warning: this a long ASS chapter. lol enjoy.

We had decided on a sandwich place for lunch, for North's sake. We all ate something relatively healthy, much to Luke's disappointment. On the way out, I stopped and bought us each a chocolate chip cookie, and as we walked back to the hotel, I gestured for Luke to join me in the back. He slowed his pace and I slipped him the cookie, a bright smile forming on his face as soon as I did. He wrapped me in tight hug and pressed a bunch of kisses to my face.

When we arrived back at the hotel, I was dragged into the room that Luke and Gabriel had been staying in. Before I completely disappeared into what I affectionately referred to as the Twilight Zone, North called out to them to be careful with me, but they completely disregarded it. This resulted in North sending Nathan in after us.

I sat on the bed, bouncing slightly, a giggle bubbling out of my mouth from the movement.

Nathan looked at me, a fond expression on his face. "You are absolutely precious and adorable," he said, causing a blush to spread over my cheeks.

Nathan took a seat beside me and I slumped into him, the two of us watching Gabriel rifle through my bag while Luke laid on the floor, typing something out on his phone. Mindlessly, I reached up and ran my fingers through Nathan's hair, humming in contentment. It was so nice to be away from the horrific people I was forced to acknowledge as my family, and spend time with the boys I was quickly begin to consider as my real family.

"What are we doing?" I asked Nathan, looking up at him wide eyed. I knew that, technically, I wasn't supposed to know, but I hoped that he would cave and give me something at least.

"I won't tell you everything," he brought his mouth close to my ear to whisper so the other boys wouldn't hear. "But I will tell you that we're about to go to the beach. The North Shore to be specific. North is... rather fond of it. We think he might like it."

I squirmed, once again excited. I couldn't recall the last time I had been to the beach, and I was overjoyed that now that that I was going again, it was with people I cared about and had fun with. Usually, in the past, when my family used to go on vacations, it wasn't all that fun. Mostly, our family vacations consisted of a lot of appearances for events and a lot of yelling. I hated to say it, but I was glad that our family no longer participated in taking vacations together.

Nathan studied my face, tilting his head, obviously confused by the wistful look that passed over my face. "What are you thinking about, Peanut?"

"I think the last time I went to the beach was with my family," I confessed, my voice coming out softer and sadder than I intended it too. "I'm pretty certain we were happy, then too. Lauren actually liked me, Zain wasn't an alcoholic, and my dad spent time with me."

Nathan's blue eyes flashed with sympathy for me and he pulled me into a tight hug, rubbing my back soothingly. I clung to him, squeezing my eyes shut. I hadn't meant to dig up old, painful memories, but somehow they had just surfaced and they hurt. I was thankful for Nathan's support.

"You won't have to deal with them much longer," he quietly promised me, and I nodded, believing him. I was going to figure out a way to handle my family soon enough, and when I did, I would be free to spend all the time that I wanted with the boys.

"Oy!" Gabriel exclaimed, interrupting my moment with Nathan. "Let her go so that she can get changed."

I pulled away from Nathan and stood, catching the bundle of clothing that Gabriel tossed my way. I shuffled into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I set the clothes on the counter and looked through them, shocked to see that there was a black bikini that I had not packed. I figured Gabriel must have brought it for me, and decided that I might as well put it on in case I decided to go into the water.

After a moment of struggling with tying the strings to the top, I sighed in resignation. I hesitantly poked my head out the door, chewing on my bottom lip, using one of my hands to keep the bathing suit top in place.

"Meanie?" I called out. "Can you help me with this please?"

Gabriel appeared in my line of vision and motioned for me to turn around. I did just that, pressing my hand firmly against the fabric to keep everything concealed. It only took Gabriel a moment to tie it, but his fingers continuously brushed against my bare skin, causing me to shiver. Once he was finished, he pressed a small kiss to the back of my neck then urged me back into the bathroom to finish getting dressed. It had been humid that day when I left, resulting in me packing variations of shorts and tank tops. I had been warned there might have been swimming, which was another reason why I had decided on packing more clothes than needed. I never knew with this group of boys.

