I wasn't sure how long I sat on the shore for.

An hour, maybe two or three.

Then again, it could have been all day. I remember eating a sandwich that I packed awhile ago. When was that? Most likely around lunch. Or was it? All I knew was that the sun was beginning to set and I hadn't moved. Just a few seconds of standing up and shaking out my legs and quickly running into the water to feel the cold water washing up over my feet. The sun was fierce today and I probably was resembling a lobster. Probably shouldn't have gotten so distracted with everything else. My sketchbook, Monster, and empty iced coffee lay beside me, sloppily stuffed inside my purse. Just for this moment I wanted to soak in the beauty that was the Meditterranean Ocean. It was just so stunning. Light bouncing off waves. Water crashing on the shore. Breeze blowing through my hair. I had no idea how good or bad I looked, but I felt like I was in some beauty product commercial. Only this was way better. 

With all the craziness that was Liam Hawthorne, it felt good to just take a moment to relax on the beach and smell the salt water air. I was coming to the realization that whatever I wanted to happen, wasn't going to. It pained me to finally come to terms with my original thought that Liam had only kissed me because he could and I was more than willing to just fling myself at him. Every day I wanted to slap myself for being so foolish! What kind of person does that? We hadn't exactly made some sort of inseperable bond. Yes, I liked him. Even after all this, I liked him. But he wasn't going to do anything and I was too stubborn to do anything myself. Idiot, was the word the resonated in my head. Whether it was describing him or myself, I wasn't sure. Just... idiot.

I shook my head furiously, attempting to stop the thoughts. There's no time for this, Camille! You've decided. It's done. You are going to move on and forget about the whole situation. If Liam wanted more, he would have said so by now. Yes, he would have told me by now. Stop pining for him. He's not coming. I'll make my own happiness.

I inhaled deeply, closed my eyes, and fell back on the sand. Yeah, once you stop thinking for a second, you realize how great everything else is.

"Mind if I join you?"

Dang. Should have known.

Nothing stays perfect forever.

I looked up to see Liam standing before me, wearing running shorts and a T-shirt drenched in sweat. Earbuds were hanging loosely from the neck of his shirt.

Gesturing for him to sit, he quickly abided before I could change my mind. 

"You're crazy for running in this weather," I told him as I sat up and he laughed.

"Probably. I don't think I've ever sweat so much in my life."

"Ew," I said while chuckling at him. "Why would you run in this weather, anyway?"

"Read something that beaches are the best place to exercise. Something about the salty air clearing your lungs or the sand adding resistence. You know what, I'm not even sure."

"You're still crazy. You have sand sticking all over you."

"I love sand though, it's annoying in your house or car, sure. But the feeling of it between your toes and –," He stopped and looked at me. "You don't care. Sorry, I'll stop."

"No, I completely understand. Beaches are my favorite. The salty air, the sand, the water. Everything about it is invigorating." I sounded as silly as he did, but perhaps when you have nothing to lose, you manage to lose your filter.

"But it's relaxing too! I mean, falling asleep on a beach? Bliss." He fell back onto the sand, only covering himself in the tiny pebbles more.

"I hate the LA beaches. Way too crowded and dirty for my liking."

"When I was young, I lived in a town called Hastings along the English Channel. Not exactly the warmest and bluest waters, but it always felt like home."

"That's like the Oregon beaches. Usually they're pretty chilly and stormy, but my aunt and uncle own a cabin there and we borrow it all the time. I could live there forever."

"Can I come?" He asked with hopeful eyes and I immediately gave him a funny look.

"Yeah... no... it's my special place," I explained even if I had definitely brought plenty of my friends there many times. But he didn't need to know that.

He pouted like a child and I didn't feel like explaining any further. He could deal with it.

"Well. I guess we all have those kind of places. I wouldn't take you to my special place, either."

"Maybe I wouldn't even want to go."

"Oh, I think this is a place you'd love to go, too," he said, a smug grin plastered on his face. 

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Is it a museum?"

"No."

"Foreign country?"

"No."

"A museum in a foreign country?"

He laughed and it made me miss the sound the second he stopped. "I'm not going to tell you, Camille."

"Oh come on! I told you mine, I just said you weren't allowed to go."

He studied me, maybe seeing if I was worthy of knowing his special place.

"Alright, fine, I'll tell you," he said, scooting around to face me.

"Really?" I asked, hopeful that he wouldn't trick me.

"Yeah. My special place is my home."

All eagerness to know vanish.

"What? That's so cheap!"

"No, it's not. My mum's home with my sisters, watching Doctor Who, eating biscuits. That is my favorite place."

It was like he was purposefully trying to make me fall in love with him. Mine sounded so selfish. I liked the cabin at the beach for it's secluded, peaceful aura. I didn't like it for the people and I didn't like it for the familiarity. There, I was allowed, encouraged even, to be by myself and read and draw. That wasn't, however, what Liam found ideal.

"My home in LA isn't home. I may have lived there for the past four years, but I still hate it as much as when I arrived." I should probably stop talking so disdainfully. 

"Yeah, that's like my dad's place. I was gutted when he moved out to Brighton and got married to that... that... wicked woman," he muttered the last part and it made my heart clench. I never realized he hadn't told me about his family much. Half-sisters, I knew. But I didn't realize what happened with his parents. "But that's beside the point. My mom's married to a nice chap and I couldn't be more happy for them."

"I'm glad. Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to have my parents still together."

"Yeah, people usually only think of the extra presents for Christmas and their birthdays, but – hey! That reminds me." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box.

