I turn in my bed letting out a sigh as I roll over for about the thousandth time. I just can't fall asleep after the nap I took on the beach earlier. I still can't believe I finally learned how to surf... well kind of... okay fine not exactly, but it still felt amazing. I grab the curtain opening it to look out at the star-filled sky. The ocean seems so peaceful. I take the blanket off of me and sit up straight contemplating if I should just go sit at the beach for a while. I turn to Percy seeing his chest rise and fall with his steady breathing. It puts a smile on my face.

I get up from the bed put on a pair of sandals and throw on a jacket in case it's cold. I grab my phone off of the table next to the door and make my way outside. I slowly close the door trying to make the least amount of sound I can. The bright lights momentarily blurred my vision until it finally adjusts. I hurry down the hall towards the elevator as if someone is going to scream at me for breaking curfew. I suddenly feel my phone vibrate in my jacket pocket pulling it out to see it was a text message from my mom.

Mom: Haven't talked to you since you left. Are you okay? Miss you! Xxx

I smile at her message and send a heart emoji as a reply. Shoving the phone back into my pocket.

The elevator opens and I step around the people laughing as they walk into the elevator. Drunk. I giggle at their slurred words. Walking out into the chilly air. Mentally thanking myself for putting on a jacket. I grab my phone dialling my mom's number. It doesn't even ring three times before she answers

"Hey honey, I'm so glad to hear your voice." I smile "Hey mom. Sorry, we've been kind of busy." She lets out a laugh. "Well tell me about it I'm all ears." I let out a breath "Well there is a lot to tell, but none of that is important." She laughs "Okay then tell me something important." I hesitate for a second. "I think I might be in love with Percy." There is silence on the other end "Well I was wondering when that would happen." My mom snorts. My mouth falls open "What?" I reach the beach and take a seat on the sand, the moonlight shining over the whole beach "Honey, it's not hard to figure out. It's bound to happen in long friendships like yours. So when are you going to tell him?" I let my head hang "I can't do that mom. He's going to laugh at me." She lets out a sigh "So you're just going to let him walk away because of the fear of rejection?" I stay silent for a moment thinking about her answer. "Yes," I reply feeling angry at the truth in her words. "Listen mom I have to get to bed it's almost 3 in the morning. Love you." She sighs I can hear the disappointment in her voice "Love you too. See you soon." Saying goodbye, I hang up the phone. I watch as my screen turns black and then let my chin rest on my knee as I hold my legs in between my arms.

What am I going to do?

***

I close the door to our suite and quickly check the time only to realise I had been sitting on the beach for another hour before coming home. The dark is slowly fading into light. I put my phone back on the table, took off my jacket and fell onto the bed. My eyes burn and I feel them slowly closing. My eyes shoot open as an alarm goes off next to me. Percy's phone is blaring a stupid ringtone and I watch as his head turns to hit the stop button and stretches his arms out above his head. He turns his face towards me with one eye open "Good morning to you too." My lips turn into a thin line as I cover my face with a pillow. "I need more sleep." I hear a muffled yawn and then a shove against my body. "Get up. Get up. We have to get moving." I throw the pillow against his chest. "It's not even 5 in the morning yet just calm down." He laughs "That is no excuse." I look at him his hair is a ruffled mess and his eyes are light green. The light shines perfectly onto his face showing his light freckles. You wouldn't notice them daily unless you were focused or had known him for almost 10 years.

"I'm going to take shower and once I'm done you better be in a better mood." He smiles and turns walking into the bathroom.

I close my eyes turning to my side. He can wake me if he needs me. I think to myself throwing the blanket over my head. My mind doses off as I hear the bathroom door open.

"Come on Nat get up." I suddenly hear as I feel a heavyweight drop on me. I take the blanket off my face struggling to breathe. "Get off of me you cow!" I scream, pushing at his body to roll him off. He gasps dramatically "Did... did you just call me a cow." I give up on pushing him off of me letting out a sigh of defeat as my hands fall to my sides. "Yes. Could you blame me? You are heavy as hell." His smile slowly fades and a shocked expression covers his features. "I am offended. I don't like you anymore." My eyes go wide. I try to hide it "Well it's too late now you're stuck with me because you've been my friend for almost ten years." He lifts himself off of me. Saying something under his breath "What did you say?" He lies down on his bed "I said, unfortunately." I scoff "Look who's being rude now." He gives me a toothy grin. "You know I'm kidding. I couldn't live without you." I feel butterflies in my stomach from what he said. "So when are you going to finish the great Gatsby?" He asks, looking at the book on the bedside table. "I'll finish it before we leave. I swear." He looks at me with a raised eyebrow "And Spiderman?" I sit up straight putting a finger on my chin, "Well... I don't know." I stretch my arms out in front of me "What do you mean you don't know?"

