R   Y   A   N

I CROSS the garden, passing everyone chattering and into Tori's old room; technically the guesthouse that was used for Tori's room when we first moved in. Since I got back last weekend Dad had been trying to fix it up for me to move in to. Both my parents said that I got use to living on my own with roommates in college and was happy with how responsible I turned out to be. I mean, I have no idea how they doubted me. When they told me they wanted me to take the guesthouse I jokingly took it as a insult as they wanted to kick me out of the main house, which Mum scolded me for, but I was only teasing.
   To be honest I wasn't complaining at all. I had gotten use to not having any parents around while I was away and basically was doing what I wanted, when I wanted. The best part about it was that I had a separate living area from the bedroom. No more inviting people round and sitting on my bed, they could actually sit on a sofa and relax. Not to mention that my room in the main house was small compared to the one I have now, but I must admit, I missed the view of the lake and the dock behind our house. I could still see the lake from my window in my bedroom now, but the view wasn't as perfect from the main house.
   At the far corner of the room there's a staircase, that leads to a balcony where my bedroom is, I could leave my room in a mess and no one would see it as everyone would be downstairs anyway. Best part about my bedroom was the new king sized bed Dad had bought me. I was grateful, as it replaced the small double I had been sleeping on since I got back. It had a small kitchen area with an en-suite bathroom and a mini breakfast bar. Yesterday Noah came round to help Dad fix all the furniture for my room - new desk, chairs, stools, it was already freshly painted white last summer so all it needed were my touches of colour here and there with pictures I hadn't unpacked from college yet. There was a large beanbag - big enough for two people and a coffee table sitting over a blue rug I picked out. There was a black sofa with blue cushions along the wall - the one Mum had Dad and Noah move in here when she replaced the one in the living room last year and a medium size tv on a side table. It was like my own personal flat... but at home.

Opening up the fridge I grab a bottle of water, unscrew the cap and gulp it down. Honestly I was tempted to swig a mouth full of vodka I had hidden in the closet to calm my nerves now that Nate and Nico was here. I'm a bag of nervous energy knowing that they are both here and the last thing I want is to speak about Tuesday. Why on earth are they even here anyway? Placing the bottle down I cross my arms and lift my t-shirt up to go shower - throwing it to the ground, but as I turn around there stands Nico and Nate leaning against the doorway.

"Jesus, you scared the hell out of me! Bloody knock!" I say with my hands on my hips.

Nico's eyes are dark and sinful while Nate is smirking at me. Furrowing my brows when they don't speak I look down and realise I'm wearing a navy lace bra that is completely see through and I know full well they can see my nipples through it. I squeal and quickly grab my discarded t-shirt on the floor, covering my chest, a heat of flushed red evident on my face.

"Nothing we ain't seen before princess," Nico says, his face hard. I clear my throat and shuffle on my feet, I want to cringe so badly but I need to show a brave face.

"Well you haven't seen mine."

"Kinda have now," Nate smiles, cocking his head to the side.

"Look, I was just gonna shower, so if you guys don't min-"

"We don't mind at all, but we do need to talk to you, beautiful. It's important," Nate says still smirking at me. I take a deep breath and I know I'm going to have to face this conversation sooner or later. But I'd rather it be later, like much later or even never. Bravely I step forward, tightly gripping my t-shirt as I look them both in the eye.

"Look... I know what your gonna ask me and quite frankly I don't wanna talk about it. If you wanna ask me what I saw, I'm gonna say nothing and if anyone else asks me - which they probably won't because you guys are so private, I still don't know anything. You two and Melanie have a thing, great! But as far as I'm concerned, I saw nothing. End of chapter, book closed, placed on the highest shelf in a locked room, with the key thrown away in the ocean. Okay? Done, never to be spoken about again. Doesn't change how I feel about both of you, because I love you, but I'm really embarrassed and I really don't want to talk about it again. Now if you excuse me I'm going to go take my shower," I say in one long breathe.

They both stare at me, looking a little stunned, but not changing their expressions enough for me to read. I turn around walking backwards towards the bathroom and shut the door, locking it. Leaning against it I breath heavily, throwing a mental fist in the air as triumph of my bravery. Two years ago I would of blocked their number and ignored them, even if I do love them like family, only, I had grown up since being away and I had changed a lot. I wasn't shy anymore, well not as much as I use to be, but my inner goddess did a little dance. I was just hoping that it was all forgotten about and never spoken of again.
   Forty five minutes later I come out the bathroom to an empty room. I was showered, hair blow dried and straightened- not to toot my own horn, but all that in record timing. When I enter the room from the tiny hallway that leads to the bathroom I see the rose's Nico had in his hand earlier, next to them are my favourite black Van's and a note sitting next to it. I walk up to the table and pick up the piece of paper.

