Exhaling a light breath, I mindlessly watched the ocean crash and roll against the dark evening sand.

I'd just finished my last bite of food from the picnic, and I was now tucked up underneath a blanket with Sebastian while we listened to some light music from my phone. We'd been chatting mindlessly with each other for about an hour now, or perhaps even more. I'd completely lost sense of time. To further distract me, he had started to trace patterns against one of my knees that I had draped over his leg.

This one hundred percent felt like a date. I knew that and anybody I would describe this to would think that.

I couldn't help but find slight humor at how different things had become in just a short few months. I'd made a pact just to try and get rid of him, and I now that I couldn't have him, I wanted him more than I ever did in my life. It was the irony of life.

"So have you picked your dorm room for college yet?" I asked softly.

"Hmm," Sebastian mumbled. "I'll be sharing with Leon if everything goes to plan," he said while continuing to draw patterns against my leg.

"We could have been sharing if you hadn't so stupidly said no," Sebastian scoffed.

I instantly rolled my eyes while holding back a smile. "They literally don't let you pick a roommate that's of the opposite gender, you literal idiot."

"Yeah, and the rule's stupid," Sebastian mumbled. "It's not like you won't end up in my dorm bed most nights anyway?"

I nearly choked and suddenly sat up straighter at his words. "Excuse me?" I asked, wondering if I'd misheard him.

Sebastian froze and his hand stopped moving against my leg. "I said, it's not like you won't end up working in my dorm room most nights anyway," he clarified. "Because you know, we're likely to study together...," he mumbled with an awkward cough.

Even though I was sure he hadn't said that I nodded. "Oh right...," I said, relaxing a little.

As I finished my sentence, the soft ballad playing out on my phone changed to a more fast-paced Latin-based song.

We listened to it play out for a bit before Sebastian suddenly turned to look at me with a funny look in his eyes. "Come on, I've got an idea." Then without any warning, Sebastian suddenly started kicking off his side of the blanket and started climbing out of the trunk. "I said, come on Phoebe," he urged again, now standing before me.

I plucked up one brow and stared at him for a second or so. Then deciding it best not to argue with the madman, I rolled my eyes and started climbing out after him.

I looked him up and down with an amused smile. "What are you doing?" I mumbled as I came to a stop in front of him.

"I've decided I'm going to do you the selfless honour of teaching you some salsa steps," he suddenly announced.

I immediately backed away. "Oh, hell no," I said shaking my head. "I'm shit at partner dancing. People will genuinely laugh if they see me."

Sebastian's lips lifted higher at this, and he lazily rolled his eyes at me before stepping forward to grab my wrist so he could tow me back towards him. Standing pretty close to me, his eyes fanned over mine with light amusement.

"Relax, drama queen, nobody ever really comes to this part of the beach. Besides, I've seen you dance all the time, and you always look good. You'll be a natural."

"I don't know Sebastian...," I mumbled. "And anyway, didn't you tell me one time ages ago that you were really particular about who you danced with or something?"

"Yeah, I remember what I said," Sebastian said with a simple shrug. While I still hung back in hesitation, Sebastian soon took the lead and suddenly pulled me closer. "Here, one hand on my shoulder, and then one hand in mine," he directed as he adjusted my hands to be in the correct place.

Once I was holding him right, Sebastian then slid his remaining hand to rest around my lower waist.

I locked eyes with him, then swallowed. "And then you've got to stand closer," he said as he pushed me right into his chest. Upon his action, his eyes dropped to my lips, heightening the tension I already felt.

Finally, Sebastian stopped staring at my lips and returned his eyes to mine. "So, you count in three one step towards me, then two steps back to where we started. Then one step towards you and two to where we started," he said, directing me as he talked.

I tried to listen and remember but it was hard to pay attention when he was standing so close. "Good," he said with a smile when I quickly seemed to get the hang of it. "See I told you that you were a natural. Now let's try this."

Catching me completely off guard, Sebastian Suddenly let go of my waist so he could spin me around fast before pulling me back sharply into his chest. "Woah," I mumbled in surprise, a breath of laughter escaping me.

Sebastian was smiling away now, and it was infectious, and the two of us started laughing away as we started trying out different lifts and spins. Moves that were clearly far too advanced for me due to the number of times I seemed to almost fall on him. He didn't seem to care though, he just laughed and kept smiling in that way of his that just made you feel good.

