Intoxicated

Chapter 13

*RYAN’S POV*

  It took a lot for me not to run up and shove Dylan out of the way as I tried my best to not make it obvious that I was watching the two. Dylan and Simone being close is old news, but him coming to her rescue all of the time was sure as hell making my job difficult. If I was going to make any type of move on her I was going to need some privacy that he wasn’t allowing.

  It wasn’t any better that I got to spend a solid five minutes with the love birds as they both tried to convince the other that they weren’t too interested when in reality the sexual tension between the two could have been picked up by a space satellite. The three of us had touched and picked up every laptop case on display in front of the store beside our new job by the time I caught dark hair coming closer in the corner of my eye.

  “Hey you.” I turned and gave Simone a smile and it was apparent that she was trying her best to pull herself together. She swiped at her eyes one last time before half grinning back. “Hey yourself.” Kenzie and Niall gave her soft smiles and headed further up the boardwalk, assuming we could now continue our adventure. Dylan passed by us without a second glance, making himself the awkward dot in the middle of the standard configuration of five.

  “Are you alright?” I didn’t really know what to say, and I for sure didn’t want to rip off the band aid that she had just lain over her wound, so when she shook her head I let out a slight breath. I wasn’t really good at handling emotional girls so I was thankful she wasn’t going to see me try and fail at comforting her. So I did what I was good at, making situations better.

  I slid my arm around her small shoulders, my hand reaching somewhere near her ribs as her hand instinctively held onto it. “That guy is clearly a douche. I mean like hell he is.” I tried to copy Marc’s throaty voice and smoker like laugh as best as I could, her laughing vibrating through my arm and another smile finding its way onto my face. She looked up at me, a real grin on her lips and no more tears in her eyes. It caught me off guard for a minute because she looked absolutely…beautiful.

  “There’s the laugh I love to hear. I hate seeing you do anything but smile Mo.” She turned to glance forward, side stepping a stroller with a sleeping baby boy in it before peering back up at me.

  “Well if you keep doing what you’re doing, it will be impossible for me not to.” The only hint that she was nervous was the tiny brush of red covering her chest as I removed my arm from her shoulders and went for her hand instead. As we walked behind the rest of our friends it dawned on me that my words held a little more truth that I had expected them to.

*NIALL’S POV*

  There was no way that the day could have gone better. Even though we never strayed from the group, it felt as if Kenzie and I were on our own the whole time. All of us ducked into nearly every shop along the way, trying on things we would have to be crazy to buy and snacking on every free sample we passed by. Once the shops began to grow less frequent and the amusement park end came into view we decided to call it a day; we didn’t want to see everything there was to see at once. So we walked back to a cute shop with yellow block letters spelling out Fro-that above it. Inside it had an old dinner feel and even from the booth near the back the Florida breeze still managed to hit my skin. Dylan slid in first and Kenzie and I filed in after giving Ryan and Simone the other side to themselves.

  Kenzie reached for the stack of laminated menus and passed them out and we took our time to read every description on the impressively long list of frozen yogurts, milkshakes, and other frozen goodies. After a few minutes Kenzie’s eyes lifted from her menu and she flashed us a smile. “Are you all ready to order?” Everyone gave nods and prepared to scoot out of the red booth but I held up my hand.

  “Ere, you all just tell me what ya want an I’ll order. Kenzie, will you help me carry em back?” I tried to make my voice sound neutral but there was really no point. I was pretty sure everyone at the table understood I just wanted an excuse to be alone with her.

  She tilted her head to the side as if she was thinking before facing me with her hands folded together on the table. “I’m pretty sure you are strong enough to carry five cups back by yourself.” She let her soft hand fall onto my arm, giving my bicep a slight squeeze before giving me a cheeky smile. I ducked my head to cover the blush I knew would be finding its way to my cheeks and just laughed before pushing myself out from the booth.

  “Fine, what do ya want?” I addressed the table as a whole and Ryan, whose arm was now around Simone’s shoulders decided to go first.

  “I just want a medium chocolate milkshake.” I silently thanked him for keeping it simple.

  “Yeah, a medium strawberry milkshake is all I need.” Dylan sat back in his seat to prove that that was all he wanted. My eyes fell onto Simone who hadn’t touched her menu at all. “I don’t want anything, thank you though.” Dylan and Ryan glanced over at her, confusion on their faces.

  “We have been in the sun all day, are you sure?” Ryan pushed the white menu towards her but she just shook her head. “Mo, we missed lunch at the hotel and they aren’t serving dinner for hours, at least get something to drink. Dylan kept his voice light but it was clear that he wasn’t happy with her decision. But she wasn’t having any of it as she sat up from Ryan’s side and caught both of their eyes with her stare.

  “I said that I didn’t want any. Can we just drop it?” Her tone wasn’t rude, but it for sure was final. For a small girl she sure knew how to have a big attitude. Coming to her aid I cleared my throat and took a few steps away from the table.

  “So two medium milkshakes, one chocolate an one strawberry, comin right up.” I was about to turn around to head towards the counter when someone else cleared their throat. I turned over my shoulder to see Kenzie glaring at me. “You didn’t ask me what I wanted ya know.”

  It was my turn to be a tad cheeky. “Oh I know. I’m pretty sure ya are mouthy nough to ask fur one cup by yourself.” I made sure to copy her words almost exactly, throwing in a wink and going towards the counter before I had time to take in her reaction; but from the giggles and chuckles from the others, it must have been a funny one.

  Once we all had finished and paid, we stayed in the booth to figure out what to do next. The sun was still strong even though it was nearing six. “Mitchell did mention that some people were just going to go to the movies or something around nine. Would you guys be down for that?” Ryan looked around at all of us, and seeing as there were no objections, he sent a quick text thus eliminating the problem of finding something to do.

  “Well if we are going to the movies, I have to get back and take a shower. Sweaty is not a good look.” Kenzie collected her mass of hair and moved it onto the shoulder closest to Dylan, giving me the chance to see the faintest sheen of sweat on her neck. I couldn’t tell ya why, but it was the sexiest I had seen her all day. We all scuttled off of the red seats, Dylan and Simone took the lead with Ryan close behind. Kenzie was about to follow when I reached out for elbow causing her to turn back to me. I took a step forward, my chest less than a centimeter away from hers and lowered my head to be level with her ear.

*KENZIE’S POV*

  When Niall’s chest was basically touching mine, I thought I was going to faint. When his cool mouth ended up beside my ear, I thought was going to die. But when he started to whisper, his icy breath carrying the smell of lemon from the frozen yogurt he bought, I could have sworn I heard elevator music announcing the arrival of my ride to heaven. “If ya ask me, sweaty is a good look on ya.” He pulled back and moved a piece of my bang out of my face before that little shit gave me a heart stopping smile and headed for the door. I would have still been glued to that spot on the floor if his voice hadn’t jumpstarted my body again. “Kenzie!” My head snapped towards the door that he was holding open, acting as if he had no clue what he was doing to me.

  I mentally smacked myself and headed his way, making sure to throw an extra swing in my hips as I caught up to Ryan, Mo, and Dill, internally flipping my hair at the fact he took a bit of time to catch up, clearly enjoying the show.