I started to rub on the sunscreen. Was it wrong that I really liked rubbing sunscreen into his skin? I mean, he was just so freaking muscular! He made me want to pass out sometimes. Yes, I still got butterflies, was that wrong?
“Autumn, it’s cold!” he whined.
“Hush up, I’m almost done. Do you want skin cancer?” I asked, just like a mom. I mean, I have to. Sometimes it seems as if I’m the most responsible person around, even though I’m the youngest! Except for Sky, of course.
“No,” he mumbled.
I laughed. “Okay, I’m done. Now let me put some on, along with some tanning oil. I’m pale as a ghost!” I started rubbing sunscreen onto my arms.
“Ugh!” he groaned, and leaned back on the towel we were sitting on.
When I got to my back, I paused. “Hayes, can you help me, please?” I asked.
“Sure.” He grabbed the sunscreen from my hand and started to rub it onto my back. I cringed and jerked away.
“Lord, that’s cold!” I said.
“Now you know how I felt.” He laughed and kept rubbing the lotion for a moment. “Okay, you’re done!”
“Thanks, babe.” I kissed his cheek and quickly sprayed on some tanning oil. “All right, let’s go!” I stood and grabbed Hayes’s hand, pulling him up.
We ran to the water, hand in hand. When we got to the edge, I felt someone pick me up, bridal-style. I looked up and saw Cam’s brown eyes.
“Put me down now!” I yelled at him, and started to struggle in his grasp.
“If you say so,” and a second later I was submerged in cold water. I pushed my feet against the sandy bottom and came up.
I flipped my hair and looked at Cam with my angriest face.
“Cameron Alexander Dallas, you are dead!” I started to swim over to him. His face registered fear, and he started to swim away.
I caught up to him fairly quickly and tackled him. He came back up, and I jumped on his back.
“You’re the worst,” I told him.
“You’re the one who wanted me to let go!” he said, holding his hands up in surrender.
I pushed him under once more and heard everyone around us laughing. I laughed, too, and he surfaced.
“You are so lucky that my sunglasses didn’t come off, or you would be a dead bish.”
I glared at him and swam over to Hayes. He grabbed my waist from behind and pulled me into him. We smiled at each other. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the moment—until, as usual, the others had to ruin it.
“I got that one! I finally got one!” Carter yelled.
We looked over at him, annoyed, and he shrank down. “Umm, sorry?” he said nervously, scratching the back of his neck.
We laughed, and I told him to throw his phone to me so I could see the picture.
“No! You’re a girl—you can’t catch.”
I looked at him blankly.
“Really, Carter? She’s on an all-star softball team. Autumn’s not just a cheerleader, dumb butt.” Bailey rolled her eyes at him.
“Fine, I trust you.” He tossed his phone, and I caught it with ease.
I stuck my tongue out at him and looked at the picture. I’m just gonna say that it was one of the best they’ve ever taken. The sun shone on us perfectly, and he snapped it at the perfect time.
Hayes was kissing my cheek, and my eyes were closed, just enjoying the moment. “Holy God, Carter, this picture is awesome!”
“Thank you. I try . . . I try,” he said cockily.
“Don’t get too ahead of yourself,” Gabby mumbled. We all laughed, and I sent the picture to Hayes and me.
“All right, let’s have some fun!” I yelled.
Autumn
The girls and I were tanning while the guys and Skylynn were still out in the water.
It had been about an hour when Alyssa interrupted the lazy silence.
“Okay, guys, I have a really important announcement to make,” Alyssa said to us.
“Shoot,” Aly said.
“Well, I have to go back home early because I got a scholarship for art school for the rest of the year!” Alyssa said excitedly.
“That’s great! When do you leave?” I asked.
“That’s the problem. I have to leave in two days . . .” she trailed off.
“What? No! You can’t leave in two days! We had our whole summer planned out!” Gabby yelled. Alyssa and Gabby are really close. They’ve known each other for a while from dating the guys.
