He could feel her staring at him, she had been for the past ten minutes, and he knew that she knew he could feel it.

She was lying on her stomach: when her feet dropped from the air, to the scalding hot sand, and then back into the air was when Brian cracked and finally turned to face her. A smirk already present on his handsome face;

"What is it, Meredith?" He huffed in false-annoyance that elicited a chuckled from his significant other. She grinned widely at him and inquired after "his deepest darkest secret", something which she asked after whenever she was in need of entertainment.

Brian's lips twitched as he reclined until he was lying on his back under the tarp, his head coming to rest in front of his girlfriend, and her fingers gently running through his sandy hair.

"My secret is that I am desperately in love with you, Meredith Stepien." His head tilted just the slightest to watch her smile.

To an outsider you ironically saw their beauty as well. Sure, they both were sunburned, glistening with sweat, and both were wearing rumpled, sand-covered clothes, but if you look closer, and if you sat a minute, you would see the beauty that each of them saw. Not only were they better-than-average young adults: but they radiated content and comfortable devotion. The exact brew of gaiety and love that transcends time and turmoil.

"As flattered as I am, I want a real secret." She poked his cheek to prove her point.

He pondered a moment before coming up with his most current 'deep dark secret', because he couldn't tell her what his most guarded secret really was.

"Hmm… I wasn't going to tell you this, but…" He paused for effect, "I helped Darren write some of his new song, and I wrote about you."

"Did you now?" She asked, genuinely surprised, "What about me?"

"I talked about your poop-colored eyes, and your boney, old-women fingers." He chided playfully, knowing that she complained about her slender digits often. She pinched his nose in retaliation. He laughed and she leaned forward to capture his lips in hers.

"Gross." The pair pulled apart and smiled at their tent-mate as he plopped himself down on a towel and pushed a pair of sunglasses on. The couple watched as their most recent arrival bent and unbent his knees a few times, tapped his fingers against his crossed arms, and sighed deeply. The pair watched as he took out a cigarette and a book of matches, carefully lighting the tip.

"I'm only allowed half of this." He said, keeping it between his lips and he slid the matchbook into his back pocket. The pair nodded.

"You know what I miss most?" Joe asked, closing his eyes.

"A hot shower." Meredith answered for herself.

"Air conditioning." Brian chimed.

"No, I mean yes, but no." He sighed, "I miss sitting around in your guys' kitchen," He looked at the couple, "Or on Lo's balcony, or in my living room with some good music and some good drinks and some really good pizza."

They all pined for this in a sweet moment of silence.

"I'm gonna go find me something to do." Joe said when the moment passed, "You two don't go getting pregnant, we all gotta share this tent and no one will wanna sleep here if you two go sexing up the place."

"We'd never-"

"TOO LATE."

They answered simultaneously; Joe chuckled when he heard a small smack and Brian groan.

"You are going to put that out now right?" He turned to see Lauren bouncing up from behind him, her eyes looking slightly disdainful at the cigarette between his fingers.

"Oh, right. Yeah." He stepped on it, pushing into the sand before he picked it up again so he could toss it somewhere out of the way, "Thanks."

She skipped along his side, and began humming to herself, waiting for him to speak first. He complied.

"Why are you so chipper today?" He smiled down at her.

"Because I have an offer for you, Mr. Joe, that is, if you accept and agree not to sell me out." She stated, trying to sound diplomatic, but her smile exposed her excitement.

"And what might that be, Ms. Lauren?" He inquired.

"I may or may not have stolen some alcohol from some of the luggage we went through." He stopped and looked at her as she beamed up at him, "And I was hopping to find a friend to join me in consuming it."

"That's trouble."

"No, it's adventure. Besides, it's only trouble if we get caught." She looked up innocently at him.

"Well, I am not about to argue with that logic." He agreed, "Care to join me for a swim?"

"Sure, fresh or salt water?"

"Salt okay?"

"Salt is perfect." She answered before calling out to Charlene and Liam who were strolling towards them, "Swim?"

The pair tugged their shirts over their heads, and in Lauren's case, she let her shorts slid down her tanned legs. As soon as she had kicked them off from around her ankles, Clark had run up from behind, snatched her aviators from atop her head, and was sprinting into the waves with Lauren right on his heels.

The tall musician chuckled as he held the sunglasses away from his body, and out of the tiny brunettes reach.

"This game got old in the third grade, Baxstresser." She grumbled, trying to jump for her possession. Eventually Dylan and Kelsey had run out to join them, and the group of friends were all wrestling around in the surf.

"Wox!" She waved a hand in front of his face.

"What? Yeah, sorry?" He asked, snapping back into reality.

"What were you thinking about?" She inquired. Her big brown eyes bearing into his blue ones, without even mean to hold his attention so strongly.

"Nothing!" He said laughing it off.

"It wasn't nothing." She challenged, with a smirk.

Wrapping one arm around her waist, and another under her legs he tossed her into an incoming wave. She came up wide-eyed and sputtering.

"What was that for?"

"For being nosey."