Summer babes sunbathing under the harsh dawn sunlight, waking up to Mickey Mouse pancakes and presents. The Conklin girls have been celebrating their birthdays in the Susannah's beach house every single year since they could remember. Natasha and Belly, despite not being twins, had their birthdays on the same day, and to save the trouble and double the work, have always had their special days celebrated together. Neither minded, having their own set of birthday activities and separate cakes was enough.

          And so many summers ago, Tasha sat at the table, the Fishers boys on either side of her, Conrad making her laugh with his birthday jokes and commentary. They had sung the 'happy birthday' song, and Conrad reached for the maple syrup to pour on the girl's pancakes, drawing an infinity symbol to the best of his abilities.

          "What is that?" The clueless brunette had inquired, to which Conrad responded, "Infinity." She asked further.

          "It's really cool, I learned it in math class." She gave him a confused look. "So, you know how numbers keep getting bigger and bigger? A hundred, a thousand, a million." She nodded. "To get to the biggest number in the world, you'd have to keep counting because there's always a bigger number. It's boundless."

          "I don't get it." She giggled uneasily, feeling a little embarrassed at her lack of knowledge.

          "Imagine it's a racetrack. You see how there's no starting or ending point? You could travel endlessly around those curves. Goes on forever. That's infinity."

          And Natasha smiled at the sweet memory as she got ready in the morning, doing her skincare and hair, putting on some light makeup and picking out an outfit. She decided on a comfortable pair of dark olive green cargo pants as well as a fairly short white crop top, pairing the clothes with a multitude of gold jewelry before going downstairs, immediately being greeted with the welcoming smell of pancake batter and the lively chatter and laughter of her family.

          "Golden brown and crisp. That's how it's supposed to look." Evidently, Steven was attempting to make the Mickey Mouse pancakes for Belly and Tasha. "Look at these pancakes. It's ready."

          "Morning everyone." Tasha entered the kitchen, and all heads turned towards her, smiles breaking out on their faces. She was engulfed in many hugs and 'happy birthday' was said more times than she could count. And after all the kisses and hugs, she laughed heartily and said, "Thanks, guys." She had noticed Conrad sitting in the corner, looking down at his phone, not saying a word, not even a 'happy birthday' or 'good morning'. Tasha mentally cursed herself for even thinking that he would want to look her way after their quarrel the night before.

          "Your Mickey Mouse pancakes are ready." Steven placed a plate of the breakfast in front of Tasha but the girl suddenly felt sick. She didn't know what it was, the fact that she had way too much Redbull the night before or the fact that Conrad couldn't even look her in her eyes.

          "Actually, I'm not really hungry." Steven looked at her in understanding, not pushing the conversation any further. Belly appeared at the bottom of the stairs, and everyone greeted her kindly. Even Conrad, and Tasha struggled to fight back tears as she witnessed Conrad pull Belly into a hug, the two staying in the embrace for a good 20 seconds before pulling apart.

          "Shall we open gifts?" Tasha cleared her throat and the group migrated to the living room, where presents were already sitting on the couch. Tasha and Belly opened Laurel's present first, both receiving first editions of their favorite classics. They thanked her before opening Susannah's presents to each of them. Tasha was gifted a dainty gold necklace with an emblem on it, one that Susannah's mother had given her when she herself had turned 17. She turned to look at Belly's present and saw that her sister had received a pearl necklace. Jeremiah's presents were next and he handed Belly and Tasha the gifts he had gotten them, charms. He explained to Belly that hers was a good luck charm to help her pass her driving test, and Tasha's was a good luck charm to get into a good college. Steven tossed the girls his presents next and they both got sweatshirts to their dream colleges, Tasha's with the Harvard crest on it in a big yet elegant font.

          "Conrad, uh, do you want to give Belly and Tasha their presents now?" Susannah encouraged her son and he nodded slightly, hesitantly pulling out a small box from his pocket, handing it to Belly. She opened it and pulled out a necklace with a small anchor pendant on it.

          "Uh, sorry, I was going to get Tasha something but I forgot." He looked down at his feet, refusing to meet anyone's disappointed glance.

          "It's fine. I wasn't really expecting anything from you anyway." Tasha busied herself with cleaning up all the wrapping paper and gift bags.

          "Oh, so I got to go. Um, I promised Cleveland that I'd show him some knots today, so..." He got up, walking towards the door. "Happy birthday, guys." The door closed and he was gone just like that. A part of Tasha told her to go after him, talk to him, make up. But, she decided against it. She wanted to appear unbothered by Conrad's actions, no matter how difficult it would be.

         Jeremiah turned to Belly, "Hey. Why don't we take my car and practice driving before we have to pick up Taylor from the bus station." She replied with a 'sure' and they began cleaning up whatever tissue paper and gift wrapping was left over.

         "Hey, before I leave with Jere, Tasha, could we talk?" Belly asked, almost pleading. She knew Tasha was hurting, her heart being ripped from the inside out, held in a tight fist, straining her heartbeat and slowing her pulse. Yet, she still decided to ask, wanting to make a couple things clear between the two.

         They had made a pact, Belly and Tasha, before they made the trip to Cousins, both promising to keep their hands off of Conrad, not get involved. For Tasha it was simple: He's nothing more than my best friend. But Belly had other plans, for she had fallen for the boy so much harder than she had expected, and wasn't planning on having a little promise she made to her sister get in the way.

