We Were Barely Seventeen, and We Were Barely Dressed

The next day we woke up and decided that we would take Rylan's jet skis out to have some fun. Rylan explained to all of the guys how to drive them. Once again, he had exactly four jet skis. I walked over to the one that Adam was getting on and was about to get on when Rylan grabbed my wrist.

"Nope. You're coming with me," he said, smiling.

I shrugged and walked over to his jet ski. He handed me a life jacket and put his on as well. After we had our vests on, He climbed on the front of the jet ski and helped me onto the back. I looked up just in time to see Maria giving me the most hated look I've ever seen. I smirked at her as Rylan turned on the motor and slowly started to leave the dock.

"Oh, wow," I said.

"What?" he asked back.

"Maria just gave me the nasty look I've ever seen."

"Why would she do that?" Rylan asked while trying to glance back at me.

"Because you picked me to ride on the jet ski with you," I said, glad that he was in front of me so he couldn't see me blush.

"Well, you're my friend. She can't expect that just because we fucked, pardon my language, a few times that I'm going to act like I want to be around her. She's good in bed, and that's it."

I don't know why, but this caused me to bust out laughing. Rylan quickly joined me. Once we finally stopped, we had gotten out of the no wake zone. Rylan was getting ready to hit the gas.

"Hold on around my waist," he said.

I quickly did as he said and we immediately took off. Rylan was hitting wave after wave after wave. I looked around and saw that every one else was just taking it easy on the jet skis.

Violet saw me and waved. I unhooked my hand from his waist and waved back. She then pointed to Rylan then me and made a heart with her hands. I rolled my eyes and flicked her off before turning my face back towards Rylan.

"Are you having fun?" he yelled over the wind.

"Yeah! I love the feel of the wind in my hair," I yelled back.

"Me too!"

It turned silent after that. We just watched as massive boats passed us. Rylan of course had to turn and make sure we hit the waves they created.

We stayed out on the jet skis for about half an hour longer and made our way back into Rylan's beach house.

"Well, should we go grab some lunch?" Rylan asked as everyone took off their life jackets.

"Sure. I'll cook us a meal!" Mick said.

"Why are you going to cook us a meal? I mean not that I'm complaining, but weird," Rylan said.

"Mick aspires to be a chef. That's what he's going to school for after high school," Haylee explained before kissing Mick on the cheek.

"Aw. How cute!" I said, hugging Haylee.

"Yes, fucking adorable," Maria added.

"Look, Maria, I'm tired of you and your shitty attitude. If you don't like us that much, then you can leave. You always have a horrible look on everything and constantly put other people down just to make yourself feel better. I don't know what crawled up your ass and died, but I think you need to get it checked out," I said.

I stormed off the dock and went straight into the beach house. There were a stack of towels sitting on a chair by the door so I quickly grabbed one and wrapped it around my waist. Everyone else was just starting to make their way into the house while I was grabbing a soda from the fridge.

I felt someone's arms wrap around my waist and smiled as he whispered in my ear.

"That was awesome. I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks, Adam. She's just any other bitch who needs to learn her place," I said, shrugging.

He released me from his arms. I walked to the window to see Rylan and Maria still outside. It looked like they were yelling at each other.

"Okay. Everyone clear out of my kitchen," Mick said.

I walked away as he started to move for the knifes that were on the counter. Rylan and Maria joined us as we sat around the kitchen table. Rylan smiled as he walked in, but Maria just had a scowl on her face. It looked pretty permanent.

We sat around the table and talked about what we were going to do the rest of the day.

"Why don't we take the pontoon boat out and just relax?" Rylan suggested.

We all nodded our agreement and waited for Mick to finish lunch.

"How much longer, Mick?" I asked.

"Um, I'd say half an hour," he responded.

"Okay. I'm going to go for a walk," I said, getting up and going out the back door to the beach. I hadn't noticed that someone had followed me.

"Cass, wait up! Are you okay?" Rylan asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Why?"

"You just look a little confused. Or upset. I can't figure it out," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"No. I'm just thinking," I said, walking down the beach.

Why is he so curious about how I'm feeling?

"What were you and Maria talking about earlier?" I asked.

"Oh, I was telling her that I was done being her fuck buddy. I like someone else now and I can't have her holding me back," he said.

"What happened to 'I don't date and if I do it doesn't last long'?" I asked him.

"That was the old Rylan. I've changed. Hopefully for the better."

"Interesting."

I pretended to let it roll off of my shoulders, but I couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy in my stomach. Who was this new girl that he liked and what kind of hold could she possibly have on him?

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm just trying to figure out who this new girl is now."

"Well, you know her. She's pretty awesome," he said with a smirk.

I frowned and continued to think. He then grabbed my hand and pulled me into him. He slowly started to lean down until his face was close enough that I could feel his breath on my face.

"You're pretty close to this girl."

"Is it Violet? She's dating Chace, Rylan. You can't do that to hi-"

His lips gently pressed against mine. At first, I was so shocked that I couldn't respond. When I finally realized what was happening I wound my arms around his neck and kissed him back. You know when you read a book and it talks about the fireworks that go off when you kiss someone? I don't think those books displayed it clearly enough. It's more like a fire that erupts in your stomach and slowly makes it way over your entire body.

Rylan pulled away soon after.

"Rylan? Who is this girl? That's not really fair to her," I said, my brain finally catching up.

He laughed really hard.

"Cassidy, you are the girl."