***
They finally got the gang back together with Seb and Emily flying down to Ray’s for spring break. Two weeks of stress-free bliss.
The day had all the potential of getting on her last nerve. They barely made it to the airport on time because Seb couldn’t stop talking to his roommates and then everyone they came across along the way. Then their flight was late, and Emily hadn’t had any time to get a single bite of food since morning.
But nothing could get her down that day. She smiled the whole way. She ignored her seatmate's weird looks and Seb’s eyerolls. She was meeting Ray!
As soon as they collected their bags, Emily almost ran to the departure, not even waiting for Seb. “Em,” she heard Ray’s voice somewhere from the crowd, then there was a strong gust of wind, and she was being hugged within an inch of her life by her best friend.
“Hi!” Emily shouted in Ray’s ears.
“I missed you so much,” Ray said just as loudly.
“I’m here too, but yeah, take your time,” Seb said, standing behind Emily.
“Aww, I missed you too!” Ray brought him into the hug.
“I think we’re blocking the way,” Emily complained once the initial burst of excitement had passed.
“We’re having a moment, Em. People will deal,” Ray said, hugging them tighter.
Emily gave in and just closed her eyes to ignore people giving them all kinds of looks.
“Okay, now we can go,” Ray said, letting them go after a few minutes. “I feel like I haven’t seen you guys in years!”
“Right? And the pink hair looks even better in person. You were so right!” Emily said, wrapping her arm around Ray’s waist and dragging her bag with the other hand.
Ray smiled at her, then turned to Seb and smacked him across the chest with the back of her hand. “I hope you’re taking good care of our girl, Seb. She looks so thin!”
“Yup, beating up all the boys and reminding Em to eat is why I continue going to classes, my dear,” Seb deadpanned.
“Ooh, that reminds me, what happened to Ryan? You said he was going to join you?” Ray looked behind Em like he’d appear out of thin air.
“That’s still a sore subject,” Seb stage whispered.
“You guys should do a sketch show! You can name it ‘Let’s remind Emily how she only attracts jerks and can never even hold onto them for long,’” Emily said.
“Okay, sorry, sorry. But what happened? You guys haven’t talked to me for more than five minutes in two months,” Ray complained.
Emily didn’t get a chance to speak. Seb took it upon himself to answer, because of course he did. He was too proud of himself to keep his mouth shut. “The same thing that happened with the last one. He was jealous of me.”
“That was really weird,” Emily nodded. “He was a walking red flag. Like, why would you be jealous of my best friend’s boyfriend? Peak insecurity,” Emily said, furious all over again. “But wait, what do you mean ‘same as the last one,’” Emily asked, turning her head to look at Seb and bumping her bag into two people in the process.
“Oh, that? Jack was jealous of me,” Seb proclaimed.
“What!” Emily stopped walking, then rushed to catch up with them. “Why would you think that? He knew you guys were together,” she pointed out.
“His telling me might have clued me in. He asked me, not very politely by the way, to ‘stay away from my girl.’ Those were his exact words,” Seb said, looking smug.
Ray laughed. “Oh, I remember that! He was so serious and everything. And the best part was, you broke up with him the same week!”
“Huh!” Emily said. “Am I an insecure man magnet then?” she contemplated.
Once they reached the Airbnb Emily’s mother had booked for them, Emily excused herself to a room to freshen up. When she came out, she noticed Ray’s bag in her room. Emily rushed out of the room into the living room, where Seb and Ray were sitting on the couch, talking. They stopped when they spotted Emily.
“Why aren’t you guys sharing a room?” Emily asked suspiciously.
Seb looked at Ray with his signature one-eyebrow expression.
