Aiwerpjowiejpaoiej two weeks again? God. I really suck. Anyways. 123 reviews! Four away from beating my last story's amount of reviews! :) Thank you all so much!

Thank you especially to Kames Over All, SWACGleekFreak, DramaJen89, waitingFORthePERFECTsong9092 , Love and Heartz, LoveSparkle, XxxAnimaniacxxX, icanloveyoumorethanthis, jamesmaslowlover, Kimmie, DeniseDEMD, annabellex2, Hikari no Kasai and KEALY KAMES.

I've been writing this term paper for the entire first month of school…kill me now. Anyways, please enjoy !

I'm so sorry for any spelling or grammar in this chapter, I can't really edit it much cause I'm actually going insane-too much time spent on typing documents up for both school and fanfiction... x( please forgive me, I'm so sorry!

Chapter 14:

Waking up in a stream of light has never felt any more amazing.

The stream of light comes from James' ripped curtains slowly cascades down across the tip of his nose and straight down his chest, drawing a line over the arm I have wrapped loosely around his stomach.

Finally deciding not to head back to Mercedes' this morning, I roll over so that I'm lying flush on top of James, and reach down to the floor to grab my pants. I fish around in the pockets until I find my phone and toss the jeans back down on to the floor. I roll back into James' side before looking at the time—7:19, and find Mercedes contact before sending her a quick text:

Mer, slept over at James' house. Don't worry about me.

I smile to myself after the text sends, tossing the expensive phone over James' sleeping body as well—not too worried about where it lands or what happens to it. I can imagine Mercedes leaning over her white iPhone encased in its floral pink case on the island in the kitchen, waiting to hear from me or doing her daily morning Sudoku puzzles with the baby in one arm. Almost like clockwork, I hear my phone vibrating on the floor somewhere in the room, undoubtedly with her response.

Who else would be texting me?

I smile when James shifts his body so that he's on his side, naked stomach adjacent to mine. He exhales deeply through his nose before his eyelids twitch and slowly open—presenting the beautiful hazel eyes that I haven't seen for hours.

"Morning, Kendall," he says after a few moments of fully waking up.

"Morning," I grin, reaching an arm up to throw over his side, pulling myself closer to him. The intimacy of the moment took over my mind for a second, almost bringing my heart to a stop. The way this felt—the way he felt, all too perfect.

"Ready to sing for me again?" he rubs his hand over my arm slowly.

"Funny," I hold back a snort.

"I know," he takes the hand lingering over my arm and rubs it over his face. "What time is it?"

"Almost seven-thirty," I answer. My phone buzzes again, leaving me a little confused. Did Mercedes really need me for something? "I should probably get that," I tell him before crawling over him and looking for my phone.

"Sure," he lays flat on his bed, putting his hands underneath his head on the pillow. I bend over when I find my phone in the pile of clothes on the floor, standing up to stretch as I unlock it. My shoulder pops as I see Mercedes' message.

Have fun, darling. Spend as much time as you need, I'm going down to the store.

I grin as I scroll to the next message, where the grin disappears completely and morphs into pure confusion.

Kenny! think I saw u a mini golf course last nite—long time no see eh? here 4 a leadership conference, maybe we can grab a bite to eat sometime. let me kno! –Beau

"So you got ditched, prom night?"

"Yeah," I sigh, sipping on a milkshake I got from Rocque café before hastily making my way into the store. Carlos looks at me in disbelief after reading the text message I received a couple hours prior.

"How did that happen?"

"He had some stupid competition thing," I roll my eyes and suck on the milkshake straw, trying to get the substance into my mouth as quick as possible.

"Sports?"

"No," I laugh. "Scholastic. It was me and him working against each other for valedictorian, yet somehow we grew to get along, and we both happen to be gay."

Carlos' jaw pops open as he shoots me a funny look.

"Yeah," I smirk. "I know."

"Is he cute?" he watches as he slides my phone back towards me across the register counter.

"Is he cute," I repeat the question with a frown, opening the pictures folder on my phone and scrolling back to the pictures I took at the end of the school year. I open a picture I remember my mother taking of us graduation day, after all of the caps were thrown in the air and the gowns were ruffled from being sat on for hours. There was Beau, with an arm secured behind and around my waist, smile bright and white. I look small and pathetic next to him—I wonder if that's what it looks like when I'm next to James.

"Jesus," Carlos' eyes almost pop out of his sockets after I hand him my phone. "And I thought you were pretty good looking for a nerd."