We're so happy you're home, you have no idea how much we've missed you.
Nico xxx
Nate xox

That's all it said. A small smile creeps up on my face and I take the roses, placing them in a vase Mum had left in here a few days ago. I sit them down on the coffee table and get ready to join the rest of the party outside. Pulling on my jean shorts I fold them over more to make them even shorter than they already were - the weather was beautiful outside and I wanted some colour on my legs, totally taking advantage of the Californian sun. I grab a plain white t-shirt from the draws and tie it up at the side showing off my mid drift. I figured if I was going to be home, mentioning to my Mum I had pierced my belly button was probably a good idea, she didn't fly off the handle completely, but Dad told her I was 20yrs old and if I wanted to poke holes in my body I was allowed. A point for Dad. I told her about all the holes I had pierced, but kept one to myself, not even Matty knew about my nipple piercing that I got with Amy on a whim.
   When I walk out to the garden Mum, Tori and Mrs Greyson are sitting round the table eating and drinking while Mum is still talking about her flowers she planted last week. Nico, Nate, Noah - along with my Dad were all inside with the doors wide open watching some show about football while I walked over to my friends. Sophie and Jackson sit on the grass while Matt is sitting in the lounge chair, standing next to him I pull the empty lounge chair closer, sitting then crossing my legs as I lay back, pulling my sunglasses down.

"Finally! Was wondering if you got lost in your own home," Sophie chuckled.

"Well I would of been done quicker if I had help with dessert Soph, thanks for that," I put my thumbs up at her.

"Sorry," she says looking down.

"So you guys coming to this party tomorrow?" Jackson asks.

"What party?"

"Not sure, Greg said there is this party tomorrow. You guys can come."

"I'm in!" Matt says.

"Yep."

"Ry?"

"A party?"

"Yeah, c'mon. Just for a few hours, it'll be fun and you know all my friends so you'll know plenty of people there," he says.

Even though I never really hung out with Jackson's friends, the odd occasions we did I actually got on really well with them, though I hadn't seen them in years. I guess being back home I was worried about who was going to be at the party, the last thing I wanted was my past coming back to haunt me.

"I don't think so Jackson," I smile.

"Please?" All three say in unison.

"Not gonna work guys, I already said no and you know I won't change my mind once it's set," I giggle.

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          DURING dinner the table talk turned to me and my arrival back home. Mrs Greyson said some kind words about me being back which I appreciated, however, the looks I got from her sons and my mother said otherwise. My desserts went down a treat and Noah practically finished the cheesecake himself, you would think because Noah is a chef he could make his own, but apparently mine is much better and he could never get it right. The trick was to add cinnamon and nutmeg to the base. A secret I've never shared with anyone but Noah, and he still gets it wrong.

Back in my room Sophie is sitting on the sofa while Matt sits on the floor. Jackson had to leave early because he was meeting some of his friends for a video game thing he was practising for, whatever that meant. And I was sunken in the beanbag, my legs risen in the air as I made a large dip in the bag.

"How about a game? We ain't played secret hat in a while," Matt says shrugging his shoulders.

"Sure"

"What's that?" Sophie says.

"You write down a bunch of questions, pop them in a hat and we take turns to answer them. If there's a question you don't want to answer you spin a bottle and you whisper your answer to whoever it lands on," Matty say.

"Room for two more?"

"Nate! What did I say about knocking earlier," I glare.

"Knock?" He shrugs, "their talking wedding stuff so we thought we come and sit with you guys. It's only matter of time before we get the, 'you should start thinking about settling down' talk," he says as he walks over to me.

He stops by the big beanbag I'm sitting in and lifts my legs up to sit next to me. He places my legs back down on him and draws his arms over my legs, tucking them closer to his body. When I look up I see Nico give Nate a death glare and he sits with Sophie on the sofa next to us. Matt has his eyebrows raised and I shift in my seat to get more comfortable, only when I try to move my legs away from Nate, he only tightens his grip on me, smiling. We make small talk as each of us writes down six questions each, popping them in Matthews hat, placing it in the middle of the coffee table.

"Oookay... whose first?" Sophie says.

"I'll go," I say as I pull out a piece of paper from the hat. "Oh my god!" I say covering my eyes with a giggle. "Okay, it's not a group question, but this ones for Soph. What's going on between you and Jackson?" I grin towards Matt knowing full well he wrote this one.

