in the characters page of my blog, nico's picture there is exactly what he looks like here while playing volleyball :)

*

"Okay, room keys!" Sutton yelled, and the rest of the seniors huddled in the lounge of the beach house. I settled on the couch next to my friends with my suitcase planted between my knees. The sun was already scorching hot, so I took off the jacket and laid it on my lap. Faust had smiled at me earlier as we were getting off the bus.

Using Nico's chest as my pillow, I had been able to catch up on sleep during the three-hour drive. JJ had teased Nico all the way during the walk towards the house with pictures of us: the rim of Nico's cap had covered his face as he slept, and his arms had been loosely wrapped around my body. One earphone had been plugged in his ear, and the other in mine. Nico had smacked him behind the head before asking for a copy.

The student council president read the room assignments from her clipboard while handing out the keys. Some groaned in distaste, and some let out loud cheers as they hurried up the staircase. Sutton gave the second to the last key to Faust, and she held up ours in her hand.

Paula shot me a wink with an excited grin, and we stood up to follow the guys. Our shoes created squeaky sounds against the stairs as we climbed towards the second floor whilst carrying our bags with us.

The ceiling fan was the only source of air in the living room, so I almost sighed in relief when we turned to the right hallway—for the girls—and found an air conditioning unit inside our room at the very end of the hall.

Inside, Paula called dibs on the bottom bunk of the double deck bed that was pushed on one side of the small room. I placed my suitcase down near the foot of the double bed that laid flat against the other wall and sat on the covers. There were no curtains at the dormer windows, but they were raised in an attempt to let non-existent air in and bright sunshine to pass through the screens. A big, old pine dresser stood next to a full-length mirror near another narrow door. I pointed at the door, arching my eyebrow at Sutton as she struggled to climb the wooden ladder to the top bunk.

"Private bathroom," she answered in explanation, and I cheered internally. "Another perk. There is no way I'm going to be fighting for the showers in the communal one."

"Good call." Paula took off her jacket and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. "It's hot in here."

Sutton bounced on the mattress of her bed. "We'll turn on the air conditioning later, but we're going to the beach after lunch. And good news, Thea. The room at the very end of the left hallway is Nico's, which means if you go left outside, they'll be right next to us. They have a private bathroom, too."

At that exact moment, Nico opened the door and crashed right next to me on his stomach. He groaned. "I'm going to bed with your brother."

I laughed. "What?"

"I forgot to mention the disadvantage," Sutton continued, twirling a lock of her blonde hair around her finger as she looked down at us. "Their room's the same as ours. Identically the same. So two of them have to share the double bed."

Paula snickered. Nico gave me a flat look with one side of his face pressed against the pillow, and I concealed my smile with a bite of my lip and leaned over to pinch his cheek. "Aw, you big baby. It's only three nights. I have to warn you though, Theo likes to cuddle."

Nico pounced on me while I clutched my stomach in hysterical laughter. "You're evil."

"And you're cute when you're trying to be angry."

He wrinkled his nose as he hovered above me. "Cute? I'm not cute."

"You are. Now get out. I'm gonna change."

Paula whistled lowly while rummaging through her bag. "Are you talking to us or to him?"

He gave me a wicked grin before pulling himself upright. "To me, unfortunately. Have to give my girl privacy while she strips." Nico bent down and cupped my cheek. He kissed me quickly. "I'll see you at the beach, baby."

*

Castelrock Beach was as bewitching as San Mateo.

It was nice to have the place all to ourselves. Some of the seniors went out for a stroll along the boardwalk, some stayed inside the house for movies and naps, and some were already riding the waves in rented surfboards. The boys were playing an intense volleyball game, and Sutton ran off to join them.

With a view of the ocean, Paula and I lounged on beach chairs near the shoreline. I hummed in contentment at the feeling of the sun soaking my skin. "Ah, this is nice."

Paula slipped her sunglasses over her eyes and stretched her legs. "Very. You know, we should go surfing later."

I shook my head immediately. "Pass. I'm down for a swim, though. I'll ask Nico to join me."

