Xander's POV

I felt so bad for what happened to Ellie, especially because it was my fault. She forgave me easily which was a huge relief, but I still wanted to make it up to her. I was surprised she still wanted to be in my presence.

The next day I woke up early and ran to the small town nearby to get some flowers, coffee, and donuts. I stopped for a snack of my own along the way at the hospital. Hopefully they wouldn't miss a few blood bags, as I'd gotten one for Josh as well.

When I returned, the house was fairly quiet except for Aden and Josh sitting on the couch. The girls were still asleep. Typical.

"Finally you're back! We were starting to get bored sitting here."

"How long have you guys been awake?" I asked them raising an eyebrow.

"An hour and a half." They said sounding rather annoyed. "Couldn't sleep."

"Can we wake up the girls now?" Aden asked, looking about ready to spring up from the couch.

"Give them half an hour, and in the meantime help me set up the table and get the flowers ready."

Within 20 minutes we had set the table poured drinks, unpacked the donuts and placed the flowers in a vase. I took out three roses from the bouquet and handed one to Josh and one to Aden. The last was for me.

Taking out a pack of fresh strawberries, I washed them under cold water before placing them in a small bowl.

Walking to each room we held the rose in hand. I opened Ellie's door and peaked inside. She was still asleep. I walked in closing the door behind me and sat on the bed.

I kissed the top of her head and whispered in her ear,"Ellie, sweetheart? It's time to wake up."

She moaned, and rolled over to face me. She opened her eyes, revealing her beautiful ocean orbs. A smile spread on her face, and she sat up slowly. She was beautiful even with her bed head. I handed her the rose as the smile on her face grew wider.

"How did you know roses were my favorite?" She asked, holding her's delicately. "Lucky guess?"

I nodded and laughed, picking her up bridal style. I carried her to the kitchen and sat her down and her eyes widened as her smile grew even wider.

"Yay! Donuts!" She squealed. "Did you do all of this?" Ellie asked surprised.

"Of course! Who else has my mad skills?"

Just then Skyler trudged in rubbing her eyes with Aden right behind. Josh came in carrying Caroline who was still half asleep on his shoulders. As he set her down in a chair she slowly woke up.

"Mmm Mmmmm," she murmured looking at the pile of donuts that lay on the table.

"Well girls dig in we have a busy day ahead of us!" I told them not trying to sound too excited.

"Where are we going?" The girls asked simultaneously.

"We are going to the beach and then we can go shopping if you like," I told them letting a wide smile creep on my face. Ellie gave me that look that meant I was smirking, and I guess I realized how much I did it.

"Awesome!" Skyler cheered, shaking Caroline awake. "Car, did you hear!? We're going shopping!?"

"Skyler, I'm right here, I'm not deaf." Caroline rolled her eyes, as Skyler continued to bounce about, happy as can be.

We finished eating, and the girls cleaned up. It didn't take long since we had eaten all the donuts and strawberries. Meanwhile the boys were getting dressed. After everything was cleaned it was their turned to get dressed.

It was only supposed to be mid sixties, low seventies, which was really warm for February, but they insisted on wearing shorts. Caroline wore a teal bikini with matching shorts, not even bothering to wear a top. But I guess the cold didn't bother her. Skyler wore a frilly pink bikini and purple shorts with a see through top.

Now I'll admit they looked pretty, but Ellie looked gorgeous. I couldn't help by smile as she walked into the room. She wore a sapphire blue bikini, denim shorts and a shirt similar to Skyler's . The colors matched her eyes and her hair fell behind her ears perfectly extinguishing her face.

I only stopped gawking when I heard Caroline's thoughts screaming at me to stop staring at Ellie all love sick. I was not love sick, I was just admiring.

"Ok well, everyone lets get into the car," Aden was the first to break the silence.

We offered to carry the girls bags and we loaded them into the trunk. Sitting in the drivers seat, I turned the keys waiting for the engine to hum to life. Ellie turned on the radio and Dilemma by Selena Gomez was on.

Immediately all the girls began singing as the guys starred awkwardly at each other. I pulled out of the parking spot, and we were on our way to the beach.

Ellie's POV

What Xander did for me this morning was so sweet. I knew he wanted to make it up to me because of what happened. He is a vampire and it causes some risks in my life, but what is life without risks? No only that, but if Xander wasn't my boyfriend, I'd have no one to save me from Michael.

The beach slowly came into view, and I could see small waves forming from a distance. Opening the car doors a salty breeze blew through my hair and around me. It was definitely chilly.

It had been a while since I had been on vacation so this would be relaxing. Thankfully, the sun was warm, so I could lay comfortably in my bathing suit.

