...I never needed anything more

I woke up to darkness and something tugging at my arm. I groaned, trying to shake it away, but it held on.

"Auggie?" a small voice whispered.

I blinked a few times, waiting for my eyes to adjust.

"Aurora, what are you doing in here?" I asked. I could see her figure in the faint moonlight coming through the window. She stood at the side of my bed in her favourite purple hoodie and holding her favourite doll.

"Can I sleep with you?" she asked. "I had a scary dream."

I rubbed my eyes and reached my arms out. "C'mere," I told her, lifting her onto the bed. She slipped under the covers, cuddling against my side.

"Thanks, Auggie," she whispered. "You're the best big sister."

*

"Auggie, Auggie, wake up!" Aurora jumped up and down on my bed.

"Jesus, Aurora, what time is it?" I grumbled. I squinted my eyes as sunlight poured into my face. Aurora continued to jump.

"We're going to the beach with James and Miles!" she shouted.

Uh oh.

I didn't know how to talk to James. We had left things awkward and flirty, and I wasn't sure how to proceed. I knew I was starting to like him, and as much as that bothered me, I still enjoyed his company. Grumbling, I dragged myself out of bed and to my bathroom, Aurora at my heels.

My hair was a poofy mess around my head. My eyes had bags underneath them, and I had pillow lines across my cheeks. I grimaced, proceeding to wash my face, brush my teeth and braid my hair. I then slipped into my lavender bikini top, a pair of athletic shorts, and a pale blue t-shirt.

Five minutes later, I was looking more put-together, and Aurora smiled in approval.

"You're pretty, Auggie," she told me. "One day, I want to look like you."

"Thanks, Aurora," I told her. "Let's get ready to go."

As we entered the kitchen, my sister looked at me thoughtfully.

"Auggie?" she said. "I need to talk to you."

She sat down at the table as my mom served us breakfast.

"Thanks, Mom," I smiled.

"I spoke to Leah," she told us. "You guys are spending the day at the beach with the boys. Your dad and I have lots of work to do, so we won't be coming."

I watched Aurora's face fall and felt bad for her yet again. I couldn't remember the last time my parents played a game or hung out with her. I didn't want to spend all day at the beach, but I'd do it for my sister's sake. My mom walked out of the kitchen, and I sat across from Aurora.

"Now, what would you like to talk to me about?" I asked her, taking a bite of toast.

Aurora took a deep breath. "Auggie, I'd like for you to start calling me Rory," she said with a solemn look.

It took all my strength not to laugh. Leave it to Aurora - Rory - to make something so simple such a big deal. She stared at me with a deep seriousness in her eyes, waiting on my reply.

"Of course, Rory," I responded, and she giggled, her curls bouncing around her head. I smiled at my sister. She could be an actress when she was older. She had the cuteness and the facial expressions. She ate up the fruit and yogurt on her plate, then jumped up and ran to the door.

"Let's go, Auggie!" she yelled.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" I yelled back.

She ran back into the kitchen, sliding in her socks along the smooth, wooden floor. "What? What did I forget?" she asked anxiously.

"Your bathing suit," I told her, gesturing towards her clothes.

"Already on me," she laughed, lifting her shirt to show me the Little Mermaid one-piece she wore.

"Alright then, let me grab the beach bag, and we're good to go," I said, but Aurora was already halfway out the door.

*

"Augustine, Aurora! I'm so glad you two could make it!" Leah's excited voice rang through my ears. Aurora stepped forward and placed her hands on her hips.

"It's Rory now," she said, then walked over to James and gave him a hug. "Pick me up!" she squealed.

"She wants a nickname," I explained to Leah with a smile. "And thank you for inviting us. We weren't busy and this is a good way for her to blow off some steam."

"You're welcome to hangout with us anytime," Leah gave me a motherly smile. She was naturally beautiful, with her long brown hair playfully dancing across her shoulders. I admired the way she looked for the positive in every situation. After giving Leah a hug, I set our beach bag down and purposefully ignored James's gaze.

Gazing towards the water, I breathed in the salt air and my body immediately relaxed. Since it was the morning, there weren't many people along the beach, causing almost all my anxiety to slip away. As I took off my flip-flops, the rich, red sand dug into my feet. I curled my toes, absorbing the ground beneath me.

