The next day, Keon and Cash went to the beach at Surfside, where they would be having their beach hangout with Joe and Devon, as well as their other friends: Scarlett, Amy, Leah, and Daniella. Even though it was usual for them to be planning hangouts like these, this particular one was going to be one Keon would never forget.

"How's my bubs doing?" Scarlett kissed Cash's cheek.

"Doing better than ever now that you're here," he embraced her, smiling widely.

"Hey, hey, don't start being all cheesy with each other around us single pringles," Keon joked, making Cash and Scarlett laugh out loud.

"Guys, let's get out of here," Leah suggested. "Let's go somewhere else before my idiotic brother sticks his tongue down Scarlett's throat."

"Ew, Leah, don't even mention it!" Daniella grimaced as they all laughed and headed to the shore, leaving Cash and Scarlett alone in the gazebo.

After that, they saw that Devon was already in the water, carrying Amy in his arms and sharing a moment of intimacy with her.

"You've got to be kidding me," Keon shook his head and placed his hands on his waist.

"Shut up, you guys are just jealous because you're all single!" Amy mocked Keon and the rest of their friends.

"Hardy har har!" Leah snapped back.

"Y'all are cute and everything, but please, get a room!" Daniella chuckled.

"We don't need a room!" Amy said as she caressed Devon's face and kissed him. "Oh wait, now we might!"

"Very funny, Amy!" Joe retorted. "You guys play too much!"

"If y'all are so tired of being single, go over there!" Devon hollered, pointing at a group of people near some palm trees. "There are five people that I'm pretty sure are single too!"

"Shut up!" Keon stuck his middle finger at him and laughed.

"Suit yourselves, then!" Devon made an OK sign as the others snickered.

After leaving Devon and Amy alone, the others went to sit down at a gazebo that was located near the palm trees that Devon had mentioned earlier. That's when Keon saw the group of people Devon had been talking about. He watched them all closely, until he noticed that in that group of people was none other than Aria West, the same girl he had talked to the day before and couldn't stop thinking about.

"Yo, Joe," Keon nudged Joe.

"What's up?" Joe turned his head towards him.

"It's her, it's her," Keon pointed towards the palm trees with his head.

"Wait a second, whaddya mean it's her? Who are you even talking about?" Joe looked around in confusion.

"You see that blonde girl over there?" Keon stretched out his arm. "That's Aria, the girl I met yesterday at The Burger Lab."

"No way," Joe looked at Keon in shock as he nodded. "She's hot!"

"Yeah," Keon told him, watching Aria grab a drink from the cooler.

"So are you gonna ask for her number now?"

"Nope."

"Oh, come on, Keon, don't be such a pussy! This could be your chance to get to know her better! Who knows if you guys will become a couple?"

"One can only dream, Joe. She will probably end up friendzoning me, or worse; ignoring me and forgetting I even exist."

"But how would you know what she'll do if you don't talk to her?"

"I don't know..." Keon replied, and after that, he noticed that Aria was walking towards them, joined by a skinny black haired girl. "Wait a second, bro, be quiet, she's coming our way."

The guys watched as the girls went to greet Daniella.

"Aria, Estelle, it's so good to see you! How are you?" Daniella hugged them both.

"We're doing well, how about you? It's been quite some time!" Estelle, the black haired girl, told Daniella and Leah.

"I've been doing amazing too! I'm so happy to see you," Daniella smiled sweetly as she turned to Leah. "Leah, this is Estelle, she used to take art classes with me. And this is Aria, her best friend," she introduced them to each other.

"Hi!" Leah hugged them.

"Nice to meet you, Leah," Estelle smiled.

"Yeah, nice to meet you!" Aria beamed before noticing Keon standing still behind Daniella. "Wait a second... Keon? What are you doing here?"

And in that exact moment, Keon felt as if he had lost the ability to speak. He was nervous, but at the same time he felt happy to see Aria talking to him. But he knew he had to say something quick, so that she wouldn't think he was being weird.

At the same time, Aria was shocked to see Keon there; after all, whenever she saw attractive boys at random places, she never saw them again, and she thought the same thing would happen with Keon. Now that he was in front of her, she saw this as an opportunity to get to know more about him.

"I– uhhh..." Keon flashed a sheepish smile. "I could ask you the same thing, Aria."

"Wait a second, you know Keon?" Daniella looked at her in confusion. "Since when?"

"Oh, we met yesterday at The Burger Lab," Aria grinned, winking at Keon. Seeing her do this was something that made him blush so intensely, it was actually noticeable on his dark skin.

"Yeah, we did," Keon smiled.

"How did you guys meet?" Estelle asked him.

"Uhhh... it's kind of a long story," he explained.

"Yeah..." Aria giggled nervously.

