Adrian and I arrived at the beach where the bonfire party was being held. People had already made a big ass fire, a few people circled around it, others were playing stupid drinking games while the rest just chatted away with each other. I loved how the full moon was making the ocean waves sparkle, and I was able to see what people were doing, what they were wearing, heck I could even see the color of their eyes because of how bright it was.

I looked up at Adrian, his eyes were fixed on something or rather someone. Following his gaze, I saw that he was staring at Jen. She was chatting with two other girls, laughing and giggling.

I rolled my eyes at him, the girl was hot but she wasn't interesting.

Oh maybe you're just jealous said my inner voice.

I refused to think that I was jealous.

"Dude." I waved my hand infront of his face.

"Huh?" He looked down at me.

"Stop staring at her." I angrily gritted my teeth, the corner of his lips lifted.

"Don't be jealous, you're the one my heart beats for." He stated. I knew he was just joking but my heart fluttered at his words and I fucking hated it.

"Where's Jared?" I changed the subject. What was I supposed to respond to something so...intimate?

"He's not here, said he had more important things to do." Adrian responded, looking back at Jen.

"Pussy." I muttered, referring to Jared. Jared was so anti social, that was one of the reasons why he and Adrian got along so well.

"Let's go say hi to Jen." He held my hand.

"Hell no." I objected, wrecking my hand out of his.

"C'mon babe, we're just going to say hi." He dragged my hand and I tried to retrieve it again while I stood my ground but Adrian was so strong.

"Calling me babe won't make me change my mind." I stumbled my legs, he stopped trying but still had his hand grasping my wrist.

"I'll tell her you're my girlfriend." He suggested.

"It's still a no." My tone was candid.

"And I'll carry you on my back." He added. I smiled at the offer. I liked it when he carried me on his back, his back was so comfortable it literally felt like a sleeping place.

"Okay fine I'll do it." I gave in with a smile on my face.

"Of course you will." He turned around and gestured for me to hop on his back. I rubbed my hands in anticipation before literally jumping onto his back and wrapping my arms around his neck, he intertwined his arms with my the back of my knees.

He started walking us towards Jen and her friends as I placed my chin on his shoulder, he turned his head to stare at me, a mischievous smile played on his lips, which left me curious. I had no clue as to why he was being a nice guy all of the sudden or what he was thinking at that moment but I assumed it was something good since he smiled and all.

He didn't put me down when we reached the girls and my heart cheered.

"Hey, ladies." He greeted.

"Hey, Adrian." They all responded flirtatiously at the same time. I was fighting back the urge to roll my eyes at them. I mean the guy literally had another girl on his back so where the hell did they get the guts to flirt in my presence?

"Hey Adrian's friends." I waved at them cheerfully and tried my best to sound nice.

They had to look at my face and even glare at me before saying hey back. Bitches.

"Ladies meet my-"

"Emily Bennett?" Jess came out of nowhere, cutting Adrian's introduction.

Damn it.

"Put me down." I whispered on Adrian's neck. He dropped me and I adjusted my sweatshirt. I saw Jen looking at me from head to toe as she sipped on whatever was in her red cup.

Jess furrowed her brows at Jen, noticing the look. I ended up looking down at my own appearance, I was in white Fila shoes, black jeans and a pink sweatshirt.

Did I look weird?

"Hey, Jess." I ignored Jen and plastered a smile on my face.

"Can I borrow her for a sec?" She asked Adrian while she entwined our fingers. I looked down at our hands then at Adrian. Looking unsure of himself he just nodded and Jess dragged me along with her.

I looked back at Adrian and the bitchy chicks, I didn't like the feeling that came with leaving him alone with Jen and the other girls.

"Looks like a lot of girls don't like you." Said Jess, I turned to look at her questionably. "I saw how that blonde girl was glaring at you." She pointed out.

"She's in love with Adrian so I don't blame her." I shrugged as we reached a group of girls who were deep in some kind of argument, Jess sat down on a garden chair and I sat on the one next to hers.

"So you're telling me that she's in love with your boyfriend and you know about it but you're just gonna let it slide?" She asked in disbelief.

"Exactly." one of the girls passed me a red cup and I took it, thinking of how my last encounter with alcohol went, I hesitated to take a sip.

"I'm starting to think that you're really dumb." Said Jess. I didn't blame her, I thought I was really dumb too.

"Why? Because I'm letting him talk to her?" I asked.

"No, because you're letting her flirt with him." She said.

"What?" I was puzzled. She pointed in the direction we came from and I snapped my head to look, I saw Jen whispering something in Adrian's ear. Her friends were gone so it was just them.

My blood literally boiled at the sight.

Why can't boys think with their heads and not the inside of their pants?

Jesus.

