We were sitting in the living room after we swam, my hair was jumbled in a curly mess and I wore one of my sun dresses that was yellow and orange. Colton had his arm wrapped around me protectively while he chatted with Carson. The whole atmosphere was relaxing as the sunbeams shown in through the open window, and you could tell the sun was setting fast.

          "Anyone wanna come to town with me?" Carson sighed as he stood up from the couch. Everyone turned their heads to look at him as he spoke.

    "What do you need in town?" Colton asked while he took a sip from his pop. It was quite surprising that he was drinking something other than a beer.

    "Oh you know, I need some drinks and some condoms.  Rebekah and I used them all last night so.." He said which a dirty smirk. Colton laughed.

"On second thought, I'm fresh-out of condoms as well. " Colton said with a laugh. In that moment I instantly froze, as did almost everyone in the room. Inside, my heart was beating so fast I thought I was going to have a mental breakdown. 

"No way. Elizabeth and you fuck? I didn't think she was a dirty girl" Carson said shocked.

Kill
Me
Now

I wanted to scream. To yell to them that Colton was lying! That what he was saying wasn't anywhere close to true. But for some reason I couldn't get the words of frustration to come out. I couldn't force myself to spill the the truth. I just let him go on and lie to everyone about our nonexistent sex life.  I mean, what was I supposed to do? I was mad, but more than anything, I was embarrassed to the point of being a tomato. I would've rather slipped and fell on a banana peel than for everyone to believe what was coming out of Colton's mouth. My whole body went rigid.

   "Yeah. Right Elizabeth?" He asked. He looked at me in a certain way that made me shiver. My whole body went ridged and I found my eyes drifting to look at Ben. He didn't look happy, not at all. In fact, he looked completely pissed off. I grew more embarrassed by the second just by looking at Ben's disappointment.

      "Yeah" I muttered. I only went along with the lie because of Colton's persistent glare that drilled into my eyes.  I couldn't breathe when Carson smirked and punched Colton in the arm.

      "Well at least you get to fuck a girl with a big ass" He said with the loudest laugh that everyone heard. Rebekah yelled with a soft giggle and got up to hit Carson in the arm playfully. Ben stood up and immediately left the room, while everyone else left the house in a following manner.

I was left by myself and all I really wanted to do was cry.  The embarrassment I felt couldn't be compared to anything else. All that kept running through my mind was Ben. Ben. Ben. Ben.

What if he thought I slept with Colton after I told Him that I thought he was right, that Colton was using me. Ben was so disappointed I could see it in his eyes, the way they sunk and the way his light-hearted smile instantly transformed into a frown as soon as Colton spoke.

Everything made my heart plummet to the ground and I knew I had dug a hole so deep it was too late to resurface.

When Colton returned later that night I was chilling in the bed, reading a book that was randomly on the bookshelf. Except inside I wasn't really reading, I was thinking so hard I could hear my heartbeat. Colton threw the plastic bag on the ground beside the bed and climbed on top. His eyes full of lust. He looked drunk, and I could smell the beer on his breath when he spoke.

     "Hey babe" He said slowly. I wasn't happy with his voice and the way he tried to sound husky. In fact, I hated him right now. I hated him. I hated all his lies, all the cockiness. I hated every part of him, even his gorgeous face.

"Don't talk to me" I replied heartlessly. At this moment I didn't care how cold I was being. All I cared about now was proving to him that he was a absolute jerk.

"Cmon baby." He said, grabbing my leg and sliding it towards him. He climbed up my body seductively, putting his hands above my head.

"Get off" I said, pushing his arms off and rolling to the side to stand up. I was so annoyed words can't express. I wanted to punch him in the throat.

"Are you really that butt hurt about the whole sex thing? It's literally not that big of a deal" he said. Moving closer and closer to the point I was starting to get agitated.

           "It is a big deal you moron. I don't want people thinking I'm a hoe" I said, looking at him in the eyes.

        "Well if you slept with Ben, what's so hard about sleeping with me?" Colton smirked, and almost instantly, like a light switch going off, my personalities reversed. I shoved him so hard back against the bed that he went flying backwards. Obviously caught off guard.

       "Mm feisty. I like it" He said, and this time I punched him right in the balls. And I had no regrets as he doubled over in pain. His face turned a bright red as he was gripping his crotch in his hands, rolling slightly over in the bed. A loud moan escaped his mouth.

   "Okay okay I get it" He said out of breath as he returned to reality. I looked at him, unpleased by the answer

"Elizabeth, I'm really sorry. I really am. Please forgive me. " he said, looking at me in the eyes. He must've realized that I wasn't going to answer because he started to speak again. "Will you at least come night swimming with all of us tonight?"

I thought about it, hesitant at first but I eventually decided that I would.  Regardless if I was mad at Colton or not. Ben would be there. Ben would be there. I slowly nodded my head yes.

   *^*^*%*^^^^€^^€*

Everyone was gathered around the fire after we swam, dressed in their bathing suits while others wore a light jacket over top. It was a breezy night but a nice one for a campfire as the waves crashed against the shore. The moon was perfect, lighting up the area just enough to see around us. Every other house on the shoreline is probably asleep by now as the clock hit midnight. Somehow I could tell that the night out wouldn't end anytime soon for us.

