When I wake, with the sunlight pouring through the windows, and Ed's body still entangled with mine, everything just feels so right—so perfect.

"Morning, sleepyhead." Ed mumbles, pressing a kiss to my bare shoulder.

"Morning, gorgeous." I roll over, greeting him with a kiss to the lips.

"Last night was just..." His eyes lock onto mine and lets out a low whistle.

"I know." I beam, "I know."

"What do you want for breakfast?" He asks.

"Hmm, I think I'll have an almond milk coffee for starters, some toast for mains, and for desert...Thaddeus Reiley Junior." I grin up at him.

"I'm totally up for another round if you are." His eyes open wide at me.

I laugh and shift in the bed, noticing the slight pain between my legs. My laughter turns into a wince, "Not today, I don't think."

Ed bolts into sitting straight up, "Did I hurt you?"

"No, not at all." I shake my head, "It's just been a while."

"How long?" He tilts his head at me, "If you don't mind me asking?"

I mumble out my answer inaudibly, hidden by a cough.

Ed raises an eyebrow, "Skye?"

"Six years." I finally pick up the courage to say.

"Holy crap...so, how many guys have you, you know, done it with?"

I force a smile, "You're my second."

"Skye, baby." He smooths my messy bed hair down, "You should've told me; I would've been gentler, slower."

I shake my head, "No, it was great. I'm only a little sore because..." I blush, "Well, because you're really big."

Ed laughs awkwardly, "Sorry?"

"No, don't apologise." I smile, "It's a good sore."

"Okay." He kisses my forehead, "We can just have a relaxed day today."

"Was there some sort of big plan?" I frown.

"Not really." Ed shrugs, "I've made love with you, so I'm pretty content."

"I'm very content." I smile back and lie against his chest, listening to his strong heartbeat.

A few minutes later, I reach over to the bedside table and turn my phone on, even though I don't recall turning it off last night.

It's a wonder my phone doesn't die when it receives a ton of texts from my mom.

MOM:

Skye you need to come home.

You don't belong in California.

You're wasting your life.

You're a disappointment.

You need to stop screwing around and come home.

"Everything okay?" Ed asks, voice full of concern.

"Define 'okay'." I respond and hand my phone to him.

He quickly reads through the texts, "This is definitely not okay."

His own phone starts ringing so he picks it up, "Hello? Hi, Dad...yeah, I'm out on my yacht, I slept the night here..." He throws a glance and an eye roll at me about his dad, "Soph was staying over at her friend's...what do you mean, 'we're never in the house'?" His voice gets progressively angrier, as he stands up and begins pacing the room, wearing nothing but his underwear. "Maybe it's because you beat me...no, I'm not alone...yes, I'm with Sk— NO! She's not a waste of time, I love her and right now she means more to me than you."

The shit's hitting the fan at the Reiley's today... I muse, pulling on Ed's shirt from last night, though it's not exactly like everything is perfect with my own home life, is it?

After a minute more of arguing, Ed hangs up and groans.

"What's wrong?" I stand up and wrap my arms around him.

"My dad." He glares at his phone. "He wants me to go home."

"So does my mom." I sigh.

But this isn't right; Ed and I are meant to be together—I know that with all of my heart, and I'd be left so broken if we weren't together.

"Are you going home?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I should." He hangs his head, "I really wanted to spend the whole day here with you."

"Me too." My mouth tilts up in a half-smile, "But you can go home, and I can check in on Bessie, and then we could come back here this afternoon."

"That assumes that everything's sorted by this afternoon." He huffs

I don't say anything, just lean my head against his chest.

We spend about five minutes like this, before he gets us moving.

"You have a shower, and I'll drive the yacht back into the docks." He tells me, "Then I'll give you a lift back to your van, and I'll go home—sound good?"

"Not as good as staying here with you all day." I force a smile, "But yeah, it sounds good enough."

