The girls sat out tanning in the driveway, sunglasses pulled down and reclined in their seats.

"You know, this might be the last time we tan with Donna, Jackie," Lucy said, suddenly struck with realization.

Donna sat up abruptly, "Oh my gosh! Don't start, you're gonna make me sad!"

Just then, the boys all filed out of the kitchen.

"Ladies! Ladies' bodies!" Kelso greeted with a nod.

"Ah, so glad I'll be here this summer to hear all the sleazy comments from Kelso," Lucy muttered under her breath.

"I can't believe you're staying," Donna sat up with a frown.

"I for one, am so relieved you're staying Lucy!" Jackie added, "Had you left, well, there'd be no one pretty enough for me to hang out with and my standing at school would plummet."

Lucy smirked and shoved the girl's shoulder gently. "Yeah, I don't know what I would've done without my annoying little friend."

"I'm not little!" Jackie laughed.

"Okay, ladies. All these sound waves are interfering with my sunrays. Let's tan!" Kelso shouted as he peeled his shirt off, "Alright, I'm gonna need you to lotion me up, darling, but only rub where you can see. No roaming!"

And Lucy handed Donna the bottle of sunscreen, untwisting the cap and Donna splattered the sunscreen all over his chest. Causing the girls to erupt with laughter.

❁

That afternoon, Eric walked into the kitchen where Lucy sat beside her parents, drinking coffee. "Hey, Mom, I have something I wanna tell you," Eric announced. "I've decided not to move away."

Much to Lucy's surprise, Red didn't have a response and merely grunted, "He already talked to me about it," when Lucy looked at him quizzically.

Eric nodded, "I'm gonna stay and put off college for just a little while—"

"My baby, my baby, my baby!" Kitty shouted, overjoyed, leaping up to pull Eric into a hug.

"I still think he should go if I'm staying," Lucy spoke up, standing up, leaning against the counter and holding her mug.

"Oh, uh, speaking of. I talked to Dad," Eric turned to his twin, "We want you to go to NYU."

Lucy scoffed, "Lotta good what you or any of us want. I didn't get a full ride."

"Pay for the difference with my college savings," Eric nodded.

Lucy didn't process what was said, and her coffee mug fell to the floor with a clatter when she finally did. "I—I can't do that to you."

"Of course you can. He's just going to be sitting on his ass here, the money won't be doing any good," Red shouted.

"Oh my goodness, honey," Kitty started, taking her daughter's hands in her own, "You can go."

Lucy let out a laugh of disbelief as she rushed forward to give her brother a hug, "I can't believe you."

"Twin Code Luce," Eric chuckled lightly. "One of us has to get out right?"

❁

Lucy walked down the hotel hallway and knocked on the door nervously, George swung open the door, shirtless and in jeans, rubbing his hair dry with his towel.

"Hey Lu!" he beamed, leaning in to give her a peck on the lips, "Sorry for the mess, I've been trying to pack for my flight tonight." He stood out of the doorway so that she could walk in.

"Guess what!" She asked excitedly, her nerves disappearing as she thought more and more about how her dream was becoming a reality. She threw her hands up in the hair and yelled "I'm going to NYU!" she did slight jazz hands as he crossed the room to pull her into a hug, her feet no longer touching the ground with how much excitement he had.

"That's so great Lucy!" he congratulated, putting her down. "What's wrong?" he asked, looking down as she bit her lip nervously.

"It's just—I'm so conflicted you know. Like, it's one thing to not see you all summer, but it's another to not see you when you get back either."

He squeezed his hand reassuringly, as she took a deep breath, "We could always try long distance—if you wanted." He said hesitantly, they had never really discussed what it was they were doing, because at first it was just talking but the past weeks had changed everything. Lucy nodded in thought, pushing her hair behind her ears and looking down. "Think about it at least?" George asked softly.

Lucy looked up at him through her lashes and whispered, "I'll think about it."

George leaned down to place a kiss on her forehead, before tilting her chin up and kissing her deeply on the lips, the pair falling back onto the bed.

❁

Eric was talking to guys in the basement as George and Lucy walked down—her cheeks rosy and her hair in a messy bun. Eric wore a satisfied smile and ate a bag of potato chips.

The blonde stole the chips from her twin and sat down on the edge of the couch. Munching on the chips and tilting the bag so that George could steal some.

"What are you guys talking about?" Lucy asked, as she reached for another handful.

"Someone is having going away sex," Fez smirked.

The pair sat uncomfortably in their seat while Eric nodded proudly, not noticing, "It's true."

