Time of Our Lives

*Dakota’s POV*

I was feeling quite bleak and horrible at the moment. After my small meeting with Aaron, he pretty much led me to agreeing in watching him in a surfing competition that was to happen soon. I honestly didn’t want to go. It was on the public end of the beach, which was walking distance, but I was sure my face wasn’t exactly unpopular. I was still a huge talk going on at school and have been confronted on before and I honestly didn’t want to mess with the hate during vacation.

Either way, the damage has been done by agreeing. I was to meet over there in half an hour. He’d show me to his friends, do his surfing, and I’ll be on his way. I would be out long enough to support him through and through and be back in time before anyone noticed. Hopefully. Well, I mean, I told Bonnie about it. She actually pitied me for having to go, but she said she’d wait for my return.

I walked out my door, sticking my key in my pocket. And to my joy, I already almost ran right smack into somebody. Oh, freaking God, just my luck.

And guess who?

“Where you going?” Louis asked, noticing my get-up.

Shorts, a loose, bright orange tank top that said ‘LOVE’ with a white bikini top on underneath. Oh, and orange flip-flops. Gotta love my orange fetish. Nothing unusual for me, but seemingly unusual for my dear friend Louis. Before I could gather my thoughts, the word slipped. “Bonnie’s…”

“Her cottage is in the other direction.” He pointed the other way.

Shit, I thought. “We’re meeting at the beach…” I slipped again.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Louis raised an eye. He pointed behind me. “Once again, the other direction. I can see the lie written all over your face, Dakota. Be honest with me, seriously.”

I reached up, scratching the back of my neck. “Well, I’m seriously going to the beach.”

Louis crossed his arms, letting out a breath. He raised an eye again. I mocked him, looking up at him. I gave in anyways. “I meant the public beach.”

I pointed out. Louis looked over, from where we stood, we could see a mob of people gathering around on the other pier. Louis’s face fell for a second before it became slightly disgusted. “Seriously? Just to meet that boy?”

“What?”

“That guy you had lunch with earlier. Are you going to meet him?”

“Aaron?” I couldn’t help but bring myself to ask.

“Is that his name?” Louis snorted, rolling his eyes.

“Hey!” I scolded. “That’s not nice, you know!?”

He shrugged, looking in the other direction, avoiding my gaze. “Whatever. He doesn’t seem like an interesting guy anyways.”

I scoffed. “How would you even know?”

He shrugged, bringing his arms down to stick his hands in his pockets. “Does it matter? I just know.”

“Whatever.” I said, getting ready to walk around him.

He stepped in front of me, stopping me. I stepped to the other side, but he did the same. “Louis.” I huffed, looking up at him. His blue eyes stared down into mine. “You can’t keep me from going.”

“I know. I’m not stopping you. Go if you want.” He said, moving his head as if telling me to go.

“Fine. I will.” I said, moving over to get around him. Once again he stepped in my way.

Only I was actually trying to walk and our chest ran into each other. I could hear a soft chuckle coming from him. I took a small step back, putting my hands on my hips and glaring up at him. “Damn it, Louis! Seriously?”

He just raised an eye at me. I stuck out my bottom lip, pouting. I noticed his arms were still crossed. To be honest, Louis was making me feel worse than I already was. “Are you mad at me?” I suddenly heard myself ask.

The question seemed to stun him. “Huh?”

“You’re keeping me here.” I said. “I’m just going to go watch a surfing competition I really don’t want to see. I’ll be right back so why are you keeping me here?”

“Then why go if you don’t want to see?” Louis asked, avoiding my own question.

“I promised I’d go see.”

“Some promises can be broken.”

“I don’t make promises I know I can’t keep.” I said, looking away.

Louis was silent. I heard a soft sigh. “Now you’re making me feel bad.”

I looked up. Louis was running a hand through his hair. He brought out a pair of sunglasses that were on his shirt, putting them on. “Okay, I’ll let you go. But I’m coming with.”

“Seriously?” I raised an eye.

