Phillip hosted a pool party at his house on Labor Day. His dad, Hubert, was at work, but didn't really care about Phillip throwing parties. Hubert had been popular back when he was in high school and for some reason it was super important to him that Phillip be popular, as well. Probably because parents always want their kids to be exactly like them.

The party started at noon; now it was one o'clock and Phillip's backyard and pool were packed with kids from school. Most of them were in the pool, including Phillip. Aurora didn't feel much like swimming, though. She saw Eric go into the house alone about half an hour ago and he still hadn't come back out.

Aurora slipped into the house and slid the glass door closed. Instantly she was surrounded by silence. She hadn't realized just how loud it was outside until she was finally met with quiet. No one was allowed in the house, but she and Eric were always exceptions. A couple of the severs from the catering company Hubert hired for the party were assembling trays of food in the kitchen, but they paid her no mind as she walked through. She searched the downstairs, but when she didn't find Eric, she headed upstairs.

She found Eric in the guest room he usually sleeps in whenever he stays the night at Phillip's. The door was open, but Aurora didn't go inside. She knocked on the doorframe.

Eric looked up from where he was sitting on the floor next to the bed. "Hey."

Aurora gave him a smile. "Hi. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. I just don't feel like partying."

"I get it," Aurora said. "Mind if I come in?"

"Sure."

Aurora walked over to Eric and sat down next to him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"What for? I'm not even allowed to be upset."

"What are you talking about?"

"When a girl is pregnant, the baby is hers. It's seen as being part of her body, so she's the only one who gets to decide what happens to it. I didn't even know she was pregnant until after she had the abortion. Even though the baby was mine, too, I had absolutely no say in whether or not we killed it or kept it. I'm only eighteen, I know I'm not ready for a kid. And I understand where she was coming from. But, for the rest of my life I'll have to live knowing that I had a child, but it was gone before it ever had a chance to live. It didn't get a life, so that Ariel and I could have ours."

Aurora wrapped her arm around Eric. "You're allowed to be upset. Just because it was Ariel's choice, doesn't mean it doesn't affect you."

"Part of me is glad she did it," Eric confessed. "I mean, she's right: if we had a baby now, all of our dreams would be over before they began. The worst part of all this is that she didn't come to me and talk to me first. If she wanted to go through with abortion, I wouldn't have stopped her. But, she could have at least pretended to care what I wanted; even if she already had her mind made up and nothing I said could have changed it. She could have told me what she was going through. If she had come to me instead of going behind my back, I would have supported her. Hell, I would have even gone to the clinic with her."

"Really?"

"Yes. I loved her. I'm beginning to doubt she felt the same, though. You even told me she thought this was just a high school romance."

Aurora winced. She probably shouldn't have told Eric everything Ariel had told her the other day. At the time, she was angry and wanted him to know how Ariel really felt. She didn't think about how it'd make him feel.

"I'm sorry," Aurora said. "It's okay for you to feel however you're feeling, for as long as you need to. And you know I'm always here for you."

XXX

Rapunzel squealed as Flynn scooped her up and tossed her into Phillip's pool. She flailed her arms until she hit the water and it engulfed her. She surfaced and Flynn jumped in after her, splashing her. He swam between her legs, then stood up so she was sitting on his shoulders.

"That was not very nice," Rapunzel playfully scolded him.

Flynn reached up and tickled her side, causing her to squirm and fall off his shoulders, back into the water. Rapunzel was laughing when she resurfaced.

"You're lucky you're cute," Rapunzel told him. "Otherwise, I wouldn't put up with you."

Flynn wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. His skin was hot compared to the cool water. "Then I guess I'm really lucky."

Flynn kissed Rapunzel and she let out a small sigh. Ever since she lost her virginity to him over spring break, the two of them have been hooking up whenever they can. Seeing him walking around without a shirt on all day has been driving her crazy. She wondered if Flynn was feeling the same way. She hoped so. She had bought a new bikini yesterday specifically for today.

"Heads up!"

Rapunzel and Flynn pulled apart and a second later a beach ball hit Flynn on the side of the head. Flynn picked it up and Rapunzel was shocked to see Helga swim over to them.

"Helga, what are you doing here?" Rapunzel asked.

"I'm only over at AU, Rapunzel. I'm still living at my parents' house for the time being," Helga replied with a shrug. "I heard about the party and figured I'd stop by and see some of the girls from the squad."

"Isn't it a little pathetic for a college student to be attending high school parties?"

Flynn let out a small laugh, but cleared his throat to cover it up.

Helga glared at her. "Look who's trying to finally grow some lady balls. But, you're still in over your head here."

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "Please. You don't intimidate me- or anyone- anymore."

Helga advanced towards Rapunzel, but Flynn tossed the beach ball at her and it hit her in the face.

"What the-"

"Sorry," Flynn said. "It slipped."

Rapunzel laughed and didn't bother trying to hide it.

Helga snatched up the ball and swam away. Once she was gone, Rapunzel groaned.

"I can't believe she's still living in Andalasia. I thought she was going to school out of state."

"Yeah, that sucks," Flynn said.

"Now I gotta worry about randomly running into her everywhere."

"Nah. You don't have to worry about her at all. She may have held some power while she was at AHS, but she doesn't anymore," Flynn told her. "She's going to be one of those girls who peaks in high school and then spends the rest of her life nostalgic for high school. She'll probably even come back as a teacher at AHS and try to live vicariously through her students."

Rapunzel laughed. "Yeah, you're probably right. Still, I hope I don't run into her again."