"Well, you," said Ariana and hugged Selma.

I did the same and we sat down on the large white and black checkered picnic blanket. Valeria and Selma also gave each other a quick hug as they had only just met, and once we were seated, I took my time looking around.

Although it wasn't too crowded, it was well-filled today. Families with small children kept calling out to them or running after them, several older couples stretched their faces into the sun trying to get a tan despite the midday heat, and groups of teenagers and young adults were simply enjoying the weekend and the summer vacation.

The girls were talking about college and the classes they had taken this year when I turned back around.

"...and I think Mr. Ramon likes me a little. I had better grades last semester than I thought I would. I hope it will be like that again," Valeria said mischievously.

I looked at all the things she had fished out of her huge bag in no time at all, apparently while I had just looked away, and had now spread them out in front of us: strawberries, grapes, baguettes, cheese, jelly babies - the sour ones of course, apple juice, water, a small black music box, three games, four cups, four plates, meatballs, and more.

Last of all, when my mouth was already hanging open, she grinned over at me and pulled out a big bottle of champagne saying, "I know you wanted to do without today, but I thought we'd toast to our last real summer day anyway."

I looked at the feast with wide eyes.

"You brought all this? Oh man, Val, you're our hero. This is awesome!"

I let myself fall sideways against her and wrapped my arms around her.

"I'll make an exception with my alcohol consumption for you too," I laughed and threw her an air kiss as I couldn't reach her with my lips.

She made a squeaking sound and patted my forearm.

"You have good taste," said Selma and picked up the Exploding Kittens game.

Valeria shrugged her shoulders with a grin. "My grandparents used to play this with me. And," she added, "I brought the infamous salsa my abuela with me."

She patted my knee. "She knows how much you like it and made it a little less spicy because of the heat. So you don't overeat."

She laughed out loud as I took the small round package from her hands with shining eyes and opened the lid. The slightly sweet and spicy smell of the sauce hit my nose, and I inhaled it with relish.

"This is awesome, you're just incredible, you know that?"

Ariana threw a grape at me. "Now come off it, that sauce can't give you an orgasm either."

I gave her a look of mock offense. "A food orgasm is so much better sometimes, you don't even know what you're saying."

"Well, you'll just have to take it for now. Why didn't you flirt with that hot guy yesterday? What was his name again?" Ariana tapped her chin and popped one grape after another into her mouth. Selma also stole a few and looked between us eagerly.

"What's going on?" she asked, but no one answered her. She didn't seem to take it personally either.

"Ah, Carlos!" Ariana then exclaimed.

Valeria was busy connecting her cell phone to the jukebox and a song by Enrique Iglesias came on. I tapped her knee.

"I really love you, but can we please not listen to Latin music today? I've missed it a bit with you lately."

Valeria furrowed her eyebrows in offense but changed the music, and I heard a song by Milky Chance. Perfect for the summer day vibe.

"And to you," I then said and began to push grapes between my lips. I tore the delicate skin with my teeth to get at the fine sweetness that awaited me underneath. Chewing, I continued:

"...Carlos wasn't my type at all. He only talked about himself, and I don't have the head for that at the moment."

"Oh," Ariana waved me off, "you don't have to commit to anything. We're at university, you can just have a bit of fun. He was really sweet, and I could see that he clearly liked you."

I rolled my eyes. "I must find him attractive too, don't I?"

She made a snapping noise. "Not necessarily, as long as he's good."

She grunted, and now it was my turn to throw her off with a grape.

"But didn't you have a boyfriend?" Selma then asked, looking at me warily.

I felt a little sorry that she had been thrown into a slightly subliminally unpleasant conversation and was therefore naturally a little alone. So I shook my head with a smile.

"No, we broke up about three weeks ago."

She looked at me sympathetically. "I'm sorry about that." She seemed to think for a moment and then opened her mouth but didn't say anything.

I popped two more grapes into my mouth and looked at her meaningfully.

"You want to know why?" She nodded slowly and looked at me apologetically.

