A hot breeze fluttered around my face as I pried my eyes open. I took in my surroundings, remembering that I had fallen asleep at Vic's last night. Rolling over on the soft mattress I put my arm out, my hand feeling around for Vic's warmth. My eyes shot open when I realized the spot where he was once, was now empty.

Last night filled my brain with a lot of different, conflicting emotions. Being around Vic was infectious, I couldn't get enough of him. He always kept me on my toes, and that excited me. He was incredibly adorable when he was nervous, and even more adorable when he was being sweet to me. Vic's little snippets of cheekiness were what really got me. I had never known someone who could be so unsure of himself one second, but then so bold and dominant the next.

But then he was secretive, and that terrified me. More so for his sake than my own. I knew in the pit of my stomach that there was something Vic wasn't telling me. There was more to this story than him just getting wrapped up with some stupid boys. It wasn't my place to push him into telling me something he wasn't ready to, but I couldn't help myself from wanting to know more.

I knew that look all too well. The darting of the eyes, the changing of the subject, the overly confident attitude complete with laughter and smiles. Vic wasn't okay, not entirely. And I wanted to help him. But I couldn't push him.

Back in Michigan, when I was being bullied every single day, I retreated into myself. There was a good few months of my Sophomore year where I isolated myself from everyone, even Justin. That was when I was really fighting with myself over who I truly was, and coming to terms with my sexuality.

I remembered how many times Justin would try to text, or call, or come to my house and try and get me to talk. He didn't know at the time that what he was doing, was making me more mad, making me resent him. But I was stubborn, and depressed, and hated myself. I didn't hate him. Not at all. I just used Justin's kindness as an outlet for my anger.

The more he tried to get me to talk to him, the more I refused. Justin eventually stopped trying and that confused me. When he stopped bringing up why I was upset, I started wanting to tell him why I was upset.

I didn't think that Vic would react quite like I had. I had no clue how Vic would react if I tried to get him to talk about his past, which is why I was going to leave it alone, for now.

Last night, Vic complimented me on my singing. Vic kissed me. Twice. Vic held me in his arms when we fell asleep. Vic liked me. And those were the feelings I was going to focus on.

I strained my ears as I heard the patter of water on a tiled floor. Steam seeping through the space between the bottom of the door and the floor. The water suddenly stopped and I heard the squeak of the shower curtain sliding across a metal bar.

I let my head fall back on the pillow as I pulled the blanket up to my neck. I shut my eyes quickly and rolled over so I was facing Vic's side of the bed. The door to the adjoining bathroom opened and I felt the bed sink as Vic joined me again.

That familiar smell of sandalwood and chocolate filled my nose as the mattress dipped a bit. A wave of bright grapefruit contrasted the woody notes of Vic's cologne, most likely the smell of his shampoo.

I heard a drawer closing and then papers shuffling. I bit my lip as I tried to stay as quiet as possible, pretending to be asleep as a small smile creeped up my lips.

I couldn't hold in my smile anymore so I slowly opened my eyes and let out a forced yawn. I looked up at Vic and saw him sitting criss-crossed on the bed, a sketchbook in his hand as he scribbled furiously across the page. He was already dressed for the day, bright yellow swimming trunks and a white t-shirt.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty." Vic spoke softly as he started closing up the sketchbook.

"Wait! What're you writing?" I reached up and tried to grab the book.

"Not writing, drawing. And I'm drawing you." Vic shrugged, turning the book towards me.

On the page was a charcoal pencil sketch of me sleeping. My head was propped against Vic's pillow and a large chunk of my dark hair was strewn across my face. The way Vic used shading was incredible, the drawing could've been a photograph.

"You drew this just now? But you just got out of the shower like, two minutes ago." I rattled off, blushing when I realized what I just said.

"Kellin, I knew you were pretending to be sleeping." Vic giggled.

"And no, I started drawing it about an hour or two ago. I had trouble sleeping so I started sketching you. I have a hilarious one in here from when you were snoring. Mouth wide open and everything."

"Oh my god! Shut up! You do not." I huffed, crossing my arms.

"Don't be such a baby. It's actually one of my favorites." Vic answered, turning to a page with me laying on my side, my arm flung across the pillow, my mouth open and drooling.

My cheeks flared up as I covered my face with my hands.

"I can't believe you drew me snoring!" I mumbled beneath my hands.

"What do you mean? I couldn't resist! This one's going on my nightstand." Vic teased, pulling the sheet from the book as he propped it up against the lamp next to his bed.

"And this one....is for you." Vic scribbled his signature on the bottom of the page before ripping it out to hand to me.

I peeked out from through my fingers, giving in and revealing my face as I picked up the sheet of paper Vic left on my lap. It was the drawing of me sleeping peacefully, the shadows that the summer sun had made, cascading across my face in the form of shaded charcoal. I smiled at Vic's slanty signature on the bottom right corner of the portrait.

"It's...breathtaking Vic. I never knew I looked that good." I laughed slightly, smiling at him.

Vic looked stunned, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Seriously?" He questioned, his eyes searching across mine.

