Riptide (An Emblem3 Fanfic)

Chapter 21

I might have looked fine on the outside, but my insides were ripping themselves apart piece by piece. Every second that I spent recounting the past events, I died a little bit inside. I kissed Owen. Is that considered cheating? Are Wes and I even together? I needed to sort all of this out. I was pretty mad at myself too. Was it that obvious that Owen had a thing for me? Why didn't I notice and put a stop to it sooner? Now Owen and Wes were going to battle to the death for my honor or something. Great.

"Ay! You brought quesadillas! Sweet." Drew said grinning at me as he took the plastic shopping bag. I smiled at him before warning him of the contents of the sack.

"Careful, they're really hot." I told him. Drew was too focused on the food though because he grabbed one of the foil packages and threw it up in the air.

"Ahh!" He said wiggling his fingers trying to cool them off. I shook my head at him. I couldn't help but giggle though. Everyone dug in and was chatting and laughing. No one really seemed to notice that I was kind of out of it. I felt my pocket, but my phone wasn't there. Great. In all the excitement I had left my phone at the snack shack.

"Hey, I left my phone back at the snack bar I'll be right back." I said getting up and dusting the sand off my hands. Keaton balled up his tinfoil and stood up too.

"You want any company?" He asked. I nodded.

"Sure thanks Keats." I smiled, grateful for the gesture. Wes looked at us weird, but shrugged it off as soon as Drew passed him another quesadilla. We walked almost a quarter of the way there before Keaton stopped and looked at me.

"Okay what's going on?" He asked me, folding his arms across his chest. I was four or five inches taller than he was so I was looking down at him. I smiled. My grin faded shortly after the question registered in my mind.

"I made it so much worse." I said frowning.

"What happened?" He asked me worried.

"Well, for starters you were right, he's into me..." Keaton stared at me, motioning for me to continue.

"And?"

"And... WellthenOwenkissedmeandIwassosurprisedthatIkissedhimbackthenpushedhimoffandnowhesaidthathe'sgoingtofightforme." I said in one breath. I saw Keaton's eyes widen.

"Wow." He said.

"I know. Seriously Keaton I'm going to screw up everything." We approached the snack shack and Keaton grabbed my phone off the counter and handed it to me.

"That's not going to happen, you've just got to set it straight. Tell Wes that you're interested in him and that he's got nothing to worry about." Keaton told me reassuringly.

"So that way you think he wouldn't beat the shit out of Owen?" I laughed as we turned to walk back to our friends.

"Nah." He laughed too. I was in a much better mood when we got back to everyone. Keaton has that effect on people. He could always find the bright side of situations.

"So we were thinking," Wes said when Keaton and I sat back down "that we should take a break before our next stop and catch some waves?" He grinned. I glanced at Keaton and we both nodded. The water was kind of chilly, but we didn't bring our rash guards so we just made do. We rented boards from the surf shop, and set our stuff down on the sand. 

All six of us ran into the water, hollering and laughing together. The ocean was the one place where we could all get along. No one tried anything with each other... it was just peaceful. After 2 hours we all got out of the water, happy and relaxed. I was putting my board on the return rack when I felt Wes come up behind me.

"Hey." He smiled. I grinned back at him and swooped his wet hair out of his eyes. I was about to say something when a toned, tan body passed in-between us. It was Owen, squeezing right in the middle of us to put his board on the rack. He gave me a smug smile, and then walked off. I could see the muscles in Wes's face go tense. I placed my hand on his bare chest and he looked at me. I made eye contact with him. "I hate that guy." He said through his teeth.

"Wesley, I like you. Not him, you." His gaze softened and I saw that familiar smirk of his. He beamed at me.

"You know you're the only one that calls me that." He said laughing. A confused look spread across my face. 

"What?" I asked

"You're the only one that calls me Wesley, not Wes." He nudged me.

"Oh." I blushed. "Well, I like Wesley better."

"I like when you say it." His smile was genuine "It's different." He pulled me into his side and I saw him flinch a little. 

"Hey is your shoulder okay?" I asked. He shook his head yes, but I could read him like a book. I raised my eyebrows and he still nodded.

"I'm fine." I still wasn't convinced. I stuck my fingers in the air and wiggled them. I gave him this evil look. 

"Are you sure there's not something you want to tell me?" I said, moving my fingers around again.

"Oh please Avery. I'm not ticklish." He said, but as the words came out of his mouth he was backing up slowly. I started tickling him and we fell onto the sand. He was biting his bottom lip, trying not to laugh, but it wasn't working. I heard a bunch of gasps escape his perfectly pink lips. His laugh was insanely cute. I was distracted by it for a few seconds. Wes took advantage of the opportunity, and flipped so he was on top of me.

He had me pinned to the ground by the arms so I couldn't fight him. His nose was inches away from mine, and I was staring up into his gorgeous brown eyes. 

"And you said you weren't ticklish." was all I managed to say. 

"I am so not." He said. I looked at him like he was crazy. He loosened his grip on my arms, and I flipped back on top of him. I started moving my fingers up and down his ribs again.

"Say it! Say it!" I told him.

"Okay! Okay! I'm ticklish! I'm ticklish!" He said between laughs. After he admitted it, I stopped tickling him. His face was red from laughing so hard. I was just lying on top of him, laughing. He put his hands on my waist so I looked down at him. "I'm really glad I met you Avery." He said looking me straight in the eyes. His forwardness was kind of refreshing. I smiled down at him.

"Me too." I placed my head on his tan chest and felt it rise up and down. He tilted my head so our lips were centimeters apart. I couldn't help smiling as I placed my lips on his. Being with Wesley felt good, it felt right.