I stand up from the bed "I mean I don't know." I walk over to the bathroom "Well you better read it because it's a classic!" I smile at him as I close the bathroom door. Since when is a comic book a classic? I think to myself. Wuthering heights is a classic, as pride and prejudice, a picture of Dorian Gray, Huckleberry Finn. Those are classics.

***

"Percy, are you ready to go to the café?" I yell from the door of the suite. "Yeah just give me a second." I rest my head against the door as I wait for him. I still haven't slept yet and I just know that I'm going to regret that later. "Ok let's go." I open my eyes to see he's suddenly in front of me. I lift my head off of the door and walk into the hall waiting for him to lock the door. "So I was thinking about your bucket list and are you sure you want to get that tattoo?" I think about it for a second. "Now that you mention it that might not be the best option at the moment so maybe we can scratch that one." He lets out a chuckle "Yeah I thought so."

We make our way down the street into the café and find Isabella and Grayson already seated at a table. "Well, you guys are early," Isabella shouts over at us as we enter. "Sorry I was waiting for Percy." We walk over, taking our seats. "So what did we miss?" I ask grabbing the menu off of the table. Isabella shoots me a wide smile "Well we were just talking about how the café put a selfie studio into the back and that we need to check it out." I look at Percy "I think that sounds like a great idea. We definitely should." The waiter comes over with Isabella and Grayson's drinks and we order ours. "Maybe we should check it out while we wait," I suggest.

Percy's P.O.V

I follow Natalie as we walk down the hall. There's a door right at the end of the hall painted pitch black.

Isabella opens the door and we are instantly greeted with multi-coloured lights. I watch Natalie's eyes light up as she looks around her. Her smile grew wider with each second. It instantly makes me smile. She walks into a booth with Isabella and they take a picture with her phone. My phone vibrates in my pocket and I quickly pull it out to see a text from my mom.

Mom: Did you tell her yet?

Sadness washes over me as I look at the text. I shove the phone back into my pocket. "Come on Percy." I hear Natalie giggle. I look towards her to see she is making her way over to me, she grabs my arm and pulls me into a booth that has polka dots covering the walls. Isabella grabs the Polaroid camera from the nearby table and takes our picture. I take the picture and see us smiling as she hugs me "You guys should add that to the collection in the store." Isabella squeals. "Yes, we should," Natalie says as she takes the picture from my hand. We walk through the rest of the studios until we reach the end. I open the door and we find ourselves back in the café.

We take our seats as the waiter comes over again. "Are you guys ready for your orders?" I give him a quick reply and decide to answer my mom's text.

Me: Not yet mom, I can't do it.

Mom: Well you don't exactly have a choice this time. I'm sorry.

I close my phone setting it on the table. I can't do that to Natalie. Maybe there is another way to handle this. "Hey, can I see that photo again?" I ask Natalie. She hands me the picture. I look at it a final time. Smiling at how happy she looks. I stand up walk over to the wall filled with pictures and tag it to the last open pin. "You just filled up my soulmate's board." I jump at the sudden voice behind me. I turn to see a middle-aged lady "I'm sorry?" I say confused. "I made this board over 15 years ago when I first started this café. At first, it was just for fun, but later on, I realised every person who put up a picture started falling in love with the person they were with, in the photo. Now call me superstitious or crazy, but it always works out." She smiles at me. Making me even more confused "Oh we're just friends." She folds her arms "You don't believe me, do you?" My lips shrink into a thin line as I shake my head. "Well then explain to me how I can already see how you are in love with her." My eyes grow wide. She pats my shoulder "We'll see who is right in time."

I wait for the lady to completely leave before I decide to go back to my seat "What was that all about?" Natalie asks next to me. "I have no idea. She said I looked like someone she knew." Natalie nods her head and continues her discussion with Isabella about her birthday. I smile at how excited she gets talking about it "So are you ready to shave your head?" I ask with a grin plastered on my face. She lets out a sigh "I have come to terms with that so yes." Isabella looks shocked "What do you mean shave your head! Your hair is beautiful. You can't do that!"

I turn towards Isabella "When we were 8 we made a promise that if we didn't have our first kiss before turning 18 we had to shave our heads." Her eyes grow wide. "Why would you stick to a promise you made when you were 8?"

We both shrug simultaneously "Seemed like a fun idea." Natalie adds

Our food arrived and we all silently dug in. "Did you guys see the carnival is almost leaving?" Grayson said looking through the café window. We all shook our heads. "Well, I guess we'll just have to go one last time before they leave," I say before taking a sip of my drink.