"But only if you want to say it. You don't have to." She raised her hands slightly as if to indicate that she wanted to give me the space to decide for myself. It was meant kindly.

I sighed. "Shall we have a toast first? I could do with some champagne right now."

"I was just waiting for that," Valeria laughed and popped the cork out of the bottle with a light pop.

I looked around, some people were looking over at us curious to see what we were up to.

Valeria poured champagne into our glasses. "A bit unromantic," she said sceptically, lifting up one of the colorful cups with champagne in it.

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"Oh, it's about the gesture, don't be a snob. We just want to toast," Valeria replied and then put a cup down for Selma and me. Then she raised her own and we clinked glasses.

"To us, to the new semester and an unforgettable summer full of ups and downs."

"Cheers."

We clinked glasses and took a few sips. After a few moments, I turned back to Selma.

"Well, it was a bit of a stupid situation. I like being angry with Reese, but I also know that it's not his fault. It's not my fault either," I said defensively when I saw the confident look on Valeria's face to show that she was right.

"Reese and I had been together for a long time, almost three years. There had never really been a problem with outsiders, we were just in agreement with each other. He and I. And I actually thought that had been a good thing."

I sighed and emptied my glass in one gulp. Ariana refilled it without comment and I continued:

"The first time he brought up the subject of an open relationship, I got really angry. He justified it by saying that he wanted to live it up during his studies, enjoy his younger years, and all that. The typical college experience as they say."

I laughed mirthlessly for a moment.

"Well, but he didn't want to lose me either. I let it sink in and thought that maybe - like many people sometimes do - he just wanted what he couldn't have. So - stupid as I was - I agreed and hoped that he would change his mind and admit that he only needed me."

Ariana snorted but then looked at me apologetically.

"He's just a man after all." She shrugged as if that explained everything.

"Well, I thought he was different."

"Not everyone is like that," muttered Valeria, but then fell silent.

"Anyway," I said irritably, "it all went a bit wrong. In any case, we broke up, and I realized that it would have ended up that way anyway because we just wanted something different."

I shrugged my shoulders as if that was the end of the matter, and although Selma seemed as if she wanted to say something else, she let it go. And I was very grateful to her for that.

"Thanks for telling me," she said and smiled.

I knocked my glass against hers. "Come on, let's set a good example of casual alcoholism among students."

She laughed and we drank our champagne.

__

I walked along the path, sunglasses on my nose, my cup in my hand. It was a little more pleasant now as it was slowly approaching the afternoon. The other girls were sleeping or reading on the blanket, and I had wanted to get some exercise.

The champagne had gone to my head, which was probably mainly due to the heat. The outdoor pool was a little emptier now; especially the families with children had mostly gone home. Instead, there were now more young adults sitting on the edge with their legs dangling in the water, playing guitar and singing on the grass, or throwing frisbees around. It was a bit of a cliché, but there was a reason why clichés were created.

It was a peaceful scene. As if all these people had no worries to occupy them that day. They were simply enjoying the serenity of a summer's day by the water. Well, the water was artificial, but who really cared?

I lifted my cup to my lips and drank the rest of the contents in one go. I really had to admit that I was drunk. Not to the point where it was unpleasant, but to the point where it was fun.

I looked at the people around me as I walked past them, wondering who they were, what they were thinking, and who they were here with. I walked on for a while and was almost in a trance, one step in front of the other, blinking half-open eyes against the light and lost in thought - which to be honest often included Reese, wondering what he was doing and how he was doing - when a loud voice with the words, "Hey, watch out!" brought me out of my trance.

I was only just able to turn my head to the side to find the source of the call when something banged hard against my left shoulder. I gave a startled cry, immediately lost my balance, and fell.

I fell into the outdoor pool, complete with sunglasses, flip-flops, and luckily an empty cup. The cool water immediately enveloped my heated body.

It was suddenly quiet, all the noises were instantly muffled. I had my eyes open so I could see the pool around me. My flip-flops and sunglasses had slipped off, and I could see them sinking towards the floor. I was still clutching the cup tightly in my hand. Great, what priorities I had.