"Anyway..." Daniella widened her eyes, clearing her throat. "Joe, as you could hear, these are my friends, Aria and Estelle."

"Nice to meet you, girls," Joe grinned.

"Likewise," the girls answered.

"Well," Daniella began. "Leah, Joe, and I are gonna find the rest of our friends so that we can all get to know each other. Wanna join, guys?"

"Yes, of course!" Estelle nodded eagerly. "And while we do that, I'm gonna find the rest of Aria and I's friends so we can all hang out."

"Perfect, then," Daniella smiled. "What about you two? Will you come with us?"

"We will join y'all in a few minutes," Aria responded, looking at Keon. "We're just gonna talk for a few minutes and then we'll go."

"Alright, see you!" Leah hollered.

The moment everyone left, Keon and Aria began to make eye contact.

"Hey there..." Aria spoke.

"Hey..." Keon stared at her body, blushing as he thought about how pretty she looked in her flowered bikini.

"I thought I'd never see you again," she mentioned.

"Me too," he looked down at the floor. "Yet here we are."

"Yet here we are..." she looked him in the eyes. "Anyways, I've got a question."

"Ask away," he smiled sheepishly.

"Why are you so shy and nervous around me? I don't bite..."

Keon widened his eyes and felt his entire body tensing up. He certainly did not expect her to ask such a question.

"I'm not nervous," he replied with a shaky voice.

"Liar," Aria narrowed her eyes and grinned. "I know you're terrified."

"I'm not terrifi– okay, you know what? Maybe I am..."

"Why are you terrified?"

"Because... because... goodness gracious, how do I say this? I'm nervous because you're beautiful. That's all," he admitted.

"What... I–" Aria widened her eyes in surprise. "Thank you, Keon... I get that a lot..." she smiled and looked down, blushing a deep red.

"Of course..." Keon told her. Of course you get that a lot, I mean, have you seen yourself? he thought, playing around with his fingers.

The two of them stood there awkwardly, giggling nervously as they shared quick glances and shy smiles. That was, until a brunette guy walked inside the gazebo, looking at Keon curiously.

"Who is this, Aria?" the guy inquired.

"This is Keon, a guy I met last night at The Burger Lab," Aria explained before turning back to Keon. "Keon, this is my big brother, Hunter."

"Nice to meet you, Keon," Hunter shook his hand.

"Likewise," Keon nodded.

"What brings you here?" Aria put her hands on her waist.

"I'm here to get a drink, and also to come and get you two, everybody was asking for your whereabouts," Hunter mentioned, grabbing a drink from the cooler.

"Aw, they missed us," Aria grinned and replied sarcastically, looking at Keon, then back at Hunter. "Did we really take that long?"

"Apparently you did," Hunter laughed. "You know Estelle, she's always impatient."

"Well then, let's join them all."

After he arrived at the shore, Keon noticed that Cash and Devon were already there with their girlfriends. Perfect, I can introduce them to Aria now, he thought.

"Finally, you're here!" Estelle raised her hands.

"Yo, Keon!" Devon flashed a peace sign and smiled.

"You're back," Cash gave Keon a fist bump. "And you've got company!"

"Yes, yes, I've got company," Keon announced. "This is Aria, we met at The Burger Lab last night, and we happened to run into each other today. Aria, these are the rest of my friends, Cash, Devon, Amy, and Scarlett."

"Hey there!" the others waved.

"Nice to meet you, Aria," Cash grinned mischievously, shaking her hand. "Keon has told me a lot about you."

"Will you shut up for once?" Keon playfully shoved him, giggling sheepishly as Cash laughed like a madman.

"You told your friends about me?" Aria raised her eyebrows in surprise, placing her hand on her chest. "Boy, I'm flattered!"

The others began to laugh, which made Keon and Aria blush a bit. Not long after that, though, they laughed along with them.

"You know, Aria, we just met, but I like you already," Amy smirked.

"Once again, I'm flattered," Aria brushed her hair away from her face.

"Oh, trust me, wait until you get to know her well!" Daniella chuckled.

"Is she a handful?" Scarlett cocked her head to one side.

"When she wants to be, she is," Estelle raised her eyebrows.

Keon glanced at Aria, smiling as he saw her laughing out loud with her friends. She has a cute laugh, he told himself in his mind.

"Anyway, Keon, let me introduce you to these two," Aria spoke enthusiastically, pointing at two guys standing right in front of them. "These are Ronan and Austin; Ronan is my cousin, and Austin is his best friend."

"Yo!" the guys said in unison, and then began to laugh about it.

"I can tell you guys are two peas in a pod," Keon told them.

"That pretty much sums up our friendship," Austin grinned.

"Yeah, what he said!" Ronan chuckled.

They then began to talk about their life experiences and get to know each other. They laughed, played some music, and overall had a great time.