I drained the liquid down my throat and asked for another, the girls cheered at me and I giggled at them. Jess patted my back as she took a sip of her drink.

A pretty brunette girl, I think her name was Stacy, handed me another cup full of what tasted like vodka mixed with lemonade juice.

"Fuck boys!" I lifted the cup in the air.

"Fuck boys!" they repeated after me in Union and we clicked cups while we said our cheers before drinking the bitter liquid. I scrunched my face as I felt the burn flowing down inside me.

"Let's play truth or dare." Jess suggested. Two girls said no while the other three said yes.

I just sat there and looked down at my drink, fighting back the urge to look at Adrian and Jen. I kept telling myself he was just my fake boyfriend. That it was okay for him to flirt with other girls.

"C'mon it will be fun." Jess tried to convince them.

"We're not in kindergarten." A girl called Gina responded.

"Bitch, do not play if you don't want to." Jess said to her. I bit my lower lip to stop myself from laughing.

"And I won't." Gina raised both her hands in the air like she was surrendering.

"Gina truth or dare." Jess asked her either way. I laughed.

"I just said I'm not going to play." Gina raised her hands in the air again.

"We all know you wanna play." Stacy chuckled.

"Okay fine. Truth." She sighed defeatedly.

"Is it true that you had a crush on Cole Williams?" Stacy asked Gina.

Obvious question and who hadn't? Cole Williams was like one of the most hottest popular guys at our school, he was a jock and of course, friends with Charlie, he had a lot of girls drooling over him but like every other jock at our school, he was nothing but a common fuck boy.

"I did." Gina sounded so ashamed of herself. "Jess truth or dare?" She asked Jess.

"Truth." Jess answered confidently, taking a sip of her drink.

"Is it true that you're a lesbian?" Gina questioned. The air was suddenly fiilled with awkward tension. I took a sip of my drink.

"I feel like a lot of people have been trying to ask me this question even though I've only been here for like a week so thank you very much for asking and yes I like girls and yes I've fucked boys before." She answered honestly.

For some reason, that answer made her look so much more cooler.

"So you're like.." Gina trailed off.

"Bisexual, dumbass." Jess rolled her chocolate eyes at Gina.

"Okay, it's Emily's turn, Emily truth or dare?" Stacy turned to ask me. Suddenly all eyes were on me. I knew that if I were to choose truth then someone would ask me about Charlie or about Adrian and I just didn't want to be in that awkward position.

"Dare." My tone was lower than I anticipated.

"I dare you to drink-"

"No no no, do not waste a dare like that. Emily here has to prove to that stupid bimbo over there that Adrian belongs to her and not vise versa so Emily, I dare you to go kiss your boyfriend right now. Show that bitch who's boss." She dared. My heart picked up it's pace.

"What?" I fluttered my eyes at her.

"You heard her." Gina said in a pushy tone.

"Do it." Said Stacy.

"Do it." Jess repeated after Stacy.

"Do it! Do it! Do it Do it!" They chanted in whispery tones. I sighed defeatedly, chugging on what was left of my drink and brought myself to my feet. I stumbled a little due to the effect of the alcohol.

I saw Adrian explaining something to Jen, she was listening to him closely. I began to trudge towards them, bumping into whoever I came in contact with.

And when I reached them, I stood right in between Adrian and Jen, cutting off whatever he was babbling to her, he looked down at me with a baffled stare. Glancing back at where the girls were sitting, I saw that they were watching me so I looked back at Adrian.

"What are you-"

I cut him off by hitching my breath and standing on my tippy toes, placing my hand on the back his neck and pecking his lips. He held his gaze on mine as I pulled away, then his eyes dropped to my lips intensely, he extended his hands to the sides of my face and smashed his lips on mine, my knees turned into jelly and my stomach bursted with butterflies. He snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to his chest, I gasped in his mouth and my hand travelled to his hair, gripping at it. He released a groan, almost like it annoyed him, my stomach tightened at the sound. The kiss was longer than the first one, feeling like I was out of breath I gasped for air but didn't hesitate to kiss him again and again and again. The good part was that Jenny or whatever the fuck she called herself was still standing behind me, watching everything go down. The bad part was that I was making out with Adrian for the second time and I seemed to like it a lot and, I had no idea why he was kissing me back like his mouth depended on it.

"Were you drinking vodka?" He whispered against my lips, so typical of him.

"People who don't drink have no idea what vodka tastes like." I whispered back as I pulled away and met his eyes.

"It's kinda of the reason why I don't drink." He shrugged slightly.

"So where's the guy we're trying to get jealous?" Jen asked. Thinking that my ears were deceiving me_I turned around.

"The asshole in the blue shirt." Adrian spoke in a low tone as he tilted his head in Charlie's direction. Charlie was standing near with kids from Thornpark, he wasn't even paying any attention to us.

