"Sup love birds!!" A loud voice shouts enthusiastically. My eyes shoot open and I see a smirking Toby at my door.

I hear a groan next to me and turn around to see a sleepy Aiden stirring. He sits up and the blanket falls off him, leaving his chest bare.

When did he get changed?!

"Fuck off Toby," Aiden replies, falling back down, his hands covering his face.

"Mills is happy to see me at least, aren't you!?" Toby continues excitedly, walking over to the bed and practically jumping on the other side of me.

"Sorry babe, I tried to stop him." Dale says guiltily from the door, I see Charlie beside him laughing.

Toby reaches to my bedside table and picks up the Harry Potter book I had been up to.

Aiden just groans again, and I fall back down so I was lying beside him. Right now I was in the middle of two extremely attractive boys in my bed; Pearlacre's biggest heartache/badboy and his cheeky best friend. Most girls would probably jump at the opportunity but I was just upset Toby had woken me up from my amazing dream.

"Little E!!!" I hear the familiar voice of one of my other best friends before I see him. He runs past Dale and a still laughing Charlie and also joins us on the bed.

For fuck sake.

"Miles?" I question smiling, sitting back up. I was really glad he was here but I was surprised that 1, he was out of bed, and 2, he was invited.

"Luke said something terrible happened last night and thought that me coming to your little pool day would make you feel better," Miles replies shrugging, obviously having no idea what actually happened.

Miles's words make the carefree atmosphere turn into a tense one quicker than Aiden can get a girl in bed. Aiden jolts up, almost as of waking up from a nightmare. Toby drops my book, Charlie stops laughing and Dale looks horrified again.

"Something I said?" Miles asks quietly, obviously registering the atmosphere.

I quickly shake my thoughts away from last nights events and use all my strength to push Miles of the bed. He lands with a thud.

"I have to get ready, everyone out!!" I say, in what I hope seems like a joking tone. It seems to work because Miles crosses his arms childishly and leaves followed by a protesting Toby. Dale winks at me and also walks out and Charlie walks towards my bathroom.

"Aiden!!" I groan, trying to push him out of the bed also. Obviously everyone was arriving and my morning hair and breath wouldn't cut it.

"What? Not letting me stay for the show?" Aiden smirks.

"No!! I will never put on a show for you!!" I reply blushing.

"Really? I say last night's dance says differently." Aiden's smirk impossibly grows.

I try and recount last nights events before it happened to remember what Aiden was referring to. Wait a minute. Did I really? No way. But. I gave Aiden a lap dance.

Fuck

My

Life.

My face turns the familiar rose color and Aiden chuckles confidently, I see even Charlie laughing from my bathroom.

"You can continue that any time you please by the way Collins." Aiden continues.

My face feels like it's on fire.

"Out!!" I manage to say.

Aiden smirks again and stands up, it's only now I see he's only in his boxers. When the fuck did that happen!?

Aiden doesn't say anything and puts his jeans on before sauntering outside, grabbing his jacket that I still had after the night at the tracks and leaving me wide-eyed and open-mouthed behind him.

"Holy fuck." Charlie comments from the bathroom; "his body actually gets better."

"Charlie!!" I groan, my face turning red again.

"Come on Em, we have to make you look sexy as for today's pool day. I'm thinking the most revealing swimsuit, full makeup, and beach curled hair." Charlie says excitedly, holding up my straightener like it was a weapon.

"What? No!! The makeup will wash off, my hair will get wet and go back to normal and I want to be comfortable!!" I argue, I had a point though.

"Agh. Fine. But I'm choosing your bikini." Charlie demands, I laugh, nodding in agreement.

Charlie goes through my swimmer's drawer, picking our random bikini's and throwing them in piles while I sit on my bed and wait.

"This one!!" Charlie cheers, throwing me one of my favorite bikinis. It wasn't too revealing but showed enough as well as my tan. One side of the bra was a beautiful pink, and the other was shiny silver. There was a pink thread going around the top, and the back of it was the same pink color. The bottoms were just as cute, majority pink with a silver patch. The swimsuit wasn't padded but was still very comfortable.

I smile at Charlie encouragingly and walk into the bathroom so I can do my morning routine. When I'm done and in my swimsuit, I walk out to see Charlie in hers. She looks as beautiful as normal, and her amazing body was on display. She was wearing a plain black bikini which made her skin look tanner than it was. She throws on some black denim shorts and a white crop top that shows her belly and holds out my favorite pair of blue denim shorts with a loose black crop top.

