Chapter 8: (Mia's POV)

"Maybe he should." I said as I folded my arms and sat back while I threw him under the spotlight, leaving him to be interrogated. "How would I know who she was with?" he said defensively, wrong move Ryder. Wrong move. "You're the one who chased after her." everyone said at the same time while shrugging. "That was me wasn't it?" he mumbled under his breath. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He looked so adorable right now.

"Plus, you two were together for so long, I assume you'd know her weak spot. Is the hickey at your weak spot, Mia? One of them?" Grace knowingly raised an eyebrow at me. I instantly looked away with a blush creeping upon my face, clearly giving her an answer. "Oh god, will you two just confess that you were together last night and possibly, had a one night stand?" Ethan groaned as he sat there impatiently waiting for one of us to say something. "I don't believe in one night stands." Ryder and I both said at the same time. "Since when?" we looked at each other and asked each other at the same time. "Since you." we both said under our breaths.

"Well, I'm calling it right now, history always repeats itself." Grace sighed as she put the water bottle down in the cup holder.

"Girls and guys, keep a special eye on these two tonight." Harper cooed from the front seat, making me groan. This was going to be a long day. "We might get caught then huh?" Ryder asked flirtatiously as he placed his hand on my thigh and began to draw patterns on my thigh. "You might get caught with yourself but me? No way in hell." I sassed him. He seemed a little shocked at my reaction but then smirked at me. His signature smirk. "1...2..3." Grace yelled before me, Harper and her bursted out into 'What makes you beautiful' lyrics. "Baby you light up my world like nobody else, the way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed, but when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell, you don't know-oh-oh, you don't know you're beautiful." we screamed as the guys all groaned and Ethan covered his ears. We screamed the lyrics on top of our lungs and we danced around. The song reached it's bridge and we just shut our mouths and finally sat and listened to the song. I continued dancing and turned my head to the right and saw Ryder looking at me... with adoration?

"What are you looking at?" I asked a little more harshly than I intended to.

"I'm looking at you. Is that a problem?" he raised a perfectly sharp eyebrow at me. His response made my breath hitch. "No problem in the back I see." Daniel looked at us from the rearview mirror. "Thanks, for declaring it to the world." Ryder groaned as he sat back in his seat, folding his arms across his chest, like a grumpy little kid, making smile to myself like an idiot.

After about 10 more minutes, Ryder asked Daniel for the billionth time, "How much longer?"

"Ryder, you asked me like 10 seconds ago, we have about 30 minutes left." Daniel sighed as he kept his eyes on the road. "I'm sleeping until then." Ryder mumbled as he lied his head down on my lap. "Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?" I asked as I tried pushing him back up, but failed and gave up after some attempts. "Taking a nap." he shrugged as he looked up at me.

"And what do I look like your pillow?" I glared at him.

"You did last night." he whispered just so I could hear. I knew he would use something or the other from last night against me. "You're so annoying." I groaned as I let him lie there.

He was just lying there while I sat there until he grabbed my hand and placed it on his head. I looked down at him with a 'are you serious?' look. "Please?" he mouthed. I shook my head and smiled as I began running my hand through his hair, dozing off to sleep myself without realizing.

I woke up when I felt the car pull up to the beach and I heard Ethan and Grace whisper as they looked back to see Ryder and me sleeping, "They're definitely sharing a tent tonight." Grace whispered to Ethan. What? I slowly opened my eyes and looked down at Ryder, peacefully sleeping, while tightly clutching my hand to his chest. Everyone started stepping out of the car, leaving me and Ryder inside. "Ryder." I whispered in an effort to wake him up. I'm surprised my legs didn't fall off. He mumbled a 'hmm' as he brought my hand up and kissed it, and then hugged it, immediately making me stop breathing. "Ryder, we're here," I said a little louder than last time.

His eyes immediately snapped open as he shot up in his seat, causing him to bump his head on the roof of the car. I instantly smacked my hand over my mouth as I struggled to keep my laughter contained while he grumbled a "Ouch!" under his breath. "Are you ok?" I asked through my laughter as I reached my hand forward and placed it where his head was hit. "Yes, I will say though, it was a rather rude awakening." he sighed as he pushed the seat forward and helped me out after he got out from the right side of the car. "Race you to the ocean." Ethan yelled as he punched Ryder in the shoulder, and with that, the 3 boys were off for a swim, while us girls, took our sweet time walking to the shore. "What's going on between you two?" Harper and Grace asked me at the same time. "W-what do you mean?" I asked nervously.

"We all saw the hickeys on your neck. He was with you last night, wasn't he?" Harper asked.

"He just drove me home." I lied.

"Yeah right. Spill." Grace raised her eyebrows at me and looked at me expectantly. She does that a lot. "Nothing happened, I swear." I shook my head.

"Not one kiss? Not one slip up? Not one moment of old feelings rushing back?" Harper arched an eyebrow at me. "Not one." I sighed as I looked at the horizon. "Multiple?" Grace asked me in shock. "Multiple kisses? Multiple slip ups? Multiple moments of old feelings rushing back?" Harper squealed. "No comment." I huffed as I set my things down, and stripped my clothes off and revealed the red bikini that Ryder chose. "Then tell me why you're wearing his favorite color?" Grace asked as she and Harper stood now too, in their bikinis. "Coincidence?" I said but it came out more like a question. "I don't think so." they both said as we began walking to the ocean. "Give it time. You were in love with each other once, why not again?" Harper asked as my feet touched the cold water. "Because he broke my heart." I said as I walked deeper in, and dipped my head underwater. I came back up to the surface and took a deep breath as I felt someone pinch my waist. "Ow!" I shrieked as I turned around and came face to face with the one and only, Ryder Parker. "What's wrong? Sharks in the water?" he asked, being petty.

"Watch me turn into one and bite your head off." I snapped as I pushed his hands off of me, and swam away. I swam further away from him and floated with the waves, letting the ocean take over my mind, clearing it of any thoughts except for the one that wouldn't seem to leave me alone.

Ryder Parker.