"Yeah." I shrugged nonchalantly. I didn't see myself as beautiful. I saw myself as...I don't know really. Just as me. Plain. Kellin.

"So, judging by your outfit, we're going to the beach?" I asked, changing the subject.

Vic shut his sketchbook, returning it to the drawer on his bedside table. He leaned over me suddenly, quickly pecking me on the lips before sliding off the bed. I blushed, immediately biting my lip to hide the giddiness I was feeling in my stomach. God, whenever that boy kissed me it turned me to complete mush.

"You hit the nail on the head, Quinn. The waves are supposed to be killer today and I haven't surfed in awhile." Vic answered.

"Surf? Uh, you should know by now that I'm not exactly the most athletically inclined person." I sat up in the bed, pushing the warm covers off me.

"You don't say? I had no idea! Here, put these on." Vic laughed and tossed me a pair of red swimming trunks that he had just pulled from his dresser.

I slipped past him and went into the bathroom to change into Vic's bathing suit. I called out to him through the closed door.

"Yeah but what if I drown or something?" I asked.

"You won't drown, I'm an excellent teacher and if you get scared you can just swim around or make a sandcastle." Vic answered, his voice muffled a bit by the closed door.

"Okay how about we make a deal? I will try to learn how to surf if you make sandcastles with me after?" I called out.

"Oh absolutely." I heard him say.

I walked out from the bathroom, pulling on my white t-shirt that I had been wearing yesterday.

"Red is definitely your color." Vic bit his lip as he looked at me standing in the doorway.

"Uh...um right well they're a tiny bit too big for me, actually." I answered sheepishly, holding onto the waistband of the swimming trunks.

Vic walked over to me and let his fingertips graze my hips just slightly before he grabbed the strings on the front of the shorts. My breathing hitched at the sudden contact and I looked at Vic's face that was mere inches from mine.

I dropped my hand from the shorts and they fell down a bit, but Vic was quick to hold them up for me. He tugged on the drawstrings, pulling them out to tighten the shorts before tying it into a bow.

"There, they should be tight enough now." Vic spoke huskily before slipping past me to grab towels from the bathroom.

"Y-yeah I guess my butt just isn't as big as yours." I smirked.

"Ha! Your butt is way nicer than mine." Vic tossed a towel in my direction.

As he walked past me I couldn't help but sneak a peek at Vic's butt. I quickly glanced behind myself at my own butt, analyzing. It. There was no way in hell that mine was better than his. Vic's was toned and muscular and mine was all flabby.

"Are you checking out your own butt?" Vic had turned around and was now staring at me with a grin on his face.

"What? Psh, no. You're seeing things Fuentes." I said quickly, brushing past him.

"Now are we going to get to the beach, or are we going to stand here talking about butts?"

"The latter seems much more interesting." Vic smirked.

"Then I'll walk in front of you so you can get a good view on the way to your car." I replied, glancing at Vic behind my shoulder as I trotted down the stairs.

I heard Vic's footsteps following closely behind me as I made my way through his kitchen and out the front door. I hopped over the closed passenger side door of Vic's cherry red Mustang, falling back into the hot leather seat.

Mike popped his head up from the backseat, already waiting for us. There were three huge surfboards propped up next to him, all adorned with different multi-colored patterns.

"Morning guys! How was your night?" Mike asked, glancing between Vic and I as he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Quiet. We watched Friday Night Lights. How was your night?" Vic replied, sliding into the driver's seat, pushing his Ray-Ban's on his face to shield his eyes from the sun.

"Yeah, what time did everyone end up passing out?" I turned back to face Mike.

"Literally like 30 minutes after you guys went upstairs. Tony and I ended up staying up late and just hanging out." Mike answered with a small laugh.

Vic adjusted his rearview mirror and put the key into the engine. The car roared to life as he backed out of the driveway and started driving down the road.

"Uh Vic? Isn't the beach like a minute walk from your house?" I asked.

"Mhm but we're driving to a different part of the beach. It's a little further away and has less tourists, it's better for surfing." Vic responded.

I watched the town whip by in slow motion as we drove down the sandy concrete roads. It was only 11:30 AM and the sun was in that phase where it shifted from a comforting warmth, to a scorching hot cast. It wasn't long before Vic was pulling into a parking spot and we were getting out of the car. My dad wasn't lying when he said everything in this town was close together.

"Alright Kells, you're going to use my old surfboard." Vic handed me a board that had blue and yellow stripes going down it.

I held it awkwardly with both hands, struggling to walk with it. Vic came over and moved the board so it was tucked securely underneath my armpit. He grabbed his backpack that he had stuffed with a beach blanket, spare towels, sunscreen, and water bottles, tossing it on his shoulder.

Mike was already running off towards the rest of the guys that were waiting for us on the beach.

"Damn. They're always here before us. For people who drink so much they really can wake up early." I laughed, following Vic down the sand covered steps.

"They're all pros at this point, growing up on the beach you develop superpowers when it comes to the ocean." Vic shrugged.

This confused me, "What do you mean?"