I put on the clothes and we walk downstairs, the first thing I notice is Aiden in different clothes, wearing swimming trunks and a plain black top which shows off his amazing arms. I then notice everyone else was there. Dale was sitting talking to Miles, Aiden was on his phone and Toby, Carter, Blake and Luke were all chatting about who knows what.

As soon as I see the guys my smile widens, I was so glad they were here. No matter the circumstances. As soon as Toby sees me he runs up and hugs me as if he didn't see me half an hour ago. Blake and Carter also walk over to me, I catch Aiden's eye and see him smirking at me from behind everyone.

"How are you Em?" Carter smiles softly. I match his smile, "a lot better, thanks."

He wraps his arms around me until Blake pushes him away; "Oi, I want a turn hugging the beautiful girls." Charlie and I both laugh at his harmless flirting as we hug him. As soon as he releases me Toby pulls me into a suffocating hug.

"Toby." I groan.

"I missed us not being best friends. Never leave me with these assholes again." Toby cries dramatically, making everyone laugh.

"Tobes, it was literally like 2 days." I laugh.

"I know," Toby groans dramatically, "never go that long without talking to me again."

We all laugh and head outside where it was beginning to get really hot. My mother, Robert, and Elijah had all gone out grocery shopping or something, but I knew that when they came back, Lij would probably come and hang with Miles.

We all spread out on the pool chairs and in the shade, I lie my towel down on 1 of 2 pool chairs away from the rest and Dale puts his down beside me. Charlie walks over to us as well and I move over so we can share a chair.

"This fucking speaker isn't working!!" Charlie groans, holding my mom's old Bluetooth speaker in her hand and shaking it aggressively.

Dale and I laugh.

I notice Dale look around and then turn to us. "Babe's who the fuck is Miles?! He is literally hotter than the current temp."

Charlie and I laugh a little, but I still feel the slight pang in my chest whenever I'm reminded of Maddi.

"Luke's older brother," Charlie smiles.

"Gay?" Dale asks. My heart tightens and I walk away. I see both Charlie and Dale notice but I'm thankful when they don't question it. I hadn't told Dale about my past, I had every intention to but I just couldn't bring myself to.

I feel as though too many people know, I'm not saying that I regret telling Aiden because I don't. I just don't like being that vulnerable, I was the strong one remember.

I walk over to Toby and Aiden who were on another 2 chairs away from the rest of them, when Toby sees me approaching he noticeably hits Aiden and he stops talking about whatever he was.

"Mills!!" Toby cheers. I smile, ignoring the abrupt stop of whatever they were discussing.

"Calvin Klein boring you already Collins?" Aiden smirks. I just roll my eyes and sit beside a grinning Toby.

"I need to talk to Blake," Toby grins, I see Aiden give him an aggressive look as he stands to walk away but I ignore it and lie down on Toby's sun chair.

I put my hands over my eyes to block out the sun which was getting hotter by the second.

I need to tell Dale, I can't keep this from him. He was meant to be one of my best friends and the sooner I told him, the better it would be for both of us.

I need to tell him today.

"You good Collins?" Aiden asks.

"No," I reply groaning. Yeah, I was being childish but cut me some slack.

"What happened?" Aiden asks sincerely, after a minute of hesitation I sit up to face his questioning look.

"I need to tell Dale," I admit, my heart breaking a little. I wasn't sure why I was consoling in the bad boy when I had Luke and Charlie here who know me so much better but something about Aiden just made me want to share everything with him.

"Tell him what?" Aiden asks, but by his tone, it seems he already knows.

"Maddi, my father, everything," I reply quietly.

Aiden doesn't say anything for a while; "why do you need to tell him?" He says after a while.

"He's one of my best friends, he should know." I reply.

I notice Aiden about to say something, but he stops the last second and I'm left wondering what he was about to say.

"You should go and talk to Luke, he still hasn't recovered from last night." Aiden breathes.

My heart sinks a little at his obvious change of subject, and blatant attempt to get rid of me, but at the same time I look at Luke and notice Aiden was right.

He was sitting quietly while Toby, Blake, and Miles chatted excitedly about something and my heart clenches at the sight.

I throw Aiden one last look and walk towards him. I hear Aiden groan but don't pay any attention to it. I don't know why I was so upset that he wasn't interested in what I was saying, but I was.

As soon as Luke sees me he looks like he breaks all over again. My heart clenches again; "Lukas, can we talk?" I ask softly.

