Notes: This chapter is essentially a few short 'scenes' from the spring break trip, and will be wrapping up this section of the story - next chapter we're back to the grind at Degrassi.

Enjoy the chapter!

With lidded eyes, a small moan of pleasure escaped from Holly J's lips. It was a soft sound, but to Fiona, it thundered, lingering and reverberating in her ears. A cascade of sensation rippled through her body. A quickening of the pulse, hands laced with sweat, breath on the verge of becoming ragged. Not too long ago, she would have recognized these as the familiar symptoms of a coming anxiety attack, but this was different - the growing heat under her skin was warm and enticing, not oppressive or stifling. Before she could make sense of what was happening, images came unbidden to Fiona's mind - tangled sheets, limbs in unlikely positions, breathless whispers and primal screams and-

"Fiona?"

A forgotten fork clanged against her plate as Fiona snapped back to reality, noting that both Anya and Holly J were fixing her with a bemused gaze.

Holly J prodded gently. "You okay there, Fi? At the risk of sounding too mom-like, you're looking a little peaked."

Anya smirked. "Told you we should've skipped the oyster appetizer."

"No, I'm fine, just... thinking about what what we should have for dessert." It was a suitably flimsy excuse given the limited time she had to concoct it, but Fiona realized it probably wasn't that far from the truth. Had the breaks not been slammed on her train of thought, it was likely only a matter of time before whipped cream, strawberries, chocolate syrup and other innocent food products came into the picture.

It was disconcerting to Fiona that she could come so thoroughly unglued over something as seemingly innocuous as her friend enjoying a meal, even if she was still obviously carrying a torch for that friend, but it wasn't a great mystery why it had happened. Her feelings towards the opposite sex had always been tepid at best, and the few times she had allowed her eyes to linger on a leggy blonde had never been anything more than glimpses into a place she wasn't ready to arrive at yet. Only with Holly J had she ever felt such naked, immediate and unquestioned attraction.

"Well, why don't you put the dolce deliberations on hold and try some of my lobster ravioli. It is to die for." Holly J extended her fork in Fiona's direction, waiting for her friend to take a bite. For Fiona, still reeling from her bout of sexual frustration, the gesture was simply too much. Too familiar. Too cute. Too... couple-y. To Fiona this was in about the same league as sitting across from Holly J in The Dot, sharing a milkshake while they gazed lovingly into each other's eyes. A naive fantasy she simply couldn't allow herself to indulge, not anymore.

Fiona snatched the pasta from Holly J's fork with her hands, chewing hastily and without pleasure. "Yeah, yummy." The meal continued, quietly, Holly J more than a little nonplussed by Fiona's actions.

At a nearby table, a rousing cheer came up as the unmistakable pop of a bottle of champagne ejecting its cork filled the air. To Fiona, it may as well have been a gunshot. Already overstimulated for the night, this was, again, simply too much for her. The heat under her skin was returning. Not missing a beat, Holly J took hold of Fiona's fidgeting hand in her own, gently stroking it with her thumb. The effect was instantaneous, the tension in the air seeming to dissipate in a single moment.

Taking a deep, deliberate breath, Fiona gave Holly J a small smile, letting the other girl know that she was okay.

"Holly J?"

"Yeah, Fi?"

"Could I have another bite of ravioli?"

Holly J shivered, already feeling the first signs of goosebumps forming as her skin hit the bracing yet undeniably chilly sea air. She had known immediately that any plan for an early spring expedition to the beach was optimistic at best, but Fiona had been adamant that it simply wouldn't be a proper spring break without some time spent soaking up the sun.

Having set up chairs and umbrellas on the otherwise barren stretch of beach, Fiona immediately set about preparing for a session of sunbathing, while her companions opted to recline in the shade. Retrieving a bottle of sunscreen from her bag, she began covering her arms, legs and stomach in the coconut-scented lotion. Having dispatched the easily accessible areas, Fiona paused. She didn't relish the idea of having to ask Holly J for help, and asking Anya would only draw attention to the obviously purposeful snubbing of the other girl. The best option seemed to be attempting to make it a non-issue.

Looking up from her book, Anya was greeted by quite a display, watching intently as Fiona struggled to apply the sunscreen to her back. Having not witnessed such as impressive display of contortion since her last yoga session with Riley, Anya decided to take advantage of the situation. She reached over to the next chair, lightly slapping Holly J on the arm with the back of her hand. No reaction. She tried again, drawing a languorous reply from her friend.

"What?"

Anya cocked her head in Fiona's direction.

"Yeah, Fiona's putting on sunscreen. I think I've heard of people at the beach doing that before."

Anya shrugged off the sarcasm coolly. This was familiar territory for her. "Doesn't it look like she's having some trouble?"

"If you're so concerned Fiona's SPF situation, why don't you help her?"

Anya smiled. Too easy. "Why don't you want to?"

Issuing a challenge, any challenge, to Holly J Sinclair was the surest way to provoke the girl to action. Competitiveness, internally as much as with others, was both a driving force and her Achilles' heel, and it was the one button Anya knew she could always push. It was the single leveraging force she had against Holly J, who was by no means amenable to manipulation under most normal circumstances.

