It was Spring Break time and I was so ready for this.

A week away from school, homework, and the stress of day-to-day. The icing on the top was that King would be there. We chatted it up for days before he took off to Kansas City to meet with his friends before they flew off.

Gay and I were taking the long drive in my car. This would be a first for me and even Gay. Good thing for GPS and lots of gas stops to refuel and tinkle. It was exciting for me, to see places other than St. Louis. We stopped at a few monuments and took pictures.

"Girl, I wanta meet some hot boys...and girls, and get my flirt on!" Gay shouted out in the car as we were two hours away from Daytona Beach.

"Whaaat?" I chuckled at her. "I thought you and Felix were good?"

"We are. Don't mean I can't flirt and play around."

"That's exactly what it means!" I added a laugh but it was not funny. I did not want my friend to be a cheater. Cheating was wrong.

"Hey, I can't be you and have my man on the trip with me."

"King and I...we're not, together. Not like that, we're just friends."

"What is the holdup? You're on the phone with him dang near every night. You're hanging with him all the time. Just make it official."

I wanted to, but something was still holding me back.

"It's like this. We make great friends. If we went there, made it official with kissing, hand holding, and...other stuff, we may not have our great friendship anymore."

"Truth. But if you're great friends that would make a great boyfriend. You're wasting time not trying it out."

Maybe Gay had a point. Just go for it and see if things worked with King. A good relationship started as friends and King made the best friend to me right now. We could talk about anything. We talked about our classes and what we hated and loved about them, we talked about our families, about our future. I even told him all about Diallo and where things went wrong.

I told him about Todd off course, which is why he stopped by to check on me often, without being overbearing about it. I told him about my date with Perez even.

He did not get jealous about it, nor did he question me dating others.

I never asked him if he had other girls he talked to. My insecurities could not handle it. I wanted to be the only one he was interested in.

Selfish, I know.

"It's funny, as much as I know about King, I don't know much about his friends that will be here." He told me their names. William and Tre. He grew up with them and went to school with them, but they all split up for college.

"Maybe they are cute."

I rolled my eyes at Gay. What if King's friends did not like me? What if they thought he could do better than the poor, little kid from St. Louis that did not even love herself? That had a basketcase mother, low self-esteem, and suffered from depression. Maybe they could see all that when they met me.

I shook negative thoughts out of my head. This was going to be a vacation, my first as a new adult and I was going to live it up. Not focus on things that put me in a funk.

"I wish we had fake IDs so we can get some drinks."

"Speak for yourself!" Gay pulled out her wallet and then an ID. "According to this, I am twenty-three and ready to par-tay!"

It was only right Gay had a fake ID. She was the queen of party town. I was so glad she was here with me to share this with.

Once we made it to our new place for the week, we looked around the large house. It was nicer than my grandmother's home I was raised in but had nothing on Angel's house. There were two bedrooms, a large living room, a dining room, a kitchen, two bathrooms, and a laundry area with a foosball table. That was not all. We were right off the beach. The beach was in our backyard. The view was amazing

After looking through the house, claiming my bedroom, and putting my things down, I took pictures and sent them off to Chandler, Bria, Symone, Angel, and my dad. Then I went out back to gaze at the view. It was not almost dusk, the sun was setting and the view was amazing.

"I think I want to move to Florida after graduation," Gay said.

"Too far from my family."

"Girl, live a little. That's why they make planes, trains, and automobiles."

I could not be far away from my sisters and brothers, especially, AJ, Jalon, and my new little sister. I wanted to be around and watch them grow. Be the best big sister I could be. I wanted to start my career in St. Louis, whatever it would be, with the help of my father and Angel.

Maybe I would move away from home at some point, but for sure not right after college.

I texted King to see what he and his friends were up to.

You settled in?

King: My friends want to head down to the beach tonight. I'm not a beach guy

I chuckled at that. Then why come to Daytona Beach??? Bruh 😆

King: There's more than just beach here

Our place is right on the beach. Come on through. Bring snacks and stuff we can have a party

Coo. Send me the address

I did not know how much time I had before King would arrive with his friends, but I needed to freshen up after that drive. I showered and made sure my fresh braids were neat and changed into one of the swimsuits I brought. A two-piece black one, that I must say, I looked pretty good in. I still wore a cute cover-up on top. I would take it off if we went out to the water.

