Don't Give up Hope

The next morning, I woke up to the sunlight coming in through the window. I groaned, burring my face into my pillow. It seemed way too early to be awake, but when I looked at the clock, I saw that it was already eleven. I gasped, rolling over to see if Ryan was still next to me.

"Ry." I gently shook his shoulder. He grumbled, and rolled over onto his stomach. "Ry, wake up." Still nothing... "Ryan Sheckler!" I said, smacking his ass.

"What?" He groaned. "Isn't it a little too early for that?"

I laughed, sitting on his back. "It's time to get up. I'm sure your brother is already up, and about to go crazy." I whispered into his ear, rubbing his shoulders.

"What time is it?"

"Nine."

"What?!" He sat up, and I clung to his back so I wouldn't fall. "I'm surprised he hasn't woken us up yet..." Kane is usually an early riser. Like six in the fricken morning, early. He stood up with me still on his back. "Let's go check." He wrapped his arms around my thighs and started to walk out. Thank God he was in shorts, and I had his shirt and boxers on.

We found Kane sitting in front of the t.v., watching some random cartoon, with Casey right next to him. "Can we wake them up now?" Kane asked Casey once it turned to a commercial.

"Let's give them a little longer, Bud. I think they had a late night." Casey said, ruffling his hair.

"But Ry promised he would take me to the water park today." He said, pouting.

I looked up at Ryan, quirking an eye brow. He just shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "Hey, Little Buddy." I smiled, walking over to Kane.

"You guys are finally up!" He grinned, quickly forgetting whatever show was on right now.

"So, I heard someone is going to the water park today?" I said, going into the kitchen.

"Yeah! Ryan said he was going to take me! He said he hopes you come too so he can-" His voice was suddenly muffled by Ryan's hand.

"Ryan said what now?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

"Nothing." Ryan said, smiling innocently.

"Yeah, ok." I scoffed.

"But, really, you should come with us." He said, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind as I looked through the cupboards.

"Eh, water parks aren't really my thing." I said, pulling out of his arms and going to the fridge.

"For me?" He said, giving me a little pout.

"He just wants to see you half naked." Casey said, grabbing a glass of water. Ryan slapped his shoulder as he started to laugh.

"Yeah, I already figured that part out." I said, rolling my eyes and jumped to sit on the counter.

"It'll be fun. We'll take Kane, maybe see if Shane and a few others want to go. It's an escape from reality."

I sighed, nodding my head. "Alright, I'll go."

He smirked and kissed my lips. "Good. I'm gonna go do a few things. We'll leave in an hour?"

"Sure."

I went upstairs to take a quick shower, before pulling out my suit and a tank and shorts to go over it.

"You did bring sun block, right?" I asked Ryan.

"I knew I forgot something!" Ryan said, throwing his head back. I looked at him with wide eyes. Then, he started to laugh. "Really, Mel? My mom wouldn't let me forget something like that. She'd have a heart attack if I didn't have everything just in case."

I smiled. "That's a mom for you."

The day at the water park was pretty fun. Casey and Taylor had met us up there. Kane was all over the place, it was hard to keep track of him.

Even though I had made sure Kane had plenty of sun block, I seemed to have forgotten about myself.

"That looks like it hurts." Ryan said, looking at my red shoulders as we drove back home. It was already dark and both Shane and Kane were passed out in the back seat.

"It does." I said, wincing as it brushed against the seat.

"When we get back, I'll help you put some aloe on it."

"Aw, you're so cute."

He gave me a weird look. "How does that make me cute?"

" 'Cause you're all caring and stuff."

"Stuff?"

"You just do things that any other guy wouldn't, unless they were asked to. Even then, they probably wouldn't do it."

"I was brought up right." He said, giving me a sly smile.

I nodded. "That you were."

Things between Ryan and I seemed great. I just didn't know if that was the first couple of months grace period that all relationships start with. I was expecting a few bumps down the road, but I just hoped they weren't too big.

If only I would have known what was to come...