Holly J shot Anya a tight, mirthless smile, but nonetheless rose from her seat, approaching the spot where Fiona sat, still struggling with the sunscreen. Her demeanor softened immediately.

"You know, Anya and I are right over there. Not that your imitation of a pretzel isn't adorable."

Fiona scrambled. "Oh, yeah, I... you guys... looked comfortable. I didn't want to impose."

"Fiona." Holly J took the bottle of sunscreen from Fiona's hand. "For you, I'm always available. You know that, right?"

"Yeah. Of course." Fiona looked away, aware that they were precipitously close to having a conversation that didn't have much to do with sunscreen at all.

"Good." Holly J waved the bottle of sunscreen. "So, shall we?"

Fiona obliged, lying down on her stomach and untying the straps of her bikini top.

Squeezing sunscreen into her hands, Holly J's eyes settled on the smooth expanse of bare skin before her. She felt herself beginning to flush. At least the goosebumps were gone.

Fiona ran a hand through her hair, grimacing slightly as she felt coarse grains of sand, the rough texture an unfamiliar companion to her normally downy tendrils.

Holly J grinned, taking notice of her friend's preoccupation. "Got some hitchhikers, huh?"

Fiona shrugged. "Recreational hazard for a day at the beach, I suppose."

"Hey, look on the bright side, at least none of us got hypothermia."

Fiona returned a crooked grin to her friend. "Either way, a nice hot shower is calling my name. Why don't you guys go ahead and order room service, anything you want."

Fiona shed her outer layer of clothing, haphazardly tossing the garments on her bed before disappearing into the bathroom. Holly J, attempting to avert her eyes, had buried her head in a room service menu. Anya studied Holly J intently, noticing how she flinched slightly as the shower came to life behind the closed door, as if she could feel the sting of hot water rippling on her own skin. The minutes ticked by, and Anya decided to make her move.

"Having trouble deciding?"

It took a moment for Holly J to register the question. "Oh, uh, yeah, I guess I'm not very hungry."

Anya gave her friend a sly smile. "Well, sometimes what you want isn't on the menu."

If Holly J had a response to that statement, it was abandoned, as she discarded the menu and reached for the TV remote. Anya interjected quickly, not wanting to give the other girl a chance at becoming absorbed in another distraction.

"Holly J?"

Holly J froze, sighed, and released her grip on the remote, finally swiveling her head in Anya's direction, waiting for the other girl to continue.

Anya hesitated for a moment, unsure of how this was going to play out. "Why did you break up with Sav?"

The question was met with an incredulous gaze. "Sav. You want to talk about Sav. Anya, didn't we agree that this was a no-boys week? And if you really had to go there, couldn't it have been, I don't know, anyone but Sav?"

Holly J had made a good effort of presenting herself as nonchalant about the breakup, which Anya believed to be mostly sincere. It was, after all, quite obvious which side of the scale weighed heavier in that relationship. It was all too predictable that at least one of them would end up seeing the other as more than a stand-in, and it was unsurprising to Anya that it ultimately ended up being Sav. Much of Holly J's defensiveness on the subject was certainly due to lingering regret over choosing to end things only after it became clear that Sav was more invested than she was, but Anya sensed there was more to it, especially with recent events in mind.

"Please, just, humor me for a minute, okay? I won't bring it up again, and I promise it doesn't have anything to do with me and Sav."

"I just don't get why you're asking. I mean - the list? You saw firsthand, in excruciating detail, why I ended things with Sav."

Anya nodded. "Right, 'not feeling it,' I remember. I guess what I'm asking is, how long had you... not been feeling it?"

Holly J shrugged. "I don't know, a few weeks I guess."

"But you put off the actual breakup, because you wanted to avoid hurting Sav."

"Yeah, I... I guess."

"So what made you finally decide to end it?"

"I didn't want to keep stringing Sav along. He already had a lot more to lose than I did, putting it off any longer would have just been cruel." Anya's silence made Holly J uneasy. "Do you have a different theory?"

"No. I mean, it's just... maybe that wasn't the only reason. Maybe something changed, something that made you think about things differently. Made you think about... someone, differently."

Silence stretched over the room. Anya had laid it all out, as plainly as she could without actually saying the name. She had to let Holly J fill in some of the blanks, even if she expected a deliberately obtuse posture to be the other girl's initial reaction. The important thing was that it was now in Holly J's head, perhaps consciously for the first time, and what happened from here on out was now, for the most part, up to her... and Fiona.

"So, what's for dinner?"

The girls had been so absorbed in their conversation that neither had noticed the shower cutting off a few minutes past. Fiona now stood before them, clad only in a bath towel.

Anya replied steadily, never taking her eyes off of Holly J. "We couldn't decide. Holly J's still trying to figure out what she wants."

Holly J's head shot up, momentarily meeting Anya's gaze before she stood up and began walking briskly toward the bathroom. "I... I think I need a shower too, actually."

Fiona interjected. "You might want to wait a few minutes, I think I-" The door slammed shut. "-used up all the hot water." Fiona sent a questioning glance in Anya's direction. Anya simply shrugged. She had a feeling it was going to be a cold shower either way.