Once back in the party, it was as if nothing had even happened. Marcus came running over to me, grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the dance floor.

Instinctively, I looked back at Jake, he tilted his head to the side and smile softly. I mouthed, sorry, to him.

He nodded, and turned to head towards the kitchen, probably in search of another beer.

Dancing with Marcus was actually fun, and I ran into so many other friends that I hadn't seen yet at the party.

We were all dancing together, when Jake showed up, joining in. I felt his hand brush against mine a few times, his attempts at being discrete.

All of a sudden, I felt someone pull my arm, I spun around and realized it was Sophia.

'Hey! Where have you been?' I asked loudly, the beers were really starting to impact me.

'Bells, I told Aiden,' she replies, 'I told him before the party and we got into a huge fight. I think we just broke up.'

'Oh shit! You did?' I reply, shocked, 'Oh no! I'm so sorry! Do you want to talk?'

'Yeah, can we go to the bathroom really quick?' she pleads.

'Of course.'

I turn back towards Jake and Marcus, 'We'll be right back.'

We weave our way through the party and into the nearest bathroom.

Once inside, I turn to Sophia, 'Ok, what happened?'

She is on the verge of tears, and now seeing her in the bathroom light, I realize she's already been crying.

'Well, I told Aiden that I wanted to stay together through senior year but break up before we go away to college in the Fall.'

I ask, 'And it sounds like he didn't take that very well?'

She starts to cry, 'No, he said he if that's how I felt then I couldn't love him, and that we should just break up now.'

I pull her into a hug, 'Aw, I'm sorry.'

'But I do love him Bells, I do, I just don't want us to hate each other next year.'

I rub her back, 'I get it.'

'Why can't we just be together now, and worry about this in the summer?' she asks through sobs.

'I don't know,' I reply soothingly, 'maybe you just need to let him blow off some steam, and you guys can talk tomorrow.'

'Yeah maybe,' she replies, pulling out of the hug.

I grab some toilet paper and hand it to her.

'Thanks,' she mutters.

'I'm sorry that happened, you look fucking hot though,' I say with a soft smile.

She laughs through a watery gaze, 'I know, don't I? I haven't even been able to enjoy it yet.'

'Well, fuck that, let's go get you a drink!' I exclaim, grasping her shoulders.

'Ok, I'd like that. Let me just clean up my face first,' she replies, staring at her tear streaked face.

I sat down on the edge of the tub as she fixed her makeup.

'Marcus asked me out tonight.'

'He did?' she asked, surprised.

'Yeah, I told him I needed some time to think about it,' I replied.

'Time? Why do you need time?' she stares at me confused, through the reflection in the mirror.

'I don't know, I'm just not sure if I like him.'

'Ok, well, I guess at least you know he's there if you get really horny one night?' she replies cheekily.

I snort, 'I guess.'

'Ok, I'm ready,' Sophia says confidently.

'Let's go!' I reply, opening the bathroom door.

The party was starting to hit its peak at this point, you could feel it. Everyone was either tipsy or drunk or stoned, and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

'Let's head towards the kitchen,' I yell back to Sophia.

We make our way to the kitchen to pour some drinks, halfway there, I decide that Sophia is going to need something stronger than a beer.

I grab the Tequila bottle and pour out two shots.

'You read my mind,' she exclaims when she sees the shots.

We down the shots, immediately searching for a chaser.

I pour another, this time only for Sophia.

'Here, this one's just for you,' I say, a bit too loudly, 'I'm already a few beers in, if I take another shot, I'll be done for the night.'

'Fine,' she scoffs, downing the shot immediately.

'Want one more or you good for now?' I ask, trying to judge her behavior.

'Just one more and I think I'm good,' she replies.

Trusting her decision, I pour her one more.

She throws it back, and as soon as she's done, she grabs my hand and drags we over to the dance floor.

Happy to oblige, I let her lead me.

Once we're there, I take stock of the state of things. When we had left, there were about 20 people dancing, now there was almost double that.

I spotted Jake in a corner trying his best to appease a very touchy Laura Gertrude, who apparently had a serious Jeff Goldblum fetish.

I smiled, thinking back to our earlier conversation.

