Thankfully, the exam-filled week passed quickly and I was now free for a month before university began again after the holidays. I feel as though a weight has completely lifted from my shoulders as I hand my last paper to the supervisor and walk out of the examination hall, knowing I have accomplished something I never thought possible. Despite the grade, I knew I would be happy knowing I had come so far in these past months than my several years of living with anxiety.

I enter the dorms and make my way to my room, passing several people on their way out, nodding my head in acknowledgment as they go. As I make my way towards the room, loud music resonates down the hall and I quickly recognise it as Luce's, my thoughts confirmed when I push the door open to her bouncing on her bed, fists pumping in excitement.

When she notices me in the doorway she coaxes me to join her, and without any encouragement, I join her on her bed as we celebrate. "It's over, it's over," Luce repeats over and over again.

I pause my jumping for a second, "At least until next semester," I laugh, but there's no amusement there because who enjoys the stress of studying and sitting exams.

Luce glares at me in response and this time I do laugh, amusedly, before she states, "Let's have a 24-hour girls party of two."

"What in the world is that?" Confusion ebbing in the.

"Well, half of today is already gone, so it can't be a girl's day/girls night. We haven't spent time together just us in forever and I want to remedy that," she pauses. "So, what do you say? Let's order a pizza, watch some movies and then tomorrow we can go to the beach looking pregnant... no boys allowed."

I smile at the thought, she was right. For a long time, everything we did together was with the boys in tow and whilst there wasn't necessarily anything wrong with that, it would be good to do things just us occasionally.

So that's what we do. We order two large pizzas, one Margherita and the other a new veggie one we decided we should give a go. Luce and I also found an assortment of snacks and sweets that we could also eat while we watch our movies, settling on a Disney movie marathon because we're 5-year-olds.

We were now onto the movie Brave and I was in the middle of telling Luce the theory connecting this movie to Pixar's Monsters Inc. "So, basically, people believe that the witch is actually 'Boo' because she's obsessed with bears and in one of her wood carvings you actually see 'Scully'. There's a whole lot of other evidence, but it's too much explaining and I'm lazy." Luce and I laugh together as our phones ding simultaneously, messages from our boyfriends.

Hey, Doe. My exam just finished and I was thinking we could celebrate? Can I come over? I bought ice-cream ;)

The mention of ice cream with my one-track mind tempts me to ditch Luce and spend the night with him instead.

Congratulations! I'm so proud of you x What flavour did you say the ice cream was?

I didn't. But for your information, it's cookie dough.

I can sense his humour all the way from my dorm room. Fuck, that shit is good, but I promised Luce and I wasn't about to go back on it, even though ice cream was everything and he owed me.

I'm sorry, but I promised Luce we would spend tonight just us two.

Tomorrow? We can go to the waterpark?

Damn, why does he know just the right things to say to entice me. But I would remain a stone wall, strong and unmovable, just this once.

Rain check? Luce and I are hanging out tomorrow as well :)

Okay. But I'll miss you. Enjoy your night x

I flush at his words, feeling like I should fan myself. I turn to Luce who has left her phone and is stuffing her face with popcorn. When she realises I'm done messaging Seth she begins to talk, her mouth full, "I made Charlie think he's coming over, but he's just bringing me ice cream." Her lips tilt up into a cunning and mischievous smile that is pure evil, and for a moment I'm scared of her before I remember she conned him into bringing ice cream so... winning!

Not too long after, a knock sounds at the door and Luce and I jump from our positions on the couch, checking the peephole which has Charlie and Seth's smiling faces. They must have been together.

Wasting no time, Luce says through the door, "Did you bring the package?"

Charlie holds up the ice cream and without a second to spare Luce whips the door open, nearly clocking me in the nose, steals the ice cream from Charlie's unknowing hands and shuts and locks the door in their shocked faces. I almost feel sorry for them, but only almost.

