Thank you for all the reviews so far :) Here's chapter 10...

SHE MOVES IN HER OWN WAY

From the balcony of her bedroom, Eve had the best view in Miami. The morning was quintessentially summery with the air tangy with sea salt and from her iPod, Jason Mraz's soothing voice easing her into the day. Down on the beach, surfers were already gathering as well as pretty girls starting their tanning early.

"Morning beautiful," Ted came through the balcony doors and knelt beside his girlfriend, kissing her perfumed neck.

"It is a beautiful morning." She jokingly commented, placing down the pen in her hand.

"What're you doing?"

"Just writing some letters." Eve lied, covering up her paper with a copy of Cosmopolitan. "My grandma mentioned something about me writing to her so I thought I'd get started early."

"You're so cute." He kissed her again. "Are you feeling better now, by the way?"

"Huh?"

"Last night, you had a headache? That's why you went out to buy aspirin?"

"Oh right!" She exclaimed. "Yeah, much better thanks." It wasn't like Eve enjoyed lying to Ted, it was just simpler at this stage.

The evening class she'd attended had actually been pretty amazing. Her father had a real way with words and could be both intellectual and relatable, as well as someone with plenty of experience and life lessons to tell. Picking his brains had been surprisingly interesting. At one point, he asked the class to write something of their own which he read. He was particularly complimentary of Eve's – or Lea's – work, telling her she had an engaging writing style and a natural gift and that if she wrote some more stuff in her spare time, he'd give her some feedback.

In that moment, Eve felt a real connection with her dad, even if he didn't get it. They shared something – a love of writing – and he was so admiring of her. Of course, her whole life, her mom and stepdad had showered her in appreciation but somehow, from Frederick, it felt different, in a good way.

"-and one of the guys told me this place does the best eggs in Miami." Apparently Ted had been talking the whole time. "Shall we go?"

"What?"

"All day breakfast at the Bread Bin. Best eggs in Miami?" Ted said with a suspicious grin. "Are you sure you're okay? You seem a little...I dunno, a little out of it?"

"What? No, I'm fine." Eve insisted. "Breakfast sounds great. I could kill for a plate of scrambled eggs. Although it's not the same unless-"

"-unless they have baked beans on because otherwise, they can be too dry. But nothing will ever compare to when your mom cuts up prosciutto ham and puts it inside with a knob of butter." Ted finished her sentence. "Eve Torres, I know you better than you know yourself."

Maybe Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat on her iPod were right; she was lucky to be in love with her best friend.

"Let me just throw something on." Eve went back into the bedroom and pulled on a floaty floral summer dress over her bikini and pulling off her denim shorts. "So what did you get up to last night?"

"I just ended up going out with Cody and meeting up with Mickie, who we met the other night." Ted replied. "I think you'd really like Mickie."

"Mickey?" Eve mused. Any friend of Ted's was a friend of hers, and she was sure she and this Mickey boy would get along famously.

During his time in Miami, Mike had found a contrast between the main boardwalks in the morning and at night. At night, it was reasonably empty with the odd couple or groups of youths drinking on the streets and singing as they walked, the atmosphere jovial. On this morning, however, it seemed like the whole of Miami was there. Old people sat on benches eating ice-creams, kids running around like headless chickens and the occasional hot chick on rollerblades.

"Check out the ass on her." Mike's eyes followed a leggy blonde in tight cycling shorts as she bladed into the distance.

Rosa, who was walking along next to him, holding hands with her boyfriend Zack, emitted a small scoff. "Pig." She glanced over at her own boyfriend, who was staring in the same direction as Mike. "Baby!" Elbowing him in the ribs, she shot him a scowl.

"Sorry." He muttered sheepishly. "But you have to admit, she's got a good ass."

The Latina looked over at the blonde, "Damn, she has got a nice booty."

"See what I mean? I have a gift."

"When it comes to spotting a good ass?" Rosa scoffed at Mike once again. "Yeah, real talent you've got there." Stopping outside one of the bars, a hopeful look sat on her face. "Breakfast?"