We pay our bill and exit the café. I turn my head to look at the poster on the wall. Carnival will close tomorrow night at midnight. "So they're closing tomorrow night so we should go," I say to Natalie as we walk behind Grayson and Isabella. "What are your plans for the rest of the day?" Isabella turns to ask us. I turn to Natalie before looking back at Isabella "We have no idea."

"Why don't you guys join us for a pool party?" Grayson asks. "It's a friend of mine's place and he's hosting a party because he's leaving for college in a couple of days."

"Yeah, that seems like a great idea," Natalie says. "Alright, let's go." We follow them through the street. We make our way through an alley and up a flight of stairs. A big white house comes into view and a bunch of cars fill the driveway. It's only 4 in the afternoon and the cars are already piling in.

We enter the house and instantly get greeted by a crowd of people. The music isn't very loud, but the people are all talking simultaneously. We follow Grayson to the backyard where people are sitting around the swimming pool.

"Hey, Jackson." Grayson waves over to a blonde guy. He waves back "Hey Gray, who's your new friend?" He motions to Natalie and me, "This is Percy and that is Natalie." Natalie gives him a wave and a smile "Well welcome to my home. I hope you guys have a fantastic time."

"Hey Jackson, come into the water it's amazing." A girl calls him from the other side of the pool. "Alright, I'm on my way." He shouts towards her "I'll see you guys later."

Natalie's P.O.V

I wait beside the pool with my feet in the water. Percy just left to get us some drinks. I drop my head watching the water "Its Natalie right?" I turn my head towards the voice. Watching as Jackson takes a seat next to me. "Yeah, it is." He shows me a wide smile. "Where are you from? I haven't seen you around here." He moves closer, making me move away "Yeah, I'm just here on vacation with Percy" He nods his head. "So you took a vacation trip with your boyfriend. That's pretty nice." I look at him with a raised brow. "Oh no, it's not like that." Percy appears from behind me handing me my drink. "Sorry, it took so long. There are a lot of people in there." I take the drink from his hand "Its fine, thanks." I turn back to see Jackson is already on his way back to the other side of the pool.

"What's wrong?" Percy asks taking a seat next to me. "Nothing, that Jackson guy is just a bit weird." I look at Percy to see him staring past me. His brows are furrowed. I turn to see what he's looking at just to find Jackson staring our way. I quickly turn my head back to Percy "He's just very friendly that's all." He turns his gaze towards me "Don't take it for just friendliness Nat, because it could be something different." His eyes soften "I'm just trying to keep you safe." I turn my head away from him watching my feet as they flow with the water. "I know."

***

I don't know what happened or how it started, but somewhere in between the drinking and the dancing a scream erupts from the middle of the crowd. I push through the crowd that had gathered around the two guys fighting, once I reached the front a gasp escaped me. "Percy!" I scream running towards him. His fists are flying through the air before they collide with Jackson's jaw. I grab him by his shoulders trying to get him to stop. "Stop it! Percy, stop!" I pull, but nothing helps I see someone run towards me I take a glance and realise that it's Grayson. "Okay, buddy I think you made your point." He grabs him and in one swift motion, Percy is away from Jackson. Jackson is still on the floor, blood covering his face and his breathing heavy. "What's wrong with you man?" Grayson yells at Percy. "You wouldn't get it, Grayson." Grayson grabs Percy's shirt "Try me." I watch as Percy dips his head. He moves closer to Grayson's ear. Making Grayson look at him with wide eyes. He looks down at Jackson before letting Percy's shirt go. He lets his hand fall onto Percy's shoulder before moving towards Jackson. Percy walks over to me "I think we should go." He says. He wipes away the tear on my cheeks from the shock of the scene.

My heart aches as I try to calm my breathing. Percy is walking in front of me and I mindlessly follow him out of the house.

"What was that about?" I ask Percy as we walk down the street. "Don't worry about it." He says cutting me off. I grab his face in my hands. I look for any cuts. His cheek is already starting to bruise. "Why won't you tell me? You don't tell me anything these days. It's like things just changed ever since the start of summer. I know you were never one to talk emotions and stuff, but I am trying really and I mean hard just to understand what has been going on." I ask desperately. He sighs putting his hands over mine. "Everything is fine. I would tell you if something was wrong. Honestly Nat it's alright I think it was just the alcohol and what you told me earlier and things just kind of happened. I swear."

I know he's lying, but I don't want to push it too far. I smile at him "Let's go back to the hotel okay." He gives me a small smile as we continue walking back to the suite.