// ONE YEAR LATER //

Everyone is starting to come home for the summer. They have officially completed their first year of college.

Vanessa and Jack are at her house setting up for her welcome-back BBQ. They put tons of different inflatable floats in the pool and Jack filled all the coolers with ice, soda, and beer.

"Hey Nessa," Jack calls out.

"Hmm?"

"When you're done setting up, can we talk about something?"

"About what?" She stacked the plastic cups on the outside table.

"About us."

Vanessa paused. "Is it bad?"

"Not at all," he smiled.

"Oh." Vanessa let in a sharp inhale and walked back inside. "Sure we can talk later if I have time, okay?"

Jack knew she was avoiding him a little. Ever since Spring Break when he surprised her once he learned she stayed behind on campus for the week, she's been a bit standoffish. But she's never given them the chance to talk. But on Jack's end, absence only makes his heart grow fonder.

. . . . .

Meanwhile at CU, Lucy is in her dorm room packing everything up. Her roommate Kat is also there, finishing her laundry.

"So you're leaving tomorrow," Lucy asked her.

"Yep," Kat nodded. "Flights were cheaper tomorrow. You're lucky you're only an hour away."

"Yo," Nate spoke as he knocked on the opened the door. He was walking normally again; arm crutches no longer needed. "You got the keys?"

"Yep." Lucy tossed her car keys to him.

"Cool. I'll be outside." He nodded at Kat and then left.

"Are you finally gonna hop on that this summer," Kat teased.

"No," Lucy laughed. "We're just friends."

"And ex-lovers. That flame never died out, come on."

"Did you forget when I told you about Nate and I that I also said he ended up cheating on me? I know you were there."

"I know but I've seen you two this entire year. You're so good together! And the way he looks at you? I fuckin' envy that. He's clearly changed."

"He got in a bad car accident & was temporarily paralyzed. That's enough to make anyone change. Besides, I like us as just friends."

"Okay well you enjoy your hour long drive & summer being just friends."

Lucy throws a pillow at her.

Once Nate and Lucy hit the road later on, she's never seen him this happy. He cranks the music loud and takes his shirt off, screaming out the window how happy he is now that summer has arrived.

. . . . .

Stass walks down the hallway and into the new loft that she shared with Kali, carrying a few big shopping bags.

"Hey you," Stass said as she leaned down to kiss Kali on the cheek. "Any word back from your fam about coming to the housewarming party?"

"I think you can answer that," Kali chuckled as she colored in between the lines of her adult coloring book.

"Really," Stass scoffed. "It's 2016, girls date girls. Like, get over it, you know? Blood will always be blood."

"It's not normal in their church lives. Not to mention my Uncle called me a rather colorful name once he found out about us."

"Whatever dude." Stass rolled her eyes. She reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of Smart Water.

"I finished the lotus flower sketch."

"Let me see."

Stass playfully hops onto the couch as Kali reaches for her sketchbook on the coffee table. She shows her the sketch and Stass gasps.

"I love this. You're getting so good, you'll be a tattoo artist in no time."

"I still have like 4 months left of my apprenticeship," Kali smiled. "All in good time."

"Speaking of which," Stass rests her head on Kali's shoulder. "I was talking to my Dad and I brought up the idea of opening a shop of our own. And not just tattoo artists obviously. I'm talking piercings, hair coloring, selling some merchandise as well. I mean...if you're down--"

"I'm totally down!" Kali was so ecstatic that she tossed her coloring book and began making out with Stass.

. . . . .

The BBQ had started & some old West Bev classmates arrived. Among them were Sammy, Jack J, Mike Kiger, Nadia, and John. It had been about a year since Nadia and John had seen each other. While he stayed in town to attend Hunter Community College, she went away to attend Stanford University. She looked more toned and already had her first tattoo near her wrist of a rose bush. John was stunned at how much of a woman she had become within just a year. He just had to approach her by the snack table.

"Wow," he smiled. "It's been a while, huh?"

Nadia smirked and looked him up & down, reading the hell out of his body language. So she cut to the chase. "You don't look so bad yourself, Swazz."

"You hate that nickname."

"You liked when I hated it."

With the sound of her cracking open her soda can & walking away, his eyes were glued to her switching hips. He catches up to her.

"How's Stanford?"

"It's nice, I like it. The people are friendly."

