It was the last day of spring break and Riley wasn't ready to say goodbye to her friends again. "Spending time at school miles and miles and miles away from you and my family is hard."

After barely seeing each other over the winter holidays (some of their families had insisted on coming to visit them instead of allowing the freshmen to go home), if at all, they spent the week in LA, coming from all corners of the country. Their breaks had all somehow lined up perfectly. Zay was off at Texas A&M studying business, Farkle and Smackle ventured off into Southern California to attend CalTech for their various engineering programs (both triple minoring, of course), and she and Lucas opted for Northern Cal. She was at UC Berkeley earning her degree in Social Work and he was at UC Davis, studying under some of the most talented animal science and veterinary minds in the nation. It was only Maya that stayed in New York, to pursue a career in art through NYU's nationally ranked program, with Aunt Katy and Uncle Shawn and the baby.

But it was okay. She and Maya talked on the phone every other night, wrote each other letters, sent care packages back and forth, video-chatted as often as they could. Their first semesters away from each other went off without a hitch and their second had started full-steam ahead — they'd nailed this long-distance relationship thing.

Her and Zay messaged each other infrequently, but their reunion was effortless. It was Farkle and Smackle she really had to put in the extra effort with. With their crazy schedules never aligning with hers, careless and absent-minded chatter fell to the wayside. Every conversation she had with either of them was focused and efficient. But she was glad to spend an hour or two or three in deep conversation with them, talking into the wee hours of the night.

It was Lucas she missed the most, if she was honest with herself. They video-chatted every night, most of the time studying together, but never got the chance to visit in person. Sure, it was only an hour and a half drive, but neither of them brought a car with them to college. And yeah, the less-than-dependable train was an option, but it was difficult for the couple to find a single full day for each other.

They were here though, together, with all of their friends. The group had decided to spend part of their last evening together at the beach, to see one sunset together at the same time.

"I don't want us to leave either," Maya murmured in agreement, leaning against Zay. "I love us when we're all together."

"We'll be together again during the summer," Smackle promised, her voice echoing in their ears.

"Guys, about that—"

"Zay, this is the worst time to tell us any different," Lucas chided, pulling Riley in closer to him. She kept her grip on Maya's hand and squeezed. "Let's get to that reality tomorrow, okay buddy?" Zay hummed in agreement, resting his shoulder against Farkle.

The sun dipped below the water and the sky was a dark purple, the stars far more visible than they were up north. It was beautiful. Lucas pressed his mouth against her temple gently, then tilted his head down, so his lips were hovering near her ear. She felt herself shiver and he hugged her tighter, thinking it was from the ocean breeze, and he whispered, "I love you, Riley Matthews."

They were at peace, barely worried about what the morning was inevitably bringing them. The six of them walked off the sand, hands interlocked, realizing how unprepared they were to head back to Farkle's on-campus apartment to pack, to sleep, to leave.

"Let's go to In-N-Out for one last meal?" Maya suggested, hand hovering over the car door. Her arm was looped around Farkle's shoulders, and when she failed to open the door, Zay grabbed her other hand to hold.

Riley stretched her arms to the sky and yawned, with Lucas's hand resting on the small of her back. She reached over to Smackle and rested her hand against the genius's cheek. "Yes, let's."

So they ended up at In-N-Out, eating burgers at 10:30 at night, chatting endlessly about their exciting week and reliving their old high school memories. "I still can't believe we fought over a metaphorical hole, guys."

"What would you have done if you were wrong about the seniors, Riley?"

"Who knows?" She shrugged, laughing as she ate another fry dripping in the west coast's famous burger shop's sauce. "It didn't matter who was wrong or right, just that we were together. Like right now." Her left hand was stroking her boyfriend's knee, back and forth, memorizing the smoothness of his skin. She turned to him and smiled. "This is what will always be most important. All of us."

They sighed in response and she realized her cup was empty. "I'm gonna grab another refill. Anyone else want something?"