Some time later, the girls decided to get out of the water to get a tan.

"Guys, the girls and I are gonna get a tan, mind if we leave y'all here?" Estelle inquired, getting out of the water.

"Not at all," Hunter told her. "I love you!"

"I love you more, baby!" she blew a kiss at him before turning back and leaving with the rest of the girls.

"I'm guessing Estelle is your girlfriend, right?" Keon asked Hunter.

"You guessed right," Hunter smiled. "We've been together for six months. What about you, boys? Are you single or taken?"

"Joe and I are single," Keon explained. "But Devon and Cash are taken."

"No, I'm not taken," Cash refuted. "Yet. I'm almost there."

"Oh yeah? By who?"

"Amy is my girlfriend," Devon grinned. "I've been with her for almost a year now, and I think she's absolutely perfect."

"And Scarlett has been my friend with benefits for over five months now," Cash replied.

"That's very sweet," Hunter smiled and ruffled his hair.

"So that means the rest of us are single?" Ronan widened his eyes.

"Got that right," Joe pursed his lips together.

"Don't worry, you guys will find your soulmates before you know it. It's only a matter of time," Devon reassured them.

"Well, I hope I find the love of my life before I turn twenty-five!" Austin guffawed, making the others laugh along with him.

"How old are y'all?" Joe asked curiously

"I'm twenty," Hunter explained. "Austin is nineteen, and Ronan is twenty-one."

"Wait, Ronan is twenty-one?" Cash raised his eyebrows in surprise. "So am I!"

"Cool, we're birth year twins!" Ronan high-fived him.

"Indeed you are!" Hunter laughed. "And how old are the rest of y'all?"

"I'm twenty, Devon is eighteen, and Joe is twenty-two."

"Which colleges are you at?" Hunter raised his head a bit.

"I'll attend Palm Beach Atlantic," Devon told him.

"Nice," Hunter giggled. "What about the others?"

"I'm attending law school in Orlando this year," Joe replied.

"Oh, you live there?" Ronan asked.

"Not really, man, I just study there," Joe explained. "I graduated from the University of Central Florida two weeks ago, and in two months I'll go back to Orlando to study law."

"That sounds wonderful. And what about you two?"

"Keon and I are at the University of Miami," Cash pointed at Keon.

"Ah, well, that's perfect," Hunter nodded. "Because this means that since you guys live and study around this area, we can hang out during weekends, right?"

"Hell yes!" Keon told them.

"Perfect, that's absolutely perfect," Hunter nodded.

Meanwhile, Estelle, Daniella, and the rest of the girls took the opportunity to ask Aria about Keon while they were tanning.

"You sure have a lot to explain!" Daniella began.

"Indeed you do," Estelle crossed her arms. "You do not simply meet a guy like that and not tell me anything!"

"Look, I'll explain real quick," Aria sighed. "I was at The Burger Lab yesterday satisfying my cravings, when I saw Keon telling me to enjoy my meal. As he walked away, he ended up dropping his phone, and when I gave it back to him, we made eye contact... and we both stared at each other for a long time. And here's the thing; I'm pretty sure he dropped the phone on purpose, to use that as an excuse to talk to me."

"That's most likely what happened, without a doubt," Amy told her. "Guys usually do the most random things in order to talk to girls."

"I can confirm that," Scarlett added. "I mean, that's how I ended up with Cash."

"Cash is really bad at hiding things," Leah laughed. "No wonder you found out he liked you way before he confessed."

"Speaking of which, how did you find out Cash liked you?" Estelle asked her.

"He was always posting random pick-up lines on Twitter," Scarlett explained. "And whenever he saw me, his face would always light up."

"Devon always got nervous when I was in the same place as him," Amy giggled. "Which is how I found out he liked me."

While listening to the girls talk about how they met their boyfriends, Aria began to think about Keon and the way he acted around her. Could this mean there's gonna be something between us? she asked herself.

"Keon? It's clear he's interested in Aria," Daniella raised her eyebrows.

"Wait, what?" Aria tensed up.

"Girl, I think he likes you," Estelle told her. "I can tell he does, the way he looks at you when you're not looking at him says a lot."

"Why is everyone telling me that?" Aria widened her eyes.

"Because it's true," Scarlett chipped in. "You should've seen Keon when Cash told you that he told him a lot about you. Keon began to blush! You hear me? He was blushing! And you usually can't see us black people blushing unless it's extreme."

"Which brings me to say that Keon told Cash a lot about you!" Leah added. "Do you know how big of a deal that is?"

"Oh come on, guys are always talking about the girls they find hot," Aria scoffed.

"Exactly my point!" Leah laughed out loud.

