I had just managed to get a few hours of sleep before I woke up to the sound of laughter and chatter around me.

I slowly opened my eyes to see that everyone and I mean every single person in the house was in my room talking and laughing about something. Ashley and Sam were sitting on the bed and Tyler was sitting on the chair in a corner half asleep. Avi, Jace, Ryan, Neil, and Erick were on the floor propped up on pillows and blankets.

"What the hell is this? Party at Veronica's room?" I mumbled, sleepily and everyone turned to look at me.

"Opposite actually, we are nursing our after party hangovers in your room," Jace said lifting a glass of some weird-looking liquid.

Ryan must have noticed my disgusted look, so he said, "It's my mom's recipe, and it works like magic. Do you want some?"

"No, thank you. I don't really have a hangover." I smiled at him then looked at the others, "However, what I do want is some sleep! So please, will you guys just kindly get the hell out of here."

"It's already 11 am, it's our last day here! Come on, get up!" Ash whined and tried to snatch my blanket but I slapped her hand away. "It's technically my room too, so we are not leaving until you wake up."

"Late night activities, do tend to tire you out, " Jace said giving me a knowing smile, "But you can catch up with your sleep when you get home later."

I rolled my eyes at him and looked at Tyler who was already looking at me with a lazy smile of his own.

"What am I missing here?" Neil asked.

"Nothing! I'm awake. Let's go," I sat up, and Jace chuckled 

Everyone gave me a weird look, but I brushed it off. "Do we have some breakfast? I'm starving, " I said in an attempt to change the topic.

"Yeah, I made some hash browns and we have leftover pizza from yesterday too, " Ryan said.

"Hash browns!? Ryan, you're officially my new favorite person, " I said and he gave me a sheepish smile.

I shooed everyone out of the room and took a shower and got changed. Before I went downstairs I called my mom and checked all my messages. There still wasn't any reply from Julian on the last message I left him, asking if everything was okay. I tried calling him, but every one of my calls went unanswered.

Was he pissed? Did something bad happen? Every possible worst-case scenario started running in my mind.

I sent him another text- Why aren't you answering my calls? Is everything okay? I am worried. Please call me back as soon as possible.

When I went downstairs, I found Ash sitting on the couch, looking at her phone with a frown on her face. I went inside the kitchen and got my breakfast, then plopped down beside her.

"What's with the frown?" I asked.

"Huh?...oh, nothing, " she said and kept her phone aside.

"Tell me."

"It's Ian," she said, looking away.

I had almost forgotten about him after he had transferred from our school. Ashley and him had a little something going on, but it faded away after he changed schools this year. I was surprised that she was still in contact with him.

"What about him?" I asked.

"He has a new girlfriend."

"Are you still hung up on him?"

"Maybe. I don't know, I guess it just sucks that he moved on so easily. When he was here, we didn't get into a serious relationship because he always said that he wanted to focus on his career. On his music. When he moved, things got more complicated. And now I learn that he has a girlfriend. It just...sucks, " she said with teary eyes.

"His loss." I shrugged. "And I'm not telling you this because you are my friend, but he is a fool to let you go. He never put in any effort to make things work between you guys and that just shows how oblivious he is to what an amazing person you are. I mean look at you, you are a complete package."

She smiled and shook her head at me. "Complete package, huh?"

"I'm serious. You are stunning. Sure, at times you can be a little annoying, but you make up for it by being the most caring and kind person one can come across, " I said in a matter of fact tone and continued eating my hash browns.

After a few minutes, I felt her arms wrap around me, and she said, "Have I ever told you that I love you."

I held my plate in one hand and patted her arm with the other,
"Yes. But it feels good to be reminded again."

She laughs and pulls away. After I finished my breakfast, she asked "Sam and the boys have all gone down to the beach. Shall we go join them?"

"Yeah. But in a while. I'm too full to even move right now, " I said and set my plate aside. "Why didn't you go with them?"

"I just needed some alone time, I guess." She shrugged.

"You feel better now?"

"Yeah. I do." She smiled and I nodded.

I laid down on the couch and put my legs on her lap, and let out a yawn.

"This is nice," I mumbled snuggling into the couch.

"Hey! Don't fall asleep now."

"No. Just getting comfortable."

"So...what's going on between you and Tyler?" Ash asked.

"Huh?"

"You both seem cozy. And before you say the 'we are just friends' crap, let me just say that even though you have known each other for a long time now, something has changed between you both. I can see it. Everyone can see it."

"Before, whatever little communication we ever had was because of Neil. Tyler was just a mutual friend, but now I have a separate relationship with him. He isn't just Neil or Avi's friend anymore. He is mine too, " I said.

"Is that it? A good friend?"

"Yes."

"Alright. I'll take your word for it. For what it's worth, I think you guys would make an explosive couple," she smiled and winked at me.

"We are both way too different for any scope of romance. So just drop it."

"Well, I think you would balance each other out."

"Okaaaaay, let's go, " I said and got up, eager to drop this conversation.

"What was Jace talking about in the morning?" she asked following me to the kitchen.

"Uh, what do you mean?" I decided to play dumb.

"You know exactly what I mean, " she said giving me a pointed look, as I rinsed my plate in the sink. "Late night activities? What was that about?"

"I couldn't sleep last night, so I went down to the beach for a walk. He must have seen me or something. That's all."

I conveniently left Tyler out of the story. I didn't want Ash reading too much into it. I wasn't exactly lying, just omitting some facts.

"That's it?" she asked me speculatively.

"Yes," I said and turned to face her.

"Okay, " she sighed, "V could you promise me something?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't push yourself away from everything. Stop being scared to fall in love. We are here for you. Always. With everything that happened last year, I know you're hurting. I know you have been bottling everything up for a year now and I know it's not easy for you to let your guard down, but at least try. Let it go. I promise you, it will be worth it."

I just looked at her and was reminded once again about how lucky I was to have her and everyone else in my life.  "I promise, I'll try." I smiled at her reassuringly, despite my own doubts regarding the matter.

***

October second:-

How lucky do two people have to be, in order to fall for each other at exactly the right time and in exactly the right way.

Could I ever be that lucky?