He nodded. I shrugged, I wasn’t about to stop him. He was right behind me as we silently walked down the pier and passed the shops. It didn’t take long until we were on the public pier, filled with people as we walked down the steps to the busy beach. Waves were crashing and music was playing. The music was coming from the stage where a band was playing.

There were a ton of girls in bikinis and half as many guys. I even saw some girls give Louis the eye, but he seemed to stick close. He may have been a good-looking guy, but the last thing he wanted was people crowding around him because he was Louis Tomlinson of One Direction. I looked around, trying to find Aaron.

He was the one that found me. “Hey!” He called out, grabbing my arm to get my attention.

I smiled up at Aaron and I could practically feel Louis giving Aaron’s hand a death glare from under his sunglasses. Aaron looked over, seeing Louis. “A friend?”

I nodded. Louis placed an arm over my shoulder. “A very close friend, if I may add.” Louis said, giving Aaron a smile.

“Cool. Good to meet you, bro.” Aaron said, clapping Louis on the shoulder before pulling me out from under Louis’s arm to take over where his arm was before. “My buddies’ are over here.” He quickly led me over to a small group of two guys and two girls.

Okay, now I could really feel the holes burning in the back of my head as Louis stared. I was feeling really awkward.

“Dakota… Jared and his girlfriend Levi, along with Sarah. Where’s your brother?” He asked Sarah.

She pointed out toward the water. “Hitting a wave. The competition’s started already. You’re next too. Oh, and hello Dakota. It’s nice to meet you…” Her eyes traveled to behind me. I looked back, seeing an uninterested Louis staring out at the ocean. I turned back, seeing a seductive smile on her face. “Oh, who’s that?”

“Um…” I started. I really didn’t want to be the one to give out his identity. It didn’t seem she recognize him either, so I didn’t want to boost her suspicions if she had any. With the lust written all over her face, I doubt she really cared.

Louis looked over, seeing how he was brought into conversation. “Call me Tommo.”

“Oh, damn, he’s Australian.” She cooed.

“British.” Both Louis and I spoke up. We made eye contact for a brief moment before Aaron spoke up. “Greg’s done!” He placed his hands on my shoulders. “Be sure to watch, alright?”

“’Kay…” I said, smiling as he smiled down at me before giving my shoulders a squeeze and running down to shore.

Sarah bumped my shoulder as she forced her way to Louis and latched onto his arm. I thought to pay no mind. I mean, don’t fans latch onto him all the time? But still, she didn’t know he was and the mere fact that she was hanging onto him like some desperate dog made me want to gag. It made me want to laugh knowing there were girls like her everywhere, who were so easy to get to. I pitied Louis for catching her eye.

I could barely see the waves so I decided to get closer. I left Louis on his own accord and got a better view of the ocean. There were people cheering and I silently watched. Aaron was pretty athletic, but he was pretty stiff on a surf board. “Shit, Dakota, why did you leave me like that!?” Louis exclaimed, coming up right next to me. “You have any idea how hard it is to get a bitch like that off?”

“You’re the one that wanted to come.” I said, rolling my eyes. “Deal with it.”

I looked back out at the ocean. I heard Louis huff next to me. I felt a small grin come to my face. I wouldn’t let a girl like Sarah make me jealous. There was no way I would.

“Tommo! Why’d you leave? We were talking!”

Her voice rang through my ears as she came between Louis and I. “Dakota Ann Duff!”

I jumped, not expecting to hear this voice out of all others. I turned around, seeing Kariann and Harry walking with Bonnie and the others right behind them. Bonnie mouthed a ‘sorry’ at me before Kariann came to stand in front of Louis and I. Sarah backed off a little, confused by the group’s appearance.

Okay, so seeing my friend’s here was not on the top of my agenda today. Kariann’s hands were on her hips. “Why did you leave on your own accord? It’s a good thing Louis was with you otherwise I would be pulling out a can of whoop-ass on you!”

I turned my head towards Louis. He shrugged. “I texted Liam, figuring he would want to surf some.”

