Everything comes back to you -J.MARIANO

[2.08]

𝓐lot happened in the space between finals and the spring break of her second year of college. The summer with Tas, traveling to England with August as he had a job interview and wanted moral support, a breakthrough in her designing, her birthday, Christmas, she and August broke up, Ri and Trina became official, she took August's place as C's right hand person despite only being a second year, they had a small fire in the apartment and another lonely valentines day.

Taryn and Gus broke up purely because of circumstance. He had gotten that job in England and needed to move there just after New Years. He didn't think they'd be able to make it long distance and she couldn't blame him. Long distance was hard, especially hard for her because of the whole phone debacle. Come to think of it, in the midst of the brief heartbreak, she realized that he never really took her disability into account for anything. He just ignored it and she didn't know whether she preferred that or something else entirely. She knew she preferred the way that Ri, Olive and Tas dealt with it but relationships were different, she couldn't hold them to the same standard surely? But anyway, the breakup was mutual. She wanted him to live the best life he could and he'd meet lots of people and she didn't want him to be unhappy there, focusing on a past part of his life and unable to move forward due to obligation. He was that type of person after all. He loved her and she loved him but it just wasn't serving them in the way that it had whilst they were both in New York. It was sad, yes and she did cry about it for a few days but it was healing in a way. She found it hard to explain but somehow Ri understood and helped her through it. The entire thing felt very mature and she also didn't know whether she quite liked that either.

The group of girls, now missing one roommate, had stayed behind for Spring break of their second year as they had been invited to an invite only event run by a famous designer. Their spring showcase. Before that though, two days before to be exact, it was Ri's birthday. They celebrated the same way they had last year, pre-drinks and a night in Aria's favorite club despite the fact that none of them were particularly keen on clubbing. Taryn and Olive clung to each other for most of the night, when they weren't with Trina and Aria, as moral support throughout the boisterous club.

She danced joyfully with the four girls, alcohol pumping through their veins. Each did not have a singular worry for life outside the four walls of the building they were in and all wanted to keep it that way for as long as humanly possible. Olive disappeared to get another round of shots for them all and Taryn found herself dancing with a stranger whilst Ri and her girlfriend danced next to her. As the strange man started to get a little too handsy for her likings, she searched the room for Olive but found a different pair of dark eyes she had not expected to see whatsoever. She had to double take him to fully understand who she was looking at and pushed the handsy man away from herself as he was becoming too much of a distraction.

She wasn't thinking straight, she had drunk way too much for this interaction yet she leaned into it anyway. What was the worst that could happen, they yell at each other and she cried? She'd just go find Ri and probably forget about it in the morning. She decided to do something reckless for once and moved through the floor to approach him. "Hi," she yelled over the music, enveloping herself in the slight awkwardness that surrounded him.

"I didn't expect you to be here," Jess responded, his attention fixed on how she watched the movement of his lips. She found it slightly hard to comprehend what he was saying due to his slurred, drunken words so there was a small gap between their conversation. He gave her no grief for it though and just waited for her to figure out what he had said, even willing to repeat himself if she so needed it.

"My friend's birthday," Taryn responded with a shrug as the song switched to one that people did not know so well so she didn't have to fight against terrible singing any longer.