Luke nods, still looking extremely broken but he stands up. I begin walking towards my room, knowing full well he was following. I sit on my bed and wait for him to close the door and sit beside me.

🎵🎤🎶

"Luke, are you okay?" I ask softly.

"Am I okay?" Luke replies, obvious shock laced in his voice.

"Yeah?" I reply, but it comes out more like a question.

"Em, you almost got raped because of me last night. I was so stupid and I left you alone, and then you were gone." Luke says, tears welling his eyes.

"Luke, it wasn't your fault at all!! You can't blame yourself." I say strongly, grabbing a hold of him as if to shake some logic in him.

"How wasn't it?" He asks through his tears.

"You weren't the one who got me drunk, or tricked me into going upstairs, or who actually tried. You were just being an amazing best friend trying to get me home to protect me!!" I reply strongly.

Luke doesn't say anything and I lean my head on his shoulder.

"Please, I just need your forgiveness," Luke begs.

I sigh, looking up at my amazing best friend. "Luke, although I don't believe it was your fault at all, if my forgiveness is what you need to forget about it then you have it, you would have had it even if it was your fault," I say, leaning my head against his shoulder again.

"Thank you." He says.

I squeeze his hand in mine but we sit in silence for a few moments.

I hear Charlie cheer in the background as the speaker finally works, "She Will Be Loved" begins to play by maroon 5.

"Emilia, will you do something for me?" Luke begs timidly.

I look up at him expectantly; "anything."

"Kiss me." He begs.

I freeze.

What.

"Luke I -" I begin but get cut off.

"Please Em, I've loved you my whole life and dreamt about us kissing forever, and when I finally did get to kiss you, I was drunk and you pushed me away. Please Em, just once. I know you will never feel the same way about me as I do you, I know that I'm not the one you really want to kiss. But please, I just need to know what it feels like." Luke begs. For a minute I looked into his eyes and see the same eyes from when we were 8 years old and made a promise to always do whatever the other needed.

"I don't want to lead you on," I whisper guiltily, am I not keeping the promise?

"You're not, I know you don't love me, I know it's him, but I need this. Please Em, just once." Luke begs again.

"I thought you said you were getting over me," I whisper.

"I am, but I won't until I just know what kissing you feels like," Luke begs again. I can hear the helplessness, I know he's starting to accept that I wasn't going to. I look up at him and see the heartbreak and need in his eyes. The eyes look as vulnerable as they have my whole life. His familiar blue eyes make me want to do whatever it is that he needs and I make my decision.

"Okay," I whisper, Luke looks at me shocked but he soon recovers and leans in. I follow.

Our lips touch and everything about it feels wrong, his left hand is placed on my right cheek as our lips move in sync. His lips are soft, like butterfly wings and I find myself wondering what Aiden's lips would feel like. Even though I had never really kissed Luke, his lips somehow felt familiar, like they were safe.

We pull away, breathing heavily. Luke smiles softly and I'm happy that I did that for him.

"Thank you Emilia." Luke smiles, a real and genuine smile.

"Let's go back down, everyone's probably going to go swimming soon.

Luke nods and stands up, I look down at my knees. Was what I did bad? Did I just make it harder for him? Although I wasn't sure how Luke was feeling, I was still happy that I kissed him after seeing the grateful expression on his familiar face.

"Didn't we close that?" Luke asks. My head shoots up and I see him referring to my now open door.

I swear we did as well.

Did someone see us? Did Charlie see us?

I quickly bolt to my back window and look out of it, Charlie was laughing with Dale, she didn't see it.

Thank fuck.

I shrug, "maybe the wind blew it open?"

Luke shrugs as well and we walk downstairs.

"Hey Emilia," Luke smiles.

I look at him, "yeah Lukas?"

"We'll be fine, you and Aiden would make a great couple." He smiles.

My heart beats frantically in my chest and I can't stop the huge smile that spreads over my face, he was okay with it. Kissing him worked.

I squeal and jump in his arms, overly happy that everything was working out.

He catches me like usual, laughing effortlessly.

"Is Miles here?" We hear from behind us.

We turn to see a smiling Lij, they must have gotten back.

"Yeah, come on." I laugh, letting go of Luke and walking back outside to where Charlie had just been thrown in the pool by Blake and Toby.

Elijah sees Miles who was chatting with Carter and instantly runs over to him. As soon as Miles sees Elijah, his face lights up the same way Lij's does when Miles is around and I smile again.

Maybe everything would be okay from here on.