I relaxed my body for a moment, looking fascinated at the floor and the edges of the pool on which the reflection of the sun was reflected in moving patterns, painting colorless images and shapes.

While I was still looking at it, slowly running out of air and on the verge of pushing myself off the ground to catapult myself upwards, I noticed a firm touch on my upper left arm. A hand wrapped around it and pulled.

I popped up with a snort and focused on finding my footing and wiping the water from my eyes and the hair from my face.

"Hey, I'm so sorry," said a voice close to me. And for the second time, I was startled. I turned my head to the right and looked into the light brown eyes of a boy.

Those eyes looked at me apologetically and regarded me. I scrutinized him. He was taller than me, not by much, but definitely at least half a head. He smiled slightly and bared a row of bright teeth that contrasted slightly with his olive skin. He had dark brown curls that fell into his forehead and - as I also noticed to my embarrassment - a really great body. A swimmer's body? With broad shoulders and defined but lean muscles.

I tried to regain my composure and not objectify him. Then my slightly inebriated mind made the connection between this boy and the fact that I had just fallen into the water and that it wasn't my fault. He still held me by the arm, and I pulled it back.

"Did you push me in?" I asked the obvious and then walked through the water to the edge of the pool to put my cup down. I needed to sort myself out a bit; it had just been a bit much all at once.

"Yes, sorry. I was trying to intercept a ball and you were a bit in the line of fire."

I snorted. It almost sounded like it was my fault that I was walking that way.

"Did you at least catch the ball?" I asked him slightly provocatively, crossing my arms in front of my chest. A light cool breeze brushed against my arms, and I shivered a little. Ridiculous as it was still so warm. But I was afraid that the boy would see more under my bikini than he should, because I wasn't wearing any padding in my top. But he was only looking at my face anyway.

"No, unfortunately not. But I found something else," he grinned mischievously, showing off the obvious come-on.

I snorted again, not quite knowing what to say to that.

"I lost my stuff for that."

I waded through the water a little and soon found the black stain of my sunglasses at the bottom of the pool. He was watching me.

"I'm sorry about that, do you want me to pick it up for you?"

I shook my head, took a deep breath, and dived down. The pool here wasn't deep after all, I could stand well. But whether it was the alcohol and blood in my head or my confusion, for some reason, I couldn't get those damn glasses up. I tried three times before I turned to the boy. He was still grinning, having watched all three attempts.

"Would you please?" I asked, slightly annoyed.

I felt a little uncomfortable not having made it under his gaze. Of course, it was silly. He had pushed me inside and it was the least he could do to gather my things up again. Nevertheless, it did scratch my pride a little when he reappeared a few seconds later with his glasses and two flip-flops, shaking his hair out of his face and looking so handsome.

"Here you go," he held the items out to me with a smile. There was something else under his smile; he seemed to find the situation funny.

I held his gaze, said, "Thank you," and took the things. Then I went to the edge of the pool and was just about to climb out when I heard a splash behind me. Then I felt a movement in the water behind me, a current on my legs, and then I heard his voice tickling my ear.

"You're really pretty. It was an honor to be of service to you as a lady in distress."

I turned around indignantly. That was a mistake because now he was standing very close to me, his face maybe ten, fifteen centimeters away and grinning.

I swallowed and collected myself for a moment.

"I wouldn't have been in trouble at all if you were better at ball sports."

He laughed and his gaze traveled from my eyes down my face and over my neck further until the water on my collarbones obscured everything else of my body.

"But it was worth it. Nice to meet you."

And with those words, he reached next to me at the edge of the pool, climbed out, and with a final wave to me walked back to his friends.

There was a group of five of them. When he got there, the others made some kind of comment and looked over at me, but I couldn't understand what they were saying.

I sighed, grabbed my cup, and then swam with my things - careful not to let them go - to the edge of the pool closer to where we were and climbed out of the water.

I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of walking past him half-naked and completely soaked with dripping flip-flops. Oh no.