"Hey, you're not exactly an average student yourself," I defend my nerdy title.

"I guess," he takes a closer look, zooming in on Beau's face—ruffled hair and perfect complexion. "God, he is gorgeous. Almost James gorgeous," he raises an eyebrow and looks at me.

"So maybe he is," I stand up straight, shaking my milkshake around in its cup. "But I love James, it's not like Beau is an issue."

I hear my text ringtone go off in Carlos' hand. Carlos narrows his eyes at the screen before smirking and turning the screen towards me.

Beau: I'm about to leave Rocque café, any chance you can come meet me somewhere?

"Are you going to see him?" I close the text before Carlos takes one last look at my old friend—funny how only a month of not seeing someone makes you 'old friends', and hands me my phone back.

"Maybe," I glance at the clock above the door. It's already almost nine o'clock. "Maybe I'll just let him wait it out like I did for prom," I chuckle with a shrug.

"Hey, if you don't want him I'll take him," Carlos teases.

"You should go meet him at the café," I laugh.

"I don't know how that would fly with Dak," he pouts. "Go! You have an attractive boy waiting for you."

"Eh, I don't think I will," I stick my tongue out. Once again my phone ringtone goes off, causing me to roll my eyes.

"What'd he say this time?" Carlos sticks his head in to the situation. I smile as I read the text out loud.

"Never mind, checking back into the hotel for the night. Maybe tomorrow—text me back please!" I make a sad face at Carlos to express the little emoticon Beau included on the text.

"Aw, he really wants to meet up with you," Carlos sprawls his body out across the register in agony—he can't take the pain I'm causing him for passing up a 'cute guy'. "Kendall you're killing me."

"I'm sorry," I laugh. "I have a perfect boyfriend. Why would I risk destroying that? Why would anyone risk destroying that?"

I wouldn't.

"I mean, look at this guy though, who clearly still likes you," Carlos refers to Beau, making me worry a little bit. A couple moments of silence go by before he speaks again.

"But you're right, James is an all around amazing person. This Beau guy is nothing to worry about too much."

"Right," I nod, getting rid of my worries.

Right?

"The trick is to balance it on your forehead the right way first," I instruct James as we sit across from each other on his bed. He laughs as he picks up a marshmallow from the bowl sitting in between our crossed legs.

"Are you sure about this?" he continues laughing as he tilts his head back and balances the marshmallow above his eyebrows in the center of his forehead.

"Come on, I may have had a boring childhood, but I did do this," I watch with a grin as James attempts to roll the marshmallow down from his forehead to his mouth. My phone vibrates from somewhere in the room, but I ignore it—for the four-hundredth time this evening.

"Alright," James moves his head forwards so that the marshmallow falls forward and into his hand. "What's up? You've been ignoring your phone all night," he sighs.

I reach over with a smile to brush the hair that fell forward into his eyes out of his face.

"It's fine, ignore it," I lean in over the bowl of marshmallows to kiss him lightly—before we're interrupted with another vibrate of my phone.

"I would," James pulls away with a smirk. "But it's getting a little difficult."

"Give me a second," I groan as I thrown my legs over the edge of the bed and get up. "Keep up the good work on the marshmallow-ing," I instruct him as I grab my phone from the table in the small kitchen. I roll my eyes at all fifteen text messages I've received from Beau—getting sicker and sicker of him each second. It amazes me how each text makes it seem like the last one was never delivered—like he didn't realize each time that I would ignore the next.

Kendall! What's up? Meet me for some coffee? Text me back (:

On the beach w/ some lead. conf. members, u should come meet them!

Ok, Rocque café again, milkshakes r so addictive. Txt me back! I wna c u!

I'm going back 2 the hotel soon, plz come see me! Call or text mee plz!

And those are only four of the many.

I turn off my phone this time before returning back to James on the bed, who apparently almost managed to roll a marshmallow into his mouth.

"I don't believe you," I giggle when I sit back down. "It took me years to master it, there's no way you could've done it in one night!"

"Whatever man, I don't need you to believe me. I just need to believe in myself," he winks, pulling a cheesy line out of his ass.

"Yeah yeah, okay," I pop another marshmallow into my mouth, chewing slowly and savoring the taste of the artificial treat.

"So who was texting you so much?"

"Oh no one," I lie, swallowing.

"Really," he raises an eyebrow, taking a marshmallow for himself.