“I know, I’m sorry. I just didn’t know how to tell you guys,” she mumbled.
“Okay. I guess whatever makes you happy. Just come to at least two of the FAM Tours!” Gabby said.
“Oh, and the other part is that half of it’s in Paris!” Alyssa screamed.
We all squealed and tackled her in a hug.
“That’s awesome! We’re so happy for you!” Bailey yelled.
“Does Aaron know?” Ella asked after we all settled down.
“Yeah, I told him last night. He took it pretty well—and I promised to make it to as many FAM Tours as I can,” she answered.
“Well, that’s good. Now, let’s get back to tanning!” I said.
• • •
We had all settled back again when “Love Robbery” by Kalin and Myles came on my speaker. I turned it up and started to hum while the other girls sang their little hearts out.
Watch out for those eyes
’cause she’s armed and dangerous.
We couldn’t sit still. The girls and I yelled out the lyrics, dancing around like maniacs.
I heard laughing and looked around. I saw the guys on the sand nearby, and Nash was holding up his phone. I waved and threw a peace sign over to them.
Nash stopped his video, and they walked over to us, still chuckling. We girls were laughing, too. Hayes plopped down next to me and put his arm around my shoulder. I crossed my legs Indian style.
“Did you like our little show?” Bailey smirked.
“It was great,” Daniel chuckled, sitting next to her and grabbing her hand. He whispered something in her ear, and her face lit up. She nodded her head yes and tackled him in a hug.
Daniel looked over at Hayes and gave him a slight nod. I glanced at Hayes, confused, waiting to be let in on the secret.
“He asked her on a date tomorrow night and was wondering if we wanted to come with?” he whispered in my ear.
I nodded my head excitedly and gave him a quick peck. “Of course! Is it going to be just us?” I asked him. He nodded, and I just smiled and gazed out at the water.
“Who wants to play some volleyball?” Cameron yelled. We all cheered and got up.
“Good, I need to get some shots of you guys,” Bryant said. Yeah, Bryant Eslava, the photographer, was here.
He came because apparently he’s good friends with the guys and needs more shots of them, or something like that. Eh, whatever.
We started to play volleyball at the court they had down the beach.
“I’ll serve first!” Aly yelled. She threw the ball in the air and served perfectly.
We played for two hours and our team won! We did a little victory dance to rub it in the faces of the other team.
After our cute little dance, I went back in the water for a while.
It was pretty late when we decided to start for home.
At da House the Next Day
We got home from our day at the beach really late. Everyone was so exhausted, we all slept right through the morning. We spent the afternoon just hanging around the house watching TV and posting to our social media. I couldn’t wait for date night to start, I was so excited!
Early in the Evening
“All right, I need to shower and get ready for our date!” I said, kissing Hayes on the cheek.
“Okay, I’ll be
waiting.”
“C’mon, Bailey! Let’s go get ready!” I yelled, pulling her up off the couch and up the stairs.
Let the girl-ing up begin!
Autumn
I was really hating Bailey right now.
She was making me put on makeup. Autumn Brown does not wear makeup. Nada.
“C’mon, Autumn! Just this once!” she pleaded, chasing me around the room. I had literally just gotten out of the shower and had only a towel on. This wasn’t very much fun.
“No! I will wear lip gloss and mascara! That’s it!” I threw a pillow at her.
“At least put some powder on, too!” She threw a pillow back at me.
“Fine! But only to cover up my bruise.” I ran around my bed.
“You’re so hardheaded!” she huffed, sitting on the desk chair.
“I know!” I smiled at her. “Now I’m gonna get changed while you get in the shower.”
I changed into a spaghetti-strapped, cropped tank top, a light blue skater skirt, a tan cardigan, and gladiator sandals that were Bailey’s. I also threw on a cute necklace and some rings.
“All right, let’s get started on our hair and makeup!”