"Oh my God!" Kelso shouted, "They had going away sex too!" Pointing and laughing idiotically at the two from his spot in the lawn chair.

"Shut up Kelso!" Lucy chucked the bag of chips at his chest, quieting him effectively.

Hyde smirked devilishly, knowing just exactly what would get under the twins' skin. "What if you guys like—accidentally did it at the same—"

Lucy promptly plugged her ears and sang, "La la la, I'm not listening."

"Well, this has been fun, but I have a distraught neighbour girl to attend to," Eric exclaimed jumping up. He opened up the basement door and pointed to Lucy, "No more going away sex until you know I'm done."

"Oh great so I'll set the timer for what? Five minutes," Lucy asked politely.

"Rude," Eric scoffed, holding his hands over his heart before shouting up the basement stairs, "Dry your eyes baby, the lovin's on its way!"

"So," Fez started, "If George is getting going away sex, do any of us get going away sex Lucy?"

"Fez!" Lucy shouted, pushing him off the back of the couch.

"Wait," Hyde spoke up, before catching himself and leaning back in his seat relaxed, "I thought you were staying."

"I am," Lucy nodded, "For summer, still have to help out around here. But then I'm going to NYU."

"Oh, that's cool," Hyde gave a nod, embodying the unbothered zen nature.

❁

Lucy laid on her bed, flipping through a magazine but not really able to focus. The question George had asked earlier that day weighed on her mind. Of course she liked him—like a lot, even when they first met up after she had drunkenly called him after finding his number scribbled on a paper in her jeans, they both knew it was more than fooling around. They wouldn't have to do long distance for long, he could move to New York after he graduates next year. And really, her mind was far from thinking about Hyde until recently. But the thing was, she couldn't tell if leftover feelings for Hyde were because she still loved him, or because he was her first love, or because he was familiar and comfortable in the changing world of college.

She groaned, and plopped her head down on her bed in defeat. Cosmo said to envision your future when it comes to major crossroads—and that was when she knew she was losing it, it's one thing to read Comso and another to take life advice from it. But she was desperate and did anyways.

She let her mind wander to what would happen, if she left Point Place but went to Madison with Donna—it was still a good ways across the state, and Donna and Eric already bought the apartment...

Lucy sat in a different apartment, on the couch with her friends. She was content, with people she loved. Hyde walked in, donning is normal attire, "Hey," he nodded and the couple kissed as he sat down beside her.

"Oh hey!" Lucy turned the boy beside her. "How did job hunting go?"

"Great! Yeah, this place has a really dumb manager and an easy register to open!" He beamed. There seemed to almost be sit-com laughter coming into the room, like all those cheesy shows.

Lucy shrugged in resignation, and from the kitchen off the living room, Jackie screeched, "Fez! You spilled your drink on my cashmere sweater!" she stomped.

"Burn!" Kelso hollered as the two boys high-fived.

"Jackie," Donna scolded, "Don't you think there's more important things to worry about? Like there's people dying!"

Lucy looked over to Hyde and rolled her eyes, "This still feels oddly like Point Place."

"Yeah, don't think you can get far enough away from it, doll," he chuckled, throwing his arm over her shoulder. It felt comfortable, and familiar, being with Steven was like having a constant hug and reassurance—his presence always seemed to have some calming effect on her.

"Damn," she sighed, "Well, I have no clue how I'd even survive without you."

And that dream slowly fizzled out into a new one. One where she decides to be with George and go to NYU and they can be together within the next year...

Lucy envisioned herself sitting at a desk in a small apartment and George walked in, wearing a collared shirt and tie and slacks. "Hey babe," he smiled, kissing the top of her head as she smiled back. Like in all those picture perfect old-timey shows, and awes come in from the audience.

"Hi honey, how was work?" Lucy asked as he sat down beside her, pulling out paperwork. She was content—content but overwhelmed with school, and still had a familiar and safe face.

"Great! And the editor in chief decided he wanted to give me my own column and moved me from my department! But how has your day been? How's the paper coming?" He peered over at her work.

"The paper's fine," she sighed, "It's this freaking calculus class that's killing me."

"Oh here, let me help, that's really tough to do on your own," he offered helpfully.

He explained the concept to her and she beamed once she understood, "Thank you! God, I'm so lucky to have you, I don't know how I would survive on my own!"

Lucy sat up with a start, those can't be her only two options. In both of those, she knew there was something missing, something just slightly off. She was pacing around her room frantically and that's when it hit her—like literally hit her, because she wasn't looking and walked into her desk and stubbed her toe. And she looked up to see the map Donna had given her for her birthday one year; her hand traced over all the continents and stopped at something she had scribbled in pen right after she got it. Go new places, meet new people, and make it on your own! And then it hit her.