Sophia and I danced for a while before Jake showed up next to us.

'Hey Soph, how you doing?'

She opened her eyes briefly to peer at him, 'You talk to Aiden?'

'Yeah, he told me what happened.'

'Ah, well, I've been better,' she replied, as she pulled on the front of his shirt, drawing him closer to her.

He smiled, grasping her hands and putting them around his waist as he moved towards her. Their bodies swaying to the music.

I watched this interaction with curiosity, what was the difference in connection between what Jake and I had versus what he and Sophia had?

We were all best friends; we all grew up together. What did Sophia mean when Jake always treated me differently?

I was lost in thought, when Sophia reached out a hand and pulled me towards them.

'You two dance, I'm going to go get another drink,' she whispered to us.

'You sure? You want me to come with you?' I asked.

'No, I'm good. I'll be right back, you two be good,' she said with a wink and then disappeared.

I turned back to face Jake.

'Well, if she insists,' Jake says, as he pulls me towards him, draping my arm over his shoulder.

Our bodies fold together, swaying to the rhythm of the song.

I smile briefly at the freedom of this moment, the feeling of being able to hold each other in public, and not draw any suspicion.

Jake's hands drift to my waist, and I can feel his fingers dig into my hips. I look up at him, questioningly.

He gives me a mischievous smile, then leans down to whisper, 'Turn around.'

I obey and spin around, so my back is to him, as we dance to a new song. There are so many people around us, that we're masked in a sea of bodies.

I lean further into him as the bead changes, smiling as he grips my hips, pulling me even closer. I lean into our movements, tilting my head back against his chest.

'Fuck you, you fucking dick!'

We hear a crash of something shattering.

Jake and I both stop dancing and peer around to see where the screaming was coming from.

This time we both turn towards the kitchen, discovering that Sophia was the source of the commotion.

We both rush over to the kitchen to figure out what is going on.

'I fucking hate you!'

I run up to her, 'Soph, what's going on?'

'I caught him hooking up with Ashley! Here! At this fucking party. We broke up less than two hours ago YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!' she yells.

'You broke up with me!' Aiden yells back.

At this point everyone in the party is looking at them.

'Soph, let's just go home,' I plead with her.

I look over at Jake for help. He gets the hint and rushes over, 'Yeah, let's get out of here, I'll give you a ride.'

'I'm not going anywhere until he apologizes,' Sophia replies, yanking her arm away from my grasp.

Aiden scoffs, 'I'm not going to apologize, you broke up with me! You're the one that wanted to move on, I'm moving on!'

'That's not even close to what I meant!' she retorts.

'Well, it sounds close enough to me, so you can just fuck off!'

'Real nice Aiden, I can't believe I loved you,' she mutters, as she moves to leave.

Aiden explodes in anger, 'You can't believe you loved me? I can't believe I loved you! You broke my heart you heartless bitch. Now get the fuck out of here! Leave!'

He motions to usher her out of the room.

Sophia, being drunk and upset, interprets his motions as sign of aggression. She rushes towards him and pushes him square against the chest.

I run over to hold her back, attempting to de-escalate the situation.

'Are you fucking serious Soph? You're going to push me?' he exclaims.

'You hurt me first,' she yells back.

'Bella get her the fuck out of here before I say something I really don't mean,' he replies, looking at me.

'We're going, but don't think because she's the one leaving that means you're in any way right in this situation.'

'Ya know what, fuck you too Bella! You don't know shit about my pain! You can both eat shit!' he yells back at me, flipping me off.

At that moment, Jake stepped between us.

Calmly, he says 'look man, I get it, but this is not the way. Don't go starting more shit that you can handle tonight.'

Aiden looks at Jake, then to me.

He laughs, 'Of course, defend her, because Bella can do no wrong! But what about me? I'm your friend too!'

Jake puts a hand on Aiden's shoulder, pulling him closer, 'I'm here for you, I'm just not going to support you yelling in the middle of a party or hooking up with someone when your ex is in the other room. That's just not you,' he looked back at me, 'Now, we're going to take Soph home. Can someone take you home?'

'I drove,' Aiden muttered in response.

