I couldn't have known what this day was going to bring from the way it started.

Losing my sketchpad set me back a few precious days on the work I had to do for my final showcase, but I was finally on the pattern-making stage. I asked Becca to drop by the cafe after class so I could check that I was cutting them right before starting to sew. Not a single customer or coworker batted an eye at seeing this in action in the middle of the cafe.

"Hold still," I told her as I took in a little more fabric. "Have you lost some weight?"

"Thank you for noticing! I've been dieting a bit." Once I made a pause to grab some chalk, she turned and whispered, "Don't tell anyone, but I'm working really hard to score a date."

No doubt. I'd seen her intensify her workout routine and she'd been drinking a lot of really gross smoothies as of late. That, and she was constantly stuck to her cellphone. And from a couple of pictures I'd seen her take in our shared bathroom, I didn't think it was just texting that she did with it.

"More power to you," I told her sincerely. I wished I had an ounce of her confidence. "I think it's great that you're moving on from your ex."

"And this guy doesn't seem to be a dick, so that's an improvement."

We giggled together before I went back to work. The universe must have sensed that I was still bothered by the conversation and it rewarded me with an accidental pinch of my thumb. I yelped and sucked at the drop of blood that was quickly forming. I thought that was all the punishment I needed, but the front door opened and in came Miguel.

"Oh!" Becca jumped a little and I had to hold her back to remove all the patterns off of her before even more tragedy struck. When she freed herself, she reached for a big hug that Miguel reciprocated. All the while he was looking at me, his face scrunched up.

"Sorry," he said. And for a moment my heart stopped. Did he know-

But then I saw what he referred to, because two people jumped from right behind him.

I squealed.

One of them squealed.

The other one laughed.

And still Miguel winced.

"Page!" I screamed and she met me in the middle in a collision of hugs and sloppy kisses.

"Oh my God, Addy! I've missed you so much."

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked her, squeezing the living daylights out of her.

Jace recovered from laughing at our dramatics as he said, "We're dropping by for a visit and thought we'd surprise you."

I pulled back from my friend and gave her a once over, like I couldn't believe she was right there.

"Well, color me shocked because it's not like it's a national holiday or anything," I said. "By the way, love the dress."

"It's Kate Spade," she said with a twinkle in her eyes. "But I know you can make me a better one."

"Duh," I replied with a roll of my eyes.

She grabbed my hands and shook them. "You're going to let us kidnap you, right? We only have today to do fun stuff before we have to head over to Fort Lauderdale for Jace's cousin's baby shower."

I groaned.

"Dang it, I have to work. You should've told me you were coming and I could've switched my shift."

"In our defense," Jace said with a shrug. "The arrangements were last minute."

My brain churned out ideas such as calling Poonam and asking her for a backup, but I knew she would kill me if I sprung that upon her out of the blue. I'd probably do the same. The next idea was begging Ayrton to let me off early with a pay cut, but I actually did need the money. Short of feigning an injury, I couldn't think of anything else.

I sighed. "My shift ends in two hours, if you want to wait."

"Great!" Page took a look around and sat on the very table where I had all my materials. "We'll wait right here."

Becca looked from me to my friends with a smile. "So like, are all of you friends?"

"I'm so rude, sorry," I said before making the introductions and explaining that we went way back. I looked at the time and pouted. "Would love to stay and chat more but my break's over."

"Did you get what you needed?" Becca asked as I started picking up the patterns—all with the hand I hadn't pricked, until I found a band aid.

"Yeah, thanks."

A hand touched my elbow and I looked up at Miguel. He murmured a, "Sorry for interrupting."

I managed to shrug him off in a very casual way with the motions of gathering my things.

"No worries, this was the best kind of interruption."

As I walked away I heard my newest roommate ask if she could join their table, and a few minutes later I came back as a full on waitress to see if they wanted to order anything. I jotted down a round of ice coffees and set out to make them behind the counter. That was when Ayrton emerged from his office.

"I hate accounting," he announced.

As I brewed the coffee I asked, "Why don't you ask Poonam for help?"

"Great idea, because if I have to keep doing math so help me, I will cut a bitch." He stood next to me and squinted. "Wait a second, is that...?"

"Yup." I grinned at him.

We headed over to the table and he greeted Page and Jace like they were best friends too. They hadn't been close at Trinity, but over the past few months they'd shared an interest in using their social media to hype me up. Somehow they'd become friends without me noticing.

"What in the world brings you to the land of Disney?" Ayrton asked as he and Page exchanged air kisses.

She laughed and as she explained the whole story, I set down the coffees in front of each one of them. Jace jumped at his like a fish out of sea, suddenly getting his first dip back into salt water. Becca was looking at Miguel like he was a marble statue of an ancient hero, and meanwhile he was looking at his phone.

"Guys, how about this?" he asked, flipping the screen over to Page and Jace. The latter took the phone from him and scrolled.

"Wow, that looks cool."

"We're trying to find some fun nighttime activities for tonight after Addy's shift is over," Page explained to Ayr and I.

