Bobby and Gabriella walked side by side through the park, heading over to where they were meant to be meeting Shayne and Lennon for lunch.
"I swear, maths is frying my brain," Bobby whined, sliding his sunnies on to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun.
"Same, and I even have a specialty power for it," Gabriella replied, rubbing her head slightly. "I cannot wait for the holidays. Even though we're going to be loaded up with assignments, it'll be good not having to come in here to go to lectures and tutes."
Bobby nodded, reaching over to hold her bag while she fixed her shoe. "Tell me about it. I think we should go away for a week or something. Just the four of us."
She snickered. "Like math camp."
"You nerd!" Bobby teased, dropping her bag down on the grass as they reached Shayne and Lennon, who were in the process of setting up their picnic.
"You're only just working out that Gab's a nerd?" Lennon joked. "Dude, I saw that ages ago."
Gabriella feigned shock. "I am not! And anyway, if you want to get technical, we're all nerds. We're all doing this course."
"She has a point," Shayne spoke up, reaching into the basket and pulling out a container of cold chicken.
Bobby sat down and unzipped his bag, grabbing out the hot chips he and Gabrielle had bought before they'd left campus. He unstuck the tape that held the package together and unraveled it, placing it down on the blanket next to the rest of the food.
Gabriella produced a loaf of bread and Lennon handed everyone plates and a bottle of water.
"This is kinda nice, hey?" Shayne asked, reaching for a chip. "Our little Friday ritual."
Lennon looked over at her and nodded. "Yeah, we don't really spend enough time hanging out, outside of class, I mean."
"Totally," Gabriella agreed. "Bobby suggested going away for a week in the holidays. Just the four of us."
Bobby was in the process of making himself a chip, salad and chicken sandwich. "Yeah, like go to the beach or something. Get out of New York for a bit. Maybe Miami? Although that is an old person destination. Hawaii!"
"Heck yes!" Shayne said excitedly, then paused. "But what about your missus and the kids?"
Bobby was silent for a moment. Call it cabin fever or whatever you wanted, but he needed a break from a house full of babies. "I'm sure she can manage. I'll organise a nanny before I go, in case she needs a hand. And generally during the day she's with Annika and the kids anyway, coz I'm at Uni."
Gabriella lay on her side, resting her head on Bobby's legs. "I'm all for a Hawaiian holiday. I'm so over New York at the moment."
Lennon took a bite of his sandwich, chewed, then swallowed. "Well, my dad could probably get us cheap flights."
"And I can look up cheap accommodation tonight on the net," Shayne told them.
"And I'll look into a rental car. Maybe get two cars?" Gabriella asked.
"Yeah," Lennon and Bobby said in unison.
"Ok, so..." Gabriella was mentally working out the costs. "So say we get our flights for $150, and accommodation will most likely, for the four of us, be something like $200, and then with the cars... we'll probably be looking at spending around $500, not including spending money."
"Unless, and I know how much we all dread it, but what about asking a porter?" Bobby asked.
He and Gabriella were the token extraordinary individuals in the group, and were both really open about it. Gabriella and Shayne had been friends since they were kids, so Shayne had always known, and Bobby had accidentally turned to snow in front of Lennon. So that had kinda broken the ice, so to speak.
"My cousin is a porter," Gabriella volunteered.
"Well, that'll work out a lot cheaper, and then what if we just hire one car? Do we really need two?" Shayne asked.
"Not really, there are buses and we can walk and stuff," Lennon pointed out.
"Awesome."
The group commenced eating again, talking about their plans and trying to finalise as many details as they could before they had to go back into class.