'I can drive him,' Marcus chimed in from the other side of the counter.

'Awesome, thanks man,' Jake replied, throwing him the keys.

Jake turns to Aiden, 'I'll call you tomorrow,' and pulls him in for a hug.

When they break apart, Jake turns and walks towards me, 'Let's go.'

I usher Sophia towards the front door, at this point she almost has her full weight against me. I'm trying my best to support her as we walk down the stairs, but it's no use.

'Jake, can you help me?'

Jake bends down and scoops her up into his arms.

'Carrying her is just faster,' he mumbles as we walk down the stairs towards his car.

We make our way down the stairs and towards his car. Jake unlocks the car, as I open up the door to the backseat.

He places a very drunk, very unconscious Sophia across the backseat.

'Well, I guess those shots caught up to her,' I said as I made sure her dress was in the car before closing the door.

'Shots?' Jake asks as he walks around to the driver's side door.

'Yeah, we took a few tequila shots earlier,' I reply as I open up the passenger side door.

Jake starts up the car, and I ask, 'I guess we should just take her straight home?'

'Yeah, that makes sense,' he responds, turning on the radio.

'Thanks for stepping in by the way,' I say, glancing over to him.

'Aiden was just drunk, saying shit he didn't mean,' Jake responds.

'I know, but still, he needed to stop,' I sighed, 'I don't know if they're going to get over that fight.'

'So, she dumped him?'

'Yeah, she didn't want to break up just yet. She wanted to wait until the end of summer, just before college started,' I respond.

'Why then?' he asked curiously.

'She love him, she just doesn't want to date him going into her freshman year, she thinks it'll make them miss out on other things,' I reply, looking out the window.

'Other things like other people?'

'Yeah, I think she just didn't want them to end up hating each other.'

Jake raises his eyebrows, 'Oh, I get that.'

I look over at him, 'You worry about stuff like that?'

'Definitely, you don't?' he asks.

I glance at the backseat, making sure Sophia was still passed out.

'Yeah of course I do,' I reply, 'I mean do you agree with Soph?'

He scratches the stubble growing on his jawline, and replies, 'Yes and no.'

I roll my eyes, 'Very diplomatic.'

He laughs, 'On one hand, I think trying to stop something before it runs its course will always leave you with good memories.'

He pauses as he comes to a stop at a red light.

'But, on the other hand, sometimes just seeing what happens is worth it too,' he drops his hand from wheel and looks over at me.

'Well, I think if it's meant to be, they'll find their way back to each other,' I reply, coolly.

He narrows his eyes slightly, 'Maybe they will.'

I inhale deeply, feeling like this conversation was getting too real, too fast.

I reach over and place my hand on his leg, moving my hand towards the bulge emerging in his jeans.

'Should we take a quick detour before dropping her off?' I ask, trying to change the subject.

Jake sees right through me, 'You must really not want to talk about this.'

'I don't, not yet anyway.'

He smiles briefly, 'Fine by me, you brought it up!'

'I know and now I wish I didn't, so can we distract ourselves from this kind of shitty night?' I plead.

'Hey! I resent that; we danced, we drank, we got into a fight- that all sounds pretty standard to me.'

'Ha Ha' I reply sarcastically, 'let's do something we both will enjoy.'

I lean over the armrest and place a soft kiss on the skin underneath his ear lobe.

'Bells, where do you want to go? We can't use my car, Soph is in the backseat.'

I start to lightly bite his ear lobe, ignoring his question.

'Oh, I think I know a place we could go,' he says suddenly, hitting his turn signal.

We make a U-turn and head towards a neighborhood called Highland Shores.

Confused, I turn to him and ask, 'Highland Shores?'

'Yeah, there's a secret beach down there, I know the code to the gate.'

'How do you know the code?' I ask.

Jake coughs slightly, then replies, 'Ashley gave me it to me.'

'Are you serious?' I reply, annoyed, 'We're not going to a place where you and Ashley hooked up.'

'We never did!' he replies, 'I swear, we were going to, but I ended up bailing on her.'

I looked over at him, 'you bailed?'

'Yeah, over the summer. You and I had just started doing our thing, it just didn't feal right.'

