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Danica wondered briefly if the next college friends’ trip should be to Bali, or at least somewhere tropical. Skiing was fun, but did anything compare to a lounge-on-the-beach vacation? She could almost picture Izzy and Pete surfing, Kiera andMaggie getting a massage as they lounged by the water, the entire group drinking cocktails in the pool of the overlooking resort.

Pete bailed from the wave, leaping into the water, and Danica waited for her to surface before she relaxed again, leaning back onto her elbows. She watched as Pete carried her board back over to where Danica lay. Pete sat beside her a few minutes later, shaking water from her hair like a shaggy wet dog.

Danica laughed, attempting to protect herself from the water, but Pete playfully held her down on the towel by grabbing her wrists.

"Did you see my wave?" Pete asked, her eyes wide with excitement.

"You were flying." Danica beamed with pride and elation, the same happiness that was mirrored on Pete’s face.

Pete leaned down to take Danica's mouth in a gentle kiss. "I love you. I love being here with you, sharing this."

"I love you, too," Danica said, lifting her head slightly to kiss Pete once more.

Pete sat down beside her and grabbed her phone. "I miss Gladys. Do you think she's doing okay?" She watched as Pete swiped open her phone and began to scroll through photos of their newly adopted pittie mix, an older, fawn-colored, adorably dumb sweetheart of a dog. Pete paused on a photo of Gladys smiling up at the camera, her eyes squeezed shut, a Lamb Chop toy held tightly in her mouth. The photo was blurry, like most photos of Gladys tended to be, since she never stopped wiggling with happiness.

"I'm sure Gladys is being spoiled rotten by Aunt Lillian," Danica said, leaning her cheek on Pete's shoulder.

"It's our first time away from her, though. She knows we'll come back, right?" Pete asked, and Danica lifted her face to look up at Pete, her entire body flooding with adoration.

"I bet she has eaten so many treats that she’s hardly even noticed we're gone," Danica assured her, kissing the bare skin of Pete's shoulder.

Pete sighed, closing her phone and tossing it back towards their backpack and scooter helmets.

The world seemed to slow as the sun lowered toward the horizon. The sky shifted into a canvas of warm, golden hues, bathing their skin in an amber glow. The colors intensified as the sun sank lower, painting the sky in purple and orange spreading along the horizon, bright clouds soaking up the color. The soft breeze smelled like saltwater and wet earth, the shouts of the surfers quieting as the beach slowly emptied. The reflection of the sunset in the water looked like molten gold, darkening into inky blue as the sun sank below the horizon.

In the twilight before the stars began to reveal themselves, Danica closed her eyes, wanting to memorize this moment to keep it forever. "I feel so happy I could just float away," she whispered.

"Don't worry, I've got you." Pete rested a hand on Danica's knee. Pete's skin, warm from the sun, contrasted with her own, which was growing cool in the evening air. Pete's touch was a tether, her presence a reminder of all the bliss they'd shared together so far.

Danica felt the promise of a future unfolding — endless, uncharted, and waiting for them to claim it, together.