Bailey came back in, looking stunning as ever. She was wearing a light blue flowy cropped tank top, Aztec shorts, and combat boots. She added a cute necklace, a ring, and a pair of feather earrings.
“Bailey, you look absolutely gorgeous!” I said in awe.
“You really think so?” I nodded. “Thanks! Let’s do our hair and makeup, girly!” She plugged in the curling iron.
While we waited for it to heat up, we did our makeup. I put on some light mascara, a bit of powder to cover up my bruise, and light pink lip gloss. Bailey applied pink Nasty Gal lipstick and powder all over, but in a good way.
Once the curling iron was hot, I did my hair in beachy curls, and Bailey did hers in perfect curls. Her hair is naturally really curly, so it looked really cute.
“Perfect!” we yelled, looking at ourselves in the mirror.
“Time to go downstairs . . .” I trailed off uneasily.
“You’ll be fine! Hayes already loves you in sweats and a T-shirt, so he’ll love you in this, babe.” Bailey winked at me.
“Thanks, big B, you’re the best friend a girl could ask for,” I said, hugging her.
“You are too, little A,” she said, giving me a quick hug in return.
We walked out of the room and down the stairs. When we got down to the last step, Hayes and Daniel were sitting with everyone else, looking dashing as ever.
“OMG, y’all look absolutely stunning!” Aly yelled. We blushed and said thanks.
The guys looked over, and their jaws dropped. Bailey and I looked at each other and giggled. Hayes and Daniel stood up and walked over.
When Hayes reached me, he kissed my forehead. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you. You don’t look so bad yourself,” I told him, kissing his cheek.
“Let’s take a picture, and then we’ll leave,” Daniel said.
“I look so short compared to all of y’all!” I whined as we stood together, prepping for the photo. Everyone laughed.
“I like short girls,” Hayes whispered in my ear. I blushed.
We took four photos—one of the four of us smiling, one of Hayes and me kissing, one of Daniel and Bailey kissing, one with everyone making silly faces. Bryant took the big group picture, if you wanted to know.
“Y’all have fun!” Gabby said as we left.
We shut the front door and walked out to the car. Hayes and Daniel opened the doors for Bailey and me.
“Why, thank you, kind sir,” I said to Hayes in a posh British accent.
“You’re welcome, my lady.” He laughed.
I climbed into the backseat, and he got in after me. It felt a little bit private to be alone with Hayes back there.
“Turn it up! Oh my God, I love this song!” I yelled, cutting off Bailey at one point while we were all talking.
“A World Alone” by Lorde came on the radio, and I started to sing and bounce in my seat, not caring who saw.
Raise a glass, ’cause I’m not done saying it.
They all wanna get rough, get away with it.
I laughed and looked at Hayes. He was holding up his phone. I waved at the camera, giving him my cheesiest smile. He lowered his phone and started typing.
In a few seconds I felt my phone vibrate in my cardigan pocket, so I got it out. It was a Vine notification from Hayes.
I opened it up and saw it was a Vine of me singing and dancing around in the car with the caption “Date with this crazy girl tonight!” He had included my name.
I punched his shoulder and huffed.
“Ouch! What was that for?” he yelled out in pain. I guess you could say I have a hard punch.
“That Vine was embarrassing!” I shoved my face in my hands.
“You’re adorable—I don’t know what you mean,” he said, wrapping his arms around me.
“Thank you.” I went to kiss his cheek, but at the last second he turned his head and kissed my lips.
“All right, little ones, we’re here!” Daniel said, turning off the ignition and jumping out of the car. Hayes jumped out, too, and held out his hand for me.
I grabbed it and hopped out, and we laced our fingers together as we walked toward the movie theater.
At the Movies
“You guys know I’m not supposed to watch a movie in a movie theater!” I said, a little freaked out.
“I know, but we called your doctor, and he said it would be fine, just this once,” Daniel said.
“But—”
“But nothing. We’re watching this movie and having a good time, hun bun,” Bailey said.