Shifting in her seat she looks at Matt with a panicked expression. Jackson has never told me about their relationship, I only know what Sophie has told me here and there, which was practically nothing. I know they've been on a few dates with each other and both enjoyed each other's company. However, neither Sophie or Jackson spoken about them and I've never tried to pry the information out of Sophie like Matt has done in the past, unsuccessfully may I add. During dinner they exchanged sly smirks and I was curious to know if she actually really liked him. I know he did her.

"That's not what it says?!" Sophie says as she turns towards me.

"I didn't write the question, so keep your accusing eyes focused somewhere else," I giggle.

"We... um... we," she stutters.

"Geez Soph I'm his Aunt not his Mother. Besides I'm more like his Sister than anything else, I don't care if you like him, we just really wanna know as your friends what's going on," I tell her with a smile, she relaxes her shoulders and looks at me straight in the eye.

"We are... gonna see how... the summer goes and if we sort of, maybe, possibly work... then we're gonna see what happens when he moves to Arizona in the fall," she says uncomfortably slow. I tell her that it's fine and I'm happy they are willing to try because honestly I just want them both to be happy. But I drew the line at hearing any bedroom details, they were all saved for Matt because I just couldn't handle hearing about Jackson and his moves. "My turn... whose your celebrity crush? Nathan?"

"Neve Campbell."

"Really? Okay, she's cute. Nic?"

"Sandra Bullock." he smiles.

"I see you both have similar tastes," Sophie smirks, "Matty?"

"Micheal B. Jordan, yum! And because I appreciate the female form, I also have a crush on Rihanna. I definitely would, she seems like she'd be adventurous in the bedroom."

"Greedy much. Ryan, what about you?"

"You can't ask her that!" Matt says annoyed.

"Why not?!"

"Cause she's gonna say..."

"Alexander Skarsgard," we say in unison, Matt rolls his eyes and I look up dreamily at the ceiling, "yesterday, today and tomorrow," I smile.

"Who the hell even is that?" Nate asks.

"The blonde vampire dude from True Blood." Matthew says making kissing faces at me, I throw a empty bottle of root beer I had sitting next to me, merely missing his head by centimetres.

"Thought you didn't like blonde guys?" Sophie smiles with a big grin.

"She doesn't, Ryan just likes it rough."

"Really Matt? How the hell do you know?"

"Cause I've seen you drooling over him while your watching that show and don't think I didn't see you reading Fifty Shades Of Grey either!"

"Yeah, me and ninety percent of the female population round the globe Matt!" I moan.

"No they didn't?!" Matt says laughing at me.

"Soph?"

"I finished the first two books in four days," she blushes.

"Four days?!"

"Good book then?" Nate says raising his eyebrows chuckling.

"I finished all three of them in a week," I confess, without missing a beat. "Who was your Mr Grey?" I smile at her.

"Ryan Gosling," she smiles with a blush, "you?"

"Alexander Skarsgard, duh," I giggle then I feel Nate's fingers tighten around my leg and I look towards him, his eyes hooded with a devilish look, something I've never seen in his eyes before. Not in real life, but I have seen that look in my fantasies.

Matthew and Sophie start talking about how good looking Ryan Gosling is as I feel the pad of his thumb discreetly hiding behind my thighs rubbing the skin in circles, sending shivers down my spine. Sparks of electricity run up and down my skin and I let out a shaky breathe to calm my nerves. The way he's touching me is making me think about where I've imagined his hands on me and I can't be picturing that right now with him in front of me or with everyone else in the room. I look to the side and see Nico looking intensely at us, his breathing has changed, just like mine - hitched. Wetting his lips with his tongue, I watch the action he makes - never taking his eyes away from me as he leans forward and winks at me.

"Next question?" Nico says, lifting a piece paper from the hat. "What item of clothing do you find sexy on the opposite sex? Easy for me, anything red or I suppose I should say red lingerie specifically," Nico says looking at me. I dip further down into the beanbag, feeling his gaze on me and I prey my cheeks don't heat up with desire.

"I'm surprisingly not surprised by your answer," Sophie chuckles. "A suit. You can't beat a man in a good suit."

"Amen," I whisper, but I know Nate heard me by the way he is looking at me from the corner of my eye.

"I'll keep that in mind," Nate replies, barely above a whisper. I clear my throat, ready to answer. Looking at Matthew I know we are going to say the same thing and I smile at him as we say it together.

"Grey sweatpants."

"Huh?" The other three say confused.

"Sweatpants?"

"Has to be grey though, it don't work otherwise," Matthew grins.

"Am I missing something?"

"I'll show you why later," Matthew responds to Sophie.

"Don't we get to find out why?" Nate moans pointing at him and Nico. I chuckle, hiding my face from them in embarrassment. Matthew was the one who introduced me to the grey sweatpants club and I was shocked I never noticed before. Now? All I do is look.

