The afternoon sun was glowing in the sky, making me squint my eyes to look at the waves crashing at the shore.

Laying with my back on the table, I looked at the guys playing volleyball with a group of guys they befriended twenty minutes ago.

"I don't why I don't visit the beach as often as I should." Hanna commented from beside me.

Olivia, Riley, and Dani went swimming. I offered to stay back with Hanna because she doesn't know how to swim and this is not the ideal time to learn. Her words, not mine.

"We often take things easily accessible things for granted." I said, looking at Ethan, who was looking delicious in his swimming trunks. The sunlight accentuated his muscular body as the sweat dripping down his abs reflected the sunlight, making his skin shine.

"That was deep." She said, looking impressed when I turned my face to her.

"I know right." I said, chuckling.

"Is that why you and Ethan take each other for granted?" She asked, and I felt my soul leave my body. Aggressively coughing, I looked at her in shock.

"Oh geez. Calm down. It's not that of a shock that I noticed." She said, patting my back.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I excused, looking elsewhere.

"Of course, you don't. The only two people who don't know what I'm talking about are you and Ethan." She said, smirking at me.

"Hanna..." I said, not knowing how to answer her. I don't talk about this to my friends, let alone Ethan's brother's fiance. It's not that I am offended, it's just that I am as clueless about this as any other person on this beach. I do not know how to explain this to her, who might or might not tell this to his brother who might or might not tell this to his entire family. God, I hate close families.

"Look, Iris, I am not the one to gossip. I'll not tell Liam or any other family member if that's what you're worried about. You can talk to me." She said softly as if talking to a scared puppy. She is so sweet. I take back what I said earlier. I don't hate close families.

"We are friends... Good friends. I don't know what else to say?" I answer honestly.

'Oh, and we kiss occasionally' is not something she needs to know.

"You're not just friends. Even Liam knows that. All of us saw the way you look at each other and that's not how just friends look at each other." She told me and while I wanted to ask her how exactly do we look at each other, I didn't because I was afraid of the answer.

"I don't know..." I said, looking back at the ocean to see the girls coming our way, and internally sighed in relief.

"Look, I don't know much about it but if there's even a slight chance that you could like each other, then don't let it go because trust me, something like that is hard to come by." She advised just as Riley collapsed beside me.

"I forgot how therapeutic swimming is." She said, smiling.

"Yeah? We should build a pool in our apartment." Dani joked.

"Of course. We can let go of the beds and instead get those inflatable pools." I suggested, chuckling.

"Or we can let go of the couch. No one even uses that." Riley said, laughing.

"True." I said, just as the boys came back.

"Hey, how are you?" Liam asked Hanna, placing a kiss on her lips.

Whenever Liam leaves Hanna alone, he always asks her how she is when he comes back, no matter if it's five minutes or five hours, and I think that's one of the sweetest things I've ever seen.

"I'm exactly like I was thirty minutes ago. Insanely hot and absolutely fine." She said, wiping the sand from his face with her thumb.

Watching them interact made me realize many beautiful relationships surrounded Ethan. I am sure that they must have had their difficulties, but ultimately, they made it. All these perfect couples surrounded him and I can only imagine his expectations from a relationship.

"Hey! I want ice cream." Noah said, wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

"Me too." Grayson said, as Mason and Dani also nodded.

"I'll come with you." Riley said, making Noah pull her up. I watched as both of them walked towards the ice cream shop on the opposite side of the beach.

"Hey! You can go to the water now. I have all these servants now." Hanna said, teasingly pulling Liam and Mason's cheeks, making both of them complain.

"No, it's fine..." I said trailing off, looking at the distance between the water and my towel.

"What? You were dying to go in the water earlier." Grayson said as I watched Dani smirk from the corner of my eye.

"I'll have to walk..." I mumbled, glaring at her.

"Yeah? Well, I see you have two legs. You can walk just fine." He commented, making Dani's smirk grow wider.

"She hates sand." She finally blurted out.

"You hate sand and you came to a beach?" Mason said, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"I love the water." I mumbled, nervously flicking my shirt's button. I was wearing my favorite lavender bikini and a huge lavender shirt as a coverup.

"Come on!" Ethan said abruptly, offering me his hand.

"Where?" I asked, looking at him. I had to squint my eyes because the sun was shining exactly behind his head, making it difficult for me to see his face.

"I'll take you." He said, taking my hand and pulling me up.

"I'll still have to walk." I groaned, but suddenly he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, making me squeal.

"No, you don't." He said and turned to walk towards the water as I watched everyone else laugh with amusement lacing their features.

"Put me down!" I said, slapping his back.

"No, and that hurts." He said, pinching my thigh.

"Ow! Asshole!" I cursed as I felt the sting on my thing.

"Stubborn." He retorted.

"Put me down." I repeated.

"On the sand?" He asked, and I could picture the arrogant smirk on his face, knowing he won when I didn't answer. I don't wanna step on the sand, I am sorry.

As we neared the water, the wet sand came into my vision.

"Okay, put me down, now." I said more comfortable walking on the shore.

"Nope." He said as he walked further and I could feel the water reach my toes dangling over his waistline. Instead of putting me down as I demanded, he pulled me over his shoulder, making me wrap my legs around him to not fall into the water because as much as I like the ocean, falling into it is not really my plan of action.

"You're seriously not going to put me down?" I asked, looking at his face. He was squinting to look at me while his lips curved into a predatory grin.

"I'll not put you down but you're definitely going down." He said and dived into the water with me still clinging to him before I could understand what he meant.

One minute, I was above the water and the next minute, the cold water was above my head.

