When I manage to peel my eyes open, the sun streaming in through the lounge's curtain greets me and I close my eyes again. The sound of steady breathing can be heard and when I look at the floor below the couch I'm sprawled out on, Alex's back greets me. A shirtless one at that.

That's when I remember Nina telling the boys to get off the couch and sleep on the pillow fort on the floor so that the girls could take the couches. Of course this caused a lot of groaning from Martin but he listened nonetheless. However, I didn't catch most of their argument since I had already dosed off into Alex's side. He had gently peeled me off him as Nina scolded the guys, and rested me on the couch again. He made sure I was comfortable and I blush at the thought.

After that, everything is a blur since I'm pretty sure that I fell asleep through Suicide Squad. I turn onto my stomach and gaze down at Alex who is nestled comfortably on the floor.

His back rises and falls steadily and I admire how toned his back is. His brown hair is ruffled and in a mess but damn does it look good. I think back to how he comforted me during the movie and I smile. I didn't need to ask. Alex always seems to know what I need, when I need it and where I need it. He can basically read my mind.

When I realise that staring at his sleeping body is creepy, I sigh and sit up, stretching as I do so. I peel the blanket off of me and climb off the couch while trying not to step on any of the guys. I notice that the couch previously taken up by Nina is empty and then I hear the soft clatter of cutlery in the kitchen. I assume that's where she is and I walk over quietly.

When I step into the bright room, I squint slightly and come to see Nina sitting at the kitchen island, a cereal bowl in front of her. She mindlessly eats as she scrolls on her phone before she looks up at me and smiles.

"Morning, Soph. How'd you sleep?" She asks, locking her phone and placing it down. I smile and as my eyes adjust to the light I take a seat opposite her.

"Particularly well, actually."

She giggles. "I'm glad. So, how was your first Rebel movie night?"

I grin. "Quite the evening," I laugh with her. "But I had a lot of fun."
She smiles at me victoriously.

I gaze around the kitchen before looking back to her. "From what I've see, you have a beautiful house, Nina."

"What do you mean 'from what I've seen'?" she asks with a frown. I frown back at her.

"I mean that even though I haven't seen your whole house, I still think it's beautiful."

"Didn't I give you and Rachel a tour yesterday?" She asks. Her eyebrows are scrunched together and I would've laughed if I wasn't as perplexed as her.

"No?" I answer. Nina face palms herself.

"Fuck, I'm such a bad hostess. Sorry, Soph, I'm just so used to everyone knowing my house that I totally forgot about showing you and Rachel around."

I wave it off dismissively. "Don't stress over it, Nina. Nobody said you had to show us anyway. I was just complimenting you."

She shakes her head, chewing her spoon. "No, no, I like my friends to know my house so they feel comfortable when they come over."

I chuckle. "It's okay."
She nods with a small smile before finishing off her cereal.
"Oh, by the way, if you want breakfast, just head over to cupboard and grab something although the boys usually make decent breakfast when everyone is up. I'm just too impatient." She informs me, standing up and heading to the sink.

"Nah, It's okay, I'll wait." I say. She nods and glances over her shoulder at me before heading to the kitchen door. "C'mon." She calls me. I stand up and frown.

"Where we going?"

She smirks, walking backwards as we make our way down the hallway. "Giving you that delayed house tour." She smirks and turns back around as I grin. We reach the end of the passage, just passed the bathroom and turn left where she opens a door leading to a study.

"This is my dad's study although I use it too, sometimes." She says before closing the door.
"Since you've seen every room downstairs, now, let me show you upstairs." On the opposite side of the study room is the staircase, glistening with the wood. Nina heads up there and I trail along behind her. When we reach the end, we reach the new story which also has a long passag. Except, with this one, a large window which touches the top of the roof all the way to the floor, looks out onto their lawn. Due to this, the hallway is very bright and lively. Picture frames line the wall and I can't help but smile. The first door on the right is a bathroom where as the first and last door on the left- just before the window- are the bedrooms.

"And now," Nina smirks while gripping the knob of the last door on the right, opposite her parents room, "my room."

I giggle at her dramatic pause before she pulls it open.