I slid on pair of cut off black shorts I had packed and then a white nearly see through top that had a melting black heart on it. I giggled, realizing that my nearly my entire consisted of black, and thought about how North and I were going to be matching. I skipped out of the bathroom and struck a pose, smiling.

"What do you think?" I asked then jumped when I realized I had a larger audience than when I had entered the bathroom.

"You look great, sweetie."

"Beautiful, Aggele Mou."

"Absolutely gorgeous, princess."

"You're stunning, peanut."

"I've never seen anyone more fucking beautiful."

I blushed at the last comment, looking at North shyly. He smiled at me, winking, causing my blush to intensify. I squirmed under all of their gazes, noting that the only people absent were Owen and Sean. An arm hooked around my neck and I was pulled into Gabriel's side, a grin on his face.

"Of course she looks amazing," he said. "She always looks amazing."

"Stop complimenting me and let's go." I mumbled, looking down, my face bright red at this point.

The others laughed and talked under their breath about how I was cute, but I scurried out of the hotel room and knocked on the room that I had seen Sean and Owen go into. I rubbed at my cheeks, hoping my blush would go away and we could just head to the beach and have a good time. Not that any time spent with the boys wasn't a good time. They had me blushing half the time I was in their presence, though, and I didn't exactly know how to handle it. I was started out of my thoughts when the door opened and Sean's smiling face greeted me.

"Pookie!" he exclaimed, his smile widening. "How can I help you?"

"Just wanted to let you know that I'm ready," I replied truthfully. "I was thinking that maybe we could head out now. So long as you and Owen are ready, as well. I don't know about the others, but I'm thinking that if they have time to make me blush then they're ready."

Sean laughed at my words but nodded in agreement. He rested a hand on my head, as if telling me to wait, then turned to look back into the room. I don't know what he saw but he laughed slightly and looked back at me.

"Head down to the lobby with the others," he instructed me. "Owen and I will join you shortly. Tell them that I said you're in charge."

My eyebrows shot up. "Not Kota?"

"Not Kota," he reaffirmed, tapping my nose. "You. I'm deeming you in charge."

I beamed at his words and him tapping my nose. He chuckled at my reaction and shooed me. I skipped back into the room that Luke and Gabriel had claimed as their own, unable to help the smug smile on my face. They all looked up and smiled at my entrance into the room. I pasted the most innocent look on my face before I began to speak.

"Sean said that we should head down to the lobby and that him and Owen would join us in a few minutes," I announced, smiling sweetly at them. They all began to pick themselves up, talking amongst themselves and heading towards the door. I grinned and walked out the door, calling over my shoulder, "He also said that I'm in charge, so get your asses moving. I want to have fun and I'm not the most patient girl."

I could practically hear all their jaws drop as I continued down the hallway to the elevators. I waited for at least Luke and Nathan to join me, and sent them both innocent looks as they continued to stare at me as if I had two heads.

"Can I push the button?" I asked as I pointed to the glowing buttons of the elevator, in not only an attempt to distract them, but also because I really enjoyed pushing elevator buttons.

Nathan laughed and slung an arm around me. "Yes, Peanut," he said. "You can push the button."

***

As we walked towards the beach, Silas had an arm wrapped around my waist securely. I figured that it was mostly because they didn't want me bolting down to the ocean immediately, though I was seriously considering it. If Silas hadn't been practically restraining me, I would have been gone at that point. Once we finally arrived, and the others began laying out towels and such, I knelt in the sand and watched the ocean.

"Don't you think the water is too cold at this time of year?" North inquired, looking between the boys and the ocean.

"Why don't you go find out with Sang?" Owen offered, looking up from what he was doing. "She's been waiting rather patiently and I think if we make her wait any longer she may explode."

North looked down at me then laughed at the wide eyed, hopeful expression that I had on my face. He held out a hand to help me and I took it, then intertwined our fingers together, allowing him to lead me over to the ocean. We stopped right where the waves could roll over our feet but not go much higher. I squealed slightly when the water hit me, giggling. It wasn't that cold, but it wasn't that warm either.

"Do you think if I went in I'd get used to it?" I asked North, looking up at him with a questioning look. He didn't look at me, continuing to stare out at the horizon, but rewarded me with a shrug. I shrugged as well and pulled my hand out of his', taking a step further into the ocean.