Not too friendly, John hoped.

"You major in Public Relations right?" He reached down and grabbed a beer from one of the coolers.

"Yep. Did you pick a major yet?"

"Still undecided. Might go into sports journalism." For some reason John kept staring at her lips, stained with her plum lipstick.

"That's good," Nadia grinned. "How are the girls at Hunter?"

"Honestly?" He scratched his head.

"Honestly."

"There's a lot of middle aged women. I mean, it's a community college, so... there's some my age too. But they ain't you."

Nadia bursted into laughter when really she felt flattered. "You are something else..."

Moments later John and Nadia burst into one of the bathrooms in the house all over each other. Shirts came off and shorts dropped. Nadia was reminded what it was like to have him in between her legs again. He would tell her how much he missed her at the same time he lovingly pulled her hair and dug her nails in his back.

. . . . .

Tiffany and Thomas were still an item. She would frequently spend the night especially after their date nights where they'd cook for each other and keep it intimate.

Thomas was in his living room watching TV when he heard Tiffany's heels clank down the hallway.

"Are you sure you don't wanna come?" Tiffany asked him.

"Honey, I'd look like a chaperone. They're your old classmates, you should go have fun."

She stands behind the couch and leans down to hug and kiss him from behind.

"I'll only be gone for an hour, two hours tops," she assured him.

She made her way to the front door but stopped short. Something had been bothering her for the past few months that she just can't let go. She turned around and took a deep breath.

"How come you never take me anywhere," she asked.

Thomas rolled his eyes. "Are we really having this conversation again? I told you I appreciate our intimate date nights a little more than going to some fancy restaurant. The zucchini boats you made last week were impeccable. How would I know how good of a cook you are if we went out to eat?"

"It's not just the restaurants, Tommy. We never go out to the beach or to the movies. I feel like you're still scared to be seen with me!"

"I'm not! Look, fine, if you wanna go out, let's go out on Monday since I have to be on set for the rest of the week after that. We'll...I don't know, we'll go to wherever you want. Okay?"

"Don't do me any favors."

"I don't take you out, you get mad. I offer to take you out, you get mad. I'm not sure what you want here."

"Do it because you want to. Not because I brought up a problem." Tiffany sucked her teeth and sat on the window bench. "I don't even wanna go to the party now."

"Now who's not going out," Thomas joked.

"Not funny."

"Hey, don't you play innocent either. Have you told your parents about us yet?"

Tiffany pouts and looks out the window. She knows she's equally guilty with keeping their relationship a secret.

. . . . .

Lucy and Nate finally arrive to Vanessa's party. Vanessa and Lucy scream with joy when they see each other.

"Look at you!" Vanessa shrieked. "And you cut your hair!"

"Yeah just yesterday. Didn't wanna Instagram it before you saw in person. Do you like it?"

"Like it? I love it! Choppy bobs are always a personal favorite."

"Yeah," Lucy sighed. "I thought I'd give it a rest on the weave extensions. Now my hair can breathe and be free."

"Well you look gorgeous, hun. So Jack was on the grill; we've got hot dogs, burgers, ribs, you name it. My Aunt brought over her famous potato salad."

"Your Aunt?" Lucy's jaw dropped. "I didn't know she was in town. Last time she was here, she said she was too southern for the west coast."

"Yeah well she's out sibling bonding with the folks."

"Cool," Lucy cleared her throat. "Speaking of which...have you heard from Kian?"

Vanessa's smile faded a bit. "Yeah. I doubt he's gonna show up."

"No, no I didn't want to know if he was coming. I just wanted to know if he's okay. I only talked to him once when classes started and that's when he told me he's actually in Portland. He told me...he's not coming back."

Vanessa scoffs. "He's such an asshole. Eventually he has to come back, he left most of his shit here and unpacked. Don't listen to him."

"Do you even know what he's doing there? He wouldn't tell me."

Vanessa waved her hand around. "He's up there being Kian for all I know. He told his mother that he needed to find himself, whatever that means. That he needed to get away from everything which, I guess besides you, includes his family. His mother cried for weeks."

"I know the feeling," Lucy mumbled. "Well! I'm gonna...go eat."

Lucy was angry, remembering all the emotion she felt when she found out Kian lied and was never coming back. She piled her plate with ribs, a cheeseburger, and french fries. She even felt the need to even it out by having a side of regular garden salad.