Detaching myself from him as fast as I could, I resurfaced, coughing.

"You fucking did not." I said when he stood back.

"I did." He said, smiling cheekily, and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer.

"I hate you." I said, pouting like a child.

"No, you don't." He said, pulling me impossibly closer.

"Your brother, his fiance, and your little sister are right over there. Chances are all of them are watching us." I said, looking over his shoulder. While I couldn't really see their face, I know my friends well enough to know they are staring right at us and as much as I like Hanna, she is exactly like Noah. So, I am sure we are the topic of the conversation right now.

"I don't care. Apparently, Liam knows." He said as the feeling of the water surrounding us soothed me, making me wrap my arms around his neck.

"Hanna knows too." I said.

"I figured." He said, leaning his head against mine.

"This is so relaxing." I said, as my eyes closed on their own accord.

"Hmm..." He hummed, "What are your thoughts on PDA?" He asked randomly.

I gave it a thought before I realized what he meant.

"You didn't ask me at the airport." I said teasingly.

"We weren't surrounded by people we knew." He said.

"I'm pretty sure they already know we kissed." I said, knowing our friends.

"I didn't tell them."

"Neither did I, but I know they know." I said, chuckling along with him.

"So, is that a yes to PDA?" He asked, with a smirk.

"That's a yes to kissing you." I said and pulled his head down to mine. Pressing my lips against his, I closed my eyes. I don't think kissing Ethan would ever get old or boring. Every time we kiss, it's a unique experience.

Opening up for him, I didn't even fight for control. It was a lazy kiss like we had all the time in the world. It was just us surrounded by the soothing waves and the sun shining.

Pulling back from his lips, I laid my head on his shoulder as his arm around me helped me stay afloat.

"Lavender looks good on you." He said, playing with the ends of my hair.

"Is that because I'm in a bikini?" I asked teasingly, looking at him.

"No, that's because you're wearing my shirt." He said with a smile and pulled at the collar of his shirt.

"Which is soaking wet right now." I said, feeling the shirt sticking to me.

"That's not the only thing soaking wet right now." He smirked as one of his hands cupped my ass cheek.

"Shut up! You dunk me in the ocean. You don't get to make dirty jokes about it." I scolded, slapping him on the chest.

"You looked like a drowned rat when you came back up." He said, laughing.

"Well, then you kissed a drowned rat." I said, folding my arms.

"I enjoy kissing the drowned rat." He said, placing a kiss on my nose.

Looking behind his shoulder, I saw Grayson swimming towards us.

"Grayson..." I said, looking at him as he came to a stop behind Ethan.

"Noah and Riley are almost back. You might want to create some space between you." He said, and we both begrudgingly pulled away.

After that, we stayed on the beach for two more hours, joking around and having the most relaxed days we have had in a while.

⤎❁⤏

Stepping inside the house, I took the dry towel from Henry as he passed one to everyone. Storm came rushing to me and I smirked at Ethan, liking how Storm came over to me, even though Ethan is standing right beside me.

"I am becoming the favorite." I said.

"Shut up." He grumbled before he went to his room.

I was heading towards the stairs when I saw Elizabeth lounging on the couch with a book in her hand. Just as I turned to look at Storm still following me, she looked up at me and smiled.

"Enjoyed the beach?" She asked.

"Yeah, it was fun." I replied, smiling.

"Well, you should change before you catch a cold or something." She said, looking at me worriedly.

"Yeah." I said and rushed upstairs, followed by everyone.

Elizabeth's concern reminded me of our conversation in the kitchen this morning.

Ethan had returned from his run and he was in his room, showering when Elizabeth asked me if I could help her bring out the breakfast.

Walking inside the kitchen, I found the counter filled with every breakfast dish you could think of.

"You didn't have to make so much."

"That's nonsense. All of you, need to eat as much homemade food as you can because I know only Dani cooks in LA and I'm sure that poor girl can't possibly cook every day." She said, squeezing my shoulder as I started collecting the plates.

"Yeah. She is the only one who is not a hazard in the kitchen." I said, chuckling.

"So, I don't want to overstep..." she said, trailing off.

"You can't possibly overstep." I said, smiling at her.

"You seemed a little worried last night." She said.

Listening to her, I realized how cold I might have seemed to Ethan's family the night we arrived. It wasn't their fault that the message came then or that my relationship with my parents is strained, so it was wrong of me to let that affect our first meeting.

"I am so sorry, Elizabeth. It's just as soon as we got out of the car, I received a message and it was... not the most comforting message." I said, trying to find a more decent word for a fucked up message.

"You don't have to be sorry about anything, honey. I was just worried, if everything's alright or if you like us or the house." She said, smiling at me comfortingly.

"Please don't think that. You guys are really warm and welcoming and this house... well, it's a beauty." I said, looking at the beautiful interior design of the kitchen.

"I know I'm not the person to say this but talk about it to someone if it's bothering you." She said, pulling me in for a hug.

I had a conversation about it with Ethan last night. Honestly, that's the most I've opened up to someone in the past few years, except Dani. I just felt like I could tell him everything at that moment, and he would protect me from the harshness of my own words. Still, I couldn't bring myself to tell him everything and I don't know why, but baby steps are better than nothing, right?

"Yeah, I will." I said, smiling when we pulled back.

"Now, let's get that food out before those hungry boys decide to raid the kitchen." She said teasingly as we both picked up separate dishes, chuckling.

⤎❁⤏

Hey guys! Thank you so much for making the last two days absolutely amazing and insane. I have been so overwhelmed watching the numbers climb and all the notifications popping on my screen. It's been amazing. So, thank you so much.

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