At the top of the beach, minus the pathway Aurora and I took, the sand went high above my head. I heard it was normal for PEI beaches to be like that. There was grass on the top, so one could stand there and look at the ocean. Aurora called them "sand mountains," though they were only around twenty feet high. In previous years, I'd make friends with many of the kids on the beach, and we'd climb them.

"Earth to Augustine," a voice said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

James stood with my sister in his arms, grinning at me. My eyes flicked towards his, noticing his dimples showing on his cheeks. He wore his dark blue swim trunks and a simple white t-shirt. His eyes were lighter brown than I remembered, possibly brightening due to the sun, and his short, brown hair was ruffled. With my sister in his arms, he looked much more adorable than I was willing to admit.

"Sorry," I mumbled, looking at the ground. I glanced at Miles, who was smiling ear to ear.

"I've got an idea," he smirked, winking at me.

Uh oh, I thought. Anything Miles was planning couldn't be good.

Turning to my sister, he said, "Hey, Rory. Want to build a sandcastle?"

Aurora's face brightened as she slid out of James's arms. The two of them headed towards the waves, leaving James and I standing their awkwardly. Leah lay down on her towel with a book, hopefully oblivious to James and me.

"Uh, well," James began, rubbing the back of his neck. "Want to join them?"

"Sure," I told him, not meeting his eyes.

Could I be any more awkward?

As we reached Miles and Aurora, the former winked at me again. "Listen up," he stated, clapping his hands together. "Welcome to the ultimate sandcastle building competition. Whoever builds the best castle wins. The judge will be Leah."

He spoke in a serious announcer voice, a grin taking over his face. I let out a small laugh as he continued.

"We'll be in teams of two," he told us, sending me a grin. "Since Rory is the youngest, she chooses her teammate."

Aurora looked thrilled to be part of the competition. I assumed she'd pick James since she adored him. She tapped her finger against her chin, looking adorable in her Little Mermaid bathing suit.

"I choose...Miles!" she squealed.

"Yes!" he pumped his fist. "We're building the best sandcastle ever!" Turning to James and me, he grinned. "Guess that leaves you two love birds together. Try to keep it PG."

I hoped my face wasn't as red as it felt. I looked at James to see a slight flush on his cheeks.

"Guess we better get started," he said, walking away from Miles and Aurora. I followed him, hoping we could smooth out the awkwardness between us.

Choosing a flat piece of sand close to the waves, James knelt on the ground and began scooping sand. I sat next to him and began brainstorming.

"So," I began, "What should our castle look like?"

He met my eyes, my stomach fluttering under his gaze. "Let's make a standard castle," he responded. "But we could decorate it with some shells to make it fancy?"

"How about a moat?" I asked. "Moats are my favourite thing to put on sandcastles."

"Obviously," he smiled. "What kind of castle doesn't have a moat?"

We scooped the sand around us and placed it in a pile to start building.

"You know," I told James. "I thought Miles's idea was lame, but I feel like this will be fun."

He grinned at me. "I was thinking the same thing." He stuck some of the sand in the middle together while I collected more.

As we stacked more and more sand, I began to feel comfortable again. Being with James didn't make sense. One minute, we talked like best friends, and the next we couldn't make eye contact. Despite how awkward things were, I was happy he was on my team.

Our castle began to take form, with a strong base and three pillars. We smoothed the pillars down, so they looked better, our hands brushing as we reached the middle. We both froze. I kept my eyes on our hands as he brushed his thumb on top of mine. My stomach fluttered, unable to meet his eyes.

James reached up with his other sand-covered hand and tilted my chin up to face him. I wanted to look away, but he held me in his gaze.

"Are we going to talk about last night?" he asked me, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. His eyes focused on mine as I felt my cheeks heat up. "It feels like we had, I don't know, a moment or something," he admitted, finally tearing his gaze from mine. Now he was the one blushing.

"Maybe we did," I confessed softly, noticing his dimples appear. "I think maybe we're both shy."

"You can say that again," he smiled. "I don't get it. Why can't we just be normal all the time? I feel like we go back and forth between being awkward and chill." He brushed his thumb over my hand again.

"Maybe we need to be brave more often," I said.

James met my gaze again, his smile generating a small tug in my stomach. I forced myself to maintain the eye contact, smiling back at him. He leaned towards me, his lips brushing my temple.