The cheerleader cracked a smile. "Out of curiosity, how far have you guys gone?"

From our left, the boys yelled out cheers as one of the teams scored another point. Nico took the ball and ran into position to serve, then he jumped and sent it flying across the net.

Paula whistled lowly. "He's good."

"Of course he is," I said with a proud smile, keeping my eyes trained on him. "He's also very hot."

"Facts," Paula agreed with a nod.

"But JJ's the only one in his shirt," I noted with a tilt of my head.

The curly-haired boy slid against the sand to receive the ball. He caught it in perfect time, giving the ball to the opposite team. With a triumphant grin, JJ stood and dusted the sand off his shirt and knees before quickly getting back into position.

Paula cleared her throat. "Yeah, well, the boy's not comfortable in his skin, let's not push him to be. Weird that Theo and Faust aren't with them."

"They're probably resting."

"True. Hey, you still haven't answered my question."

"And I'm not answering it," I said sweetly. "Keep your curiosity to yourself."

"Mean." She twisted around to face me. "Fine, a different question then. Have you guys fought?"

"No, I don't think so..."

"Where was the first date?"

"San Mateo Beach," I answered quickly, looking away from Nico. There was a flush that rose to my neck at the memory of our kiss. "It was beyond amazing."

Paula snorted. "I can tell. Have you lied to him?"

I arched an eyebrow. "I don't lie to people I'm in a relationship with. That's disrespectful."

She laughed. Raising her sunglasses over her head, she said, "Not a major lie. Just a basic one, like...you didn't shower, but you told him you did."

That made me laugh, too. "I don't have anything that I can think of. I really can't lie."

"Come on, Thea, everyone lies," Paula retorted. Then quietly, she added, "It's just a matter of not getting caught."

I pursed my lips.

There was no hint of remorse in her tone or in her eyes.

My mind scrambled for a response, but thankfully, Paula didn't need to hear one. "Anyway, back to our game. Who kissed who first?"

Cheers again. Nico gave Sutton a high-five and turned his head. His eyes found mine, and I sent him a flying kiss. Nico turned back with a shy smile as he rubbed the nape of his neck. I grinned.

"Gross," Paula remarked, "and cute at the same time. Hey, answer my question, chica."

"He did, I think. Doesn't matter."

Paula leaned back and closed her eyes. She sighed. "Young love. Hey, we should go and get some surfboards once Sutton's done with the game. Speaking of, she's amazing at volleyball. What is she not good at?"

"Nothing, apparently."

"Let's get her drunk one time," she suggested, eyes brightening. "Maybe she has low tolerance and gets really emotional when she's drunk. I wanna know."

I threw my head back and laughed. "I want to know, too. I've been told I was the, um, clingy type when I'm drunk."

Paula's jaw dropped. "Did you seduce Nico?"

I laughed harder and kicked her calf. "No, shut up! I wasn't single then, okay? I just...wanted to touch his face, I think. That's what he said."

"Somehow, it isn't hard to imagine you doing that, Thea."

When Paula and I talked like this, it was easy to forget what she had done.

We didn't have to wait long for the game to finish. After ten minutes, it was over, and Nico's team won. Sutton approached us with a grin, but she looked like she needed to catch her breath. Nico followed her after grabbing his towel, and JJ stayed back to chat with the other players.

Sutton sat down next to Paula. "Hey, ladies."

Nico brushed my cheek with his knuckles in greeting. I grinned up at him.

"Congrats," Paula said. "You guys killed it."

The blonde rolled her eyes as she reached back to tighten her bun. "You weren't even watching the game, but thanks anyway. Fortunately, Nico wasn't too distracted with Thea's bikini."

"I was," Nico confessed, settling next to me. I took his towel with a smile and leaned close to him to wipe off the sweat from his face. His eyes dropped down, and his finger brushed the hem of the black lace bikini top I wore. "Just wasn't obvious."

"It's not that bad," I muttered. My face was heating up.

Paula snickered. "It's hot is what it is."

"I agree," Nico whispered.

I slapped his wandering hand away. He laughed and circled my waist with his arms instead as I reached for his neck.