Sebastian clearly getting a little carried away with himself, spun me out dramatically before pulling me into his chest and dipping me low with a hand at my waist.

I was pretty out of breath at this point, and as he pulled me sharply back to his chest, the music suddenly drowned out. Sebastian, however, didn't let go, instead, his smile slipped slowly from his face, and he kept me tightly in his hold.

His fingers curled underneath the material of my shirt as he held me to him as though he was trying to make a point. I could feel our chests rising and falling against each other from the exertion and I couldn't for the life of me seem to pull away.

He moved closer, till our foreheads pressed against one another while his hand still caged me in. His eyes then fell to my lips, and once again, he swallowed; a look of urgency burning behind his eyes.

"Please don't be mad at me," he mumbled as he made the last move forward. At the very last second, I ripped away from him.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled as I backed away. Reluctantly pulling his arms free from around me, I took two guilty steps further away from him.

Sebastian shoved two hands into his pockets as he looked down to the ground and once again a pained silence spilled out between us. I racked my brain for the right thing to say but I couldn't come up with anything without also having to tell him about Ava. And I couldn't tell him, because I promised her I wouldn't.

"You know what, I'm done lying," Sebastian suddenly said. Then rather sharply his eyes sprung back up to look at mine. There was such a multitude of emotions burning through his eyes in that very second that it stunned me to silence.

"I lied to you in the treehouse," he suddenly said. "You asked me if I still liked you and I lied," he clarified with a thick swallow.

"I've always liked you, Phoebe. Even when I was supposed to hate you, I still liked you. That's why I tricked you into coming to this," he muttered with a laugh as he nodded his head to the car.

"I like you so much, that I tried to trick you into coming on this date with me. Sad isn't it?" he mumbled as he cracked a loose smile.

Overwhelmed by the number of thoughts and questions that were running through my mind, I could do nothing but stare at him.

"And get this, it's not even the first time I've done it," he muttered with a light laugh. "I've tricked you into going on a date with me before you know. You just didn't know it."

My brows knotted together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you know that time I came to your house on Valentine's Day, that was my attempt to have a date with you," Sebastian said, cracking a smile as though mildly amused by the memory. "Think about it Phoebe, I made you dinner, watched a movie with you, then we went swimming after. I'm surprised you never caught on to be honest."

"But- "I started. "I don't – You said that you were going on a date with someone else?"

"Nope, all lies in an attempt to make you more interested in me," he shrugged without shame.

Once again, I was brought to silence.

Sebastian's brows suddenly sprung up in remembrance. "Oh, and since I'm fully humiliating myself, I might as well give this to you early. I was going to wait till the end of the night where you had less chance to judge me, but you know what fuck it, I've got no pride left anyway."

Confused, I watched as Sebastian took off towards the car and started pulling something out from underneath one of the seats.

In no time at all Sebastian turned around, but this time he was holding a bouquet of red roses in his hands.

What in the...

"For you," Sebastian said, as he held them out for me to take.

I took them slowly feeling like I'd entered some weird universe where nothing made sense. Sebastian wasn't supposed to be romantic. He was supposed to be the kind of guy to make weird sexual jokes and tease you. The kind of guy who normally laughs at guys who send people flowers. Yet he'd just handed me flowers.

"Read it," he urged as he nodded his head down to the note card sticking out of the top. Picking out the note, I opened it up and scanned my eyes over the words inside. This time the words weren't printed and were written in very recognisable writing.

He'd written in clear black ink: I'm your pathetically whipped fool. Always will be.

My head whipped up to stare at Sebastian in shock. He was the guy who sent me flowers. He was the guy who sent me valentines.

I searched over his face for any sense that he was joking, but I found none. He just stared back at me with an unreadable expression on his face with his hands shoved uncomfortably deep in his pocket.

Sebastian Diaz the most unromantic person known to man, the guy who mocked me for my love of romance was somehow my secret admirer.

"But...," I finally mumbled. "But you literally mocked the guy, on Valentine's Day. And..."

I suddenly trailed off as it finally hit me like one solid whack around the head. When we were walking to the beach one time, Sebastian laughed and told me only a 'pathetically whipped fool' would do all the romantic things I wanted.

