"Oh my Gosh! Zander?" she shouted in an excited voice, getting out of the booth and throwing her arms around him.

He was taller than her and she couldn't help but notice how good it felt having his strong arms wrapped around her again and she could feel the muscle tone of his rock hard chest against her. He was definitely in good shape.

She stepped back and looked him up and down and couldn't believe he was really here. This must be a dream. She noticed how handsome he was with his new hairstyle. His blonde hair was long on top and slicked back with the sides buzzed short and he had bright green eyes and smooth tanned skin. He was wearing surf shorts and a loose tank top that showed his strong chest and arms. She noticed he had a big coast guard symbol tattooed on his muscular upper arm.

"Wow," she said in awe. "I can't believe you're really standing here in front of me. It doesn't feel real."

"Yeah I can't believe it either. How have you been?" he asked, with a warm smile, his eyes lighting up.

"Well, I mean. I'm as good as can be expected I guess. I've been having trouble sleeping, really bad nightmares, all that."

"Yeah that's understandable," he said softly, looking down. "I'm really sorry about everything. I wish I could've done more."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "You did everything you could Zander. You were amazing."

As she stood there looking at Zander memories started flooding back and she felt her eyes and nose burning, as her eyes filled with tears. She was so overcome with emotion she couldn't speak. She just walked forward and wrapped her arms around him and started crying against his chest, getting choked up.

He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed on her back to comfort her as her tears dampened his shirt and she clung to him sobbing. He held her there for a minute and finally she stepped back and wiped her tears.

"I'm sorry I'm crying. It's just emotional seeing you again. It brings back memories," she sniffled.

"It's alright. I understand," he said softly, looking down into her eyes. His green eyes seemed so soft and caring. "It's so good to see you Berkley. I'm glad to see you're doing okay."

Dean cleared his throat from beside them and Zander looked over and said, "I'm sorry. We're being rude to your boyfriend."

She turned to look at Dean as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"This isn't my boyfriend. This is my best friend Dean."

"Oh sorry. I just assumed," Zander laughed. She noticed he looked pleased to hear that he wasn't her boyfriend.

"Yeah I'm in the friend zone with this one. He's way too good for me," she teased, punching Dean's arm. "He only dates girls that look like stick thin supermodels that are very high maintenance with the IQ of a raisin. Isn't that right?"

"Sure," Dean said awkwardly, looking at Zander. "So how do you two know each other?"

"Zander works for the Coast Guard. He's the one that rescued me that night. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be standing here."

Dean's eyes widened. "Oh wow," he said, looking at Zander with new eyes. He got up out of the booth and shook his hand. "Thank you for rescuing her. You have no idea how much she means to me ........... and her family. To a lot of people. I don't know what we would've done if we lost her."

Zander shook his hand and then looked over at her and then back at Dean and said, "You're welcome. I'm just glad I was able to get there in time. Then he turned to Berkley and asked, "So are you single then?"

"Yeah I'm single," she said, not able to help the huge smile that appeared on her face.

"Well here. Give me your number so we can go out some time and talk about everything. I'd love to catch up with you some more."

"Okay," she said, with her cheeks flushing red. She took his phone and added herself as a contact and handed it back.

"It was good to see you. I'll be in touch really soon," he said, flashing his big white smile and giving her arm a squeeze and a light peck on her cheek. She almost melted right there on the spot.

She watched as he turned and walked away out of the diner and she plopped back down in her seat with a dreamy, far off gaze. She took a deep breath in and sighed.

"I don't like that guy," Dean said, breaking her out of her trance.

She laughed and shook her head. He was so predictable. "Of course you don't. You never like any guys that show an interest in me. I can completely say without hesitation that I don't care if you like him, Dean Bradshaw. I like him and that's what matters."

He bristled at her words.

"He's just too perfect. Something seems off," he grumbled.

"Nothing is off. It's just you being an overprotective asshole once again. We talked about this and you promised to give me space so here's your chance. I don't want you to do anything to scare this one off. He's different, I can feel it. I mean what are the odds of me saying I want to hook up with the next hot guy I see and Zander Thorn, the guy that saved me, comes back into my life right then after not seeing him for 6 months. Maybe it's fate."

"Yeah," Dean said, with a clenched jaw, waving the waitress over so they could finally order their food.

As they were sitting there eating her phone dinged. It was a text.

'This is Zander. My schedule just cleared up for tonight. You want to hang out later?'

Her heart leaped and she texted back.

"Who was that text from? You look awful happy about it," Dean asked.

"It was Zander. He just asked me to go out with him tonight," she squealed, as she texted him back to finalize their plans.

As she took a bite of her burger she noticed Dean looked less than happy about this turn of events but he always acted like that, like an overprotective big brother. He was just going to have to get over it because Zander was hot and he was a good guy and she was really excited about going out with him.

Dean walked her back to her dorm room and then headed to his own and when she got inside her roommate was there.

"So. I saw you and Dean snuggled in bed together this morning when I left early for my workout. Does that mean you took my advice?"

Berkley plopped down on her bed with a deep exhale. "No. I tried to. I told Dean about it and and he said absolutely not. I even begged him and he said no way," she cringed at the embarrassing memory. She wished she had never told him. "He said he's afraid it would mess up our friendship."

"Oh that sucks. Well, it was worth a try. It's a shame you two aren't a couple. You would be so cute together."

Berkley laughed. "You're crazy. He's WAY out of my league."

"Says who? You're gorgeous."

"Me that's who. I actually used to have the biggest crush on him for a couple years from the ages of eleven to thirteen but then in middle school he started dating the most beautiful, most popular girl in school and that's when I realized I never had a chance with him. I shut those feelings off to protect myself from getting hurt and never looked back. I honestly just see him as a friend now."

"A really hot friend," Ember added.

Berkley smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Well anyways. I have a hot date tonight and he actually has the potential to be a real relationship if I can keep Dean from scaring him off like he always does," she laughed.

Berkley got to work organizing her dorm room and getting everything ready for the first day of classes tomorrow, until it was finally time to get ready for her date. Her Mom had always tried to convince her to put on makeup and curl her hair and wear dresses but she flat out refused. She had been afraid that her older brother and his guy friends would laugh and never let her live it down if she did since she was a complete tomboy and they treated her like one of the guys.

Even as a tomboy she was still naturally beautiful with her long silky brown hair and bright green eyes. She was beautiful without even trying. Her clear tan skin was dotted lightly on her nose and cheeks with freckles and she had straight white teeth from having had braces in middle school. Even though she was thin, she was blessed with D cup size boobs and she had a slim waist and round hips, but she always hid her body under loose baggy clothes.

She decided to take her roommate's advice though. If she wanted to get a guy's attention and lose her virginity sometime this decade she needed to actually put in some effort. For tonight's date she curled her hair and put on some makeup and even wore a cute little dress that showed off her long tanned legs and big chest, her two best features. She went downstairs to meet him in front of the dorm hall and when she saw him already outside waiting on her, her stomach did a flip and she smiled.