As they bang at the door in rage for several minutes, Luce and I just continue to watch Brave, in total bliss thanks to the ice cream. Eventually, they admit defeat and give up, Luce and I grinning in accomplishment.

That night we continued to watch movies until our eyes could no longer stay open and we fell asleep to the calming lyrics of Aladdin's 'A Whole New World'.

#

The next day is scorching hot, perfect for the beach. June brings humidity that is not great for my hair, or my oily face, but the idea of being able to jump into the ocean and feel refreshed brings joy to my entire being.

What does not bring joy to my entire being is deciding which bathing suit to wear. One piece? Two piece? Nothing? Just kidding, I'm not a nudist. With all the indecision you may think that I'm trying to chose form multiple outfits, but you'd be wrong. I only have two.

One is a burgundy red one piece which has a section cut out, giving the illusion of a slim waist and curves with a strap coming up over the left shoulder, leaving the other bare. The two piece is a bandeau style in a lake green colour and is one I've never felt I could pull off but Luce insisted I should buy.

"Wear it, you know you want to," Luce whispers in my ear as she comes up behind me. "Don't second guess it and just put it on, who cares about what other's think, we're not trying to impress anyone."

But that's not true, if Seth was coming I would be trying to impress him. But alas, he wasn't invited so it was a moot point. Regardless, I decide to go with my gut, with the encouragement of Luce, and wear the two piece, gasping out how cheeky it is, essentially my whole ass on display.

"Damn girl," Luce snaps a picture on her phone as I stare in the mirror at myself, "I'm posting this and only having the peach emoji as the caption. Where have you been hiding that ass?" She stares at in admiration and I fluster under her stare, stuttering at her not to put it anywhere, but realise I should be thankful for her compliments.

"Fine, I'll just send it to Seth to show him what he's missing," she comments cheekily and I rush at her to prevent her from sending it but I hear the 'whoosh' of it delivering seconds later.

"Argh," I groan, "Let's just go." I take notice of her outfit, a mustard coloured one piece that is extremely low cut, the only thing blocking her cleavage the crisscrossing strands of material holding the section together. As she turns to grab her beach bag I notice that it doesn't cover her back and the material ends just above her ass. But if anyone could wear this and not look skimpy, it would be Luce. She fills it out well.

We quickly chuck on some shorts, grab our towels and leave the dorm, deciding to drive her car to the nearby beach. As we arrive we notice that many people had the same idea as us, every man and his dog is at the beach, but we manage to find a place not as crowded, setting our things in the warm sand.

To the right of us, there is a group of guys and girls playing volleyball, and to our left guys are playing footy. All the guys are shirtless and even though I'm in a relationship with someone I adore, I'd admit, they were hot. But as I squint towards the guys playing footy my mouth widens and the man I'd been admiring turns.

"Seth." He grins and winks before heading over with Charlie, who had been one of the other guys. Before long I realise they were here with most of the lacrosse team.

Luce stomps her foot in the stand. What did I tell you, we 're five-year-olds. "Charlie, just because I told you out of respect where Luce and I would be today, doesn't mean it was an open invitation to join us."

"Baby, I love you, but it's stinking hot. The lads and I were coming anyway. Your fine ass being here is just an advantage." He walks towards her and captures Luce in his arms. It doesn't take a genius to realise he's warning the many other guys who I had noticed checking Luce out on the way over that she was taken.

"That's enough, anyone would think you're pissing on me."

"If that's what it takes," he jokes.

While I'd been watching their encounter, Seth had made his way to stand next to me, leaning down to whisper into my ear, "You look fucking amazing."

I hide my embarrassment by commenting, "Can you ever say anything without including a cuss as an adjective?"

"Naw, no other adjective could express correctly how I feel seeing you like this, you're perfect," He kisses my cheek and I scoff.

"Alrighty, go back to your game of footy and leave us alone so we can try and tan." I nod my acknowledgment to Mason, Ben and the other guys as they turn to walk off, but not before Seth places a tender kiss on my forehead.