"Just an old friend, actually. From school. He's apparently in town for some nerd thing—"

"You're a nerd too, you know," he butts in with a grin.

"Can I continue?" I send him a disapproving look.

"Sorry," he mouths, motioning with his hand for me to continue.

"Anyways. He's here for some nerd conference," I pause while swallowing another marshmallow. "And he wants to meet up, catch up, whatever it's called."

"So why don't you?" James doesn't see the issue here. How could he? He hasn't seen the pictures of Beau; for all James knows Beau is a scrawny little stick with a pair of Harry Potter-like glasses.

"Beau is...interesting," I sigh. "He ditched me on prom night for another nerd event." Looking back, I'm not too fond of the memory. At first it was fine, I didn't think prom would be such a big deal. But now? Now that James has essentially given me a new life? No way was missing out on prom okay.

"So he missed out, and he wants to make it up for the both of you," James takes another marshmallow and puts it on his forehead—ready to try again while I'm witnessing. He of course manages to get the marshmallow into his mouth.

"What can't you do?" I roll my eyes with a laugh. "You just take everything I do and do it better."

"I can't start food fights as well as you can," he grins, hazel eyes glowing.

"True, I was pretty fucking good for a first-time food fighter."

"Pretty good? You managed to get everyone in on it without them being prepared," he laughs, taking the bowl of marshmallows and placing it on the ground so he can stretch his legs out and lay back on his bed. He pats the open spot next to him, telling me I should probably move around to lay there with him.

"You know," James says after I crawl over into a spooning position with him. "You should probably just shoot him a text back. He's probably dying to see your gorgeous green eyes."

"I don't want to," I whine. "He makes me angry. I missed out on prom. With an attractive guy."

"Attractive," James repeats, clearly taken aback a bit.

"Oops, did I say that?" I giggle, turning around in his arms to kiss him. "You're prettier baby, don't worry."

"I'd better be."

After we settle in each others arms and James reaches to turn off the lamp next to his bed, we slowly fall into sleep's trance.

"Is he really that attractive?" James worries randomly.

"Go to sleep."

The next day is spent normally for me; James and I go our separate ways after enjoying chocolate chip waffles—courtesy of his toaster.

As soon as I get home, I grab the baby from Mercedes and play with her for a bit—for once in my life I feel free and weightless, no worries or burdens except that of Beau being around. For once everything is almost perfect.

"Kendall?" Mercedes walks into the living room a little bit before I'm planning on leaving for the store to get in my daily dose of tax returns and shipping payments.

"Hm?" I look up from my position on the floor with Kenzie, playing with her soft dolls and plush toys.

"There's someone here for you," she looks a little concerned as she pokes her head around the corner out to the entryway.

"Who?" I sit up, picking little Kenzie up with me.

"I have no clue."

Once I'm standing I slowly make my way towards the door, a little worried. Who didn't Mercedes know in this small town?

My eyes almost fall out of my sockets when I round the corner from the living room and see who's standing in the doorway. There he is, in all his glory with a pair of skinny jeans tightly wrapped around his legs, a light blue button down and a pair of boat shoes.

Beau.

"Beau," I almost choke out. "Hi."

"Hey there, do you have a second?" his eyes wander down for a second towards my chest—where I realize there's still a drooling baby in my arms.

"Oh yeah, wow, give me a second," I jump, taking Kenzie back to her spot on the floor in the living room. When I return to the entry way, Beau is shifting comfortably from one foot to another, smiling at nothing.

"Hi," I smile weakly, trying to be courteous.

"Hey," He smiles—ignoring my fake one. "I texted you a couple times, I don't know if you saw them."

Of course you don't.

"Yeah, I did, I've just been so busy with everything here," I makeup an excuse. There wasn't a time when I didn't have my phone on me, I was constantly playing a game or scrolling through my Facebook news feed to look at my 'friends' and their lives during their amazing summers.

"Same, it's been crazy!" He says with that familiar enthusiasm I didn't exactly miss. "Listen, I have to head back to the hotel for a small meeting, but are you free tonight?" he flashes me a smile similar to James', beautiful and convincing. I melt under that toothy grin, 'throwing him a bone' as my dad would say.

"Yeah, I'm free."

"Great," he nods, keeping the smile plastered on his face. "Didn't think I'd get to see you this week!"

"About that, how did you find me exactly?" I finally warm up to his bubbly attitude.