There we very few beach chairs and there weren't very many people here at this time of year. Walking onto the sand, I stood there for a moment giggling as the sand touched my toes. The wind continued to blow around my hair, and I stared up at the clear sky. I hadn't been to the beach in forever.

We grabbed a few beach chairs and put our stuff down before stripping down to our bathing suits. I decided to get straight to tanning. I laid down my towel, put on my shades, and shut my eyes, breathing in the salty air.

The sun had just begun to warm my chilly body, as I was picked up and thrown into the freezing water. Screaming my head off I ran out of the water to find Caroline with a huge smirk on her face.

"CAROLINE THAT WAS FREEZING, HOW COULD YOU!? WELL THIS IS PAYBACK!" I chased after Caroline trying to catch her and hug her. Of course I could never catch her because she was using her creepy vamp speed. Not fair!

I sat down panting and giving up. She then appeared in front of me, guilty smile on her face.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry for throwing you in the water," she said looking at me, laughing to herself. Noting she was standing perfectly still, I made my move and quickly hugged her, catching her by surprise.

"AH! Ellie seriously, you're so wet!" I couldn't help but laugh at her reaction.

"That's what she said!" I said laughing hysterically.

"Wait, woah woah, back up, did Skyler see all that?"

Looking around, I noticed Skyler and Aedan were way down the beach walking and holding hands. Thank goodness she didn't have to witness anything supernatural.

"Ugh Skyler, why did you have to leave now!?" I screamed.

Everyone laughed at me as I decided to sit down and read my magazine. Xander walked up to me and looked at me sternly.

"Ellie, did you not learn your lesson? Do you want me to throw you back in the water? Get off your butt, and come hang out with us!" He pulled me off my chair and set me on his shoulders.

"Xander put me down!" I demanded even though I knew he wouldn't listen. He darted into the water, and it touched my legs giving me goosebumps.

"It's so cold! Xander stop!" I said flailing around with him still holding on to me.

"P-put me down!" I said teeth chattering.

"Alright," Was all Xander said before dropping me into the deep freezing cold water.

Focused more on glaring at Xander, I ended up swallowing what felt like a gallon of salty water. Once I finally got it out of my system, after a lot of coughing, I begin swimming toward shore only to find Xander pulling me back out further.

"Xander, please I'm cold!" I said trying to pull away.

"You'll be warmer if you swim. Maybe this will help," he said, pulling me into a kiss. And as a matter of a fact it did. It seemed to course through my body. It made me feel alive. He leaned his head against mine and we just floated there for what felt like hours. I don't know if we were actually floating or if Xander was just supporting all of my weight.

I felt something brush by my leg, and being totally paranoid, I freaked out and thought it was a shark.

"Xander, something touched me!" I said getting worried.

"It was probably just seaweed." He said, trying to calm down.

I felt it brush by my leg again and this time it grabbed me.

"Ah Xan-" was all I could get out before being dragged underwater only to be released seconds later.

I ended up clinging onto Xander and screaming my head off.

Josh popped out of the water a few feet away laughing his head off.

"JOSH THAT WASNT FUNNY!!!" I screamed trudging out of the water and down the beach.

A few stray tears fell from my eyes, as I ran down the beach. My feet hurt, and I eventually stopped running.

"Ellie, he didn't mean to scare you so much. It was just a joke." Xander said, popping up behind me.

I wiped my eyes an tried to hide that I was crying but I knew Xander would see.

"We're you crying?" Xander asked holding up my chin.

"Is that what you think I am? A joke?"I asked looking him in the eyes. Wow, I was getting really defensive all of a sudden.

"No, of course not! But what had you so scared?"

I walked faster but it was no use Xander caught up instantly and asked me again this time more sorrow in his voice.

"It's nothing. Just leave it." I said, still walking away.

"Ellie, come on tell me what's wrong. I want to know." He told me holding my hand softly.

"Well when I was younger I went to the beach and there was a shark in the water. It nearly killed a little boy, so I've always kind of been afraid of the water, but I thought with you here, I'd be fine. Apparently not."

Xander looked into my tear filled eyes, and kissed me on the lips. It made me feel somewhat better, but I was still upset.

"I don't think that of you. You're my sweetheart and I will always protect you. Now let's get back to the others." He said leading me the other way.

"Wait can we collect some seashells first?" I asked making a puppy dog face.

"Okay, fine," Xander said as if he couldn't resist.

We walked down the beach holding hands. I know I know just like every sappy love story, but this one was different. This one had vampires.

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask you, how come you don't burn in the sun?" I asked, walking along with Xander.

"I mean we are considered creatures of the night, but that doesn't really mean we burn to death in the sun. You can't believe everything you see on the internet, Ellie." He laughed, and I felt a little stupid. Maybe I should just ask him instead of researching on the internet.