"Oh my god, it literally was you...," I finally mumbled as realization fully washed over me.

Sebastian nodded slowly. "Yeah," he swallowed. "I wanted to tell you a while ago, but I don't know...whenever I look at you, I just seem to freak out and lie. Or trick you into dates," he muttered with a weak smile.

He stepped forward a little more, and his eyes took on a more serious light as he took me in from head to toe. "But I'm done lying to you, Phoebe and the honest to God truth is that I love you. I always have. I never kissed you because I wanted some dumb friends with benefit relationship with you Phoebe, I kissed you because I love you," he mumbled as he rocked his eyes back and forth between mine.

An electric feeling raced up and down my spine as I stared back at him in shock. There weren't words to describe how good it felt to hear somebody you loved tell you they loved you back.

"I know it's probably not what you want to hear," he muttered with a slightly bitter laugh. "I mean from the way you've been pushing me away every time I try and kiss you, I think you've made it clear that you probably don't want me in the same way I want you," he said, his words coming out stiff to the sound.

"But I do want you Phoebe, and I'm sorry. I'm especially sorry because no matter how hard I try, I probably will keep finding ways to try and trick you into loving me."

His last words made my heart squeeze in the most impossibly hard-to-ignore way. And in that moment, I decided I was done with the lies. Sebastian didn't deserve to feel the way he was.

I let out a heavy frustrated sigh. "Sebastian, you've got it all wrong, okay. I love you, of course I do, you're you. And I obviously want you just the way you want me. For goodness's sake, I throw myself at you enough times to show that, it's just, I don't know how to explain-"

Sebastian's eyes immediately brightened, his eye-contact sharpening. "You do! Then what the hell is stopping us?" There was a frustration to his tone that was unmistakable.

Unable to handle the heat behind his eyes, I gave in. "It's Ava," I finally mumbled as I looked down the ground. "She's been there for me for so many rough times, and she's my best friend. And well..., she likes you as well... I can't hurt her."

Several beats of silence went by as Sebastian just stared back at me straight-faced as he processed this information.

"Ava likes me? That's the reason you've been pushing me away?" he repeated back in clarification.

I slowly nodded my head.

There was another beat of silence and then I suddenly heard a loud snort before Sebastian started breaking out into full-on laughter.

The bastard really must have found some shit really funny because it got to the point where he was struggling for breath.

"How the fuck is that funny?" I snapped, feeling pissed that he was laughing at something that had been eating away at me for days and days.

"I'm sorry," he laughed as he brushed the tears away from his eyes. "It's just that Ava one-hundred-and-ten percent doesn't like me. Why on earth would you think that?"

"Because she told me! What evidence do you have to think differently?" I snapped back in annoyance.

Sebastian plucked up an amused eyebrow. "I don't know, maybe because I walked in on her and Leon having sex last night," he answered bluntly.

My mouth abruptly closed shut upon hearing that new information. "You saw what?" I finally said.

"I went to visit Leon late last evening because I wanted to talk to him, and when I opened his bedroom door, I found them making out, and well...it didn't look like they had any clothes on under the covers..."

"The actual fuck...," I mumbled.

Sebastian snickered. "So yeah, I think it's safe to say Ava's definitely got her eye on someone else. Especially because she didn't even stop when I walked in. Only Leon seemed embarrassed."

"But...but she told...," I trailed off pathetically. That's when I suddenly thought back to Ava's chirpy mood this morning. No wonder she was so fucking happy...

"I'm guessing she didn't get around to telling you, what went on between them," Sebastian commented in light amusement.

"Nope, it seems like she didn't," I snapped tightly.

Sebastian slowly closed the distance between us with a smile on his face and looped his arms loosely around my waist. "So, now that's all been cleared, are there any other non-existent reasons for why you're not my girlfriend, or do I have to trick you into accepting," he teased as he tugged me towards him by the waist.

His action caused a slight smile to tug to my face, and then a full one at hearing the word girlfriend pour from his lips.

With my flowers still resting in my hand, I looped my arms around his neck, and he used the opportunity to push us till our chests were flush together.

"I might not need too much convincing; Sebastian Diaz's girlfriend does have a nice ring to it."

"Cool, because you didn't really have much of a choice," Sebastian joked with a wink.