"Your girl will tell you later," is all Matthew says, glaring at me with a playful smirk. I roll my eyes, sinking further and further into the beanbag, only if I go any further, I'll end up in Nate's lap. Breaking the silence, Matthew turns to Nate, placing a hand under his chin, "Nathan?"

"My clothes."

"Your clothes?" Matt asks.

"Nothing is more sexier than seeing a women in your own clothes - boxers, t-shirts, anything. It's a real turn on, especially my football jersey."

My eyes grow wide as I watch Nate's hand move further up my thigh, he's in very dangerous territory and not to mention my two best friends and his brother are in the room. The goosebumps on my skin tingle, especially where ever his body comes into contact with mine, if he moved his thumb, even a tiny bit it would be hiding under the rim of my shorts. I close my eyes, taking a deep breathe, willing the fire in my body to calm down. The last thing I want right now is for my cheeks to heat up with a blush.

Nate leans forward, gripping my legs so they don't move from his lap. Placing his hand in the hat - on the coffee table he grabs a piece of paper, unfolding it and reading the question written. "Who was your first kiss?"

"Girl kiss or boy kiss?"

"Guess in your case Matt, both," Nate replies with a smile.

"That's fair. Girl kiss was my bestie Sophie."

"Really?" I say surprised.

Growing up we never really discussed all these sort of things. I didn't know a lot about Matthew's type of man that he goes for till we invented this game and we would over share something. Actually, he would over share everything. I on the other hand tended to pull the secret card when I wanted to keep things on the quiet and normally I was always sitting with Amy. That girl knew me better than Matt when it came to the intimate questions and he was my best friend first.

"Yeah. We were like nine? Ten?"

"Something like that," she blushes.

"It was a dare and you know I always do my dares," he smiles. He wasn't wrong at all. Give Matthew a dare, no matter how outrageous, he would do it. Last year we dared him to streak through the courtyard, during afternoon lunch. Let's just say that he was the talk of the campus over his size for three weeks after that. "Boy Kiss was Micheal Deacon."

"The boy from the coffee shop?"

"Yeah. Let's just say he helped me find myself at a confusing age," he smiles a genuine smile. "But he was a shit kisser, never spoke to him again afterwards," he says with a shrug and we continue around the room. Sophie points out that Matthew was her first kiss too and then we moved on to Nico.

"I was thirteen and her name was Georgie Adams."

"Ahhh, I remember. Pretty brunette who use to follow you home everyday," Nate chuckles.

"Yep. Turned into an even bigger stalker after I kissed her during spin the bottle, lucky for me she moved to Canada, never saw her again," Nico says looking up to the ceiling, clearing thanking the god for her moving away.

"What about you Nathan?" Sophie says.

"Angela Clarke. Think I was eleven maybe twelve, got pulled into the janitors closet during lunch, found out it was a dare, but it didn't really matter to me. She was kinda cute, not my personal cup of tea and it was a bit wet and sloppy." he says cringing thinking about the memory.

"All of our first kisses have been dares or playing spin the bottle," Sophie says looking at everyone around the room. "No one here has had a meaningful first kiss where someone genuinely wanted to kiss us?"

"One of us has," Nico says and I shoot my gaze towards him.

Thinking back I remember the kiss I shared with Nico on the doorstep of my house on prom night. I wasn't excepting it and I certainly never would of thought my first kiss would of been so magical. I know it sounds cliche, but I really did have that magical, fairytale first kiss. You know the one, where your leg pops, fireworks explode and everything around you just disappears - it's just you and them. No one else. It may have not been with a boy I fancied, but it was with someone I care about, a lot. That night was a treasured memory and so was that kiss. I remember how nervous I was, how I didn't know what to do or even know where to put my hands and Nico made me calm. He made all the nerves disappear.

Making the moment special.

"Ryan?" Sophie says with a side grin.

"No one here has had a meaningful first kiss where someone genuinely wanted to kiss us?" Was What Sophie had asked. "One of us has." Was what Nico said. I only just realised what words were spoken and I feel my cheeks heat up, on fire with a blush I know that could not be hidden.

"What does Nico mean?" I think.

Is he saying he wanted to kiss me? That all these years I just thought he done it to give me a nice ending to prom night? Was that first kiss a real first kiss and not just a pity kiss?

"Ryan? Who was your first kiss?" Matthew asks. All eyes are on me and I continue to blush, thinking of a way to avoid the question, only I don't see anyway out of this. Until I think about shouting out the word secret, Nico answers for me without missing a beat.