A baby blue box.

"I wasn't around on your birthday, so I never got to give this to you." He passed over the box and I took it gently.

"This is a Tiffany box," I said pointedly.

"I know, what are friends for?"

A voice in my head screamed, Friends don't get friends Tiffany's for their birthday! Boyfriends and fiancés and husbands get Tiffany's for their birthday. This was not a common gesture! This was an romantc gesture! Even a blind person could see that.

"Aren't you going to open it?"

I looked at it reluctantly. It had to be beautiful – stunning even. But expensive jewelry represented so much and I didn't want that kind of feeling weighing me down.

Slowly, I removed the white ribbon and placed it in my bag so the wind wouldn't take it away. My fingers gribbed the lid of the box and opened it.

"Oh," I breathed out silently as I saw what lay inside.

A delicate gold chain rested on the white pillow with a cluster of diamonds at the end.

"Liam... this is... oh my gosh, Liam, it's..."

What words could I even use to explain what this was?

Unexpected, definitely.

Gorgeous, for sure.

Over-the-top, most likely.

Making my poor heart realize it's never going to stop fluttering at the sight of it or him? That would be a yes.

"Do you like it?" He asked, his features drawing closer making it seem like he thought I hated it.

"Do you have to ask? It's beautiful."

"Well, I thought it would be appropriate," he said and it made me go into a panic thinking he might actually ask me out. Wait, why would I panic? This is what I wanted. Wasn't it?

"For what?"

"Eighteen is important. You said a long time ago that you didn't think it was. But I think I needed to change your mind." 

If anything, eighteen is stressing me out, I thought as he continued telling me about the things people can do once they come of age. All the opportunities! All the fun! Instead, I could only think of the difficult parts of growing up. University decisions, life decisions, no more pretending that I could be dependent for the rest of my life. I was terrified that my successes in high school would vanish and I'd realize I was completely helpless in the grown-up world. 

"Have you decided where you're going to Uni yet?"

I scooped up a handful of sand and let it pour through my fingers, wishing my problems would sift through as easily.

"No, I'm not sure. I have some ideas. I'll probably end up applying to as many schools as possible and see what happens."

"Isn't that cheating?"

"No, it's keeping my options open."

"Ah," he said. "Or you could just steal all of James' money and do what ever you want."

"Now there's a good idea!" I exclaimed and Liam laughed.

He's adorable.

Man, I'm screwed.

"You could always study in England. You're intelligent, they couldn't not accept you."

"I'm intelligent by the American high school system. That doesn't count." Maybe I should try just accepting his compliment instead. 

"What'd you get on the AP exams anyway?"

I had gotten my results a month ago and still thinking about them made me incredibly happy.

"I got fives on all of them," I said smiling immensely.

"No way! That's so exciting! Congratulations!" Without thinking, I'm sure, Liam leaned in and gave me a hug. In my logical part of my brain, it was just a congratulatory hug. However the I-have-a-giant-crush-on-you part of my brain decided for a split second that Liam had to like me too. I tried to shake that feeling away quickly, no matter how hard it was failing.

"Thanks! I'm taking the SATs in a couple of weeks, so hopefully having all these standardized tests will up my chances for good schools."

"Camille, I don't think it's possible for you to go to a bad school."

I shrugged, noncommittally. "Let's hope so."

It was then I realized how long we'd been sitting out. The sky had darkened immensely and the moon reflected against the water.

"It's getting late, I better head back in," I announced beginning to get up.

"You have your necklace right?" He asked, grabbing my bag and handing it to me.

"Yes, thanks again so much. Honestly, it's stunning." I believed I would never want to take that necklace off.

"It suits you then," he said quietly and I felt my cheeks flaming. Dang it, Liam, you're killing me here.

"Thank you. You know, I don't know when your birthday is." Okay, so I did from years of stalking. But hey. Better ask so he never knows that.

"It's in October," he told me as we began walking towards the hotel. "So don't worry, you didn't miss anything."

"Good. I won't be able to top this present, though, just giving you a heads up."

"I'm sure you'll manage just fine."

We walked in silence until we reached the hotel lobby, but I didn't mind. In fact, I rather enjoyed our silence. I didn't have to worry about saying something dumb or Liam making a comment on our kiss again. It was refreshing, actually. 

Once inside, he stopped and then embraced me tightly, this time not just any hug. It felt sad and weighted down. I couldn't guess why though. He was the one that wouldn't tell me why he kissed me.

Then again, I wasn't bringing it up either. Nor would I, unless worse came to worse.

He let me go and looked down at me with the same look he did whenever he wasn't finished saying something, but decided against the idea of finishing. 

"Goodnight, Camille. And happy birthday, again," he said instead.

"Goodnight, Liam," was all I responded with.

He walked off in the opposite direction and I remained stationary for a few seconds as I recounted those last moments.

Because if he was looking for an opportune moment... that was it.

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OH MY GOSH HELLO. I AM BACK. I AM ALIVE. AND SO IS STARBIRD.

I am infinitely sorry for how long this took, because my computer crashed and summer is crazy and I'm finally back at school. But it's still August so I can say I published this summer. Wooooo.

SO. WHAT DO YOU THINK!? (fyi this chapter might be a little off than the rest just because I had such a long lag) Cam and Liam are having quite a bit of tension and Cam likes Liam, but she's not sure if the feelings are returns and AHHHHH the emotions are too much.

Please comment and vote and share! Thanks for sticking with me and I love you all!

Stay classy,

- Kate