❁

Lucy sat on the front porch step with her head in her hands, she needed to be out of the house and alone with her thoughts. "Hey," George said as he walked outside, "Your mom said you were out here. Whatcha up to?"

"Not a whole lot," she shrugged, "Just thinking."

"Have you—um—thought about what I said?" he asked slowly.

Lucy looked towards him and cleared her throat, "Um, yeah I have. George, look, I like you so much, but—"

"But," George sighed with a nod.

Lucy started rambling, "Listen, so I was thinking, and I realized I can't use people as crutches you know? I realized I need to take college to focus on myself—"

George nodded, looking at the girl with care in his eyes, he took a moment before saying,

"You don't have to explain Lu. And even though we had a weird thing going on and it wasn't for long...I'm really happy to have been with you."

Lucy gave him a tight hug, and a gentle kiss on the cheek before pulling away, "I'm really sorry I don't have my shit together."

"Don't be," he chuckled. "Well, I got an hour until my cab gets here for the airport." The two sat there awkwardly for a moment. "This is weird. What do you do after a break-up-but-not-really?"

Lucy shrugged, "Beats me. I mean—we could go up to my room—"

"Going away sex part two?" George asked with a slight chuckle and Lucy laughed.

❁

Jackie and Kelso ran into the driveway where Hyde sat on the porch, "Lucy told Kitty, and Kitty told Eric, and Eric told Donna, and Donna told me that Lucy broke up with George!" Jackie shouted, out of breath.

"Whatever," Hyde shrugged.

"Oh my God you're impossible!" Jackie sighed, throwing her hands up in fustration, "Whatever, I'm going to talk to Lucy to find out what happened."

Kelso sat down beside Hyde and started, "Look, Hyde, I know you don't wanna tell Lucy that you're sorry, and that you were a complete ass for lying about applying to college and practically stabbing her in the back—wait a minute you don't deserve her anyways!" Kelso shouted in realization, Hyde glaring at him in silence and Kelso shook his head, "Whatever, sorry, but there's gotta some things that you did, that you wish you hadn't done. Like that time that you told me to eat that stuff, and I didn't know what it was, and then you licked your lips, and you rubbed you stomach and you were like Mmm it's really good Kelso, and then I ate it, and then I wished I hadn't of done that."

Hyde sat up slightly and sighed, "Yeah, well, maybe with Lucy, I kinda freaked out about the future and was a little rash and not thinking."

❁

Lucy was grabbing a soda from the fridge and just took a drink when Kelso came up behind her, "So, Hyde say's that he wasn't thinking and got a rash and is real freaked out."

Spitting out her drink, Lucy wiped her chin, "What the hell Kelso!"

❁

The blonde walked down into the basement, where Hyde sat in his seat, watching football, "Do you have a rash?" Lucy questioned, arms crossed.

Hyde spun around in his seat, "What? No!"

"Thank God, Kelso is so dumb," she sighed before turning to walk back upstairs.

"Lucy," Hyde said suddenly to stop her, the girl turned around with a raised eyebrow as if to say what? do you actually have a rash? "Not the rash thing," Hyde assured. "So you uh, broke up with George."

"Yeah," Lucy nodded.

"Oh, cool," Hyde nodded. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you definitely made the right choice."

Lucy scoffed, "You can't say shit like that Hyde! We've both moved on, obviously with all your girls and your potential rash!" She gestured to him as she walked away from the stairs, "And how the hell am I not meant to take that the wrong way when you practically haven't spoken to me once all summer?"

Hyde raised an eyebrow and looked at the girl curiously, "I meant that I thought you made the right choice because in junior high whenever Kitty would talk about you settling down at 19 like her you'd say shit like how you weren't her and didn't need a man—it was right when you and Donna got very into feminism."

"Oh," Lucy said softly before furrowing her eyebrows, "You remember that?"

Hyde pursed his lips and nodded, "Hard not to, it was like all your mom wanted to talk about—probably because of Laurie's ways and so it was what you bitched about all the time."

"Not all the time," Lucy scoffed, "I bitched about other things."

"Sure," Hyde shrugged, before turning back to the tv, "So like I said, you made the right choice."

"Yeah, well, thanks or whatever," Lucy shook her head before starting up the stairs.

She stalled slightly when she heard Hyde call, "I'm happy for you Luce." And then she quickly scurried up the stairs, and could only think of how many days until she could leave.

❁