Love Like This

5

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Cece opens her eyes, expecting to feel a pillow under her head and soft blankets keeping her body warm. Instead, she feels a hard, grainy layer underneath her body. Cece's head bops up on the person's chest as he (or she) breathes, and she quickly rises, realizing that she fell asleep on the beach.

It's not quite daybreak yet, but Cece knows that her parents must be freaking out about her whereabouts. But looking at the sleeping boy next to her, her worries subside. Max looks absolutely peaceful when he's asleep, and Cece lightly brushes a bit of sand from his dark locks. It's too early to wake him up, so she walks to the shoreline to check out the view.

As Cece stares at the crashing waves, her memories of last night become clearer. She remembers meeting Nikko, and she remembers dancing with Max in the ground of people, but it's hard to pinpoint how in the world they ended up alone and abandoned on the empty beach.

The good part is that she knows that they didn't mess around last night. At least she can be assured that nothing regrettable happened between the two of them.

"So who fell asleep first?" a quiet voice groggily asks from behind her.

Cece turns around to face Max, a smile forming on her face. "If I had to guess, it was probably me. I'm not much of a night owl, if you know what I mean."

"Your family must be freaking out about you. Do they know where you are?"

"Ah," she replies, pulling out her phone from her pocket. No new messages flash on her screen, which is particularly peculiar. "No, surprisingly not. They didn't even text me."

Cece feels fear grow inside of her stomach. Hopefully, nothing bad happened to her parents or anything, but it's unlike them to not track her down even after a couple hours of no contact. "It's only 4 A.M. though, so maybe I can sneak back into our hotel room."

"I'll walk you back," Max adds, brushing off his shorts and rubbing his face. "I feel like absolute--"

"Poop? Yeah, me too."

Oddly enough, there is no trace of the party that occurred last night, so the pair decides to trek up the boardwalk. Virtually no one is in sight, aside from a stray runner jogging lapping their pace. It's relatively quiet as well, except for the periodical squawking of seagulls.

"Last night was really fun," Cece suddenly says, listening to the clomping of their sneakers on the wooden boardwalk. "I'm really glad that you decided to take me on the adventure of a lifetime."

"I'm glad that you had fun. How are your knees holding up?" Max asks, studying her scabs.

"They aren't too bad. I'm surprised that they still look pretty clean after that wild night."

"Yeah, I was not planning on sleeping with you this early on in the game."

Cece looks at Max, wondering if he just flirted with her. If he did, then she'll take it as a complement, but the move was so subtle that she received it as an awkward observation. But to cover up her confusion, she laughs and agrees with him.

Two can play at this game, right?

"We've should have at least waited until the third date," Cece replies, grinning at Max. If he's shy about making a move, then she at least should help him out and show him that's she's interested. "C'mon, I'll race you to the hotel."

Cece runs down the boardwalk, causing a giant cluster of seagulls to scatter. "You're on!" Max yells back, chasing after her.

Since Max has a good six inches on her and, therefore, has much longer legs, he easily catches up with her. As the hotel comes into sight, Max speeds ahead. Cece ends up giving up when her giggles overpower her competitive nature.

"I won!" Max gloats, smirking as Cece walks over to him. He opens the door for her as she waltzes into the hotel.

"Who ever said I was even trying? You just watch, Max, I'll get you next time."

The pair heads into the elevator, and their silly mood wears off fast. The higher they travel, the more nervous she feels. Not only does her head feel heavy from the crazy night she experienced, but her thoughts are also running laps in her mind. Why didn't they text her? And what are they up to now?

Max notices her anxiousness and laces his fingers between hers. "I'm sure your parents are safe and sound inside of their hotel room."

"Yeah, I really hope so," she replies.

Once Cece arrives at the door of their penthouse, she instructs him to wait outside of the door. "I really don't want them thinking that I spent the night with a boy. I'll text you to let you know that I'm safely inside."

Max and Cece quickly exchange numbers, and Cece enters the penthouse alone by sliding the key card into the door handle. The light flashes green, and she's granted entry into the room.

It's dark inside, but Cece can already hear her father snoring in the master bedroom. Wandering out of the foyer and into the bedroom, she cracks the door open and sees her dad sleeping alone.

"Are you looking for me?"

Cece lets out a tiny scream, jumping almost a foot in the air out of pure surprise. She whips around, noticing her mother sitting at the kitchen counter, sipping on a coffee. "What in the world are you doing up?" she asks, freezing in place.

"Waiting for you to come home. Where the heck were you?"

"At Nikko's place. We were hanging out," she lies. "You would have known if you bothered to text me."

"That's not my job, young lady. Next time you go somewhere, tell us where you are. And come home at a reasonable time, too."

With that, her mom leaves the kitchen and heads into the master bedroom. Cece quickly texts Max so that he knows that he's free to go home.

Cece: i'm home, just got yelled at by my mom

In the matter of a few seconds, Max replies.

Max: glad you're safe. wanna meet up for round two sometime?

Cece doesn't even hesitate to respond.

Cece: you got it, dude ;))))

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[A/N] Thank you all so much for reading! I really hope you enjoyed this short story because there are only a couple left!