Gay was in a one-piece, bright yellow suit that covered up less than my two-piece. She looked bananas in it. So good I feared King would see her in it and want her. Her locs pulled up high in a messy ponytail, she sat in the kitchen laying out her smoking paraphernalia.

"No smoking in the house...one of the rules of the Air-"

"Oh I know, but there's a whole outside out there. You need to loosen up."

"The guys are coming over."

"Great! Then we can go to the beach and meet people. Someone that won't blow my high like you."

"I won't-"

"Just kidding! Sheesh!" Gay grabbed me in a hug. "You're my only real friend, and we made this trip together. You're the sister I wish I had instead of the brother I do have."

"Stop it! You know you love your brother."

Gay snickered. "Sometimes. He needs to grow on me some more."

Just then there was some knocking on our patio glass door. We both looked over to see King and his friends. Color me surprised because they were...white.

"Damn! I like white boys as well," Gay whispered to me before we went to slide the door open.

"Heeeey!" I greeted them as they stood there. I tried not to keep my mouth wide open, all the guys were shirtless, in swim trunks. King looked...incredible. I think my heart stopped beating looking at him.

"Whoa! This place is sweet!" one of the guys said soon as he stepped into the house with several bags of snacks and refreshments. His long dark, brown hair was pulled back in a low ponytail. He was tall, well over six feet tall. Taller than my father so I can't even take a guess. "This is a nice party pad, we should have looked into something like this."

"Make yourself at home." Gay smiled at him. "What's your name?"

"Hey you," King said to me and pulled me into a hug.

I did not want to be so close to his bare-naked chest. Then again, I wanted to be real close to him at the same time. He smelled good too, like honey and cinnamon.

I backed away from him quickly. "Uh, hey." Okay, I already said that and I know I looked like an idiot to him now.

"Let me introduce you to my friends. Rayvn, this is Will," he said as he gestured toward the tall one already in deep conversation with Gay. "And this is Tre."

The other guy was about King's height, just under six feet tall with a low buzz cut. Green eyes and a few freckles on his face. But that's not what made him cute, his body was built like he only ate boiled chicken and asparagus and lifted weights on a daily. King's physique was impressive, but Tre was elite.

"Nice to meet you!"

"Hey, Gay has the good stuff!" Will said looking over at the table at all her things. "I see where the party begins."

I was suddenly shy. I did not say much as everyone sorted through the snacks and refreshments and blasted loud music. Soon enough, other people were coming by our back patio as the party ended up there. Gay was already smoking, sitting on Will's lap as if they were old friends. A group of giggly girls came by and were pining over Tre.

I sipped on a Seagrams someone brought over while King sat quietly beside me.

"You okay?" he finally asked.

"Uh...what?" I pretended I did not hear him over the loud music.

"You want to go somewhere quiet?"

"Huh?" I knew he was not buying it. Everyone else was having great conversations but me.

King stood up and held out his hand to me. I hesitated a second and then took his hand. He walked off with me, away from the group and onto the beach. I could not believe I was holding hands with King and walking on the beach. This was like in a romance movie when the couple walked the beach barefoot holding hands and watching the ocean.

The beach was not too crowded, but the people there were full-on partying. Lots of kids were on Spring Break, but as this was the first day, the tween and young adults had not taken over. I noticed a few other couples walking hand in hand along the beach and-

Couples? King and I were not a couple. Yet anyway.

"Did you and Gay have a nice ride down? I know that was crazy long. Our flight was long enough."

"It was cool."

"I bet you saw a lot of cool stuff, interesting people, especially under the Mason-Dixon line. I'm glad you made it safe."

I was not in the mood to talk. I felt like my hand was all sweaty and King was holding it and I would be embarrassed and do or say something dumb. You know, the Rayvn way. My feelings for him suddenly escalated and I was afraid to even say anything to him.

This was a bad, bad idea coming on Spring Break with him.

King dropped my hand and turned to me. "Okay, Rayvn, if you don't tell me what's wrong I'm just going to keep asking. Did I do something?"

I did not want him to think he had anything to do with my angst. So what did I do?

I moved close to him, planted my lips on his, and kissed him with all my might.

And he kissed me back.

And we stood there, kissing each other, in the middle of the beach around other people. And I did not care.

A/N: FINALLY! Are Rayvn and King finally ready for this relationship?