"Okay, we've got food, wine, rugs, towels... am I missing anything?" Alice stood with her hand on her hip, tapping her chin as she surveyed the boot of the car. Surprisingly, Ryan had agreed to the beach party even though he hadn't seemed keen on it before, and Alice had planned it all. Alice's parents were driving us there and we were making our own way back. Joseph was coming, despite it being Ryan's birthday celebration, but Ryan was all up for it. He told Joseph he should bring a couple of his friends, too. I didn't even know if Joseph had friends, but turns out he did. He actually had a lot of friends. One of those friends who was coming along? Millie. Joy.

"Everything's here," I told Alice, patting her shoulder. "You're stressing."

"I know, I know. I can't help it. I'm a perfectionist. And I don't want to forget anything."

"I'm surprised you didn't make a list, or anything," I remarked. Alice looked sheepish.

"I might have made a list."

I huffed in amusement. "Of course. Okay, I'll go back inside to check there's nothing we're missing, you look through everything here."

I entered the house to discover Joseph standing there, holding cups in his hand. I stopped, and for a second I just stared at him. For some reason, he suddenly was looking really...attractive. Maybe it was the tight t-shirt, hugging his muscled torso. How had I never noticed how broad his shoulders were?

"She forgot cups."

I blinked. "What?"

Joseph nodded to the cups in his hands. "Alice forgot cups. For the drinks. Unless you were planning to drink out of the bottle."

I folded my arms and leaned against the doorframe. "I might have been."

His mouth twitched. "Well, not everyone is as much of a heavyweight as you are, so I think we may need the cups."

I gave him an even look. "Okay. You need some help?"

"Think I'm good." Joseph stacked the rest of the cups up and brushed past me with them. I turned and watched him walk outside towards the car. I wasn't sure why, but I was feeling apprehensive about tonight, like something was going to happen. It could have been a good or a bad feeling. Mostly I was just nervous.

On the car journey over, I was sat between Alice and Joseph, and I was trying very hard not to notice the warmth of Joseph's leg pressed against mine. Alice was chatting loudly with her parents while Joseph and I were quiet. I was sure Joseph didn't want to be here, but maybe his parents had somehow persuaded him to supervise us, or something. Maybe they used something against him to get him to come.

I shook my head to myself. I was being way too dramatic.

"...Ana?"

I suddenly realised Alice was looking at me expectantly, and I had no idea what she just said. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Did you invite that guy you met? Harry?" She was grinning. I'd told her briefly about Harry, but mentioned nothing about him being a friend of Dylan's. I didn't want to enter that controversy at this point in time.

"Oh." I frowned. "No, why?"

"From your description, he sounds super cute. And I bet he'd be into you."

I merely shook my head. "No, I barely know him. It would be weird to invite him."

"No it wouldn't." Alice nudged me. "Just mention it casually to him. Say that you and some friends are at the beach, and does he want to come."

"But it's Ryan's birthday thing," I hedged.

"Oh, Ryan won't mind, you know what he's like." Alice waved her hand dismissively. She was right, but I still didn't want to invite Harry.

"I really don't know, Alice–"

She sighed dramatically. "Fine, then you give me no choice."

I eyed her suspiciously. Suddenly she started tickling me and I jolted backwards into Joseph. "Alice, what are you–"

She stopped and held up my phone with a triumphant smile. "I'll just have to do it myself."

I rolled my eyes playfully at her. I abruptly realised I was still leaning on Joseph a bit, and I quickly moved away, clearing my throat. "I'm going to have to change my passcode on my phone."

Alice slapped my shoulder lightly and handed my phone back. "You're no fun. I've sent it. Cute little conversation you've been having with him."

I scowled. It was true that Harry and I had been texting each other a bit, but it was nothing flirtatious - at least on my side. I was worried that Alice's text to him would give him the wrong impression. "It's not like that."

"I didn't say it was," she sang.

When we arrived, we could see that most of our friends were already on the beach. Alice immediately got out of the car and ran over to Ryan, hugging him tightly and shouting happy birthday. I stood at the top of the beach, my heart quickening as I looked at the sea. I wasn't totally sure if I could manage this.

