I'm expecting a gift to be sitting on my bed when I open my bedroom door. But the moment I step inside my room, I see a blur of dark hair and caramel colored skin come flying toward me. I'm not going to lie, it scares the crap out of me. She throws her around over my shoulders, squeezing me within an inch of my life. Her scent, a combination of vanilla, sweat, and spices fills my nostrils, and I recognize it immediately. Only one person in my life smells this way.

"Beth!" I exclaim, my jaw hanging open in shock as I wrap my arms around her and hug her back. "Oh my God! What are you doing here?"

"You seriously didn't think you were going to just show up here and I wouldn't be waiting for you did you?" she says, and I shake my head in quiet amusement.

"I was going to call you when I got upstairs, you know," I say as she pulls away finally. She rolls her eyes at me, and I smile. "I was!"

Beth giggles and shakes her head. "A phone call? Are you kidding me? You're lucky I didn't hide in the trunk on the way to pick you up from the airport!" I laugh as I hug her again, not realizing until this very moment how much I genuinely missed my best friend. "Never leave like that again, Summer! I seriously didn't know what to do without you!"

"Are you staying the night?" I ask, hoping she'll say yes.

She nods her head. "Yeah. I mean, technically I'm sort of grounded." I give her a soft glare, and she grins as she shrugs her shoulders. "But my mom made an exception for tonight. Still, I'm really going to need your help the next few weeks. I've sort of got a D in Pre-Calc."

"Some things never change," I say with an exasperated sigh. She gives me her big brown puppy dog eyes as she puffs out her bottom lip. "Of course I'll help you. Is that even a question?"

"And this is why you're my best friend!" she exclaims as she throws her arms around me again. So much hugging tonight.

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, right. Only because I keep you from being grounded all the time."

"Your brains are a definite perk," she replies. Then she grabs my arm and pulls me into the room. "Come on! Let's get this night started! And I don't care about jetlag. We are staying up as late as we possibly can. There is so much we need to catch up on."

I stumble into my bedroom as the door swings shut behind me. My eyes take in my bedroom, and I can't help but smile. Totally spotless. I know I made sure it was clean before I left, but I have a feeling my mom came in to dust while I was gone, because there isn't an ounce of filth anywhere in sight. Beth plops onto my bed, kicking her shoes off across my bedroom floor before she falls back, resting her brown hair on my dark blue pillow case.

"You are way too comfortable in my space," I say jokingly as I carefully slide my own shoes off and set them beside my bedroom door.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she says as she sits up and folds her legs in front of her. "Shut up and tell me everything."

I fall into my desk chair and sigh. "It was an incredible experience. I didn't get to see as much as I wanted, but we did take a trip to Stonehenge while I was there. I took some pictures too, if you want to—"

"Boys, Summer," she interrupts loudly, and I roll my eyes. "How were the boys? Were they cute? Did you manage to hook up with anyone while you were there?"

I laugh and shake my head. "It's like you don't know me at all," I say, and she grins. "The boys were boys. I don't know. There was some drama with Elsie and her boyfriend Harry. And a guy named Graham tried to hook up with me, but I wasn't interested." She sighs, frustrated. "I don't know, Beth. I wasn't really there to find a boyfriend, you know."

"Who said anything about a boyfriend?" she asks, and I scowl and chuck a pencil at her. She laughs. "Oh, come on, Summer. You were out of the country for five months, and you're seriously going to tell me not a single British boy caught your attention?"

"Maybe I don't kiss and tell," I reply, and she rolls her eyes. "I don't know what else to say. No, I didn't hook up with anyone while I was there. I went to one party, but it... didn't go well."

Her brow furrows as she sits up straighter. "Why? What happened?"

I sigh and tell her about how Elsie snuck away to sleep with her boyfriend, leaving me alone with Graham. And as embarrassing as it is, I tell her about how I freaked out when Graham tried to make a move on me while we were alone in the backyard together. "I don't know why I reacted that way. I guess it was just like that night, you know? With... Ollie?"

A frown pulls at Beth's lips. "Ollie is such an asshole. You know he's dating Quinn Marshall now," she says, and I wince as I look down at the floor. "Shit, Summer. I'm sorry."

"About what?" I ask, still purposefully avoid her eyes. "That he's dating someone else? I'm not. I'm so, so over him." I don't tell her the truth. That while I'm definitely over him, I don't think I'll ever be over that night. "Seriously. If I never talk to him, it'll be too soon."

She nods her head. "I get it. So did this Graham guy try to hurt you?" I shake my head. "Okay, so what happened?"

I groan and cover my face with my hands. "It was mortifying, Beth. He was trying to make a move on me, and I just totally panicked. Started losing my shit, screaming at him to not touch me. It was humiliating. But he was so cool about it. Like, he didn't ask questions."

"Sounds like he's a nice guy," she says, and I give a painful grin.

"He was okay," I reply, shrugging my shoulders. "Was really apologetic when I started freaking out. He didn't say anything, but I think he guessed what was going on. It turned out fine though. I didn't have my phone on me, so Graham let me use his to call—" Shit. I've said too much.

There's a heavy pause between us as the wheels in Beth's head begin to turn. Then she whispers, "Baker?" I nod my head. "Summer...."

"I know what you're thinking," I say, looking up at her finally. "I know. But it's not... what you think it is. He was just there that night. And I needed him to be there for me again. It's hard to exp—"

"You're in love with him," she says, and heat blooms against my cheeks.

I shake my head. "No! It's not that!" She smiles knowingly at me, and I glare at her. "It's not! He's just... a friend."

She nods her head. "Friend. Uh-huh. Sure. You know he's been completely miserable since you left, right?" I shake my head. "Yeah, he doesn't talk to anyone at school. Well, he did talk to me once, actually."