"Let me be brave then," he whispered, planting a soft kiss on my temple. Before he pulled away, I tilted my head up and let my lips plant on his cheek. I felt him take in a sharp breath, and I moved away to meet his eyes.

"Maybe each time we meet, we'll be a bit more brave," he said softly, searching my eyes for a reaction.

"Maybe."

*

"You guys done?" a voice spoke behind me. I turned around to see Miles grinning with his arms crossed. "It's judging time," he announced.

I turned to James and shrugged. "Bring it," I told Miles confidently.

"It's on, love birds," he winked.

My face heated up again, but I sent James a smile. After our "moment" of sorts, we got back to building, creating a sandcastle that looked relatively good. In the end, I didn't care about winning so much, but it was fun to spend that time with James.

Aurora came over to us, tugging Leah's hand. "C'mon, c'mon!" she yelled excitedly, Leah laughing behind her.

"Alright, let's see the castle," Leah said, looking at our creation with a playful look in her eyes. "Hm." She tapped her finger against her chin, walking around our castle with her other hand clasped in my sister's.

All in all, we had made a good castle. The three pillars had different-sized shells spiraling around them. The moat was about six inches deep and connected to the ocean. We had managed to find enough shells to align them along the moat.

"I like it," Leah proclaimed. "Eight out of ten."

"Nice!" James said, high fiving me.

"Now, let's go see the other one," Leah said.

As we walked across the beach, Miles tugged my arm, so we were behind everyone. "I saw your little moment you had there," he said smugly.

"Ugh," I responded, hiding my head in my hands. "Look, I have no experience with romantic stuff, okay? Sure, I read about it, but I don't have personal experience."

"Neither does James," Miles said, using his hands to uncover my face. "Think about it. In most rom-coms, one person is usually innocent, while the other has experience. James has liked a girl before, but she was awful. Anyway, this is his first time really liking a girl, so he's extra nervous. So basically, you both don't have experience, which means you need my help, and also will probably go though many more awkward conversations."

I stared at Miles with an odd expression. "You watch rom coms?" I asked, breaking into a smile.

"Shut up," he playfully punched my shoulder. "I'm just saying. I understand love."

"Uh huh," I responded. "Where's your girlfriend?"

"Coaches don't play" he laughed, giving me a shove. "All I'm saying is, don't be afraid to make a move. He's pretty much in love with you now, so, I don't know, go make out with him or something."

I shook my head as we approached the second sandcastle, although the idea of making out with James did appeal to me.

What is happening to me? God.

I looked at the sandcastle Miles and Aurora built and immediately knew James and I had lost. They had built a structure almost Aurora's height, with a giant moat that had crabs crawling in it.

"Wow, this is impressive!" Leah exclaimed.

James looked at me and shrugged. Guess we lost, he mouthed.

"Well," Leah began. "It's a hard call, but this castle is a ten out of ten. Your winners are...Rory and Miles!"

"Yayyyyy!" Aurora squealed, throwing herself into Miles's arms. "We did it! We did it!"

"That's right, we did!" Miles exclaimed, spinning my sister in circles.

I admired the way Miles treated her, always patient and happy, never exasperated by her excitement. I smiled softly at the two of them; Miles holding Aurora in his arms and dancing.

"Tough luck, you two," Leah said, nudging me.

"I'm claiming it's favouritism," James argued. "Our castle was fantastic."

"It really wasn't," Leah laughed, earning a playful shove from James.

I guess it's a good thing we came to the beach today, I smiled.

"Fine then," James said, turning to me. "All that building has given me an appetite. Wanna grab a snack?"

"Sure," I replied, blushing as we made eye contact.

We walked up towards our towels and where Leah's gigantic beach umbrella sat. I grabbed the beach bag I brought and took out some fruit and two water bottles my mom had packed. While she didn't spend a lot of time with us, she always made sure we had what we needed for any expedition.

James spread two towels underneath the sky-blue umbrella and gestured for me to sit next to him. I shuffled over and offered him some fruit, while he ripped open a bag of pretzels for us to share. I smiled and took a handful of one of my favourite snacks. James grinned and grabbed a few strawberries out the container. It was divided so strawberries, blueberries, apples, and mango slices were in separate parts of the container.