“Fine,” I huffed. We were watching Oculus. I was complaining only because I’m deathly afraid of scary movies.
“It’s all right, sweetheart. I’ll be right here the entire time,” Hayes said, squeezing my hand. I put my head on his shoulder.
An hour into the movie I was totally scared out of my mind. I had my head pressed to Hayes’s chest; with my luck, every time I looked at the screen, it was a scary part.
Hayes had his arm wrapped around me, rubbing my arm, saying sweet things in my ear.
I decided I wasn’t gonna be a pussy anymore and just leaned my head on Hayes’s shoulder. He still had his arm around me, and it was really nice.
End of the Movie
“How’d you like it, Aut?” Daniel smirked.
I kicked him in the shin, and he doubled over in pain. “You know I don’t like scary movies,” I snapped. Then I turned and walked toward to the car. About halfway there, I heard footsteps behind me.
“Autumn! Wait up!” It was Hayes. I rolled my eyes and turned back toward the car.
He grabbed my wrist and made me face him. “I swear it wasn’t my idea. Daniel wanted to go see it so Bailey would be all over him and crap, but I didn’t want to ’cause I knew you didn’t like scary movies,” he said in a rush.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him close. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and we just stood there in each other’s embrace.
“Now do you believe me?” he whispered in my ear.
“Yeah, but don’t let him or any of the other guys do that again. That movie was freaking creepy!” I said in a slightly high-pitched voice.
“Okay, I promise.” He laughed and kissed me. I kissed back but pulled away when I heard footsteps behind us.
Daniel and Bailey were on their way over. Daniel was limping, and Bailey had her arm around his waist.
“Sorry about your leg, Daniel. Didn’t mean to kick quite that hard,” I said, covering my mouth with my hand to hide my giggle.
“It’s fine. Wanna go out and eat?” He looked over at Bailey.
At the Lovely Restaurant That Supplies Beloved Food
The restaurant was beautiful! It was right by the lake. It was dark out and we sat on the deck by the water. There were little white lights strung around the railing and support beams on the deck, and they twinkled softly at us. I needed some of those for my room, when I got my own room.
“What would you like to drink?” the waiter asked.
“We’ll have . . .”
Skip to Eating
“That food was so good!” Bailey said, rubbing her stomach.
“Yeah, my chicken was awesome!” I giggled.
“That’s all you eat, chicken.” Hayes laughed.
“Nuh-uh! That’s all I eat when we go out to places. Or burgers.” I fake-pouted.
“Okay, okay,” he said, putting his hands up in defense.
“We’re gonna go to the park, wanna come?” Daniel asked, as we were leaving the restaurant.
“Nah, we’re gonna walk by the lake.” Hayes smiled at me. I smiled back and nodded, looking up at Bailey and Dan.
“Okay. Meet at the car by ten,” Bailey said, wagging her finger at us.
“Yes, Mother,” I said, running off with Hayes’s hand in mine so Bailey wouldn’t have a chance to yell us at.
Hayes was laughing the whole time, and we stopped running at the edge of the lake.
“Wow. It’s beautiful,” I said in awe.
The lake was shimmering under the moonlight, the water rippling from a slight breeze. The stars were reflecting perfectly off the lake.
“Nothing like you. You’re perfect,” Hayes said, looking at me. I blushed and looked at him. He grabbed both of my hands as we stood there silently.
I stared into his eyes, and he leaned in slowly. It was like we were in a movie or something. A couple of seconds later, his lips connected with mine. It was a passionate kiss. It was just plain perfect, like him.
We finished the kiss, and I opened my eyes slowly.
“I love you, Autumn. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I can’t imagine my life without you being a part of it. I would run miles for you. If I ever lost you, I wouldn’t go to the next girl because I would be too busy trying to get you back. To the moon and back can’t describe how much I love you, Autumn Nicole Brown. I love you. Just you. I just had to put that out there,” Hayes said seriously, looking into my eyes.
Love Heals All Page 11