"We were raised on these beaches. Every good or bad thing that ever happened to us, you know... first time falling off your bike, first fight with your best friend, first time getting dumped, we'd all find ourselves at the beach. The beach is our second home. There's nothing we all love more than those ocean waves. The beach...calls to us..." Vic trailed off, eyes darting to mine then back forward.

"It's stupid, I sound stupid." He shook his head.

"No! No way. You don't sound stupid at all. I'm just...at a loss for words. It's beautiful, that the beach was your home away from home." I looked at Vic curiously.

"Yeah...anyways, now today you'll learn to love it too!" Vic exclaimed as he grabbed my hand, running a little, causing me to follow suit.

Our feet padded across the hot sand as we made our way over to the spot the guys set up. There were a bunch of colored umbrellas shoved deep in the squishy sand, casting a safe shade. I rolled my towel out and kicked off my shoes, crawling quickly onto the blanket so my feet didn't get burned from the hot sand.

"Hey Kellin." Tony waved at me from his spot next to mine.

"Hi Tony! Did you have fun last night?" I asked, watching as a smile spread across his lips.

"Yeah I did....Mike and I stayed up until like 4 in the morning talking." Tony whispered, quickly glancing over his shoulder at Mike who was standing with Jaime.

"Mike is a really cool guy. He was my first friend when I moved here." I offered.

Tony scooted closer to me, "Can I tell you something?"

"Of course. Whatever you say, stays between me and you." I nodded.

"Okay...so um...I've sorta...liked Mike...for like...five years now...." Tony whispered.

"Five years? Oh my god Tony, that is the sweetest thing I've ever heard. Why haven't you told him yet?" I asked softly.

"Um well...I'm terrified to put it blankly. We've been best friends for so long, and I don't think he even likes guys..."

"Listen, I know how scary it can be to admit your feelings for someone but trust me, if you never tell him, you'll never know what could be." I spoke gently.

Tony nodded and it was obvious that he was analyzing every word I had said.

"Are you talking about Vic?" Tony finally said.

"H-how did you know?" I blushed, my eyes immediately finding Vic.

"Hello I'm gay, I have an impeccible gay-dar. I knew Vic was obsessed with you from that very first day on the beach, when he fell into you." Tony laughed.

"You know Vic is gay?"

"Mhm. But it's his decision to come out on his own time. I'd never bring it up to him first."

I pondered this before replying, "I hope Vic knows just how good of friends he has."

"He does. He's just incredibly stubborn." Tony chuckled.

"Hey Tony? Promise me one thing."

"Shoot."

"You won't go this entire summer without telling Mike how you really feel about him." I whispered.

I watched Tony look at Mike longingly, "I'll probably throw up after, but as long as you have my back Kellin, I'll do it."

I nodded, "Of course."

"Hey Tony! Come hit the waves with me!" Mike called out, breaking the silence.

"Go get him." I said encouragingly as I watched Tony race over to Mike, all giddy.

I smiled and looked out at the ocean in front of me. The water sparkled in the early afternoon sun as the waves crashed against the beach in turquoise and aquamarine currents.

This beach was much less crowded than the main one near our houses, Vic was right. All of the people here were older and many of them carried surf or wakeboards. There were still a couple of food trucks lined up back by the parking lot and my grumbling stomach was happy for that.

I laid on my back and smiled at how the sun's rays felt against my skin. I was looking forward to a day of pure relaxation.

That comforting feeling left far too quickly as a figure stood above me, blocking the golden sun. I sat up on my elbows and opened my eyes.

"Vic? You're blocking my sun." I said, tilting my head to the side as I tried to move some of my hair from my eyes.

"There's plenty of time for sunbathing. First of all, you promised you'd let me teach you how to surf. Second of all, your porcelain skin is going to fry if you don't put sunscreen on." Vic tossed a bottle of sunscreen on my towel before plopping down across from me.

"My porcelain skin?" I shot back, trying to hide a laugh.

"Yeah, your skin is more delicate than mine and I'd hate to see you get burned badly like you did your first day here." Vic reached forward and started globbing sunscreen across my cheeks.

"Hey I think I can do my face myself." I grinned, blushing madly.

"You're right but you can't do your back. Let me." Vic started crawling behind me as I pulled my shirt over my head.

I hissed at the coldness of the sunscreen but quickly relaxed against Vic's touch as he massaged the lotion into my skin. He moved his hands onto the back of my neck, across my shoulders, and slowly down my back.

"There, all done. Finish your face and don't forget the backs of your legs. I'll be waiting in the water." Vic shot me a smile as he ran towards the water.

"Hey! What wouldn't you do for me?" I called out to him, teasing.

Vic spun around on the sand, surfboard in hand, as he locked eyes with me. He bent down, bowing playfully and called back to me.

"For you? I'd count the salt under the sea."

*****Author's Note - Please vote fam!****

I'm honestly SQUEALING over this chapter. There are too many little things that I love about it. I absolutely loved writing it.

But I want to hear what your favorite part was?

Next chapter Vic is going to teach Kells how to surf!

I hope everyone is doing well and surviving through these weird times.

-Cassidy :)