"Whooooo!" Ash screamed as we sped down the beach road. The top of the car was down, and the wind was in our hair. I had one of my hands hanging out of the car, the other loosely grasping Grace's for comfort. "Yeah!"
"Put a decent song on, and I might enjoy this more," I said, and Grace's hand left mine, searching the glove compartment for a new CD to put on. She gasped as she found one, then glanced at me, an evil look on her face. She slipped the disc into the slot and skipped a few songs until the one she wanted came on. I recognised it immediately and groaned, but sang along.
"First day that I saw you, thought you were beautiful," I laughed, along with Grace. In our first year she had repeatedly serenaded me with the same JLS song, every day, wherever I was, whether she had to FaceTime me or not. "I hate you."
"But I love you," Ashton told her as he pulled up at the top of a hill. He grabbed her hand as they got out of the car and sat on the bonnet as I pulled a picnic from the seat next to me. I sat on the ground, leaning on the front of the car, and the three of us sat and watched the sun go down. I kept offering food to them, barely looking at them as I knew if I did they'd be doing cringey couple stuff. When I finally turned my head, just as the sun sank under the sea, Grace was resting her head on Ashton's shoulder, and he had his arm around her. He kept kissing the top of her head, and the two of them looked insanely happy. I shook my head, realising I was third wheeling, and leaned back against the car, looking out over the ocean.
The stars glittered in the water, and in the distance I could see a pod of dolphins leaping in and out of the sea. The sound of the waves was incredibly relaxing and soon enough I found myself drifting in and out of sleep.
"Ash, I hate to interrupt you and Grace being all cute, but I'm about to fall asleep and I'd rather be asleep in bed than leaning against your car," I told him, and he smiled.
"Let's get back, it is quite late anyway," he said, and him and Grace shared one last kiss before we all climbed back into the car and drove back to the university.
***
"I love you, Flora." Michael's voice came through the door. He'd been trying to get me to open up for ten minutes, but I didn't feel like seeing him. "Please let me in."
"So we can do what?" I asked.
"Talk! Like a civilised couple! I'm sober, Flora, and I'm sorry, and I need to tell you that." I flung open the door and stared at him.
"Come in," I said. "And talk." He walked into the dorm, sitting down on the bed opposite me.
"Flora, what I said to you the other night was out of order," he began, and I noticed the deep, dark circles under his eyes. "I know how you feel about your father, so I shouldn't have been like that about him."
"Will you help me find him?"
"To do what?" he frowned at me. "I'm not going to fight your dad."
"I don't know. Try and talk to him, see why he left, what he's done with his life since."
"Of course."
"I love you," I sighed, opening my arms for a hug. He came and cuddled me, kissing me gently. "I love you so much."
"I love you too," he told me, kissing me again. "You're so beautiful." I looked down at my body and frowned. I was wearing a white skirt and a pink Hollister top. It was a fairly casual outfit, I wasn't wearing makeup and my hair was especially frizzy.
"Yeah, not really," I shrugged. "But thank you." I lay back, bringing him with me as he still had his arms around me, and sighed.
"So how are we going to find your dad?"
"I need to find my birth certificate," I told him. "I saw it once when I was tiny, but ever since my mum had hidden it from me."
"Didn't you need it to apply here?"
"Yeah, she dealt with that. She really doesn't want me to find out about him, but I need to know."
"I understand, baby. We'll go to your house soon, try and find it, then go from there."
"I know where it is, and I know where the key is," I admitted. "I've just always been too scared to find it."
"That's okay," he said, kissing my forehead. "I love you."
"I love you too, but can you let go of me? I'm roasting, I was gonna go and get an ice cream."
"Get me one too," he said, and I wandered to the shared kitchen. One of the guys in my block was there cooking, and although I recognised him I realised I didn't know his name.
"Hi," he said simply as he noticed me looking at him. "Rob."
"Flora," I replied, smiling as I rummaged in the communal freezer for ice creams. I pulled out two Cornetto style ices and turned around to go back, but Rob called me back.
"Will you try this for me? It's my first time making it, I'm not sure what it tastes like." It was some sort of stir fry, and I nodded.
"No nuts?"
"Nope," he said, offering me a forkful of the meal. I took it, tried it and nodded.
"That's good," I said, giving my approval. "Mm!" He laughed then gave me a piece of paper.
"Text me sometime. You're now my new meal guinea pig." I nodded then returned to my dorm.
"What took you so long?" Michael asked as I offered him his ice cream.
"Some guy in the kitchen made me try his food then gave me his number. It was good!"
"You're not texting him," Michael warned. "You're mine."
"I know I'm yours, but I'm still going to text him. But if he flirts with me then I'll turn him down because I am in love with you." He grabbed my hips and pulled me onto his lap, locking his lips with mine.
"Fuck me," he muttered, his voice slightly raspy, and I pulled his top off, only briefly breaking the kiss. Then the night got magical.
*****
My dad is telling me how someone programmed the satnav to moo at them if they break the speed limit but he's a fiREMAN SO OBVS HES GOING TO BREAK THE SPEED LIMIT IM CRYING MAN
Song of the chapter: that's classic by rizzle kicks