Guessed I had my answer as to why he kissed me back.

Wait.

"You told her?!" I pointed at Jen while my eyes were glued to Adrian.

"Jared told her." He said, sounding unbothered.

"And you confirmed it?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Look girl, Adrian and I have been friends since-"

"I don't give a fuck if you two have been friends since whenever and I'm not talking to you so please don't interrupt and just shut the fuck up." I snapped at her, she went bug-eyed.

"Emily.." Adrian whispered my name, like he was trying to tell me to be nice. I glared at him.

"I'm gonna go." I turned to leave.

"Hey, wait." He stopped me by holding on to my arm, his touch gave me goosebumps, it wasn't even skin to skin contact. The hell was wrong with me?

"No it's okay, we're cool." I forced a smile.

"You sure?" He asked, slowly letting go of my arm.

"Yeah." I continued walking back to the girls but then I felt a hand grasp my arm again, I sighed knowing it was Adrian but I turned around and found Charlie staring down at me.

"Hey." He uttered.

"Hi." I stated.

"Wanna talk?" He asked.

Seeing how Adrian was having a good time with Jen even though he freaking promised not to utter one word to her and me being in some kind of awkward position of watching them and being all 'cool' about it, I seriously needed a distraction so I had no choice but to accept Charlie's offer.

Which was probably the second worst mistake I had ever made in my entire life.

He managed to get two beers from the Thornpark kids before we started strolling on the beach, away from the party.

He opened one beer and extended the bottle to me, I took it from his hold and had a sip.

"So where's Kim?" I tried to cook up conversation.

"She and Haley had other plans." He said.

"Of course they did." I murmured.

"Where's Adrian?" He turned to look at me while he asked with a teasing smile.

"I know you saw him." I rolled my eyes at him, he chuckled.

"I almost thought he was someone else because of that girl he was flirting with." He nudged my shoulder.

Damnit Adrian, I knew this would happen.

"He wasn't flirting with her, they are just friends." I tried to defend him.

Charlie scratched the back of his head, "I don't know, it kinda looked like he wanted to fuck her right then and there and honestly, I don't blame him cause that girl is smoking hot." He said.

"Stop assuming things, Adrian isn't like you." I said without thinking, he didn't respond, he just looked down at the sand with a sad expression.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that." I shut my eyes in total regret.

"It's okay." He assured me, trying his best to smile.

"No it's not." I muttered to myself.

"Does he treat you alright?" He questioned, I had never heard his voice turn so serious until that night.

Well, Adrian did call me dude a lot so yeah something like that.

"Yes." I answered.

"He's lucky to have you, you're a good person and a good listener." He complimented me.

It felt good to be appreciated for once but then again I could have used that appreciation back when we were still dating.

"Are you okay, Charlie?" I asked when I noticed a frown on his face. We stopped walking and I stood in front of him.

"Yeah, it's just the pressure." He said.

"What pressure?" I asked.

"Football. My parents, my coach, the principal everyone keeps pushing me to concentrate more and practice more and I'm just sick of it." He gritted.

"Then don't, do it at your own time or just do what you want to do." I advised.

"That's not an option, now I just think that my whole life is a fake." He said.

"Why would you think that" I held his hand in mine.

"Because literally every Friend I have is friends with me because of my reputation and my supposingly good looks." He stared down at our touching hands.

"That's not true." I shook my head.

"Really? So if I were to ask you Emily, would you have gone out with me if I wasn't on the football team? if I was just this geek in glasses who's good at math."

I chuckled sarcastically, "Oh Charlie, I didn't go out with you because you were this sexy popular guy, I went out with you because I had the chance to meet the real Charlie when I tutored you, I fell for the real you and not the cocky asshole in the school hallways." I said.

He looked like he had just gotten into realization about something.

"I fucked up, didn't I?" He asked.

"Whatever you mean?" I rolled my eyes.

"I mean I broke up with you and now you're with Adrian Mackey and you're probably never gonna get back with me." He looked distant.

"No, and I don't know why you really broke up with me but it sucked and it doesn't suck anymore and I'd like for it to stay that way if you don't mind." I said. He nodded like saying he understood.

"I just miss you so much." He placed his hand on my cheek and brushed it.

I did feel his touch but it was just that, a touch. It didn't burn my skin, it didn't even tickle me or give me goosebumps.

Shit.

"I don't know what to say to that." I responded to his previous statement.

I didn't miss him back, why didn't I miss him back, he was supposed to be the love of my life.

"Adrian isn't so innocent, don't trust him so much." He said.

Why did I believe him?

"I think I can handle Adrian but thanks for the concern." I tried not to ask why he had said that.

Instead of saying something, he engulfed me into a hug, It took me atleast five seconds before I wrapped my arms around him but something about it all was off, I felt like I was doing something very wrong.