"Come on," Paula said, moving to stand up, "I want to surf."

Sutton gasped and grabbed her wrist. "I love surfing. Have you ever surfed, Thea?"

"Um, once, but that was a long time ago. And I hit my head on the board when I neared the shore, so I don't think it counts."

Nico laughed again, but he was joined by my two other friends this time.

I rolled my eyes and pulled back. "There. All done."

"Thanks, baby." He hung the towel over his shoulder and adjusted the cap over his head. "Are you surfing?"

"Yeah, no. Never going to happen again. I'm just gonna buy something to eat. Come with us if you want to surf as well, but I was hoping we could go for a swim. In the ocean, or um, there's a pool behind the beach house."

Sutton and Paula were already walking towards the boardwalk. The blonde looked back and motioned for me to follow quickly.

Nico stared at me. "Swim. Definitely swim."

I laughed and pushed his shoulder. "You are awful."

His lips curled into a crooked grin. "I'll meet you at the pool in a few minutes."

I blew him another kiss before running to join my friends.

"Is the flirting over?" Paula asked teasingly, looping her arm around mine.

"Leave them alone, they're cute," Sutton said, nudging me with her elbow before pushing open the door to the shop on the left next to a small sushi place. "I'm just happy Thea's happy."

"Copy that," Paula muttered, heading for the boards immediately.

My heart warmed. I squeezed Sutton's hand. "Thanks, guys."

"Oh, I like this one," Paula said, pointing to a white board with blue waves painted on them. "But this plain black one seems cooler."

Sutton nodded. "I agree." She moved to the other side of the displays and held up a longer surfboard painted in pink. "But those are usually used for bigger and faster waves. Since the ocean's giving us smaller ones, I'd choose one of these eight-foot babies."

Paula hummed thoughtfully and scratched her chin. "Alright, I trust you. Turquoise or navy blue?"

"Turquoise," a new voice said behind me, and I almost jumped in shock as I held onto the wall to keep me upright. Faust smiled and grabbed my arm before I could trip over my feet. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

Paula grinned at him. "I thought so as well. Thank you, Faust."

Faust released me gently as he gave her a smile back. There was some sort of hesitance in it, but Paula didn't seem to notice. "No problem."

Theo appeared behind him. "Hey, sis. Paula, Sutton."

"Theo," Sutton greeted back evenly, turning away. "We're gonna pay for this at the register."

I nodded and glanced back at Faust and my brother with my eyebrow arched. "What are you guys doing here?"

Faust shrugged, placing his hands on the pockets of his shorts. "We, uh, just ended up seeing each other outside. We were both planning on surfing, so we went in together."

I cocked my head to the side and crossed my arms. A smug grin crossed my face. "Look at you guys bonding."

Faust cleared his throat.

Theo immediately backed away and jerked his thumb towards the opposite direction. "I'm going to look for a board."

"I'll follow," Faust answered. Theo left.

I laughed. That went from easy to awkward in two seconds flat. "So. Having fun?"

His mouth curled into a genuine smile. "Surprisingly. What about you?"

"As long as I don't do anything sport-related, I think I'm going to be fine."

He chuckled. "That's a no to surfing lessons, then."

"Don't bother offering," I said, faking a shudder, "I'll hit my head. And it won't be your fault."

Faust laughed loudly. "I'd rather your head be perfectly intact, that's for sure."

"I can't believe you're also good at surfing."

"I wouldn't say good," Faust answered, wrinkling his nose. "I just happen to have coordination."

"Which you lack in air hockey."

His smile widened. "Look who's talking."

I punched his shoulder playfully. "Be careful, alright? The waves are pretty intense."

"You too," he said, reaching over to ruffle my hair. "Take care of your head. I'll see you later."

"Of course. See you."

Sutton and Paula were still in line, but it didn't take long for them to rent out the boards they held closely to their sides. We exited the shop, and I jutted my thumb out towards the boardwalk. "I'm going to grab something to munch on. Do you guys want anything?"

Sutton shook her head. "Not hungry."