“Oh, my God, it’s One Direction!”

Seriously? I thought, and they weren’t together for five minutes.

*Kariann’s POV*

The fans were crazy here. The guys waved and greeted everyone. Somehow they were convinced to go on the stage and sing, so they did. Niall brought out his guitar, playing it. They sung Rock Me, one of my favorite songs. The public party actually was pretty fun. There was a lot more people, especially food. I ate some, greeting people that recognized me for being with the guys.

It was crazy how they could hold a crowd, but the crowd did begin to sparse after a while once they got use to guys. Though they got stared at often, people were starting to give them space. It was too bad I forgot my camera, but whatever. This didn’t really relate to their song anyways.

It was crazy how we would only be here for another week and we’ll be taking a plane home. The past week went by so fast. I felt kind of lonely at the moment. Dakota and Bonnie disappeared somewhere and the guys were together. Except for Harry, I haven’t seen him anywhere. I was curious as to where he was. I knew it was stupid to just go and look for him, but I couldn’t help it.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

From Liam: Hey, get Harry for us, we’re going to head on back.

To Liam: Sure thing, if I can find his ass.

I looked and looked. For a popular curly-headed boy, he could be hard to find. I decided to peek around some of the tents, wondering if he left to hide away from the crowd.

Hey, what do you know, I was right. Only, he wasn’t alone. He sat next to a brown-haired girl who was chatting her head off. Harry stared at her, bored and non-listening. He was nodding so often, saying yeahs and mhms. I was about to put him out of his misery whenever she bluntly said something to him. “Hey, wanna make-out?”

“Sure…” He said, not even paying attention.

She reached over, touching his cheek. He blinked, looking up in shock and she smashed her lips onto his. I gaped, shocked to be seeing this. Harry just sat there, not even moving. What was wrong with him!? Why wasn’t he pushing her away!? “Harry-“ I started.

My voice seemed to have gotten his attention. He quickly pushed the girl away, standing up and reaching up to his lips. He looked over at me. His eyes widened from seeing the expression on my face, whatever that was. All I knew was that I was shocked and hurt from witnessing this. “Ah…” I started. “Um…”

I couldn’t bring myself to act unfazed. Of course I would be hurt by this. I liked Harry, no, that was an understatement. I may have been slow-witted when it came to my own feelings and others, but I knew I was in love with him. To be here, silently cursing at him for kissing another girl when he was supposed to belong to me proved that much. But still, I wasn’t his, nor was he mine. We weren’t a couple.

Now I wanted to cry.

I couldn’t bring out any more words. I took a step back before turn and began to walk away. “Kariann-“ Harry started.

I ignored him, continuing to walk. I was done with the crowd, I decided to walk back to our pier from the beach. It would be slightly further, but I didn’t care. “Kariann!” Harry shouted, walking a fast pace to keep up with me.

I was past the crowd and past from under the pier. There was no crowd to watch, no person to see us here. He grabbed my arm, forcing me to turn around. I ripped my arm out of his hand and glared up at him. “What, Harry? Was it not enough to bring Brandy in front of me? Now you had to kiss another girl right in front of me too?”

“You know it wasn’t like that!” He explained. His green orbs were wide as he stared down at me. “You should know I would never do that to you!”

God, it just made me so mad! I clamped my mouth shut, staring up at him, reading his expression. I knew it wasn’t his fault, he was lost in his own thoughts to register what happened, but I hated it. “Why…” I muttered, bringing a hand to my forehead. “Why do you always do this to me? First you play with my feelings and make me raise my hopes. You get drunk and randomly kiss me! Not only have that, but my boyfriend breaks it off with me first because he finds another girl did he really make me realized how relieved I was for that to happen. Because of you! You were there! I knew it would all be okay because of you! I wanted payback, okay? I wanted you to feel just as hopeless as you made me feel all this time. It never worked! I wanted to play you, yet again I didn’t because I knew it would never work. Now, because of you, I can’t get anything you do out of my head! All the time you’re running through my mind.”