*~*~*~*

Half an hour later, Ed's pulling up to the parking lot where Bessie is waiting for me.

"I'll, erm, I'll text you." Ed tries for a smile, he's probably already dreading his conversation with his dad, "Okay?"

"Sure." I nod, jumping out of his pickup, before furrowing my brows at him, "But I don't have your number..."

"Yeah you do, and I have yours." It's a proper smile this time, "I did it whilst you were still asleep this morning—I don't want you leaving California with my heart."

"No chance." I grin at him, "See ya later."

"Later." He pulls out of the lot and drives away.

My grin doesn't fade as I walk towards Bessie. Since the sun is shining brightly, I grab a wooden woven chair from inside and set it up in the sun.

Pulling my phone out, I now see that I have a few missed calls and voicemails from my mom—I mean, who even leaves voicemails?!—and a few texts. There's one from Savannah, that's short but really all I needed for reassurance that staying in California was the right thing.

SAVVY:

Just ignore mom. Trust me, she'll get over it.

And another from a new contact, which I guess is Ed.

ED❤:

Missing you already.

ME:

You'll be fine 😊

ED❤:

Idk about that.

ME:

Trust me. And even if it doesn't go well, you can spend the night with me in my van... 😉

ED❤:

I'd like that 😋

Gtg, ttyl 😘

ME:

😘

I grab a book and sunglasses from inside my van, and get comfy outside, knowing that it could be a few hours before Ed's back.

I try to read, I really do, but I just can't seem to stop worrying about what Ed's dad is talking to him about...are they arguing? Are they talking about how I'm no way near good enough for him?

I pick up my phone and search my name on Google.

My stomach drops; that article is now on broadsheet newspapers, not just tabloids, national newspapers.

Shit—maybe Tod saw it and now he's convincing Ed to break up with me—maybe he's convincing Ed that I won't stay in California for much longer—maybe...maybe...maybe...

Blocking out my thoughts, I turn back to my book—I'm now reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It's a tough book to read, in all honesty, very wordy (yes, I know books are wordy, but Pride and Prejudice is just very dense and heavy to read). It probably doesn't help that I watched the movie with Keira Knightley in—already knowing the storyline makes it much harder to read the book.

But I stick to it, slowly working through it, chapter by chapter until I'm about halfway through the book.

My phone rings, and for some reason, I pick it up and answer it without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Skye Jameson, what on earth do you think you're playin—?!" It's my mom—God how I wish I'd checked the caller ID!

I'm seriously tempted just to hang up.

She keeps rambling on.

"I'm really sorry, Mom." I butt in, "But my phone's dying and I can't talk for lo—" I hang up.

And heave a heavy sigh.

I know I'll have to talk to my mom eventually, but right now, I'm enjoying living in the moment too much to be bothered thinking further ahead than tomorrow.

What do they call that again? Carpe diem? Yeah, that's it—carpe diem; seize the day.

You might as well whilst you still can.

And I know that my responsibilities and shit will catch up to me sooner or later, but I'm kinda hoping it'll be later that I have to start taking control of my life again and having a future.

I plug my earphones into my phone; I can now listen to Spotify on my phone, which will be nice after listening to the same songs on my iPod for so long.

After a few tracks that I know well play out, a song that I've never heard before comes on. It's by Marshmello, and it's refreshing to hear new music.

By the time the second pre-chorus rolls around, I'm humming along to the lyrics, leaning back into the chair—shutting out all that worry and doubt.

When you're high on emotion
And you're losing your focus
And you feel too exhausted to pray
Don't get lost in the moment
Or give up when you're closest
All you need is somebody to say...

The sudden sound of an engine makes me jump out of my skin, and I whirl around to see Ed getting out of his pickup, sunglasses over eyes.

I ditch my phone, earphones, and book and run over to him, flinging my arms around his neck.

"Are you okay?" I ask, after a few moments.

"Skye..." He sighs, pulling away from the hug, "My dad...he saw the article."

