The Sweetest Summer

Chapter Sixty-Six - Bad Girls

Collins was officially fifty shades of fucked up, and Leisha wasn't far behind, stumbling along the fine line of inebriation. Somehow, we'd all ended back up at my place, in one piece, and it was nothing short of a miracle.

"I love you so freaking much!" Collins hugged her fiancée so tightly against her little body, I worried for Leisha's ability to breathe.

"I love..you too...baby!" She gasped between Collins' squeezes.

"Do you think we should break that up?" Eli's sardonic tone came from somewhere behind me and I turned. We were the only ones left on dry land. The other drunken yahoos had wandered into the sea after we came back. Because drinking and swimming was always such a good idea...

"Nah. I think they're good. No one's drowning yet..." We both laughed a little, and I motioned toward a blue and white plaid blanket I'd set out along with a handful of dry towels.

"You wanna sit?"

"Sure."

As the unofficial hostess for tonight's festivities, I had a few drinks, but had resisted getting as next-level as the rest of the crew. Half the girls had taken their own car services home, including a very drunk Marissa, who I had a feeling would get no hangover reprieve from her daughter in the morning.

"Did you have a good time?" I plopped down rather ungracefully next to my former lover, and his eyes lingered on my exposed thigh for a moment before answering.

"Of course I did. I was with you." I rolled my eyes at the line.

"Yeah, and ten other, loud drunk girls."

"I barely noticed them." His blue eyes were intense, like the way they looked before he kissed me the first time. I shivered, and it wasn't because of the salty breeze.

"Here." He wrapped one of the fresh fluffy beach towels around my shoulders, and his fingers lingered on my skin. I was transported back to that summer five years ago. Standing on the beach, next to naked, with my best friend in the whole wide world looking at me like he wanted to kiss me. Exactly like he did now.

"Aves." His voice barely carried across the blanket, and I leaned closer so I could hear him.

"Yes?"

His hand moved from my shoulder, up to the back of my neck and I shivered again as he began playing with my hair.

"Breaking things off with you last year was the biggest mistake of my life."

"Even bigger than your terrible haircut in the seventh grade?" I tried to lighten the mood, not wanting to go there. If he went there, we would have to talk about real shit and quit living on the surface...

I looked back out toward the water. I'd been so strong all evening. Avoiding him on the dance floor, chatting up the girls as he hung near, never allowing myself to be completely alone with him. Yet here we were, huddled on a blanket, pretty fucking alone on the beach. Somehow we always ended up together, like two magnets, drawn together.

"Yeah, it was even worse than that." He murmured, applying a little pressure on the back of my neck so I had look back at him. His lips were cocked up to one side in a delicious smirk, and I licked my own, tasting salt and a hint of tequila. "You're different."

"You've said that before." I reminded him, but I started to tremble as he leaned impossibly closer to me. The buttons on his black dress shirt pressed against me.

"I know, and it's still true."

"Why should I even care what you think?"

"Because...you do." I tried to pull away, but his hand in my hair tightened, holding me in place. "Because...I love you." He closed the rest of the gap and pressed his lips to mine, stealing my breath.