As I walk inside with her, she stands off to the side and watches me look around. Her room, much like her parents, also has a window looking out. She has white cupboards lining perpendicular to that and a Queen sized bed with purple blankets and pillows covering it.
A white desk sits in the corner closest to the window and books are scattered along it. However, what really catches my attention is what hangs on her wall behind her bed.

Hung up with fairy lights is the quote: Young Wild and Free, hanging by each letter. All together, her room is beautiful. Nothing I was expecting from her. I was expecting a gloomy room with band posters everywhere and clothes scattered around. I sure was wrong.

She takes a seat on her bed and grins at me. "So? What'd you think?" She asks me.

I gape at her.
"It's really something, Nina. I love it." I say, looking around once more before grinning. My eyes suddenly land on a picture frame on one of her bedside tables on I walk towards it, picking it up with my fingers. In the picture placed in a wooden frame, a laughing Nina is lifted in the air from behind by Martin who is grinning from ear to ear. It was taken by the beach as the waves and sand are seen in the background. The sun is bright like Nina's smile and they both look so happy and carefree. And Nina hardly ever looks like that.

I smile at the picture and look over my shoulder at Nina.
"You're pretty close with Martin, huh?" A soft smile makes it's way onto her face and she nods.

"Yeah, you could say that." She answers.

I put it down and walk over to her. "Does your family like him?" I ask. She rolls her eyes at me.

"They fucking adore him."

I chuckle. I really want to ask her why she hasn't told Martin how she feels but knowing her, she'll kick me out. My gaze then drifts towards her desk and when I catch sight of the sharpie pen, I smirk at the idea that pops into my head.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Nina asks me. I smirk at her and walk over to her desk, grabbing two sharpies.

"I just feel like demonstrating a makeover."

I turn around and show the pens to her. At first, she frowns but seconds later she catches on and smirks deviously. "Well, shit, Sophie. Aren't you an evil bitch."

I laugh and shrug. "I try."
She grabs the blue sharpie out of my hand and stands up.

"C'mon, before they wake up." She says. I giggle and we both leave her room, making our way downstairs to where everyone is still sleeping soundlessly. I quickly grab a hairband out of my bag and put my hair into a messy bun so that it doesn't bother me while I commit this evil plan. We tip-toe towards the others and Nina gives me her signature smirk before putting her fingers to her lips and I nod.

She heads over to Martin who is sprawled on his side and takes the cap off the sharpie and crouches down, beginning to draw on his face. On his forehead, she writes "Nobody's Bitch" and I have to muffle a laugh after she draws a dick on both his cheeks.

This girl is ruthless.

She nods her head in Alex's direction and I glance at him who is now sleeping on his back, his arms behind his head. I smile.

Martin stirs in his sleep so Nina stops and moves over to Cole. I, however, attempt to do artwork on Alex's face. Since he's basically next to the couch I was sitting on, I decide to climb on the couch and work on his face from there. As I get myself positioned, I pull the cap off of my sharpie and move it to his face. Just as it's about to touch his upper lip- where I intended to draw a ridiculous mustache- a hand suddenly grips my arm and pulls me off the couch so that I hit the pillows on the ground. It happens all so fast that I only manage to let out a squeal of surprise.

When I reach the floor, Alex rolls over to put him in a position above me. My arms are sprawled above my head, the sharpie clutched tightly in my hand and my chest rising and falling heavily from almost having a heart attack.
Alex however, looks at me with amusement dancing in his brown eyes as his hands are on either side of my head. I blush when I notice that he's basically straddling me.

How does one manage to look this good after just waking up?

I look between both his eyes and try to ignore the butterflies fluttering in my stomach due to our proximity and the way his smirk makes me want to kiss him so bad.

"Thought you could draw on me, huh?" He smirks. I chew on my bottom lip.

"Well, I do think you could use a makeover." I respond coly. He raises a brow at me.

"Oh, so you don't think I'm good looking?"

I roll my eyes, trying to dodge that question. "I'm not going to inflate your ego anymore or else it'll probably pop." I retort but can't help my lips from forming a smile.

He chuckles, "Well, aren't you a little ball of sunshine today." He teases. I roll my eyes again and realize how many times I've done that in the past three minutes.

"Get off me, Alex." I playfully shove his shoulder. How am I supposed to think straight when Alex is shirtless and hovering over me?

He smirks, "I quite like this position actually." I blush crimson at that and he laughs.