As I let out a light laugh, Sebastian pulled me even closer and pressed his lips down onto mine. I immediately kissed him back, and let myself happily fall into his embrace.

As Sebastian was delving his hand up my back, the weirdest of ideas suddenly hit me. An idea that I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd ever suggest. But at that moment, I just decided fuck it.

Unable to push the idea away, I suddenly pulled sharply away from the kiss. "You said nobody comes to this beach, right?"

Sebastian looked me up and down with a confused smile. "No, I've never seen a soul, especially at this kind of time, why?"

I gave him one last peck on the lips before making my way back to the car. "Come," I called back at him. Again, Sebastian gave me an odd look but nonetheless followed.

I carefully placed his flowers down onto the side before instructing him to climb into the trunk and sit. He did just as I said but not without teasingly muttering on about my 'dominance kink.'

Some people just never change...

Once he was in, I crawled my way over to him before climbing slowly on top of his lap. Predictably Sebastian started grinning like an idiot.

Then unsurprisingly, both his hands immediately slid up the length of my legs eliciting a swarm of butterflies to charge through my stomach. The butterflies were about to do a whole lot more than that, considering what I more than planned to do.

I looked down at him with a smile. "You know how you were saying how it wasn't fair that you hadn't seen me fully naked yet. But I'd seen you," I said as I purposefully started playing with the top button of my shirt.

"Hmm, yeah," Sebastian nodded distractedly, his eyes seeming to stray towards where I was playing with my button, more so than my eyes.

"Well, congratulations today's your lucky day," I said.

Sebastian's eyes immediately jerked back up to mine in shock upon hearing my words. His eyes had widened to an almost comical degree, and his lips briefly fumbled around as he foolishly tried to form words.

"What? As in now?" he stammered in shock. Softly laughing, I nodded my head. He looked up and down with a look of utter disbelief. "As in to just see you naked or..." he mumbled, as he did another scan up and down my body. This time his eyes looked darker, and his gaze seemed to linger.

"No, I was hoping for you to do a little more than that if you're up for it..." I started with a light smile, letting the implications of my words hang in the air. Though my heart was racing in my chest so hard, to the point it nearly hurt, I was entirely sure of my words. I wanted this, and I wanted him, and I was officially fed up with holding back.

Sebastian paused for a couple of seconds before his eyes widened, seeming to finally gather what I was saying. "In your brother's car?" he whispered with a light disbelieving laugh.

"Yeah, why not? Just don't tell him," I snickered.

Sebastian looking a little dazed at this point, looked me up and down once more before his expression became more serious. "And you're seriously not pulling my leg? And you're sure about this? Like you're one hundred percent sure you want your first time to be with me, and you don't want it to be somewhere more special?"

Finding his concern cute, I looked down at him with another soft smile. "Firstly, of course I want it to be you, idiot, and secondly, I don't know about you, but having sex in a car in a car by the edge of the beach sounds pretty special to me."

"Both valid points," Sebastian mumbled, with a light breath of laughter. Just as I was about to go kiss him, he suddenly paused abruptly.

"Wait, shit," Sebastian said suddenly pulling apart. "I don't have protection. I seriously wasn't expecting this to happen," he muttered.

I let out a snicker. "Oh, don't worry, my brother always has tons. He literally keeps them everywhere," I mumbled. Then to prove my point, I leaned forward on his lap to put my hand into the nearest storage compartment in the car and after five seconds of rummaging easily pulled out a condom.

"Well, huh, I never thought your brother's obsession with protection would come in handy but here we are," he chuckled.

"Yup here, we are," I mumbled. Then with that final word, I returned my lips to his.

Sebastian let out a low groan and immediately his hands returned to wrap tightly around my waist, right where I wanted them. I shrieked with light laughter as he twisted us around while still kissing, and let us fall down together between the cosy confines of the car blankets.

The things Sebastian and I did together that evening will probably only remain with us, but all I'll say is that Sebastian was definitely right when he said I would probably end up in his dorm bed most nights. And I certainly wouldn't be there for fucking studying; that's for sure.

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Hope you enjoyed xx

There's only one more chapter after this that I have planned, but I really hope everyone who's made it this far, has enjoyed the book. I really enjoyed writing it. 

Final update: Wednesday