I nibbled at the pretzels I'd grabbed, washing them down with a swig of water. I saw James looking at me in my peripheral vision, a slight smile on his face. In my haste to act natural, I tried to sip the water slowly and spilt it all over my shirt.

"Shit," I muttered, as James laughed. My pale blue shirt was splashed with water, revealing my purple bikini top, as most of the water hit my chest.

"Want me to clean off your shirt?" James asked politely, but I detected the hint of a smile behind his eyes.

I looked at him, then at the water covering my boobs. I looked back at James, holding in a laugh.

"That was smooth," I smirked. "Good try."

"I don't know what you're talking about," James shrugged with feigned innocence. "I just want to help."

"Bullshit you do," I shot back.

He really brings out my flirty side. I didn't even know I had a flirty side.

"I tried," James laughed, laying down on the towel and shutting his eyes.

"I'll just wring out my shirt," I told him. "Then it can air-dry on my body." Seeing that his eyes were still shut tight, I slipped my t-shirt over my head and wrung out a few drops of water, but it stayed stubbornly damp. I glanced at James, looking so peaceful with his eyes relaxed and sun lighting up his freckles.

His eyes fluttered open, and he squinted at me.

"James!" I squealed, covering my chest with my shirt.

"Quit looking at me then," he grinned. A more serious expression set on his face as he sat up.

"Augustine," he began. "Every girl at the beach is wearing a similar top as you. What's the problem? It's just a bathing suit."

I sighed, still covering my chest but a bit more relaxed.

Guess I should just be honest with him.

"I'm pretty insecure about...all this," I gestured to my torso with my shirt still covering me. "I feel like I'm showing way too much skin."

James looked taken aback as his eyes scanned my body. "Why?" he exclaimed. "You're like, insanely hot."

"Um," I started, as James's face flared red.

"I, uh, I mean, you're pretty?" he stuttered. "Um, I mean, you have no reason to be insecure. Yep, that's it." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Uh, thanks," I muttered, looking anywhere but his eyes.

"Augustine, I want you to feel comfortable at the beach," James said suddenly.

"Why?"

"Well, uh, I know how it feels to be insecure," he confessed.

"Oh," I replied, looking back at him. His hazel eyes gazed into mine.

"I'm sorry you feel like you have to hide yourself," he said quietly. He got up and rummaged around in his bag. "Here's an extra t-shirt I brought." He handed it to me with a smile. "Until you feel ready and confident to wear a bathing suit, you can wear this. It might be a bit big though."

My eyes widened at his kindness and sincerity. I sent him a grateful smile and slipped on the t-shirt. It was forest green and too big, but extremely comfortable. James settled back onto his towel, and we watched the beach together.

"Look over there," James said, pointing straight ahead.

In waist-deep water, Miles stood with Aurora on his shoulders. Leah stood a few feet away, her hair ruffling in the light breeze. It was reaching midday, the sun causing sparkles to dance along the waves. I laughed as a big wave hit Leah, and she tumbled into the water. Miles slipped Aurora off his shoulders and began tossing her in the air. From the top of the beach, I could hear her shrieks of delight as Miles caught her right as her feet touched the water.

"He's good with kids," I sighed wistfully.

"He really isn't," James replied, turning towards me. "I guess there's something about her."

"I know I'm biased, but she really is awesome," I told him.

"She is," he replied. "She got the energy; you got the awkwardness." He sent me a grin.

"Oh, cause you're not awkward?"

"Point taken," he grumbled.

I laughed, enjoying the easiness I was developing with James. He seemed to know I liked him but wasn't pushing anything too fast. I appreciated that but didn't know how to tell him.

"You know..." James began, "I've got an idea to help with your insecurities."

I turned to him, bringing my outstretched knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around my shins. "What is it?" I asked.

"Meet me here at 9:00 tonight," he grinned, reaching his arm out and tapping my nose softly.

I gazed into his eyes, looking for a sign he was planning something strange. But all I saw was honesty. I knew he wouldn't hurt me, and really, what was the worst that could happen?

Ilet myself melt under his gaze. "I'll be there," I whispered.

A/N: Alright, longest chapter so far. Also, I'm tired of Augustine and James being so shy, so they're getting more flirty from here. As always, feedback is appreciated!