"I'll see you, Doe."

Luce and Charlie part in a similar way as he regretfully places a lingering kiss on her lips, her eyes shining in complete adoration for the man before her. For someone who had to deal with so much bullshit in her life, I was glad that in the end, Luce had found a man who truly cherished her the way she deserved.

As we let our sunscreen soak into our skin, Luce and I make plans for the rest of the break and engage in other casual conversation with talk on Seth and Charlie coming up occasionally too. We're talking like this when a volleyball comes flying towards us, missing us by a few feet. I stand to retrieve it as two of the guys come over towards us. I throw the ball over my head and it lands perfectly into the hands of one of them, a tall brown haired guy with a lanky figure. The other guy is olive skinned with darker hair and eyes, an easy-going smile on his features.

"Thanks for the ball," he says gratefully as he looks towards Luce who has to sit up from her position in the sand.

"It was no problem," she comments, dismissively.

The other guy continues and gazes at me, "You two go to university here, yeah? I think I've seen you around. I'm Edward and this is my friend, Joel."

"We do... Do y'all have a purpose hanging around? Cause my eyes are hurting looking up at the sun for you." Luce replies again and I hide my smile behind palm, she's so incredibly blunt and I love her.

"We were wondering if you'd like to join us for a game of volleyball, maybe go out afterward?" He smirks as he rubs one hand over his hair, flexing his biceps as he does so and I cringe.

"We're good—" I begin before I'm cut off by the overwhelming presence that is our boyfriends, Mason and Ben.

"Something wrong here?" Seth asks, his tone menacing as he glares at the guys, the other members of the team joining him in his efforts and Luce and I roll our eyes at the testosterone oozing from them all.

Joel steps forward, "We were just asking these lovely ladies to have a game with us. Figured they were here alone so we'd give a shot, but obviously not. Sorry for the confusion." He and Edward tip their heads before heading back towards the makeshift volleyball court and Luce and I turn to the boys.

"We had it handled, you didn't need to step in," Luce crosses her arms over her chest.

"We know that, but we wanted to. You girls are looking like you just stepped out of any man's wet dream, but we weren't going to let those cockheads believe you were fresh bait." Charlie comments, sincerely. Somehow, the idea of being likened to fish doesn't sit well with Luce and me.

"How about you guys go cool off and come back later when you're no longer twelve?" Always Luce, with her sassiness. I couldn't lie and say I didn't like it.

Seth and Charlie look at each other, slyly. "Cool off you say? Easy done." Within seconds, Luce and I are off our feet and swept into their arms as they begin to walk with one intention.

"Oh fuck, no." I begin writhing in Seth's arms and he makes a quick pace towards the water. "Not again, asshole."

"Oh, yes. You told us to cool off, we just thought you should join us." Seth comments, his signature smirk adorning his face.

"Hey, hey, let's not be so hasty. How about, you don't drop me in the water and I'll give you something you want?" I say, attempting anything that will stop a repeat of the other night.

"Anything I want?" He raises a suspicious brow.

"Anything?" I nod my head, repeatedly as I hear Luce scream as Charlie drops her in the water.

"How about a kiss?" He stares at me intently, my body hovering just above the water that I can almost feel how cold it's going to be. Without any hesitation, I pull his head down to mine and join our lips, immersing myself in the feeling behind it and the tingles that spread through my body.

"Thanks for that, Doe." Seth says, placing a single kiss on my lips again. Then he drops me.

"Argh—" I scream as water fills my mouth and nose and I choke. That little shit. As I emerge, the whole group engages in splashing each other and Luce and I try to hide behind our men because at the least, it what we deserve after they dunked us.

Fortunately, the allow it and for the next two hours we spend time just having fun without any cares in the world and I feel complete and utter happiness for the second time in one week thanks to these people.