Her friends chimed a unanimous no and she quickly made her way to the soda machine. There were so many options and she was unsure if it was even a good idea to fuel up on caffeine this late. Though, thanks to Berkeley's rigorous academics, she'd finally gotten used to operating and functioning on less than six hours of sleep a night. She was a regular party animal. Well, she wasn't, but on those nights where she stayed awake studying at 2 in the morning, she pretended to be one.

Her cup hovered beneath the Dr. Pepper nozzle, but she was clearly hesitating. This was a big choice, it would determine how much sleep she'd get tonight before her afternoon flight. Of course, she was waking up early to go with Maya and Zay to the airport for their morning flights, so that automatically meant less sleep. Hmmmm.

"Definitely go with the Sierra Mist," a voice murmured flirtatiously beside her, "the new recipe comes with a twist of some sort in the recipe." The boy next to her was no one she knew and his eyes were slowly traveling up from her bare legs to her face. She knew she should've taken Lucas's sweatpants when he offered upon their arrival. "Because you sweetheart are too innocent not to come with one."

"I'm sorry, what?" She asked. "One what?"

"A twist. Tell me: are you secretly rebellious, secretly more seductive than you let on?"

"I think you've forgotten yourself, sir, or at the very least your manners. Please leave me alone now." Riley turned away from him and filled her cup with the Dr. Pepper. She needed the caffeine to calm her nerves down. This guy was hella skeevy.

"Oh, come on, sweetheart, give me one more smile. You're so much prettier that way," he said, trying to make his voice husky.

"What about me? Am I prettier when I smile?" Lucas asked, appearing next to her.

"Who are you? Her boyfriend?"

"Even if I were," he lied, "that shouldn't be the only thing stopping you from being a skeeze. Now leave her alone."

"Fucking make me."

Lucas smiled and said, "Gladly." He took an intimidating step slowly towards the foul-mouthed boy and lifted his fist.

"Lucas."

"I know, Riles. I wasn't gonna hurt him. I have manners." Then he slung his arm around her with a shit-eating grin on his face. That was the only way for her to describe it.

"I knew you couldn't hit me, pussy. Her hold on your chain a little tight there, buddy?"

She lifted her hand and slapped him across the face. "Just because he has manners doesn't mean I do." Riley tugged at his hand, the one still around her shoulders, and said, "Let's go, love. We have better things to be doing."

They left the boy in shock, who had to slump back over to his friends who were cracking up at the nearby table.

"Did you just slap him, Riles? That's my honey!" Maya cheered.

"Berkeley has really changed you, huh," Farkle commented. "You're not fully transitioning into one of those Berkeley liberals we always hear about down here, are you?"

"Only in positive ways, Farkle. I promise."

Zay started to joke around, asking if she could show him a few pointers in self-defense tactics, since all the cheerleaders at A&M just couldn't stay away from him. Even as he dated one of them. He said they were vicious and definitely did not understand true feminism.

They all laughed at his story, lounging at the restaurant for at least another hour, before they climbed back in Farkle's minivan his parents had bought for him. The only thing he'd let his parents pay for without protest. He held Smackle's hand as he drove, with so much ease it was clear it was second nature to him now, and Riley's found their way to both Smackle and Zay, touching them lovingly here and there on the car ride back. Occasionally, she'd glanced back at her two favorite people and send them bright, sad smiles.

She'd never be ready to say goodbye to her friends — it would hurt every single time, she concluded. But the best thing she could do to make it through the next three and a half years of college, the next three and a half years away from them, was to hope and anticipate for their new adventures across the country. There was something else though, something that she'd worried about during their first semester, and the start of their second, apart.

But it was Maya who asked the car quietly, "We have to keep living our lives away from each other, don't we?"

"Yes, we do, Peaches. If we sit around and wait for each other, we'll never become who we're meant to be. We have to live our lives and experience."

Farkle added, "We'll always come back to each other." And it was Zay who noted, "We'll always find each other."

"We're us," Lucas reminded her. Smackle, looking at Riley, said, "We're each other's perfect matches. There's no stopping us."

"Thunder."

"Lightning."

"Forever."