"He did?" I ask, a bubble rising in my chest that feels an awful lot like jealousy. "Really? What did he say?"

A grin spreads on her pink lips. "He asked about you," she answers, and I hate that I'm blushing. "Wanted to know if I'd talked to you. So yeah, I'm pretty sure these feelings you have for him are mut—"

"Oh my God, Beth," I snap, folding my arms across my chest. "There are no feelings. We're barely friends. If anything, he's more of an academic rival. Don't forget that he's still top of the class." I don't tell her about the all night conversations we've had, or the constant texts and emails we've shared since I left. And I definitely don't plan on breathing a word about the heart emoji he sent me before I boarded the plane that's been living rent free in my head for the last several hours.

She shakes her head in exasperation. "Girl, you are going to be the death of me," she says.

"Now those feelings are mutual," I reply, and we both laugh. "So you're grounded again, huh?" She groans and nods her head. "You're a mess."

"Ugh, you're telling me," she says. "And it's really putting a cramp in my style this time, because I haven't been able to see Spencer outside of lunch for two weeks."

"Spencer?" I ask, surprised. "Spencer Alexander? The guy who looks like that weird kid from Stranger Things?" She nods her head slowly and buries her face in my pillow. "You know, I don't know how you ended up on my bed and I ended up over here at the desk."

She scoffs. "Bitch, I'm not stopping you from your bed." I smile as I get up and push her over before taking my place beside her.

"So Spencer, huh?" I ask, and she nods, her face still hidden by the pillow. "Interesting. I didn't think he was your type."

She lifts her head up from the pillow and wrinkles her nose. "My type? What's my type?"

I shrug. "I don't know. Athletic, I guess. Isn't Spencer kind of like... a bookworm?"

She laughs as she turns to look at me. "I think this is hilarious that we've having this conversation." My eyebrows shoot up in confusion. "Summer, you're a bookworm, and I hang out with you all the time."

"Yeah, but we're best friends," I reply. "And you're always spending time with guys from the track team. I just kind of assumed that... you know... you were into one of them."

"Ew, no," she says, mimicking throwing up. "Those guys reek of sweat all the time. I mean, I get it. I do too a little. But Spencer is so cute, and he smells like that body spray that they show on the commercials all the time? Axe? I don't know. It's just so hot. And for your information, he got a haircut, so he doesn't look like that dork from the show anymore. He's got gorgeous green eyes, and he's such a good kisser. And...." She buries her face again, hiding a blush of her own. "We may or may not have... you know... done it. Once."

"Oh my God, Beth!" I exclaim. "You've had sex?"

"Summer, shut up," she growls as she lifts her head up, and I laugh at how beet red her cheeks are. "Yes, we had sex. Right before I got grounded."

I nod my head slowly. "So... how was it? Did it hurt?"

She shrugs her shoulders. "A little, yeah. I mean, I was a virgin, so I knew it was going to. But it was also... nice. We've been together for a few months, and I really like him. Actually, I think I love him, which is so weird."

"Do your parents know?" I ask, and she shakes her head.

"Hell no!" she replies. "I mean, it's not that I don't want him to meet my parents. But my brothers. Oh, God, can you imagine?" I wince, because yes, I can imagine. "Exactly. There is no way I'm subjecting him to that. But he's asked, you know? To meet my family. I've met his. He's an only child, so he doesn't have the whole sibling thing to worry about. But his parents are super nice."

"That's... great," I say, feeling a little uneasy at this news. "Beth, you were like... safe, right?"

She rolls her eyes. "Yes, mom, I was safe. Protection was used. And, you know... he didn't... um... inside." I nod. "Yeah. So yes, we were safe. But ever since then, I feel like I'm so different. I've been dying to tell you all this, you know, but I didn't want to do it on the phone. It just didn't feel right."

I smile. "Funny, there's a lot of that going around tonight," I say, and she looks at me questioningly. "My mom just told me she's pregnant. Says she was waiting to tell me in person."

"Holy shit!" Beth says, sitting up straight again and almost knocking me off the bed. "Your mom is pregnant?" I nod my head. "Oh my God, Summer, that's amazing!"

"Yeah, it is," I reply, but I'm suddenly feeling a little bit down. "Just... feels kind of weird, you know? Like I've missed so much in just a few months. My parents are having another baby. You're a whore now. A lot to catch up on."

She shoves me off the bed, and I start laughing before I even hit the floor. When I climb back on the bed, I see she's smiling from ear to ear, and I can tell she's relieved that she finally told me her news. I get comfortable again as she rests her head against mine. "I missed you, asshole," she says teasingly, and I smile.

"I missed you too," I say reply, and we spend the rest of the night swapping stories, catching up on the time we've missed together. And after a while, it starts to feel like I never left at all. Like we're back to being Summer and Beth, the way we've always been. The way we always will be. We talk until sunlight starts to bleed through my curtains. My eyes are getting heavier, and I can tell Beth is getting a little tired too. So we curl up under the covers together and close our eyes finally, ready to drift off to sleep. And when I'm almost positive Beth has fallen asleep, I whisper so quietly that even if she was awake I doubt she'd hear me, "I think I might be falling in love with Baker Scott."

A few moments of silence follow my words. I don't know why I said them. I just felt like I needed to hear how they sounded spoken out loud. And just when I think I've gotten away with it... just as I'm rolling over to fall asleep myself... I hear Beth's smiling voice whisper back, "I know."

Author's Note:
Last one for the night, everyone! I hope you love it, and I hope you're all happy to see Beth again! I love her character so much. She might be my favorite of the besties I've written. Let me know what you think, and I'll be back soon with the next chapter! Stay safe and healthy until then, my dears!
XOXO,
~Aly