"I was." I look straight at him and his face is emotionless, but only to the untrained eye. Behind his emotionless face lays a small smile on his lips, he winks at me and I give him a small smile back.

"What?!" Nate says with raised eyebrows.

"Problem?"

"N-nah," Nate says stuttering, he looks annoyed at Nico and I see Sophie and Matt giggle in the background while the brothers have a stare off. "Yo-you just never said anything, is all. Thought you wou-would've told me, is all," he shrugs.

"I don't kiss and tell Nat," he grins.

"You never told us Ryan?" Sophie says leaning forward.

"Technically I still haven't told you anything," I say timidly.

"When? Where?"

I look at Nico and he just grins, almost like he has won a prize or got one over on Nate. He pulls this arm out and says, "not my story to tell princess."

"Ummmm... well... okay," I say sitting up a little. "It was the night of..." I drift off, memorising every detail of that night. The black suit Nico was wearing, the black shirt with the buttons undone near the top and me dressed in a beautiful black dress they had bought me. Everything was perfect. The twinkling stars hidden in a blanket of darkness and the gentleness Nico showed me, even though he knew it was my first kiss.
   I realise I've been silent for too long as everyone watches me, waiting for me to continue. "... it was the night of prom. When Nate took you all home, Nico walked me to my door annnnd..." I shrug my arms in the air not really thinking about how to finish the story. But I didn't wanna go into details.

"Urgh, your terrible with details. Spill Nicholas," Matt says focusing on his favourite sex god, "seeing how the only two people who have actually shared a meaningful first kiss are you and Ryan. Details people! I need details!"

"Still not my story to tell, sorry," he grins. When I look towards him he licks his lips, forming a perfect side smile.

"Your giving us details later," Sophie points.

"Yep! I want in on them deets later," Matt says raising his hand. "Now, next question. Who did you last have a sex dream about?" Matt smiles devilishly at me.

"Secret!" I blurt out.

Both Matt and Sophie know about my sex dream starring the grey eyed Greyson, however, they knew nothing about my sex dream from a few days ago starring both Nate and Nico. The same sex dream I've had nearly every night since. Knowing Matt, he chose this question as well and it annoys me he is doing this while they are both in the room with us.

"Bloody hell Matt! Thanks a lot," I think.

"Alright, spin the bottle babe," he says with a wink, knowing full well I have a 50/50 chance of it landing on one of the two people who know my secret, while the other two don't.

I sit up, twisting my legs off of Nate and I take the clear plastic bottle that once had contained root beer inside, spinning it. It twirls round on the table and I'm hoping it lands on anyone except the two Greyson brothers. I was willing to take that risk, two for two wasn't bad. It stops after what feels like minutes landing straight in front of Nate.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit," I think.

Matt sits back with his arms folded and I scold him, hoping my death stares burn holes into him, but nothing happens. I take deep breaths as I try to calm my nerves. I know, I know, I could just lie, only lying for me was hard. I hated to lie, plus people who knew me well enough could tell when I wasn't truthful, so I have to now tell Nate the truth of my last sex dream. Nate looks towards me, locking his eyes with mine - making my skin burn hot and my throat is dryer then the Sahra dessert.

"Vitto!" I yell.

"What? One of the most revealing questions and you vitto already!?" Matt moans.

"Yep," I say popping the P.

"And vitto means?"

"She's bypassing the question as usual," Matt moans.

"Vitto," I glare at him.

"Not in this game Ryan, no vitto's allowed. Plus you already shouted secret so, tell Nate about your last sex dream," he smirks.

"Fuck!"

*word count - 4318*

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Dun dun daaaaaaaaaaaa!
😂😂😂😂😂

I know this chapter is super long but there was so much
dialogue I wanted to write & originally it was only two questions that got asked.
Then I felt like we needed another to get to know them a little better, then
the first kiss question came into my head & I was like what do
I cut to fit this in.... it was just a lot & I thought
fuck it! Just write a long ass chapter because I didn't have the heart to edit it down,
so your welcome. 😂

So... answer me this...
What clothing do you find sexy on the opposite sex?
(Mine: Grey sweatpants, if you have no idea what this is then type it into TikTok 😂
welcome to the fan club 😜)

Who is your celebrity crush?
(Mine: Of course Alexander Skarsgard, I always put a bit of myself into my characters.
Oh & I can't forget Stephen James... both of them are just... YUM!)

Bonus - Who is your favourite character so far?
(Mine: At the moment, Nico, I think he is very fun to write as a character, but mine does change time to time when I write a fun chapter.)

Don't forget to vote & please leave me a comment,
would love to know what you think!
Stay safe,
CeeCee
xoxo
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