We Were Barely Seventeen, and We Were Barely Dressed

The rest of summer seemed to fly by, and every day was almost identical. I would wake up, go to work, hang with my friends, and go to sleep. Every now and then there would be a twist in the schedule. Rylan threw parties every now and then. It didn't take long to realize that his parents were almost never home.

He told me once that he didn't really care, but I could see that his parents being gone bothered him to some extent. He always brushed it off as being a good thing because he could have parties and do whatever he wanted.

The only real involvement his parents had was making sure that he was okay and paying the credit card bills that he racked up. The bills didn't seem to bother his parents even though Rylan had paid for all of us on many occasions.

I confronted Adam on this once and he just said that Rylan never talks about it, and that Rylan's parents had a butt load of money. Rylan never seemed to care that we didn't have money like he did. Not that any of us are poor, but Rylan could easily buy many things that none of us could even dream of owning.

As summer raced by, so did all of our chances for a vacation. It was the last week before school started and Rylan insisted that we all go and stay at his beach house. I called off work as did Chace, Haylee, Mick, Adam, and Violet. Maria never worked and Rylan clearly didn't need to.

We all met at Rylan's house to go to his beach house. Adam had picked me up to go to Rylan's. When we got there, he had his big SUV pulled out of his garage and was loading everyone's stuff into the back. The beach house was only a couple of hours away. Once Rylan got everyone's stuff into the trunk we all loaded into the massive vehicle.

Rylan insisted that I sit in the front by him which clearly pissed Maria off.

"Does anyone mind if I turn on the radio?" I asked to be polite.

No one seemed to complain so I plugged in my iPod and started playing random music. The first song to come up was Wannabe by the Spice Girls. Haylee, Violet, Adam, and I rocked out while Maria rolled her eyes. The other guys tried to pretend they didn't know the lyrics, but I caught them mouthing along.

"I caught you!!" I yelled at Rylan.

"What are you talking about?" he asked without turning away from the road.

"You were just singing this song! Don't try and hide it!"

"I was not!"

"Were to!"

"WAS NOT!"

"WERE TO!"

He gave up with a huff of defeat and pulled his sunglasses over his eyes.

"It's okay. You're still masculine!" Violet said.

"And hot!" Adam added.

We all laughed as Rylan continued the drive. Once we got into town, we stopped at WalMart to do some grocery shopping. After shopping, we got to Rylan's beach house, which apparently was his. It was a birthday present from his parents a few years back. Lucky bitch.

"Okay, guys. I'm going to take the luggage out of the back. You grab your crap and go inside. There's four rooms so everyone is going to have to double up. Pick your roommate now."

Everyone started buddying up. Haylee and Mick were roommates as were Violet and Chace.

I didn't want to pick between Adam and Rylan. I was going to wait and see who was left. Of course it didn't make me too happy when Rylan and Maria ended up paired together. I didn't mind being paired with Adam, but I was secretly hoping that I would.

We all grabbed our luggage and went inside. Adam and I quickly found a room that we would enjoy staying in. Once I threw my luggage on the ground, I jumped onto the bed and sighed with content.

Adam left soon after setting his stuff down which caused me to be a little surprised when someone landed down beside me.

"This bed sure is comfy, isn't it?" Rylan asked me.

"Yep."

I just sat there, unsure of what to do. I'm laying in a bed, that's not mine, with the guy that I may or may not be crushing on just a little.

"What do you want to do?" he asked.

I turned so I could look at him.

"I don't care. I'm kind of hungry though. Maybe I'll go make a sandwich."

"Ooh! Make me one too," he said while licking his lips.

"Do I look like your bitch? Didn't think so," I said with a laugh and stood up.

I walked down to the kitchen and Rylan was following behind me.

"I was just kidding, Cass. I wouldn't ever make you make me a sandwich," he said very sincerely.

"Oh, I know. That's why you're going to make me a sandwich," I said with a smirk.

"Rylan do what?" he asked.

"Make me a sandwich!" I screamed.

He gave up and got out the stuff to make sandwiches. I sat at the table and watched as he made the sandwiches. It was kind of a nice change.

"Here you go, my dear," he said, setting a plate down in front of me.

"Thanks," I said, laughing.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"I just made you my bitch!"

"What?!? No you didn't. I made that on my own free will," he said. I could already hear the defeat in his voice.

"Uh huh. Sure," I said in a sarcastic tone.

He rolled his eyes and sat down across from me to eat. After we ate, we changed into our bathing suits and met everyone down at the beach. It was very hot out and sunny. When we got to the beach, I laid my towel down by the girls, but left to go play in the water. I never was one to sit very still.

When I got into the water, I floated on my back until I felt something swim underneath me.

"Holy fuck! What was that!?!" I yelled.

Mick quickly came over to inspect what swam under me when Rylan popped up behind me.

"Boo," he whispered in my ear and wrapped his arms around my waist.

I quickly closed my mouth and eyes as he dunked me under water. I came up for air as fast as I could.

"What the hell, Rylan? I could have drowned," I said with mock seriousness.

"Oh, please. Like anyone here would have let you drown," he said, smiling.

"Jerk," I muttered under my breath.

"You love me."

"In your dreams."

"Don't try and hide your undying love for me anymore, Cassidy," he said, laughing.

"Oh, yes, Rylan! I love you so much!" I said in a southern belle accent.

"Well, then let me take thee to get married right away!" he said in the same accent.

We both doubled over in laughter as everyone else looked at us with weird looks. I crawled up into the sand a little ways and started building a sand castle. Adam came and sat by me to help.

"I know what just happened out there, Cass," he said with a grin.

"What do you mean?"

"Your little skit? I don't think it was as far off base as you guys think."

"You've lost me," I said with confusion clear on my face.

"You and Rylan. You guys are too cute and way too perfect for each other. I can't believe you guys aren't sucking each other's faces off with the looks you've been giving each other. You guys are practically eye fucking each other," he said.

"Oh, whatever, Adam. I think you're delusional," I said.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, sweetheart."