I nod, 'Well now I feel bad.'

Jake scoffs, 'I can't win with you!'

I laugh, 'It's not supposed to be easy.'

Jake throws me a surly glance as he pulls into an open spot in front of the gate.

I turn around to check on Sophia, still asleep in the backseat.

'I'll crack a window for her,' Jake says, as he lowers the windows in the back of the car.

'You think she's going to be ok?' I ask.

He glances over his shoulder to asses, 'Yeah she looks like she's going to be out cold for the rest of the night.'

'Ok, let's do it,' I reply, opening my door.

We both get out of the car and walk towards the gate, which appears to be the only entrance to the beach.

I can hear the waves crashing on the other side of a brick wall, serving as a barricade against the outside world.

I turn around to ask, 'What's the code?'

Suddenly, he grabs my hand and pulls me towards him. Our lips meet passionately, and our mouths open as we devour each other.

I take a step back, and my back bumps up against the wall.

Jake reaches down and lifts me up, I willingly oblige, wrapping my legs tightly around his waist.

He breaks our kiss to look down, remembering that I'm not wearing any underwear.

He bites his bottom lip and starts walking us towards the gate. With one arm holding me up, and the other entering the code, I take advantage of this opportunity and I lick the tender skin of his neck.

He gasps at the sensation, and I smile against his skin, knowing how much that turns him on.

We make it through the gate, falling to the sand not too far from the entrance.

I impatiently rip off my cloak, and with equal vigor, he removes his belt and starts unbuttoning his jeans.

'Wait, we should lay on my cloak,' I blurt out, my voice is raspier than anticipated.

'Yeah,' he whispers in response, reaching for me as we lay down on top of the fabric.

As soon as we hit the sand, I push his pants past his hips, followed quickly by his briefs. He slides the already loose fabric of my dress aside and thrusts into me.

I gasp at the sensation of him inside me, filling an aching void I never knew existed. I craved him, even inside me, I wanted more of him.

I wrapped my legs around his waist, urging him deeper, clawing at his back.

He willingly obliged, rocking his hips back and forth as he plunged inside of me. Our mouths crashed together again, this time with an urgent desire to maintain connection.

My hips began to shudder as a tingling sensation ran up my spine, I knew I was close to climaxing. I urged him to roll on to his back, so I could be on top.

I straddled his hips, feeling his cock penetrate me deep inside.

I let out a moan as I rocked my hips, grinding against the friction of our movements.

With every rock of my hips, I felt myself inching closer, and I felt Jake writhe underneath me, bucking his hips in tandem.

Instantly, a rush of release washed over me, urging me to speed up my movements, and finally carrying me away on a wave of pleasure.

I gasped for air, as I heard Jake hiss at his own release inside me. I collapsed on top of him, spent and completely satisfied.

'Fuck,' Jake whispered into my hair, turning to kiss the side of my face.

Eventually, I climbed off of him and we laid on the beach staring up at the stars. Neither of us had our phones, so we had no idea how long we had been gone.

When we finally got back to the car, Sophia was still blissfully unaware and asleep in the backseat.

'Well, that was certainly different than last year's Halloween,' Jake said as he started up the car.

I reply deadpan, 'No for me, I do this every year.'

Jake laughs, 'Shut the fuck up.'

I smile back at him, 'Want to split a milkshake?'

'Strawberry?' he replies instantly.

'Is there any other kind?' I fire back.

'And some fries!' we hear a muffled voice yell from the backseat.

We both instantly look behind us at the miserable looking Sophia, both arms crossed over her eyes.

'You're alive!' I shout.

'Barely,' she mutters, 'but if you get me fries and a big Mac, I may actually survive the night.'

Jake nods, and replies with a resounding, 'done.'

My phone buzzes and I reach down to grab it.

It was a text from Marcus.

Jake saw me starting at my phone, 'Who is it?'

I looked over at him, 'Marcus.'

Jake shakes his head, 'We can't keep doing this.'

'I know,' I reply softly.

'Can't keep doing what?' Sophia mutters weakly from the backseat.

'Bella knows,' Jake replies cryptically.

Sophia throws her arms up, 'Ugh, whatever!'