2 | Exposed ( ETHAN DOLAN )

TWELVE

E X P O S E D
C H A P T E R T W E L V E

SURFING was much harder than Andrea anticipated. Movies and TV shows made it look much too easy, it seemed. The force of the water had caused her to topple off her board too many times to count, and she was sure she'd swallowed all of the salt in the ocean. It was the most fun she'd ever had, however, and she questioned why she'd never done it before.

Andrea could have surfed all day, especially with Grayson, but her muscles began to ache and begged her to stop. Her arms could no longer hold her weight when she tried to push herself onto her feet, and it hurt to swim.

The pair swam back to shore and, after having retrieved their items from Grayson's car, Andrea had taken on the role as Grayson's photographer for a small beach photoshoot. He needed a photo for Instagram, of course.

Andrea was in awe at how naturally gorgeous Grayson was. He simply stood there with his surfboard, eyed the camera and flexed a little, and that was all he had to do to look effortlessly perfect.

Once Andrea was finished taking photos and Grayson had confirmed she'd done a good job, they returned to the surf shop to give back their surfboards.

Finally, they were able to settle down on their beach towels on the sand. Andrea wanted nothing more than to absorb the sun, since her skin had been a little too pale for her liking. After fishing the sun screen out of her bag, she began to apply it wherever she could reach, until all that was left was, obviously, her back.

"Grayson, could you do my back real quick?"

"Sure," he obliged, taking the small bottle from her. After Andrea moved her long, wet locks out of the way, Grayson began to glide his hands over her smooth back, his touch igniting her body with tingles, and also shivers from the coldness of the cream.

"My turn," he said once he was finished, and handed the bottle back to the girl. They both turned around, so Grayson's broad back was facing Andrea. Once again, she had forgotten how to function at the sight. His back was perfect and muscular; Andrea could have let her hands roam his skin forever. She rubbed her hands slowly over his tense muscles, savouring the feeling.

"Done," she announced, wiping her hands onto her towel and smirking in satisfaction, as if she was proud of herself.

Grayson thanked her, then continued to apply sun screen to the rest of his body. By now Andrea had laid back and had already begun her tanning session. Grayson, however, stayed sitting and watched the waves crash on shore, and surfers zoom across the water. Andrea's laugh echoed in his mind, how it chimed after every time she had fallen underwater and popped back up again.

He glanced over at her, observing how her plump lips were subconsciously pouting ever so slightly, and her slender, tattooed fingers were drumming against the ground. He wondered what meaning the star, sun, moon and planet had on each finger on her right hand, if any meaning at all.

"Hey, what are your hobbies?" Grayson questioned suddenly.

Andrea took a moment to sit up and comprehend the question she had just been asked in a quick fire fashion.

"Um. . ." Andrea paused to think. "Baking, and I like to watch movies. I love makeup. Travelling, even though I can't do it that much," Andrea explained.

"Are you into sports?"

"Nope. Never have been. Never will be. Exercise is not my thing," the girl admitted. Grayson chuckled at her. "Oh, I also play the piano."

"So do I."

"Cool," Andrea smiled.

"What's your favourite movie?"

"Tangled and Dirty Dancing."

"Really?!" Grayson found himself shocked.

"Yeah, why?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders. "Those are such cheesy movies. I didn't think you'd be into that."

"They're cheesy, but they're good as Hell. And what did you think I'd be into?" Andrea giggled, furrowing her eyebrows together.

"I don't know, horror? You're not the romantic type at all."

"Well, there are a lot of things you don't know about me."

"Really? Like what?" Grayson quirked a perfectly arched eyebrow, a smirk at his lips.

"Like. . . I graduated with a 3.6 a few weeks ago."

"No you didn't."

Andrea grinned smugly at the boy, whose features had been taken over by disbelief.

"I have photos if you want proof. And also a diploma." Andrea flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"Damn," was all Grayson managed to mumble. Once again, he was surprised by her. Not because she seemed unintelligent, but she didn't exactly show off the knowledge she had. "How come you never told us?"

"It never really came up. And I'm not one to brag," Andrea shrugged.

"But you bragged about going to all those cities."

"And they were all lies."

"So is this a lie, too?"

"No, I told you. There are pictures on my Instagram. They're kind of far down, though. I can't blame you for not seeing them."

"Ah," was all Grayson replied with. "Are you going to college or anything?"

"Well, I'm taking a gap year. I'm not really sure what I wanna do just yet, but I definitely wanna go to college. I've been saving up, anyway."

"That's awesome," Grayson said, with a slight admiration and fondness in his voice.

Silence filled the air between them then, aside from the constant sound of people and crashing waves, of course. Grayson thought he knew Andrea relatively well; as well as he could have gotten to know her, but clearly he was wrong.

Eventually the girl began to laugh from beside him, a sudden small chuckle of realisation.

"What?" the boy questioned, eyes wide with confusion.

"I forgot to tell you. . . This girl I babysit back home loves you and Ethan. She'd watch your videos a lot, but I never really paid attention."

"You babysit? That's cool," Grayson responded. Another fact he didn't know about Andrea.

"Yeah, it's nice. I like kids a lot."

"Me, too. How often do you do it?"

"Most days of the week. A lot of people aren't regulars. I saved up to come here from doing it, though."

"I see."