"You okay?" Joseph was suddenly next to me, his voice right by my ear. I glanced over at him to see a tense expression on his face as he looked at me.

I nodded slightly and sighed. "I'm okay. It's just, you know, the sea's... kind of unsettling me."

Joseph just nodded. "I get that." He looked at me, lightly touching my shoulder before following the others down to the beach. I watched him go, still feeling his touch on my shoulder.

I shook my head to myself before going over to my friends. I said happy birthday to Ryan and gave everyone a hug hello. We all sat down on the rugs, opening the wine and digging into the food. Everyone was chatting together, but I had no idea what they were saying. My eyes were fixed on Joseph, who was currently receiving what looked like a bone-crushing hug from Millie. Just before they parted, Millie whispered something in his ear and he laughed. I scowled. I was going to need some alcohol to get through tonight.

"Ana. Earth to Ana."

I snapped my gaze back to Alice who was holding up a plastic cup and a bottle of wine. "Sorry, what?"

She waved the bottle in my face. "You want some?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Is that even a question?"

"Right answer." She poured me some wine and I downed it. "Nice one."

"Always classy," Ryan commented, clinking his cup with mine before Alice poured me some more. My phone suddenly buzzed in my pocket, and I took it out to see that Harry had replied to Alice's text. I groaned. Looked like he was coming to the beach after all. And he was bringing friends.

"So, Ry," I started, "Alice was a dick and texted this guy on my phone to come join the party, and it looks like he is. And he's bringing friends."

Ryan just waved his hand dismissively. I was pretty sure he'd been drinking beforehand or something – he looked already pretty buzzed. "The more, the merrier."

"Told you," Alice said smugly.

"Uh, who's this dude?" Ellie looked at me slyly.

"He's called Harry, he's blonde, he's cute and Ana should definitely go for him," Alice summarised, and I hit her.

"I barely even know him. And I'm not into him," I said firmly. Plus, there was the whole 'his family rented out the boat my parents died on' thing. I wasn't completely sure if I could get past that. However, I thought as I finished my second cup of wine, he was attractive, and... I glanced over at Joseph again. From what I'd seen of Harry, he was the complete opposite of Joseph. Kind, light-hearted, blonde, laidback... Maybe that was the kind of person I needed in my life. But then again, why was I comparing him to Joseph? I gestured for Alice to top my glass up again. I needed to be more drunk if I was going to think about these things.

When Harry arrived with a couple of friends following behind him, I immediately got up and gave him a hug. He hugged me back tightly. If I'd been sober, I would never have done that, but after four big glasses of wine, I was starting to feel it a bit.

"Hey. Glad you texted me." A flirty smile was on his face, and I forced a smile back. I was definitely not going to tell him the truth about that text.

"Well, you know, I thought it might be fun if you came along, got drunk with us."

He squeezed my shoulder. "Sounds like a great night to me."

"Harry, you going to introduce us?" piped up one of the boys he'd brought with him. His two friends were equally as attractive as him, one with dark hair and dark eyes, and the other with platinum blonde dyed hair.

"Oh, right. Guys, this is Ana, Ana this is Logan," he pointed to the one with dark hair, "And this is Finn." He pointed to the one with blonde hair.

"Nice to meet you guys." I gave them a little wave. "Do you all want to come sit down? You can meet my friends."

"Sure. We brought drinks." Harry held up a bottle of vodka.

"You're a saviour. Not sure if this wine will get us through." We made our way back over to everyone else, where I introduced Harry and his friends. I could see Alice eyeing both Finn and Logan appreciatively. My eyes drifted back towards Joseph, who was still standing and chatting with Millie and another boy and girl. I squinted at his other two friends, not having any idea who they were. Joseph hadn't seemed to notice Harry's arrival.

Two glasses of wine later and I was sitting far too close to Harry as we talked and laughed too loudly. Finn and Logan were both talking to Alice, who had her flirt on full. Joseph, Millie and their two other friends had come to join us, and Ryan, Ellie and Sam were getting to know them. I caught part of their conversation where the boy introduced himself as Callum and the girl introduced herself as Phoebe. They both seemed friendly, and I couldn't help but notice Joseph becoming more animated and cheerful in their presence.

