..?" My heart quadrupled in size as it jumped into my throat, beating so fucking fast I couldn't even swallow anymore. But with how dry my mouth felt, that wasn't too big of an issue anymore. "What... what do you mean-?"

"I said what I said!" Seth laughed, his face still red. The angelic sound would normally make everything sweet, however now, I felt like exploding. 

My whole body had started to tremble so bad I couldn't even hold my hands still. What the fuck is happening to me?! "I hate you," I squeaked out in a voice so small, it could break into pieces like a thin plate of glass. 

Leaning forward, Seth smiled at me. "Aw, that's too bad, 'cause—

"I like you! Okay? Yeah. I really fucking like you a lot." I can't take this anymore. Everything was shaking, buzzing, everything. My ears burned. 

With wide eyes, Seth froze. Looking taken aback, he stared at me before melting into a smile. "Oh thank god." Holy fucking shit. He was so close. So close. Those nervous eyes stared right into mine, warm breath fanning across my face. "Can I?" he asked, glancing at my lips.

I couldn't speak. I couldn't function. I nodded. 

He kissed me. With a rough hand holding my face, he closed his eyes and gently pressed his lips against mine. A fanfare of butterflies crashed through my system, setting every inch of me on fire until I could barely move. I couldn't do anything.

Pulling away, Seth glanced at me with furrowed brows. "You're shaking," he pointed out, nodding at my very clearly trembling hands.

I let out a nervous laugh, blinking repeatedly. "C-could you..uh— is this real-?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, pretty sure it's real. But, could I what-?"

Swallowing hard, I kept my eyes glued to our shared wooden log. "..hold my hands-?" I'm so fucking stupid.

"Of course I can," he replied with a smile, taking one of my hands and weaving our fingers together. Redness crept up his face as his smile fell shy. "You can... uhm— you can touch me.. too."

Oh my god. I nodded, once again robbed of words as he leaned closer.

His free hand slipped around my lower back, pulling me closer before lips crashed against lips. His touch sent fucking electricity through my entire body until I was on fire and my knees had turned into jello. I would've collapsed if it weren't for the log supporting my ass. And that was not an exaggeration.

Hesitation numbed down by fire —which burned both around and within me— coursed through my head as I lifted my hand, sliding it up to his neck.

Sounds I'd never heard before escaped his lips when my fingers rested on the warm skin below his hair, sounds I wanted to hear again. Needed to hear again.

I kissed him back, harder after every hasty breath. Furrowing my brows for god knows what reason, I raked my hand through his hair, tugging at it gently to keep his lips locked onto mine.

I opened my eyes when I felt Seth pull away, his hand still holding mine. A smile crawled up his face as he panted, chest heaving up and down. "I've wanted to do that for so long.." Still out of breath, he smiled at me. "I think I'm gonna grab a drink, yeah? You want anything?"

Everything felt electric as I slowly shook my head, afraid to harm the still fragile memories soaring through my mind. "I'm.." I glanced around the buzzing crowds of dancing people with a smile of my own, "I'm good. Yeah."

Seth smiled and nodded before getting up. He stretched his arms out with a groan, laughing when he looked at me. "I'll be right back, then." 

After shooting me a final smile, he jogged off toward the lemonade stand and disappeared into the crowd. 

Am I dreaming-? This couldn't be real. The feeling of his lips still lingered on mine, no matter how many seconds passed. Even when I brought my hand to my lips, just to make sure, all I could do was grin into the dark night like a giddy schoolgirl. Seems to be a theme. 

While the night was dark, the fire burned bright. As did the dancing bodies holding glowsticks and bright drinks spilling from plastic cups. My feet drew loose shapes in the sand, ones that drifted gone quickly to the music's bass— something about drinking cocktails in the sun and other summery things. 

It wasn't until literal screams began to fill the air that I snapped out of this fairytale trance. My eyes widened at the chanting and yelling taking over. 

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Oh no... Heartbeat picking up, I tried to find where the commotion came from and was horrified when my eyes fell on the growing crowd surrounding the lemonade stand. Shit. Without thinking, I sprang up from the log and began running through the cold sand, praying my poor ankles wouldn't collapse. 

"Get off of me-!" an all too familiar voice cried out through huffs and groans as I pushed past the increasing crowd as fast as I could, which, wasn't all that fast. 

A massive "OH," rang through the crowd right as I finally broke through, disappointingly out of breath. My jaw physically dropped when I saw Jackson on the ground, face tense and chest heaving up and down while Seth stood hovering over him. He too seemed out of breath, huffing as he wiped his mouth. 

"Seth..?" 

Seth flinched, jerking around before attempting a smile when he saw me. He walked up to me and linked our hands together, leading me away from the scene. "Let's go, I'm done here."

Once we'd made it far away from everything, I tugged at Seth's shirt. He turned around, raising his brows at me. I pursed my lips. "What.. what happened-?"

Sighing, Seth glanced past my shoulder to where the big crowd had just been. "Jackson didn't really like that I kissed you, it seems," he said with a shrug, rubbing a leather bracelet. 

I frowned. "Why does he care?"

Seth shrugged again. "No idea." He looked at my face and smiled, placing his hands in mine. "But hey, it's getting kinda late, don't ya think? And we have school tomorrow."

But I don't want this to end yet. I nodded, glancing at our connected hands with a small smile. "Yeah, you're probably right."

He grinned, pulling up one of my hands to place a kiss on it. "My phone's dead, so if I don't reply to texts then that's why. It'll be charged in the morning, though. Can't miss the occasional morning class-!"

With butterflies coursing through my stomach, I chuckled. "Gotcha. I'll see you tomorrow, then..?"

"Yeah.." Voice falling quiet, Seth stepped closer and glanced at me, warm eyes asking for permission. 

My heart raced in my chest, so fast it kept my voice trapped behind bars. I nodded gently, eyes fluttering shut as he leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on my lips. 

"Get home safe," he mumbled through a drowsy smile, giving my hands a final squeeze before releasing them into the cool nightly breeze. 

It feels like I'm floating. "You too," I whispered to his disappearing silhouette, a hand on my chest to feel the rapid beating. 

Holy shit.

-

Blue light lit up my pitch-black room when I unlocked my phone with my feet kicked up from the mattress. 

Robbie: idk when you'll see this but i had a lot of fun today :) hope u sleep well

I stared at the dry-ass sentence for a second and sighed, holding down the delete button. This won't do. It was probably a stupid thing to worry about but, stupidity hadn't stopped me before. What the fuck do you text someone who kissed you less than an hour ago? 'Hey, we should totally do that again.' Yeah, right. Might as well start digging my grave immediately.

Flopping my face into some pillows, I groaned. Why is life so hard? Neon green numbers on my nightstand reminded me of the alarm that would go off in about seven hours and like any responsible adult I huffed and turned the other way. A usually white wall now appeared as infinite black abyss, illuminated by blue light. 

The cursor blinked and blinked, like a teacher standing by your desk while you're trying to solve some impossible math equation. Ugh. I exhaled, cheek pressed into a squashed squishmallow and lips pursed.

Robbie 23:49: i had a lot of fun today:)) hope you sleep well and CU tmrw<3

Sent.

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Don't forget to leave a vote, ily<3 And see you all next year for season two!!