"If Keon talked to Cash about you, it's certainly because he finds you attractive," Amy told Aria. "Keon barely talks about girls with him, which makes it even more apparent that he's interested in you. And I mean, he's got great taste, you're very pretty."

"Hey, thanks!" Aria giggled.

A while later, the girls came back from suntanning, and they kept talking to the guys and getting to know each other. Not much time had passed before it was already six thirty, and that's when Keon decided to sit alone on the sand to watch the sunset.

"I love watching the sunset," Aria told Keon as she sat next to him.

"You do?" Keon looked at her.

"Yeah," she smiled. "Do you?"

"Of course I do," he chuckled. "Sunsets in Surfside are beautiful, let me tell you." But not as beautiful as y– hey, stop being so cheesy! a thought crossed his mind.

"Indeed they are," Aria looked at the ocean in front of her.

"Where are you from?"

"I'm studying in Boca Raton, but I'm actually from Sunny Isles," she laughed. "Even though Hunter and I were born in New York City, we've been living in Miami since I was seven years old. That leads me to ask, where are you from?"

"I'm from Doral, I was born and raised there. But I live in an apartment in Coral Gables with Cash," Keon replied.

"Oh, so that means you're not that far away from me?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Not at all, we can see each other any time we want," Keon winked as they both laughed.

"By the way, Keon, how old are you? You look around my age."

"I'm twenty years old. How about you?"

"I'm nineteen."

"Close enough," Keon looked at Aria, seeing her smiling at him. Suddenly, they were both laughing, staring into each other's eyes as the sun set behind them. While a part of him wanted to kiss her without any other thoughts, the rest of him brushed those feelings away and enjoyed the moment.

After the sun finished setting, it was time for everyone to head back home.

"Hey, Aria," Keon spoke. "Before you go..."

"What do you need?" she asked him curiously.

"Can I... can I get your phone number?" he trembled.

She looked at him, widening her eyes in surprise, before relaxing her face and curving her lips into a grin. "I thought you'd never ask," she looked down, still smiling.

After exchanging their phone numbers, Keon and Aria said goodbye, giving each other a cheek-to-cheek kiss. Even if it didn't mean anything, Keon couldn't stop thinking about this moment; for some reason, that first physical interaction he ever shared with her was branded into his memory.

Right before Keon left, Hunter stopped him from going. Confused, Keon told him to sit with him at the gazebo.

"Don't worry, Aria already left with Estelle, she won't hear us," Hunter reassured him.

"Wait, why are you telling me this?" Keon inquired.

"Because I'm gonna talk to you about her right now," Hunter began. "I saw you two watching the sunset together and looking into each other's eyes. Tell me, Keon, are you attracted to my sister?"

"What..." Keon gasped. "How–"

"Don't be afraid to admit it," Hunter smirked. "I know you are. Just seeing the way you looked at her confirmed my suspicions."

"I'm sorry, Hunter," Keon shook his head bashfully. "I know we literally just met, but Aria, man... she's so beautiful..."

"Don't fret over it," Hunter smiled softly. "I don't mind at all."

"Wait, you don't?" Keon asked him. "I mean... it's your sister we're talking about."

"Relax, I really don't mind," Hunter explained. "However, if you ever break her heart, I'm gonna end your life. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, loud and clear," Keon responded, both him and Hunter laughing about it.

After going back home, Keon sat down on his couch to tell Cash about what he had done with Aria that evening.

"We watched the sunset, bro, we fucking watched the sunset together. It was the cheesiest thing I've ever done, but I can't deny I loved every second of it."

"That's not cheesy, that's actually adorable," Cash smiled. "I'm glad to know that you were able to see her again. I'm guessing you definitely asked for her number this time, right?"

"I sure did," Keon beamed. "In fact, I want to ask her out on a date next time I see her."

"Why would you wait for so long if you can just text her or call her? You already have her phone number, I don't see any point in waiting."

"Because if I ask her tomorrow, she will think I'm trying to move too fast. You know, if I really want to make things work romantically between us, I must take it easy; not too slow, but not too quick either."

"You've got a point there. But if you saw her in a week, would you ask her out then? I mean, you guys are friends already, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. You could say we're getting to know each other."

"And not only that," Cash added. "This is a little bit out of topic, but I'm pretty sure I saw Aria blushing when I said you told us about her."

"That's true. And we were both blushing when we were talking alone at the gazebo. But I think it's because she was embarrassed, not because she likes me."

"Stop it with that nonsense!" Cash slapped Keon's arm. "Chances are, the girl likes you too, but is much much better at hiding it than you are."

"Shut up," Keon pushed Cash's leg. "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"I'm not!" Cash cackled. "You'll thank me and tell me I was right one day."

"Let's hope you're telling the truth," Keon laughed along with him.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading my first story! If you enjoyed the chapter, please support it by voting. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!