"You want a drink for breakfast?" This time, it was Zack's turn to pity his girlfriend.

"I'm on holiday! If I can't have a mojito with my breakfast on holiday, where can I have one? Plus, the bar staff are so lenient in Miami, I can get served everywhere. Although having my big sister's old driving license does help."

"As much as I'd love to help feed your verging alcohol addiction," Mike began sarcastically, "There's a wet t-shirt contest on the beach which I plan on getting a front row seat for. And Zack, if your woman wanted to take part, I would be fully supportive of her."

With a roll of her eyes, Rosa followed Mike and Zack down along the boardwalk, towards the edge of the pier however as the crush of people cleared, the path emptied out and right on the edge, looking out across the ocean, Mike saw Maryse and Wade.

Instantly, Mike wished he could erase the image that was now replaying in his head. Wade's arms were around the beautiful blonde's waist, his hands against the tanned skin of her back as he whispered in her ear. Maryse giggled in response, her fingers tracing lines against his toned biceps. By pure instinct, Mike flinched as he watched Wade lean down and place a long, slow kiss on Maryse's lips, which she responded passionately, her hands resting either side of his face.

"Damn, not scared of PDA, are they?" Zack joked, unaware of the sudden change in mood.

"I think she's really into Wade, actually." Rosa commented. "She's not looking for anything serious but neither is he, so it kinda works out perfectly."

Mike didn't say anything. There was a wet t-shirt contest on at the beach and he needed to take his mind off of Maryse.

"Hey Cody!"

They hadn't even been in Miami a week, so Cody definitely didn't expect people to be calling his name whilst he took out the trash. This must be how celebrities felt, he thought with a grin. It was a pleasant surprise, however, as he turned around and saw Mickie James riding her bicycle down the street. She stopped in front of the trash can, a smile as bright as the Florida sun.

"Hey Mickie." He replied, closing the lid and facing her. "What're you doing here?"

"I was just passing through and then I saw you." Blocking out the sun with her hand, she looked up at the beach house. "This is where you're staying? Pretty fancy digs, Mr Rhodes."

"I know, right?" Okay, Cody thought that maybe Mickie was a little out of his league but a guy could dream.

"So, is Ted around?" She asked innocently.

"He headed out a couple of hours ago and I don't think he'll be back until later. Why?"

"Just...curious."

"Well...if I were you, I'd lower those curiosity levels." He instructed, trying to sound as stern as possible.

"Chill out Cody, I'm not gonna take your boyfriend away." She joked, lightly punching his arm. "I'd better get going, I'm off to Maria's house to meet her and Melina. Tell Ted I said hi." The brunette disappeared away again.

Cody was definitely suspicious of Mickie. He and Ted had been throwing a football around at the beach the other night and Mickie had stopped by to chat to them for a while, her attention based solely on Ted. It wasn't that Cody was jealous but he cared too much about Ted and Eve to see Mickie get in the middle of them. Mickie clearly had dishonourable intentions and was dangerous.

But when danger was wearing denim hot pants, it was too hard to resist.

Tiffany sat in the windowsill of the beach house living room, her legs curled underneath her and her back supported by one of the cushions. She and Drew were going out for dinner and he was supposed to be picking her up in a couple of minutes so she wanted to be ready when he arrived.

On the other side of the glass, she watched as Jack walked up the path towards the front door, a sheen of sweat covering his forehead. He'd been running so he was bound to be hot. Doing the guy a favour, Tiffany went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before going outside to hand it to him.

"Damn, you're getting good at this whole housekeeper thing." Jack laughed, his breath heavy as he took the bottle of water and drained half of its contents. When he looked up at Tiffany again, his eyes widened. "Wow."

Jack was unable to take his eyes off of her. She looked absolutely amazing. A short, simple black dress hugged her curves – curves Jack didn't even realise she had – and a pair of simple black slingbacks and a small pearly necklace completed it. The make-up on her face was simple as she obviously didn't need a lot and her hair was loose in its natural waves. She looked so elegant.

