Never Ending (Ricky Dillon)

Chapter Eight // Not Right

"Wait, so let me get this straight," Ricky says, looking confused. "He came out of Kayley's room?"

I sigh, taking a sip of my lemonade. We've been talking about this for almost twenty minutes now.

"Yeah, I don't know why," I say for what seems like the millionth time.

We're at Panera, of course, and we just recently finished our food, so we decided to sit and talk for a while before heading to the beach.

"So, you still wanting to go to the beach?" He asks me, as if reading my mind.

"Sure, if you still want to."

"I'll do whatever you want to. You're the one calling the shots this afternoon."

I smile and we pick up all our trash and get into Ricky's car. We pull away from the parking lot and take the short drive to the beach. When we get there, I take off my shirt and pants to reveal the bikini I picked out. It's black with small white polka dots; simple. Ricky's talking to someone a little ways away he must know from somewhere, so I decide to lay on my towel for a little while.

Almost immediatly when I lay down, something hard hits my back.

I sit up and look around, seeing it was a volleyball. I roll my eyes and pick it up, looking around for the owner. An all too familiar boy is jogging up to me.

"Sorry," Ashton says, "It was a-"

He seems to recognize me then, and smirks.

"I should've known, there's only one girl around here with such perfection." He tells me.

"Hello Ashton," I say lamely.

"Hey Peyton," He looks around. "Where's your boyfriend?"

"Who...oh you mean Ricky," I say, "He's not really my boyfriend. We've only known each other for a couple of days actually."

I think I see a slight look of something like reassurance cross his face, but it's gone as fast as it came.

"Oh," he chuckles, "so he just had high hopes?"

I smile at this, and shrug.

"So what brings you here?" He asks me, seeming to forget his game and the volleyball in his hand.

"Oh I'm just here with a friend," I

half-lie. Why can't I just tell him I'm here with Ricky?

"Hey that's cool; only about a week here and you've already got friends." He looks back behind his shoulder at the court and his friends about a football feild away.

"I might want to get back to them over there, or they'll get mad. See you around Peyton." He says, then jogs off.

I watch him go, then look around for Ricky. He's still talking to the person, so I decide to walk over there and stand by him.

"-doing what you do. Hard to break old habits, even for a girl." is all I hear as I come up behind Ricky.

I don't say anything, just study the guy that just talked. He's about the same size as Ricky, with about the same amount of muscle. His hair is dark brown, the same color as his eyes.

He's not a YouTuber, I'm sure of that. He looks more like a sporty kind of guy, one to be out throwing a football or shooting hoops, not sitting in front of a camera spilling his life story.

He sees me and smirks, then turns back to Ricky. "See you later man." He tells him, then turns and leaves.

Ricky asks me what I want to do and I shrug, turning to walk away.

"Where are you going?" He calls.

"Into the water. I'm bored."

"Well wait for me."

"Fine."

I stop walking and turn around, crossing my arms and rolling my eyes. He frowns, looking worried.

"Are you alright?" He asks.

"Yeah," I say, smiling, "I'm fine. I just want to hang out for a while before we have to be back."

We do hang out, splashing around in the ocean, walking alongside it, talking all the while. Something's bothering him though, I can see it in his eyes.

* * *

"Guys where's my room," I yell throughout the new house.

"Just pick one, dork!" I hear Jc yell back. The one I choose is upstairs and beside Jc's room. As soon as I pick it he smiles and tells me that I'll regret choosing it.

I put some stuff away and decide to look around. Connor's absence wraps around the house like a giant blanket; I'm going to miss him. I didn't live in the old o2l house very long, but it was long enough to see how the guys reacted to each other. Without one it's unbalanced and awkward.

He promised that he will visit often, and that it would be like nothing has changed. It isn't at all, but we didn't say anything about it.

I decide to go and talk to Kayley, she's probably feeling the same way.

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