"Same here," Paula echoed. "We'll probably go ahead and surf now while the waves are still strong. We'll catch you—oh."

I turned, and Killian was jogging over in our direction with a drink in one hand. He flashed us a blinding grin. "Hey, Thea, Sutton. Paula."

"Hey," Sutton and I greeted back.

Paula smiled. It looked a little forced. "Hi."

"What's up?" Sutton asked.

Killian let his eyes linger on the cheerleader for a few more seconds before directing his attention to Sutton and I. "We should have dinner together tonight. There's a cool restaurant nearby that we should try. You know, one last hurrah for this year's staff."

The editor-in-chief nodded enthusiastically. "That sounds great! I'll let the other staffers know."

I tugged at his sleeve. "Aren't you feeling hot?"

"Nah," he said with a laugh, brushing off my hand. "Um, Paula's welcome to join—"

"No, thank you," Paula replied. The tone was polite, even friendly, but it sounded fake to my ears. "I'm not a staffer. Thanks for the invitation, though, that's really nice of you."

My co-staffer shrugged easily. "No problem."

"We're going to head back to the beach," Sutton said, already turning away. "Catch you later, guys."

I waved. "See you."

She and Paula walked away.

Killian faced me. "This is for you," he said, extending his hand to offer me his drink. "I just saw you coming in earlier and thought you might use a smoothie. The weather's hot and it's tasty—it's chocolate and banana. You like chocolate, right?"

I looked down at the small cup and back at his face. "Uh, yeah. Thanks...?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that a question?"

I coughed into my hand before reaching for the smoothie. "No, sorry. Thanks."

Killian looked amused. "Don't think too much of it, Thea. It's just a drink."

"I wasn't," I denied quickly, taking a small sip. "Oh, this is good."

Killian grinned. "Are you heading to the beach house?"

"Yeah, the pool."

"I'll walk you there safely," he promised, and we fell into step together. "So I heard you were heading off to Oxbridge. Is that true?"

I played with the straw with my fingers. "Yeah, it is. What about you?"

"Staying near home," he responded with a shrug. "But still undecided."

"Home as in Northvale?"

"Somewhere else," Killian answered. It sounded vague, but it seemed as if he didn't want to talk about it, and I wasn't going to push him either. "I think Tara's taking a gap year. And Sutton, well, she's the Kirk heir. She has nothing to worry about."

"That isn't necessarily true," I said, furrowing my eyebrows. "Sutton has a lot of worries. And she's not going to be handed the position, either—she's going to have to work for it."

Killian waved his hand dismissively. "Still the Kirk heir. I just hope she runs her business the same way she ran the paper. Rich companies care about money and reputation more than they do their employees, you know? And Sutton's not like that. I hope she doesn't change."

I stared at him. "Of course she isn't. And you can't make such a hasty generalization about all companies."

He scoffed. "It's true. Anyway, how did you and Paula become friends? Was it because of Faust? Or was it Theo?"

The sudden subject change almost gave me a whiplash. It took me a few moments to answer. "PhysEd, actually," I responded slowly. "But of course, my relationship with Faust before had a hand in our friendship. Why are you curious?"

He shrugged. "You guys just seem a bit different, that's all. It's kind of...fascinating."

I pursed my lips. "You talk as if you know her."

"Do I?" he said, jokingly. "I know you, though."

I resisted the urge to disagree. I forced a smile onto my face. "Yeah."

We spent the rest of the walk in silence, and when we near enough, I turned around and faced him. "Well, thanks for walking me."

Killian shot me a friendly smile. "Of course." He spread his arms wide. "I'll see you soon, Thea."

Soon meant the dinner, right? Hesitantly, I stepped forward and gave him a brief hug. "See you."

He waved at me one last time before facing the direction we'd just come from. I bit into my straw again, turning to walk the rest of the way towards the pool to meet Nico.

Only he was waiting for me near the entrance with a frown etched onto his face. It looked like he'd been watching from a distance, and Killian and I hadn't notice him.

With a sigh, I skipped across the sand and wrapped my free hand around the nape of his neck when I reached him. "Hey, hothead."