"Get off you big bafoon!" I scold him. He cackles and shakes his head, his hair falling in front of his eyes.

"Nope." He says, popping the 'p'.

I sigh, "Why not?"

He grins, " 'Cause you're mine now."

My heart immediately stops at that and my stomach churns.

Oh Alex, if you only knew how much I wish that was true.

I open my mouth to come back with retort but am cut off by Nina laughing and Cole letting out a stream of profanities. Alex and I look at both of them and Alex sits up, giving me some space. I immediately suck in a fresh breath of air and sigh in relief.

Alex messes up my mind. It's like all logic goes out the window when I'm with him. Alex stands up and offers me a hand which I glare at before getting up on my own. He chuckles at my reaction and I find myself giggling under my breath too.

"What the hell, Nina!?" Cole shouts, causing everyone else who was sleeping to wake up. Nina clutches her stomach while she cackles on the floor and I laugh too.

"What the fuc-" Christina starts groggily.

"I can't believe you drew on me!" Cole says in disbelief as he rubs at his face. Alex chuckles at Cole's drawn on beard but when Martin sits up and rubs his eyes, looking at everyone in confusion, Alex lets out an even louder hoot of laughter which catches everyone's attention- including mine- as I chuckle at his reaction.

He clutches his stomach and wipes away a stray tear as he looks at Martin.

"You look fucking ridiculous, man!" Alex laughs. Martin frowns.

"Nina decided to draw on us, man." Cole tells Martin. By now everyone is awake, Rachel and Christina laughing at the boys.

Martins eyes widen and within seconds he's running to the bathroom.

"Nina!" He shouts. By now I'm dying of laughter too. When he comes back into the room, his face furious yet somewhat amused, Nina stands up and tries to compose herself while giving Martin an innocent look.

"Yeah?"

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" He shouts. She laughs as she shrugs.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."
He gives her a 'seriously?' kind of look and points to his face. "

You just had to draw dicks right? On my fucking face!" He groans incredulously. Nina's face goes incredibly red as she tries not to laugh but fails miserably as she bursts out laughing.

Martin scowls at her before he, too, starts laughing. Before we know it, we're all laughing and now I think that's what we're laughing at, no longer the dicks on Martin's face but rather the fact that we don't even know why we're laughing so hard anymore.

That's the best kind of laughter; the one where you don't know why you're laughing but you just can't stop.

****

The carnival is just like I remembered it; colourful, busy and extremely fun. There's a lot of children running around, candy floss in hand and the prizes they've won from the games they've played.

As we move up in the line, Martin continues to groan about what Nina did and I can't help but laugh. If he only knew it was my idea.

"You owe me a lifetime supply of burgers for what you did." Martin glares at her.

Nina rolls her eyes.
"Oh, relax." She waves her hand dismissively. "At least Sophie suggested sharpies and not permanent marker."

Martin's gaze suddenly settles on me and I look away.

"You were in on this, too?" Martin exclaims in disbelief. I feel Alex chuckle under his breath beside me.

"Of course not!" I answer.

"Puh-lease," Nina laughs. "It was her idea to begin with."

"Nina!" I exclaim in shock. "How can you throw me under the bus like that?" I ask incredulously.

She holds her hands up in defense
"Hey, if I'm going down, you're going down with me."

I scoff. "Remind me to never do a crime with you."

She smirks at me. "Don't fool yourself, I was the best partner in crime you could've asked for."

I look back at Martin's face and remember Nina's artwork. I look back at her and we both burst out laughing. "Okay," I wheeze "You're right."

She shrugs victoriously and I laugh.

"I can't believe you, Sophie." Martin tsks. I laugh and shrug as we reach the window where we can pay.

"Howdy partner, how are y'all today?" The man behind the counter asks Alex and I with a Southern accent. Alex smiles. "Alright thanks, bud."

"What can I get ya?" The man with the name tag 'Jerry' asks.

"A ticket for two please." I say politely.

He grins back. "Alrighty, a ticket for the good-looking fella and the pretty girl." he pulls out two tickets. "That'll be eight dollars please," Alex pulls out his wallet as do I and I pull out a five dollar bill but before I can pay Alex beats me to it, handing Jerry a ten dollar bill.