Meanwhile, Vanessa startled Jack who was digging through his backpack.

"Whatcha doin'?" Vanessa hugged him from behind.

"Just checking my messages," he grinned.

"Forget them and get your ass in the pool with me," she kissed his neck.

"Alright, be there in a sec."

Vanessa leaves him and jumps in the pool, swimming to one of the pink pool floats. Jack, while keeping his hand in his bag, looks down at the small ring box & opens it to see the engagement ring he got for her. But he quickly closes it & his bag, joining everyone in the pool.

. . . . .

An hour & a half later, Nate wanders inside the house looking for Lucy. He goes upstairs and finds her in Vanessa's room, sitting on the bed in her own thoughts.

"You know what's funny?" Lucy has yet to look at Nate directly, instead she stares off into the distance.

"What?" He closes the door behind him and leans against it.

"I remember being at one of these pool parties. I remember you showed up with Tiffany Kelly on your arm and it just...ooh it made me mad, as much as I hated to admit it. I was mad at you and I ended up hooking up with Kian. And...now I'm mad at Kian."

Nate gulped, wondering if this was his chance. But once Lucy started crying, he decided not to even take it there.

"Hey." Nate sat down next to her and rubbed her back. "Whatever's on your chest just let it out. I'm here."

"I cried for two weeks, Nate. Before class, after class. I told him I wanted a break...that didn't mean I wanted him out of my life! I wanted us to be friends and work on building that trust again so that we could go back to the way we were. Because everything was a drug-induced lie. I wanted him to get better, I wanted us to get better. And what does he do?"

"Run off like a lil bitch," Nate's jaw clenched. He could care less that Kian was gone. But he hated how hurt it made Lucy.

"After those two weeks though," she sniffed, wiping her tears. "I got stronger. I focused on me. This whole school year it's just been me doing what I needed to do. Just pass all my classes and have fun at all the frat parties. We had so much fun at the Sigma party, remember?"

"Of course."

"College was all I knew this year. After a while, I just didn't hurt anymore." The tears welled up again. "But now...n-now I'm back here within these walls that hold a bunch of memories. Back in this town where we left our mark. Do you think that's why he left, Nate? Because he wanted to forget me?"

Lucy cried harder and Nate pulled her into his chest. "You're crazy. No one can forget you."

"He fucking left me and everything hurts! I started school thinking he would be there. That I would see him at orientation. And it's so hard to fake a smile."

"But you smiled though." Nate made her look at him. "I'm not gonna tell you what to do except that I need you to be the strong Lucy Durant I know you are. You don't need anyone that goes on actin' like they don't need you. Okay?"

He wipes her tears for her and she gives him a long lingering kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you for being there," she whispered. 

She couldn't believe she said those exact words to Nate of all people. But he has been there. Minus her roommate, he was her only friend on campus.

"Now we need to go and drink and get in that pool because it's hot as hell. You with me?" Nate holds out his hand and she takes it.

. . . . .

The party had died down. Nadia and John ended up leaving together. Tiffany ultimately never showed up to the party. All that was left was Vanessa, Lucy, Gilinsky, and Nate, and a drunken Johnson. They were all having a good conversation in the illuminated pool under the night sky.

"Who wants to play Marco Polo with a twist?" Gilinsky asked everyone.

"What's the twist," Nate asked.

"Basically one of us has to shout Marco Polo with one of the girls on our back. She covers the guy's eyes with her own hands. It also poses more of a challenge because there's more weight on our backs so it's harder to move faster."

"Wanna bet," Nate grins. "Hop on Lucy."

Lucy laughs and she gets on him piggyback style. She covers his eyes and the game begins, excluding Johnson who is a little too drunk to move.

"Marco," Nate shouts. 

Polo! Everyone else's shouts.

He almost gets Vanessa but she sinks underwater and slips by him. Lucy tries not to laugh again.

"Ya'll better not be cheatin'," Nate chuckled. "Marco!"

"Polo," a 6th voice said. Only it wasn't any of theirs...it was Kian and he was back.

Everyone's smile faded. Nate was moved to slight anger and so was Lucy. Especially once everyone saw that he showed up holding the hands of a girl they didn't know.

_____________

Author's Note:

Oh girl...no you didn't...

I sure did. This tea is good too, mhm.

Vote & comment! xx