"Wow what?" Tiffany said eventually, a shy smile on her face.

"You look...really beautiful. Really beautiful." He paused. "Where are you going?"

"Drew's taking me out to dinner." She checked her cell phone to see what time it was, worrying he was late. Nope, he still had a couple of minutes. "I think we're going to that Italian place downtown? It should be really nice seeing as I haven't had pasta since I got here and I totally have a craving for it."

It surprised Jack how shocked he was at Tiffany admitting how much she loved pasta. Clearly he'd spent too long dating girls that had serious food complexes. Actually, it was kinda hot.

What was wrong with him? He was finding Tiffany hot? This girl he'd never looked twice at before, this girl that was so different from the girls he usually went for. He was the kind of guy that only went for the prom queen or the head cheerleader and yet here he was, developing one of the school's potential Ivy League students. It was so unlike him.

"Well, hopefully Drew shares your love of carbs." Jack grinned back at her.

"If they're serving pasta carbonara, I'm gonna be the happiest girl on earth." The blonde girl didn't say anything else, as a car pulled up outside the house and Drew stuck his head out of the window, giving Tiffany a wave. "I'd better get going. See you later."

Another thing that surprised Jack? How disappointed he felt watching Tiffany drive away with Drew.

"I know it's still within our first couple of days here," Kofi began, sprawled out on one of the couches with an arm around Kelly. "But I'm more than happy to spend a night at home tonight."

"Tell me about it," Montel called from the other couch, he and Brie pretty much mirroring the other couple. "I went to the gym for the first time since we got here and I'm exhausted."

"And I think I'm still tired from that first night at the Quirk Club. I need my rest to recover!"

"I've got a plan," Kelly lazily raised a finger, her voice just as mellow as the two guys. "We can order pizza, watch some movies and have an early night. I dunno how that sounds to you guys, but to me, that's perfect."

"Ditto that." Brie commented, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her cell phone to dial in the number of the pizza place so she could place her orders. When she was done, she turned looked at the opposite couch. "Kof, I still don't get how you managed to get home from the Quirk Club at three am. Don't the clubs close at like...two?"

"Well, we all left at two when it closed but Ted and Eve went off somewhere so Cody and I were left. We went and got burgers from that little deli down the road from the club and we stopped to talk to a group of people our age who were on holiday from New York. They were going down to the beach so we followed them and found Ted and Eve and after that we went back to the house."

"We left pretty early that night, actually." Brie admitted. "I think we got back to the house at twelve and we were the first back."

"We were back before you." Montel pointed across at Kelly. "It was pretty nice of that Randy guy to walk you home, wasn't it?"

Two icy glares were shot in Montel's direction, from Brie and Kelly, both of whom realised this might not have been the best idea. Kelly had sworn Brie to secrecy after she and Montel saw him at the door but she didn't think to do the same to Montel. She planned to keep Randy a secret from Kofi but apparently now, that wasn't going to be an option. Brie elbow Montel in the ribs, eliciting a 'hey!' from the basketball player.

"Randy?" Kofi raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend. "Who's Randy?"

"Just this guy the girls and I met when we were driving down." The blonde replied innocently. "He saw me outside the club when I was about to leave and offered to walk me home because he didn't want anything to happen to me. No big deal."

"Please, when a guy walks a girl home, there's always an ulterior motive."

"Well, if he didn't have one, he didn't show it because he was fine." Kelly defended. "Seriously, nothing happened. He walked me to my door, I gave him a quick hug to say thanks and I went inside."

"She's telling the truth, Kofi." Montel added, redeeming himself. "Brie and I saw the whole thing, nothing went down. Randy just seemed like a decent guy."

Kofi looked at the trio for a moment, before giving a small nod. "Alright, I get it." He placed a small kiss on the side of Kelly's head. He believed Kelly; he had no reason not to trust her.