I glare at him. "Why are you paying for me?" I ask.

He gives me a boyish grin, "That's what a pretty girl deserves."
A feel a blush creep up my neck but I continue staring at him. His eyes twinkle and I find myself smiling.

"You two a couple?" Jerry snaps us back into reality.

"No-" I'm not able to finish as Jerry cuts me off. "Cause if y'all are, you can get a discount."

My eyes widen, "No, we're jus-"
"Babe." Alex suddenly says to me.
"You don't need to be embarrassed. We've being dating for four months now," he playfully rolls his eyes.

I gawk at him. Are we really playing that game now?

"We'll have the couple tickets please," Alex asks Jerry.

He nods. "Why didn't y'all just say so?" Jerry laughs. I blush and give him a sheepish smile as Alex wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me into his side, causing my stomach to erupt into butterflies.

"She's still a bit shy about it," Alex lies smoothly.

Jerry chuckles, "Well y'all are cute. Perfect match, if I do say so myself," I blush some more and Alex smirks at me. Jerry corrects the price and hands Alex back the change. "Thanks," Alex squints at his name tag "Jerry."

Jerry winks, "No problem, lad. Enjoy the carnival and make sure to hold on to this young lady, she looks like a keeper." Alex looks down at me and smiles softly.
"Oh, I intend to." My breath hitches at his intense stare before Christina behind us groans, "Can you two hurry the fuck up please?"

Alex chuckles, "Sorry. Thanks Jerry." Jerry laughs with a nod and Alex and I walk into the carnival, still holding onto one another. That is until I pull away and step in front of him. I look up at his gorgeous face and raise an eyebrow.

"What?" He asks innocently.

"Don't 'what' me. You just played Jerry." I answer softly so that Jerry can't hear me. Alex chuckles as he looks over at him.

"Oh, don't pretend like you didn't enjoy it."

I blush at that and hide behind my hair as Alex chuckles. When I look back up at him, his arms are crossed over his chest and he's watching me curiously.

"So," He starts "scared of horror movies, huh?"

I roll my eyes, "Not scared. Just... not particularly fond." I shrug.

He nods in amusement. "And why is that?"

I shrug. "Why would I want to do something to purposely scare me when I can watch something that can make me laugh?"

He nods, looking around before looking back at me and I lose myself in his eyes. "I'm not too fond of them, either." He comments. My eyebrows raise in surprise and I giggle.

"What?" He asks.

"Nothing," I laugh.

He shakes his head at me, "You know you could've asked them to turn the movie off right? We wouldn't have mind." I nod as I tuck a stray piece of hair behind my ear. "I know."

"So then?" He asks.

"Just because I'm not fond of something doesn't mean I need to ruin it for those who are." I answer. Alex looks at me intensely and I squirm.

"Is that what you did for the Elite?" He asks suddenly. I am taken aback by his sudden question but when it finally sinks in, all I do is blink at him.

Before I can even answer though, the Rebels catch up with us, tickets in hand.

"This dimwit over here," Nina gestures to Martin "ruined our chances of getting a couple's ticket combo when he decided to be a big mouth."

Nina glares at him and Martin smirks. "Karma for drawing dicks on my face."

I let out a strained laugh, my mind still wondering to what Alex said.

Is that what you did for the Elite?

Is it? Did I sit with them and act okay even when I was uncomfortable just so that they could enjoy what they were doing? Was I weak for doing that? A coward? The answer to that makes my stomach tighten in knots. Am I ever going to be able to move on from what I did in the Elite? From what I was like? Or is this how it's always going to be?

"First place: ring toss!" Cole cheers.

"You like ring toss?" Rachel asks.

Cole nods vigorously. "Like is an understatement." Rachel chuckles at this and I shake my head to myself.

I'm not going to let past mistakes get the best of me. I'm going to enjoy this day. I'll worry about everything later.

****

The water gun sprays the ducks that move around, up and down. I let out an excited whoop as I turn to Rachel with a victorious smirk.
"I win. Again."

She glares at me, "Don't flatter yourself, Soph."

I laugh at her pout and her lips twitch at the corners.

"Congratulations once again, ma'am." The lady says behind the counter with a bored tone. I restrain myself from rolling my eyes but Nina doesn't think to filter her words.

"Who