I screamed out of frustration, crossing my arms and staring out into the ocean. “Wha…” Harry started. “Why…?”

He grabbed my forearm, making me uncross my arms. I stared down at his hand. I looked up. In his eyes I saw the shock and doubt. Was he really doing this? Could he not see that it was me now that was confessing my feelings to him. All because of that damn kiss he shared. All because of my jealousy over him. “Do you seriously not know?” I asked, snorting some.

His hand tightened over my arm. I clenched my jaw, was I really to say it? I looked up at him again. He stared down, his green eyes slightly menacing. “Why, Kariann?” He asked again.

“Because I love you!” I practically shouted. “There! I said it! Are you happy now knowing that you finally won my heart over!? What are you going to do about it?”

Shock appeared on his face, but it soon settled as his lips pulled to a smile. Somehow my surroundings seemed to suddenly come to mind. It was dawn, with few clouds in the air. The sky was filled with colors of blue, purple, and orange. The sun was close to touching the water almost as it set. Harry’s free hand reached up as it lightly touched my cheek. “You have… no idea just how long I’ve been waiting for you to say that.”

I had no words to say, but my breath caught as he brought his face close to mine. It’s been too long, I thought, way too long for this. His lips touched mine. It was so gentle, but it felt like a spark of something supernatural. The kiss seemed to deepen from there. So passionate and gentle, it was nothing like I’ve ever experienced before.

When he pulled back, he kept his face close and our forehead’s attached. I could feel his breath as he silently laughed. “What?”

“You’re blushing.” He said, smiling.

“Hush.” I said, pulling away only to be pulled into his arms. I rested my forehead on his shoulder, letting him wrap his arms around me.

“Say it again.” He said, cheek resting on my head.

“Say what?”

“That you love me.”

I blushed. I can’t believe I actually spat that out earlier. Was he really getting an ego off of it now? “No.” I said. “One time is enough.”

“One time is never enough.” Harry said, pulling back and lifting up my chin with his hand. “How would you feel if I said one kiss is enough?”

I pondered it, only to pout. “See?” He said. “So, say it.”

I half-glared. “Why don’t you say it first?”

“I love you.”

I wasn’t expecting him to give in so easily, but he did. A soft smile was on his face and his expression so open and filled with love I couldn’t help but say it back.

“I love you too.” I blushed.

His smile was ever easy and present. He bent down, bringing his lips to mine once again.

*Louis’s POV*

We were sitting around the logs, all of us, except two people were missing. Kariann and Harry, but I saw them walking down the beach toward us, both hand in hand and walking very close to each other. I sent a silent congratulations toward my friend, since he deserved it most. He’s had feelings for her for a long time, but there was always something holding him back from getting close to her. I really was happy for him.

Only I couldn’t bring myself to be enthusiastic about it. It only made me think of myself and Dakota. She was talking to Bonnie. Bonnie’s hand was intertwined with Niall’s hand as he spoke to Zayn that was next to him. Just how long would I have to wait? As long as Harry? Sooner? Later?

I gazed down at her ankle, seeing the bracelet resting against it. I looked down at my own. Maybe I could wait, because I at least knew I held some part of her heart nobody else ever will. I felt my eyes linger up toward her face, where it turned and her gaze met my own. A smile came onto her face as she turned her head toward a nearing Harry and Kariann.

She stood, shocked to see them hand in hand.

Screams were let, and Bonnie soon joined after her. They both jumped over the log they were sitting on and went running toward Kariann, tackling her into the sand.

“It’s about damn time!” Bonnie shouted.

Kariann’s smile never faltered. She sat up and the girls pulled each other into a hug. Harry left them, seeing how he would be left out. He made his way to sit by me. I put an arm around his shoulder, offering a smile. “Nice going, mate.”

“Thanks, Boo.” Harry said, putting an arm around my back. “Now it’s only you. Don’t worry. We’ll be rooting for you.”

I looked back over, seeing the girls laugh as they spoke amongst each other.

Just how long?

Notes