The boardwalk was overrun by teenagers on skate boards and toddlers with ice cream cones. Wyatt comes up beside me, engulfing my hand in his, giving me a gentle squeeze before catching up with Jackson.

Emily is telling us about her latest date. Becky is luckily asking all the right questions which is good because all I can think about is where my hand tingles from Wyatt’s.

Joe playfully shoves Jackson ahead of us, and Wyatt looks back over his shoulder, clocking my position and carrying on. It makes me giggle. Miller does that too on walks, checking back to make sure I’m there, that we are walking together even if we aren’t side by side.

The waves crash softly against the wooden beams under us. Everything is tinted orange as sun dips below the end if the boardwalk. The neon signs start to glow a little brighter.

“Can you believe that Elli?” Emily says, enthusiastically.

Shit. “I’m so sorry, I zoned out. What was that?”

Both girls giggle at me and loop their arms in each arm. Pulling me along through the crowd.

“I wanna play this game,” Jackson announces, pulling out his wallet and slapping a $5 bill in the workers hand before dropping into the seat like a cowboy dropping into a saddle. The goal is to shoot the water gun at the different targets as they pop up.

Wyatt plops down next to him and swings around to face me, points his finger at me this flips his hand and curls his finger, beckoning me to him. His amber eyes holding mine until I take the seat next to him, hoping nobody but him notices my blush.

“You’re going down,” he whispers.

“In your dreams,” I snip back.

He starts to say something else but blushes instead. The alarm sounds that the game is starting.