Nothing could have ended the day better than a late night bonfire. As I waited for everyone else to get ready for the fun beach party ahead, I went outside to the part of the beach I wanted to be. The part with the large rocks and beautiful view of the ocean. It was the perfect time to sit down and listen to music, because the sun was setting so it was getting dark.
I had both earbuds in and sat down on one of the flat rocks, straightening out my white sundress as I stared out at the ocean. My music soothed me, so I closed my eyes and let the smell of the ocean fill my nose.
I didn't even notice when someone sat down next to me until they pulled out my right earbud and put it in their own ear. I expected it to be Cal, but raised an eyebrow when I turned and saw Tobi sitting there.
There was a peace to him being next to me, so we sat in silence and listened to my music together. He spoke after a few minutes.
"It's really something, isn't it?"
I nodded, not taking my eyes off of the horizon. The pink and purple sky cast a shadow over us as the sun set underneath the water, but there was still a soft light glowing across the waves. They glistened, but it wasn't a blinding light.
"I didn't think someone like you could appreciate something like this," I turned my head to look at him.
He chuckled deeply, looking into my eyes. "Well, I guess we were both wrong about each other."
I bit my lip. Not breaking our gaze. "I don't think you were. I mean, I wish you were wrong about me, but you're not."
He put his hand on mine. "You always do that. You think you're some monster, but you're the opposite of that."
I looked down at our hands. "You don't know my past...it's hard for me to think anything else of myself."
He lifted his free hand and tipped my chin up to look at him, like he did at the pitch so long ago. He held his hand there, with his thumb on my chin and his index finger curled underneath. "Then don't think."
I noticed then that we had both leaned in, and we were very close to one another. My music played softly in our ears as we stared at each other.
Our lips were brushing together now. Not in a kiss quite yet, but I felt his warm breath on my bottom lip as he closed his eyes.
Wait.
I froze before we could both close the small gap between us, opening my eyes after realizing they were closed.
He opened his eyes a second later, dropping his hand from my chin as I pulled away.
I bit my lip and smiled awkwardly, playfully punching him in the shoulder to try and ease the tension. You know, like the idiot I am. I laughed awkwardly. "Oh, you. Always so serious."
I can't believe we almost kissed.
He took my earbud out of his ear. "I'm so sorry, what was I thinking? You're with Freezy."
"I am," I narrowed my eyes, trying to convince myself that it was true. I was in a relationship. "I...am."
"Guys!" Freya's voice rang out from the grass, about 30 meters out. "Let's go, it's time to party!"
Tobi and I looked at each other one more time before he stood to his feet and walked away, leaving me shocked. I instinctively looked down at my tattoo.
Stay.
*****
Freya plopped down in the chair next to me, handing me a cocktail as we stared at the flames of the bonfire. Cal was in the chair to my right, talking to Lux and Harry. Again.
"We need to talk," Freya told me.
I tilted my head. "Okay? What is it?"
"Not here, " She stood and took my hand, dragging me away from the fire and walking along the beach with me by her side. "What was that all about earlier?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
She rolled her eyes. "Do you think I'm blind? I saw you and Tobi out on the rocks."
I cursed and looked down at my feet. "I...I don't know what it was. I guess we were caught up in the moment. Nothing happened, though, and that's all that matters."
She sighed, looking around before bringing her voice down. "Are you just not going to do anything about it?"
I cringed. "Yes, I am. I'm going to fuck Cal tonight and forget it ever happened."
Her mouth dropped open. "Are...are you serious?"
"Well what else am I meant to do?" I scowled, wrapping my arms around myself. What had I done? "It's not like we did anything, so there's nothing to fix. We stay friends, and everything is normal again."
That's all I wanted. For things to be normal again.
"Case, I don't think this is how you should go about this," She whispered.
"Well what would you recommend?" I put my head in my hands. "Because I'm clueless."
"Talk with him about it. You'll both feel much better."
"We didn't kiss," I stated. "Therefore, there's nothing to talk about. So I'm going to go sit with my boyfriend and watch the fire."
I walked away from her before she could say anything else and sat back down, as close to Cal as I could get. I put my hand on his leg and he looked down at me.
"Casey, just the person I wanted to see," He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "I'm off to get drinks with some of the guys. See you tomorrow?"
You've got to be kidding me.
"Again?" I sighed. "Okay. Have fun."
"Thanks babe," He pecked my lips and stood to his feet, walking off with Harry, Lux, and Ethan. I bit my lip to keep from showing my frustration with him and put my head in my hands.
I sat outside and watched the flame of the bonfire, saying goodnight to everyone as they left, one by one.
I didn't even listen to music. I sat down on my towel in the sand, staring at the bonfire as it started to get lower and lower.
More wood was tossed on and I jumped, having thought I was alone until that moment.
Of course, it was Tobi.
He didn't sit down next to me, and he didn't even look at me. He just sighed. "I'm off to bed. Just...come to me if you need anything."
I nodded, not taking my eyes away from the fire as I spoke to him. "Tobi?"
"Yeah?"
I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it. Things were too awkward between us. "Nevermind. Goodnight."
He sighed again. "Goodnight."
I listened as he walked away, cringing at every footstep in the sand. The last thing I wanted was to be alone.
What I really wanted was to get my mind off of it. But Cal wasn't around to distract me. He was never around.
I stood to my feet after another ten minutes, running a hand through my hair. Why was it so hard?
I found myself slowly walking over to the hotel, taking the elevator to the room.
But not my room.
I knocked on the door nonstop until it swung open, and a shirtless Tobi answered. He raised an eyebrow.
"Casey? What are you—"
I interrupted him by crashing my lips onto his, wrapping my arms around his neck and walking him back into his room, closing the door behind us with my foot.
"Casey—"
He spoke against my lips, but I shook my head as I traced his abs with one of my fingers, leading him to his bed. "Shh. I'm horny as hell and you're going to fix that."
"But—"
I pushed him backwards onto his bed and climbed on top of him, straddling him and leaning down to connect our lips once again.
"Stop talking," I purred.
He put his hands on my legs and gripped them when I trailed my lips down to his neck, sucking on his collarbone.
"Casey, look—"
I brought my lips back up to his own to shut him up and traced the waistline of his shorts with my fingers.
"Stop," He said suddenly, pulling away and sitting up with me still on his lap. "This isn't right. This isn't...how I wanted it."
I stared into his eyes, which were wide, and cursed. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
He pushed some of my hair out of my face and leaned forward so our foreheads were touching, both of us closing our eyes. "I just want it to be real."
He put his hand on my cheek, swiping his thumb across my lower lip and keeping his other hand on my waist. Our lips were so close together, they lightly touched when he spoke again.
"I don't want sex tonight," He murmured. "I just want this, right here."
He leaned the rest of the way in and connected our lips in a soft, romantic way, caressing my cheek in one hand and tangling the other in my messy hair.
He pulled away for a breath and I slowly opened my eyes, staring into his brown ones. He smiled warmly. "Can you handle that?"
I nodded slowly, too lost in his eyes to form words. That was the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to me.
And he wasn't even my boyfriend.
Oh God, what have I done?
He must have noticed the guilty look on my face, because he lifted me off of his lap before laying down on his bed.
But I didn't leave. I laid down next to him and stared up at the ceiling. Because deep down, I didn't want to leave.
I wanted to stay.
Wow...a lot has happened. I hope it was a very wholesome, yet exciting chapter??? Like I said, brace yourselves for later chapters because they are SICK