          "Look, I don't know what happened between you and Connie, and I'm assuming it's something really bad because he would never forget your birthday." She paused, figuring out how to phrase the next thing she was going to say. "You know how much I like him, and I know we made a deal before we came to Cousins that neither of us would get with him, but I can't keep going along with it. Especially after today with the birthday gift and everything, it seemed really sweet of him." Another pause. "I think he likes me back."

         Belly looked at Tasha, confused as to why her face lacked emotion despite the numerous confessions she had just made. But all Natasha could do was smile, laugh even, because she was so numb that the pain of Belly's words didn't phase her.

         "What?" Belly inquired after a moment of silence. "Why are you smiling, Tasha? I'm being completely serious right now. I think he likes me back and I'm not going to let our deal screw this up." She grew frustrated at her sister's unresponsive state and snapped her fingers in the girl's face. "Oh my god! Why aren't you answering?"

         "Oh, I think it's great that you're 'following your heart' instead of keeping with the deal. It was so stupid anyway." She laughed while Belly stood in front of her, shocked to say the least. "What? I'm being completely honest. Go nuts. Oh, but remember. He's still taking me to the deb ball." She shrugged. "Maybe talk to him and get him to change his mind." And Tasha gave her sister one last smile before heading up the stairs to her room. Nothing she had said was untruthful. The girl had moved past her overwhelming crush on Conrad and after the incidents of bonfire night and the birthday present tragedy, she could care less about what her sister decided to do.

          Natasha changed into a black bikini, the smallest she could find, rubbing sunscreen all over her body, grabbing her phone in the process and dialing a number.

          "Hello?" None other than Miles answered the phone, a smile in his tone as he realized who had called him.

          "I'm going surfing, are you free?" She picked up the phone, holding it between her ear and her shoulder as she put her hair up in a low bun. And when he said yes, she told him the location and rushed downstairs, grabbing her surfboard from the back shed. Miles had told her he would be there in 10 minutes, giving Tasha enough time to head out into the waves and paddle on her own, collecting her thoughts and maybe shedding a few tears. The events of yesterday and today could be the perfect sob story, Tasha just hadn't let the heartbreak and sadness get to her, masking her sorrow with surfing and cigarettes.

          She paddled out into the somewhat still water, propping up and sitting on her surfboard once she had gotten out far enough. The smell of sea salt and a light breeze wafted around her, her ribs, sunkissed and bruised from the many times she'd hit them against the board. Her feet hung in the water, and sand drifted between her toes, little fish colliding with her skin. As waves grew more abundant, Tasha could see a figure on the sand, carrying a white surfboard, a boy she could only assume was Miles. She motioned for him to meet her in the water, and the boy paddled over, slowly but skillfully. He eventually managed to reach Tasha, giving her a brief side hug (to the best of his abilities while trying not to fall off his board) and threw her his signature grin.

          "Hey." She looked at him up and down, his legs dangling in the water, almost intertwining with her own. He wore black swim trunks, his chest and the slight outline of his abs glistening in the summer heat. She was completely and utterly mesmerized by him, unable to form coherent thoughts until he brought her out of her starstruck daze.

          "My eyes are up here, you know." He chuckled at Tasha's actions and the embarrassed look on her face when she realized he had caught her staring. "So, surfing lessons from the queen of Cousins beach." And Tasha gave him a silent nod, worried that anything she would say would ruin the moment. "Shall we get started?" Another nod.

          "You want to watch the waves, make sure that you're in the right position to catch a good one." She paddled forward, motioning for him to follow, and began guiding him through the steps, as if he were a child learning how to ride a bike for the first time. Needless to say it was captivating, watching him pop up off his board, legs slightly shaking, but his stance was solid, confident.

          "Paddle strong, Miles. Keep your eyes up! Stop watching the water, bro!" She called out to him, watching as he paddled, standing up when the time was right and surfing the wave flawlessly. "Oh my god, you got it!"

          Miles smiled at her excitement, getting down on his board and paddling towards where Tasha was sitting, clapping with the utmost joy. And for a second he considered kissing her again, her perfect cupid lips, chapped from the salty sea, yet so addicting he longed to feel them against his. But deciding against it, he looked down at the dying coral underneath the surface of the pure azure sea, small creatures maneuvering around. And the thought crossed his mind a second time, his eyes turning up to look at her lips again, and he knew he shouldn't, it was so wrong to kiss a girl who was clearly in love with another boy. But it was Tasha who caught him staring, reaching out to trail her fingers along his extremely defined jawline, drawing impossibly closer. And when their lips met, molding against each other like puzzle pieces. And Tasha's heart was beating out of her chest a million times per second, butterflies pounding against her ribcage. There was a presence near them as their lips moved in unison, Tasha felt it, and opened her eyes for a fraction of a moment to see none other than Conrad Fisher staring at the two of them from the beach, his knuckles turning white from how hard he was clenching his hands into tight fists.

          Natasha Conklin had never felt happier, closing her eyes quickly and ridding the thought of Conrad from her mind, fully focusing on the boy who now had his hands on her thighs, caressing them with so much affection that Tasha's heart could explode. She wanted his moment to last forever, and Miles couldn't want anything less.

          In between kisses, Tasha whispered loud enough so that Miles could hear her above the sounds of waves crashing against the beach shore. "Let's go back to my place." And Miles nodded in agreement, finally letting the brunette go from his grasp.