"Wait, okay, so the one over there with the blonde hair is Alice," Harry said quietly in my ear.

"Mm-hmm. And I am telling you, she is a loyal friend, she's too nice to cheat," I said stubbornly. I didn't even know how we'd got onto the topic of Dylan and Alice, but we had. We were both convinced we were right and the other was wrong. I had yet to mention to Alice that Harry was friends with Dylan, and I didn't really feel like doing that either.

"Maybe," Harry gave my arm a poke, "Maybe you don't know your friend all that well."

I gave him a look. "Please. I know all my friends very, very well."

"Hmm. You know, Dylan's a nice guy."

I shook my head. "You're wrong, I'm right. That's just the way it is."

Harry leant closer and whispered, "You want to bet?"

I wasn't listening. I was watching Joseph, who had Millie practically in his lap, but he was watching me. His gaze was piercing, a muscle twitching in his jaw. His eyes drifted to Harry, then back to me. If I'd been sober I probably would have glared back. Instead, I smirked at him and turned to Harry again, murmuring back, "You know what I want to bet? That you won't down that beer in five seconds."

He leaned back slightly to look at me, mischief on his face. "Want to race?" He nodded at my full glass of wine.

"You're on." We clinked glasses and began to chug. Since I'd never been good at downing drinks, Harry easily won, despite his beer bottle being almost full. Laughing, we set down our glasses, and Harry commented, "Pathetic. You gotta practice downing your drinks."

I patted his knee. "All in good time." I stood up, brushing sand off my jeans. Harry caught my hand.

"Where you going? You going to leave me here?"

"You'll be okay. I'm just going to the bathroom." I tugged my hand out of his grasp, giving him a little wave as I walked up the beach towards the little beach huts where the toilets were.

When I came back out, I nearly had a heart attack. Joseph was leaning against the wall and had suddenly called out my name.

"Jesus, Joseph. You scared me." I stumbled over to him, or rather into him, and he grabbed my arm to keep me upright.

"God, Lily, how drunk are you?" He glared down at me, still gripping onto my wrist.

I paused, squinting up at him. "Did you follow me up here?"

Joseph finally let go and took a step back, putting his hands in his pockets. "No."

"You're lying." I poked his cheek. "Look, you're blushing." When he didn't say anything else, I put a hand on my hip and raised an eyebrow at him. "What, your girlfriend Maureen wasn't entertaining enough for you?"

Joseph narrowed his eyes at me. "You know bloody well her name's Millie. Can you stop with that?"

I pretended to think for a moment, and then shook my head. "No. It's funny because I don't like her."

Joseph stepped in front of me, and in response I stepped backwards, my back hitting the wall. There were inches between us. "You know who I don't like? That blonde bonehead whose lap you're practically sitting on."

"Oh, wow. You're one to... speak. Talk." I lightly slapped his chest. "And his name's Harry, not bonehead. What kind of insult is that?"

"An appropriate one." Joseph leaned a little closer and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. My breath caught, and we both froze. My face felt hot, and I still felt the ghost of his touch. Joseph seemed to suddenly realise what he'd done, but he didn't move away.

"You can't... do that," I said, slightly breathless. Joseph merely raised an eyebrow.

"Do what?"

I frowned and pushed him away. "I'm having fun. Don't ruin it."

"Are you?" he questioned softly. "Or are you just pretending to?"

I didn't reply, but glanced down at everyone else back on the beach. Luckily, no one was looking in our direction. "I need to get... go back."

"What, back to Hector?" Joseph's expression became a scowl.

I bit my lip and stepped away again. "You know, Joseph, if I didn't know any better, I would have said you were jealous."

His lips parted slightly in surprise, but then his face went blank. "I'm not jealous, Lily."

I tilted my head slightly, and murmured, "Of course." I pressed my lips together, muttering a, "See you later" before making my way back to my friends.