Ben was sitting across from me while Colton sat in a folding chair beside me, his hand in my lap. I was wearing a sun dress over my bathing suit, perfectly fine with the temperature while Colton was wearing just his swimming trunks. Ben on the other hand, had thrown on a T-shirt before sitting down at the fire. His hair was a perfect mess, so perfect I just wanted to run my fingers through it. Kiss his lips..

Wait what?

I shook the thought away and glanced at Colton beside me, his hand fidgeting a little bit.  Rebekah spoke up,

    "Can we play dare or dare?" She asked eagerly, folding her hands in her lap.  Everyone else around the fire nodded, except for me and Ben who sat there not voicing our opinions.  Reagan seemed absolutely excited as she started to shake her leg eagerly. A big wide smile on her face.

  "Is it that one where if you chicken then you have to remove a piece of clothing?"  Carson asked. Rebekah nodded her head and almost instantly my stomach dropped like the ball on New Year's Eve. Why was everyone else so excited about this?

"Okay, I'll start." Rebekah said eagerly. "Jill, I dare you to go over to the neighbors window and put your bare butt against it" Rebekah said, her laugh clouding over us. Jill looked disgusted but she had no other option unless she wanted to sit topless or bottomless around everyone. So, she stood up.

   "I hate you so much" Jill said to Rebekah before she waltzed over to the neighbors window and pulled down her bottoms. For my sake, it was dark enough that you couldn't see anything. Although the boys probably thought that was a bad thing. Jill came running back as fast as she could, she was laughing and for the most part she seemed pretty happy now that it was done and over with.

Jill spoke next. "Okay, well Carson, I dare you to send all your streaks a dick pic" She said, she was fully laughing now. I was okay with that since I never did and never will have a snapstreak with Carson.  Colton on the other hand began to wave his hands no. To be completely honest, this was kind of funny and I definitely found it humorous.

   "Are you fucking crazy?" He exclaimed. But seeing as he was just wearing his swimming trunks he pulled out his phone. Everyone began to laugh as he turned on the flash and aimed the lens down his pants. I mentally cringed. I was just thankful I would never see that picture , never.

"Remind me to never open that Snapchat" Colton said laughing. He grabbed my thigh harder while he slid his hand in between my legs. A cold chill ran through my body when Ben watched him. He looked mad, angry and furious as Colton slid his hand further up my thigh to his final destination. Colton scooted his chair closer to mine.

"Yeah, okay buddy. "Carson said while looking around the campfire for the next victim. I didn't expect him to pick me, in fact I thought he would pick Colton. But when he made eye contact with me, an evil smirk spread across his lips" Libby, I dare you to kiss Benedict" Carson said.

Instantly, my heart stopped beating. Everyone might as well be at my funeral because I was dead. My face turned a deep dark red because down in my mind I imagined my lips meeting his. So graceful and inspirational. But I couldn't do that, not here. Not ever. After what had happened between us, when Colton accused me of cheating I couldn't kiss him. He's my best friend.

Ben seemed awkward, like he didn't know where to look. While Colton grabbed my sun dress in his hands. "You can just take this off" He said, obviously wanting me to chicken out. There was literally nothing else I could do. After all, Reagan and stared me down so hard I might've died just from her laser eyes. I shook my head.

    I lifted the sun dress over my head, being left in my swimsuit.

   "Well damn it Colton, looks like you have no competition. Ben has better abs than you. You know?" Carson said playfully. Colton glared at him, so devilish I got a little frightened. "Raise your hand if Ben has better abs" Carson yelled.

Everyone (literally everyone except Colton and I) raised their hands. Mine was reluctant, because I really really really wanted to raise my hand.

  "Shit, your girl is hella loyal" Carson said. I wasn't so sure about that.

If we would've played by the rules of the game, it would be my turn to pick whose next. But unfortunately for me, everyone seemed to forget that when they told Brandon to dare someone to do something. Brandon thought about it for a moment while looking over his choices. His eyes landed on Colton.

     "Colton, I dare you to make out with Jill for 1 minute" He said, and once again as if the whole process were replaying in my head, I almost died. Deep down, jealousy began to rise. But it wasn't even like I was that jealous, I was just kind of mad, angry. I would've guessed that Colton would've said no, that he wouldn't have done it. But, he was only wearing his swimming trunks and he had no other option (or so he says). I nodded my head, trying so hard from slapping him in the face. But he walked over to Jill anyways and I was forced to endure the longest minute of my life. His lips were all over hers, his hands traveled places where I never let him go on me. She was all over him, running her fingers through his hair.

How could this possibly be fair? How could he possibly do this to me? His own girlfriend?

Or maybe I wasn't his girlfriend anymore.

I looked at my lap the whole time, only giving a few glances here and there in hopes it would be over. The people around me laughed like it was funny, they whistled. I could feel Ben staring at me so intently and all I could think of is one thing.

I should've kissed him.

I should've kissed Benedict Marshall.