"Yeah." I swallow, dreading what he's going to say next, "I know."

"Shit." He groans, rubbing his face with his hands, "I don't know why my dad can just accept me for who I am, what I like, and who I love."

"My mom called whilst you were gone." I throw into our pity party, "I hung up pretty quick but she sounded really mad."

"So," His face falls, "Are you going back to Miami?"

Pushing my sunglasses up onto my head, I bite my lip, "Do you want me to?"

"No, no—not at all." He shakes his head, before taking his own shades off and unveiling a nasty, bruising cut on his upper cheekbone.

"Oh my God, Ed!" I gingerly raise my hand to it, "Your dad can't keep doing this to you."

"No one's gonna stop him." He shrugs, eyes sad, "Nobody would believe me or Soph anyways."

"You could at least..." I don't know what to say, "Could you move out?"

He nods slowly, "It'd take a while to sort out; I'd have to transfer a lot of stuff from being in my dad's name to being in my own name."

"I don't know what to do about my mom." I tell him, inspecting my nails.

"You should talk to her. At some point." He explains, "Tell her how you want to stay here, and that she should be looking out for your best interest."

"For her, and my dad, my 'best interest' is going to UPenn and modelling for Victoria Secret." I huff.

"I know that now's probably not the right time," Ed begins, and my eyes lock straight onto his, "But that picture of you modelling in that tabloid article?" He whistles, "It was really hot."

Rolling my eyes, I laugh lightly, "So that's how you decided you love me!"

"No, not at all." He laughs at me, knowing I'm messing around.

Then our laughter dies out, and he leans his forehead against mine.

"We've got some issues with our families at the moment, haven't we?" He mutters to me.

"Yeah, but I reckon we'll get through them." I say, hopefully sounding more confident than I feel.

We stay like that for...for I don't know how long—just standing there in the warm sunshine, a light breeze twisting through our hair, our arms around each other's waists, our foreheads resting together, our hearts enjoying the mere simplicity of us being together.

When we finally move apart, Ed quickly wipes his cheeks.

"It just sucks, you know?" He sniffs.

"Yeah, I know." I smile weakly.

Grabbing my phone and unplugging the earphones, I put on that Marshmello song again—feeling a need to fill the silent void that was opening up between Ed and I; it was like we didn't have any more comforting words to provide.

Feeling like a drop in the ocean
That don't nobody notice
Maybe it's all just in your head
Feeling like you're trapped in your own skin
And now your body's frozen
Broken down, you've got nothing left

When you're high on emotion
And you're losing your focus
And you feel too exhausted to pray
Don't get lost in the moment
Or give up when you're closest
All you need is somebody to say

It's okay not to be okay
It's okay not to be okay
When you're down and you feel ashamed
It's okay not to be okay

"You know it's okay not to be okay, right?" I check with Ed, watching his face, which is filled with mental pain and anguish over what to do.

"Come here." Ed opens his arms to me, and I all-too-willingly leap into his arms. He kisses the top of my head, "You make things better."

"I love you." I look up at him, and softly kiss his lips.

"I love you too." He kisses me again, before a half-smirk breaks onto his face, "Do you wanna know how I coped with a lot of shit that happened after my mom passed?"

"Sure." I smile, knowing that this could solve our problems, albeit temporary.

"Having a huge party on my yacht." He nods, and I can see him as a teenager, drinking and dancing with all his friends

"And you wanna do that tonight?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Come on, Skye." He beams down at me, "You know you're a party animal at heart."

"Whatever." I roll my eyes.

"Plus," He leans down and whispers in my ear, "You can stay the night again..."

"Deal!" I instantly shout.

"Get your pretty little butt ready then!" He laughs at my excitement.

Unlike the last time I was about to go to a party on Ed's yacht, I'm really excited, bursting with it, really.

Carpe diem, I think with a smile on my face, carpe diem.