I had only gotten up to mid-calf level when I felt someone push me from behind. I yelped, windmilling in an attempt to steady myself, but it was no use. I was already falling into the water. I popped back up before any waves could claim me and pull me under. I shot a glare to Luke who was smiling at me innocently at me, as if it wasn't clear that he was the one to have just pushed me.

"Luke," I whined, holding out my hands for him to help me up from the seated position I was in. He reached out for me, but before he could, his hands were knocked out of the way and I was pulled to my feet then into Sean's chest. "It's not all that warm," I mumbled, pressing my face into his warm chest.

Sean laughed and stroked my hair. "I know it isn't, Pookie."

"Get her out of that wet shirt and wrap her up in my towel," I heard North instruct Sean.

"North, who's the doctor here!" Sean called over to North causing all of us to laugh. Luke sent me an apologetic look as I walked past him and I patted his arm to let him know that he was forgiven.

When we reached the others, Sean had me sit down and Victor helped me out of my shirt even though I insisted I could get it off myself. Once my shirt was off, I shimmied out of my shorts since they were wet too, and accepted the towel being offered to me from Kota, quickly wrapping myself up in it. I wasn't shocked to see that the towel handed to me was black and I briefly wondered why North would want his towels to be black too, but didn't dwell too long, snuggling into the warmth of it.

We only ended up staying at the beach for a few hours, some of us venturing to go into the ocean again, but mostly we stayed on the beach. I made a sand castle with Gabriel and Nathan, only for Silas to accidentally destroy it. After destroying my sand castle he had made it up to me by finding a pretty sea shell and I rewarded him with a kiss on his cheek. Once Silas had gotten me a sea shell, everyone wanted to, and I ended up with a good collection of them, and even had sea glass mixed in there too.

I was practically skipping on the way back to the hotel, the boys laughing at my energy and happiness. The only one who truly understood my high spirits was Nathan since he was aware of how my vacations as a child weren't the nicest. This wasn't exactly a vacation, but to me it was; it was a vacation from my chaotic life and even more chaotic family.

I was once again escorted into Luke and Gabriel's hotel room when we got back, but before I could fully step into the hotel room, I dramatically gripped onto Sean's hand, and he did the same to me, promising how he would never forget me. This resulted in Nathan throwing me over his shoulder and walking me into the hotel room himself while the others laughed from the hallway, and Sean called after us to ask me to never forget about him as well.

"We're never leaving you and him alone together, ever," Gabriel grumbled as he started looking for clothes for me to change into. I fell back on the bed, giggling slightly, and turning to look at Luke who laid next to me. While we waited for Gabriel, him and I sat in companionable silence, making funny faces at each other and poking each other's faces, trying to get the other to laugh.

I was dragged away from my entertaining game with Luke by Gabriel so I could get changed and so he could do my hair. My outfit once again mostly consisted of black. The top was one I hadn't got long ago and hadn't found the chance to wear yet. It was sleeveless and deep pink, the entire shirt a pretty lace design. The skirt was something I had never worn but kept around in my closet, and when I showed it to Gabriel he had insisted I brought it. It was black leather and fell around mid thigh.

When I came out of the bathroom, wondering if I really looked okay in it, Gabriel and Luke immediately reassured me that I looked great which brought a smile to my face. Gabriel had me sit in front of him on the floor while he sat on the bed. My hair was slightly wavy from the fact that it had gotten wet then air dried, but Gabriel didn't seem to mind as he played around with my hair. I couldn't see it, but according to Luke it was pretty and I would just have to trust him on it.

By the time Gabriel was finished, we were due to meet everyone in the lobby. I slid on my converse, then the three of us headed down to meet the others. They both flanked me, Luke on the left holding my hand, and Gabriel on the right also holding my hand. It was slightly odd considering Luke was swinging our hands back and forth while Gabriel was just occasionally squeezing mine.

Conversation ceased when we arrived and all eyes were on me, causing a blush to spread across my cheeks. My eyes met North's, and I blinked a few times. His eyes were wide and he was scanning me up and down, after a moment something flickered in his eyes that had my blush intensifying. In an attempt to hide from their gazes I ducked behind Luke, peeking over his shoulder.