"Oh, see I stopped by in this surf store," he points over his shoulder with his thumb. "And some little latino-looking employee there asked me if I knew you! Funny right?"

I nod, biting on my bottom lip. Carlos.

"So I asked him if he'd seen you around today and he said to come here! I oughta thank him when I pass by again, don't you think?"

"I'll go myself," I smile. "Thanks for stopping." I take a step forward, hoping to push him towards the door. Instead he takes a step towards me and wraps me in a big hug, totally catching me off guard.

"I'll text you later," he smiles when he takes a step back.

"Alright," I cross my arms over my chest, watching him leave. After he closes the door I reach up and pinch the bridge of my nose, glad it's over—he's gone for the time being.

If only a certain future roommate of mine had kept their mouth shut.

"Carlos."

"You should have seen Camille's face," I laugh in between spoonfuls of ice cream. "She looked like she was going to kill her."

"I just can't believe you started that food fight!" Beau finishes his ice cream and tosses the cup into a random garbage can sitting on the docks.

Despite my earlier desires to do anything but go out with Beau for a bit, I was having a lot more fun than I had initially expected. I was actually having a good time, enjoying the time spent with Beau.

"It was a scary move, but we had a blast," I chuckle, being careful to avoid mentioning James, or Eric for that matter. I wasn't about to tell Beau everything about this summer—especially not that I'm in a relationship.

"God, you really have changed," Beau smiles shoving his hands in his pockets as we walk down to the end of the pier, sitting on a bench at the end.

"It's weird, isn't it? And here I thought that this summer was really going to be a drag," I sigh, leaning back against the smooth bench, watching the little bits of the waves that I can see in the dark.

"So tell me, Elon, right?" Beau watches the waves with me.

"Indeed," I nod. "You're headed out to Stanford, correct?" Of course I remembered, I was just asking to be polite.

"Yes," he smiles.

I inhale deeply. "Wow, that's a long way away, I don't know if I could do it," I lie. I could very much do it, I would love to get away from everything and everyone, start a new life. Except with James— James could come with me, right?

"I'm so excited, Kenny," he closes his eyes and leans back with a goofy grin. "God, just so excited for everything to start—for my life to start." I smile at him—he looks so at rest for the moment.

"I'm proud of you," I say honestly—I really am proud of him. I found out what it was like to start my life—the day I met James. It's a feeling like no other.

"Well what about you? Elon is amazing!" he opens his eyes and meets mine.

I shrug with a blush.

"I'm excited too," I chuckle. "Kind of sad everything is over, though."

"How do you figure?"

"I mean, everyone and everything I grew up with at school, at home, it's really not going to matter anymore, is it?" My smile fades as I think of all of the teachers and friends I had from elementary school all the way through high school.

"Only if you don't want them to," I feel him watching me as my eyes travel over the breaking waves again. "If you want someone to stay in your life, they can if you let them."

I can see him inching towards me on the bench slowly, but do nothing about it. I remain silent, eyes looking at the waves. Soon he's right next to me and has an arm around my shoulders, thinking nothing of it. I stay put, not moving.

"Kendall?" he gets my attention.

"What?"

"I missed seeing you everyday."

What happens next is kind of a blur—one second he's leaning in and the next his lips are on mine. The worst part is I don't react quickly, I wait to let everything sink in before I realize what I'm doing is wrong. I let him kiss me for a couple more seconds before I pull away.

"Beau this isn't right," I push him off gently.

"Sorry," he says.

"It's fine," I look away, avoiding his gaze.

"I should get going," he glances at the watch on his wrist. "Gotta get back to the hotel at some point."

"Me too," I sigh as I get up. "It was really nice seeing you, Beau," I'm still kind of dazed as to what just happened.

"Maybe I'll see you again this week?" It's more of a question than a suggestion.

"Yeah, maybe," I smile weakly. He nods before shoving his hands into his pocket.

"Goodnight Kendall," he turns around and walks away, leaving me at the end of an empty pier.

I watch him go before I start to walk in a different direction slowly, thinking about the night.

It was all too much fun, if only we hadn't sat down on that damn bench. Maybe if we wouldn't have gotten into such a deep conversation—maybe then he wouldn't have kissed me. Suddenly my brain almost explodes—my vision goes blurry and I can barely breathe.

Oh fuck.

Beau kissed me.

I let him.

Oh fucking fuck.

James.

Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god.

Sorry ladies and gents.

;)

xx

Sarah

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