We stepped behind her to look at what had Jace so enthralled. Miguel had found something called bioluminescent kayaking and I had to say, the pictures did look amazing.

"I've always wanted to try it," Miguel said as the phone returned to him and he showed the pictures to Becca.

She gasped. "That looks beautiful. Sign me up."

Ayrton gave me a look and mouthed smooth.

I shrugged.

"Hmm, but it's two per kayak and we'd be five that way," Page said.

"Um, hello?" Ayrton said. "Am I painted on the wall?"

Three hours later after buying a group package, I drove my Beetle down to the beach with Ayrton and Becca. We could tell she'd wanted to drive with Miguel, but he'd agreed to bundle Page and Jace in his car and that had been enough to dissuade her.

After work we'd all headed home to get ready, because kayaking on the beach meant a high probability of getting wet and that required particular garments. I wore gym clothes though, because it might be summertime and all but a dip in the middle of the night was still quite cool.

The whole thing was at a secluded area close to Cape Canaveral and wasn't normally a tourist spot. I guessed that was why the little animal thingies clustered in those waters, unperturbed for the most part. Except for people like us.

We parked on the dirt and bounded out of our cars, where we were greeted by the tour guides. They passed life vests to each of us as we got the safety instructions, but mine didn't fit too well.

"Hey Marty," our guide told a guy who was in the van with all their equipment. "Hand me a bigger vest, will you?"

My whole face flamed, but then Miguel stepped forward and gave our guide his vest. "Make that two."

Miguel sent me a wink.

My knees buckled a bit, but I stood firm as I secured the new vest around my waist. This one didn't feel like it was going to choke me out of the water.

"Okay, who are our pairs?" the guide asked. Jace and Page raised their joined hands, Becca latched onto Miguel's arm and Ayrton and I looked at each other with a shrug. But the guy shook his head. "Sorry, I'm gonna have to break you guys up. I need the big guy and the big girl together."

"What?" Becca squeaked.

I shared her sentiment of shock.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You two are better matched in size a strength than you and the little guy," he said this pointing at Ayrton.

The boy scowled and said, "Hey!"

"Um, excuse me," I approached the guide so I could whisper. "Won't both of us be, you know, too heavy?"

The guy laughed. "The Titanic floated up until it was hit by an iceberg, wasn't it? Just don't get hit by an iceberg."

I watched him walk off to start helping the first couple onto their kayak and when I turned around I found Miguel on the verge of laughter.

"Fat chance of that happening in Florida, huh?"

I smacked him on the shoulder. "You did not just make that pun!"

He laughed all the way from his belly. "C'mon, the fun's waiting for us."

Turned out that Miguel had some experience kayaking, so the guide made me sit at the front. Apparently that reduced my chances of capsizing us. I had a real flash of fear as Miguel settled into the kayak and it seemed like we were going underwater, but the guide was right. These things were surprisingly buoyant.

"Okay," I said turning around slightly. "What do I do?"

Miguel grabbed his row and said, "When I tell you right, use your row like this." He submerged the right tip of his paddle. "And left do the opposite."

"Aye, captain." I saluted.

At the last minute he asked, "Can you swim?"

"I won't win any medals."

He laughed. "Good enough."

And off we went. He pushed us out of the shore by sheer force and my heart hammered in my ribcage. Up ahead of us, Page was laughing as though someone was tickling her feet. I saw Ayr and Becca's kayak veer the opposite way of where we were instructed to go, and it took them a bit of work to recover.

The night was warm with a soft breeze, and the sound of the water was soothing if not for the fact that five minutes in and my arms were already burning. There was no moon up above and a few stars twinkled, but somehow it wasn't so dark that I couldn't see the horizon. That was comforting.

So was the fact that every so often Miguel would murmur that I was doing well. It raised my little hairs on their ends.

We followed the group at our own pace and if I'd been with anyone else I'd have worried that we were getting lost. The guide herded us into a canal just under the canopy of trees and that was when we saw it. As we rowed and stirred the water, little dots of light showed themselves in the depths. I gasped. It looked like the stars were right below us.

"This is beautiful," I said, turning around to see if Miguel was as marveled as I was.

And he was smiling, alright, but it was directed at me.

"I should've brought my camera!" Ayrton whined just behind me. A bump against our kayak startled me but it just turned out to be from the kayak he shared with Becca tapping ours. "What a missed opportunity."

"Indeed," she said, sighing as she looked at Miguel.

That reminded me that this was a stolen moment from her. I felt guilt at how much I enjoyed the night in very close quarters with Miguel. Later we went out for dinner at a nearby diner, and I made a point to sit between Page and Ayrton. I poured all my attention on my visiting friends and wondered if I'd imagined Miguel's eyes on me every so often. But to me he was as much a wonder as the little bright creatures in the dark beach, and just like the guide said, I couldn't touch him.

Except in this case if I did, it wouldn't be him who'd end up hurt. And that was how I assured myself that I was on the right path with being just friends.

so i've actually done this bioluminescent kayaking and it's spectacular. it kinda looks like this, except all the lights are in the water