"Thanks for letting me use your shower." Maryse came out of the ensuite bathroom in Wade's hotel room, wearing one of the Brit's shirts and drying her hair with a fluffy white towel. "If I don't wash it straight away, it'll get all frizzy with the beach air."

Wade, who was sat on the edge of the bed, grinned. "High maintenance, much?"

"Shut up!" Maryse sat down next to him, slapping him across the chest. Okay, she was high maintenance but it was far too early in their relationship for him to know that.

...not that Maryse was looking for a relationship. All she wanted this summer was some fun and that was certainly what she was getting from Wade. They'd spent the day together and he was a really cool guy. Both of them just wanted the same thing, so no-one was going to get hurt. It was a pretty sweet deal they had going on.

"Hey, I never said there was anything wrong with a high maintenance girl." Wade commented. "Just means it's a girl with good taste. And because you're spending time with me, you have impeccable taste."

Damn, everything that boy said sounded so sexy with that accent. "Well, I do have very good taste." She managed to swing a leg over so she was sitting on his lap, her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. "And obviously you do too."

She pulled him in by the collar so her lips pressed against his. The shirt of Wade's she wore was quickly unbuttoned and discarded as the two moved further up the bed until they were thrashing around the mattress, clothes scattering everywhere. Not daring to remove her lips from his, Maryse let out an audible groan as she heard her phone buzzing on the bedside table.

Quickly breaking the kiss, she leaned over to check her cell phone and read the unread message in her inbox.

'Where r u? U wanna do something tonight? Miz x'

Maryse rolled her eyes before tossing her phone aside, completely oblivious to the feelings behind the text.

"Who is it?" Wade asked, fumbling in the bedside drawer for a rubber.

"No-one important." The blonde pushed him down and straddled his waist, holding up the rubber with a seductive smile. "Now, where were we?"

"Seriously, you didn't have to drive me home, I could've just gotten a cab." Tiffany protested as Drew pulled up outside the beach house. "You're going out of your way because the hotel's-"

"Tiff!" He laughed, cutting her off. "It's not a big deal. Besides, what kind of a date would I be if I didn't drive you home?"

Tiffany shot her date a smile from the passenger seat of Drew's rental car. "Well, I'm very thankful." She paused. "And you paid for my dinner as well! I'll have to pay you back at some time."

"Is that you saying you want to go on another date with me?"

Now that he mentioned it, yeah, Tiffany would be happy to go out with Drew again. It was difficult to get over what a gentleman the Scotsman was to her; he paid for her meals, he listened to every word she said and in essence, he was just...amazing.

"By the way, I have a present for you on the backseat."

A copy of The Road sat on the backseat of the car and as Tiffany turned around. She smiled as she remembered Drew taking her book the first time he met her. It was only a couple of days prior but it felt like an eternity. How time flies. "Thank you very much." She clutched the book to her chest, a soft smile gracing her feature. "Did you try reading it?"

"It's your book, not mine. But the blurb on the back looked pretty interesting." He said with a grin of his own.

Silently, Drew got out of the car and went over to Tiffany's door, opened it for her and took her hand, leading her up to the porch of her house.

"I'll call you tomorrow." Drew said, he and Tiffany sharing a quick hug.

Their eyes met under the shine of the porch light. The bulb began to hum as Tiffany felt her heartbeat speed up and her face begin to flush under Drew's intense stare. He placed his hands on her waist and his lips moved towards hers in what would be Tiffany's first kiss.

At first, it felt weird but after a couple of seconds, it was soft and gentle and nice. She wound her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her just as she opened her mouth so he could slip his tongue in. Like before, it was odd at first but she got used to it.

Eventually, Drew pulled away and gave her another smile, which she returned. He put a kiss on her cheek, before once again saying, "I'll call you tomorrow," and going back to his car. Tiffany watched him drive away before going into the house and realising the smile plastered on her face would have to be surgically removed because it wasn't coming off anytime soon.

Ooh, things are getting juicy now.
Quick questions I would you if you would answer - Favourite character? Favourite couple? Any predictions for the future of the story?
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