"Who was that?" he asked in a cool voice, arms automatically coming around my hips.

I suppressed a smile. "Killian. From the paper."

He narrowed his eyes at the drink I was holding. "That from him?"

"Yep," I answered sweetly, taking another long sip from it. "Wanna try?"

"No," he said. "Was he hitting on you? What was that hug?"

A laugh escaped me. My conversation with Killian was strange, but being with Nico made me happy. Safe. Comfortable enough to try to forget the uneasiness. "Somehow, this isn't how I imagined you'd be jealous. I kind of expected you to storm over and puff out your chest and be all, 'hey, back off, dude'."

He scoffed and took my hand to lead me towards the pool. "I don't talk like that."

"Sure. But I'm glad you're not one of those types. Finally learned to keep your cool, huh?"

"Because I'm not jealous," he said, huffing. "I'm just worried."

"It's okay. He wasn't hitting on me."

Nico looked skeptical, but he looked pointedly at my drink. "I don't believe you. Leave the damn smoothie before we go inside."

"You big baby."

He raised an eyebrow.

With a roll of my eyes, I finished the last of it and threw it inside the bin. "Okay, done. C'mon."

"Not a baby," he muttered, letting me drag him along. "I leave you for one second and guys are already jumping at the chance to flirt with you."

Bending down, I lowered myself into the clear water. "Don't tell me none of the girls approached you while I was gone."

Nico stayed silent.

I clicked my tongue and shook my head, pulling him down with me. "See? How many?"

"Doesn't matter," he said sulkily, finally entering the water. "Told them to fuck off."

"You're not that mean, babe."

He brought his hands around my waist, fingers stroking the skin just a little above the cloth of my shorts. "I'll buy you a smoothie tonight."

I chuckled. "I have dinner with the staff."

"Before dinner."

"You know you've got nothing to be jealous of, right? Killian really wasn't hitting on me."

Finally, the corner of his mouth lifted. "I know."

"Don't be jealous of other guys either. At all. I only want you."

"I know," he murmured.

I locked my arms around his neck. "Good."

He touched my lower back and toyed with the strings of my bikini top. "I like this. Easy access," he murmured, dipping his head for a kiss.

Pulling back a bit, I looked around worriedly. "Babe, we're in public."

"It's nearing dark and there's no one around," he countered with a laugh.

I bit my lip. "You're awful," I said again, running my hands from the muscles of his bare stomach and up to his chest. There was something different about touching Nico like this in places that were usually covered—his skin felt different under my touch, made me weak at my knees.

With one swift move, he hiked my thighs up around his hips. "So I've been told," he whispered, leaning in.

His mouth brushed mine once, twice, and I felt him smiling, but he didn't close the distance.

Impatient, I surged forward, but Nico moved back as fast with a wicked and boyish grin. "Just a minute ago you didn't want me to kiss you."

An embarrassing whine left my lips. I pushed forward again, and Nico stepped back, eyes shining with amusement. When his back finally reached one of the walls of the pool, he gave me a slow and sweet kiss.

I tangled my fingers in his wet hair as he deepened the kiss, and it turned more desperate. More frantic. Nico pulled my bottom lip in between his teeth, and his hands roamed down and squeezed my bottom underneath my shorts.

I pulled back with a gasp, gripping his shoulders tightly.

Nico hummed. His finger traced the hem of my bikini bottoms. "This is lace, too?" he asked quietly, eyes darkening.

A shiver ran down my spine. "Y-yes."

"Fuck," he breathed. "I didn't see it while we were packing." Nico dragged his mouth down my neck and collarbone.

"I, ah—"

With a pained groan, Nico pulled away from me, disentangling himself from my body. "Grandma's soup, raw oysters, a used sponge's smell, my mom's face—"

"What are you doing?"

"Need to stop," he said in explanation, shutting his eyes and leaning his head back. "Uh, I'll race you to the other end?"

I blinked. "What? Nico—"

"Winner buys the other a scone," he added quickly before diving inside the water.

With a curse, I followed him.

Obviously, I lost, but Nico bought me a scone too. And a smoothie.