He chuckled at my reaction and pulled me back in front of him. "It's okay, Sang. They just think you look really pretty. Right, North?"

North licked his lips then nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "Gorgeous, baby."

I beamed at the compliment and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before urging the others out the door. I didn't know where we were going, but I did know that I didn't want us to be late.

***

We had ended up going to an outdoor concert, something I had never been to. Since the area was so crowded, the boys were even more protective than usual, causing me to laugh at them. I knew that they were worried about my anxiety flaring up, something I tried to avoid talking about with them but something they had just come to notice, and it was actually rather cute how they tried to keep me surrounded by them at all times.

I spent a lot of my time dancing with Luke, Gabriel, and Nathan, but eventually got everyone except Owen to dance with me. North wasn't exactly pleased about it, but he did it, and he tried to hide it, but I could see a smile on his face during it. There had even been a moment where all together we screamed the lyrics together, even the more refined and quiet of us, and at that moment, tears had formed.

I couldn't say exactly why I had began to cry, but it had something to do with the fact that I'd never had a place where I fit in, or an entire day that was as euphoric and as blissful as this day was. For the rest of the song, tears poured from my eyes, and a smile graced my features. Noticing the tears on my face, Victor pulled me into a big hug and I swayed with him, listening to him hum along to the music.

Needless to say, though, when we returned back to the hotel I was wiped. As we stepped off the elevator, all the boys were prodding me to stay with them and I tried my best to conceal my smile. I already knew who I was going to be staying with and I felt rather bad that I was about to turn them down. Before I was dragged into one of the others rooms, I turned to face North.

"North," I said, biting my lip to contain the smile that wanted to break free. "Will you come on a walk with me? Also, may I sleep with you in your room tonight?"

Shock flickered across his face for just a moment, but then he nodded, a small smile coming over his face. I held out my hand for him to take, and he did just that. I lead him over to Luke and Gabriel's room then instructed him to wait a moment. I quickly grabbed his present then rejoined him. Owen called after us to be back at a reasonable time and I shot a look at him over my shoulder. He returned the look but then gave me a millimeter smile, letting me know that he wasn't upset with me.

North and I didn't exchange any words until I lead him to the parking lot. He shot me a confused look but I shook my head and sat down in an empty parking space. He raised his eyebrows but then sat down and pulled me into his lap, probably to spare me from getting sand all over my skirt. I leaned against him, looking up at the stars.

"Did you enjoy your birthday?" I asked softly, truly wondering if he had enjoyed his birthday.

He pressed a kiss to my head and ran his hand up and down my back, his fingers running over my bare skin causing me to shiver. "Yes, I did," he admitted in a whisper.

I cleared my throat then turned to face him, toying with the ribbon on the present I had gotten him. "I got you something..."

His eyes flashed and I thought I saw vulnerability and gratitude before he looked back at me, his expression soft. "Sang," he mumbled, tucking hair behind my ear, grazing his nose against my own. My breath caught in my throat, my heart hammering against my chest so hard that I thought he might be able to hear it if he listened closely enough. "You didn't have to get me anything."

"I wanted to," I croaked out, reaching up and pushing hair away from his face. My eyes drifted down to his lips and I could hear his breath catch at the action.

"Sang," he murmured, cupping my face gently, pulling me even closer. I swallowed hard, and decided that it was okay to make the first move sometimes. Without thinking at all, I tilted my head up and brushed my lips against his own, as if giving him permission.

That did it for him, I supposed. His lips came crashing down upon my own, and though guilt flooded through me for kissing him when I knew if given the chance I would kiss one of the others too, I focused on the moment. I focused on him and I, beneath the stars, on telling him how much he meant to me without using words.

He never did get the present I actually bought for him, but whenever I spoke to him about it later on, he told me that he got exactly what he wanted for his birthday.

a/n: so.... what did y'all think of that ending...? I hope it's satisfactory for y'all. This is one of the last really cute moments for the next few chapters so enjoy lol. 

Song: Malibu by Miley Cyrus

xoxo,

ry.