I shut my door, and glanced towards the windows in front of the Crashdown. I couldn’t see into it, because of the sunlight. I gave her a small smile, took her hand, then walked in behind my parents.

“Hey Maria and Alex, look who we got!” Mom exclaimed.

They walked towards me. Both had solemn expressions on their faces. Maybe they had just came to give the illusion that they still cared, for my parent’s sake. The three of us stood there, not really saying anything. All of us scared, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, Maria pulled me into a hug.

“I’ve missed you.” She sighed into my ear.

“I’ve missed you too.” I pulled her in tighter.

After a few moments, I felt another person join the hug. I lifted my head and saw Alex smiling at me. I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Welcome home.” He returned the kiss.

“Thanks, I’ve missed you too. My little stripper.” I laughed.

He jokingly punched me on the arm. It’s like all the time we had spent apart fell away. Things were almost like they used to be. Almost. There was still some tension in the air around us.

“Guys, this is Madison Fox,” I pushed her forward. “Madison, this is Maria De Luca, and Alex Whitman.”

I didn’t realize until then how uncomfortable Maddy was. God, she must feel so left out. Well, I was going to make sure she felt like she fit in for this trip.

“Honey, your dad and I want to take you kids out to eat. Why don’t you and Madison take your things up to your room. You guys are going to start getting tired soon, with the time zone change.” Mom said, walking toward the counter to help a customer.

“Okay, well, we’re going to go take showers and change. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling gritty.” I gave Maria and Alex a small wave, then pulled Madison upstairs.

“Wow, nice room!” Madison cried when we got up to my old room.

“I know, isn’t it. Wanna see the best part?” I started walking toward the window.

“Sure.” She said, following.

I pushed open the window, and climbed out onto the rooftop. Everything was still there. The lights, the lawn chairs, the plants, and the tables. I missed this place. This was my favorite place to come and escape the world.

“This is awesome. I wish I had one of these.” She looked around the rooftop. “You even have a ladder. I bet you snuck some hot guys up here before.”

She was teasing, but she didn’t know how Max used to climb up the ladder when we were dating. Sure, she knew about Max, and how we had been in love, but she didn’t know the details.

“Well, I’m going to hop in the shower.” I said, climbing back into the room.

“Mind if I stay out here for a little bit?” She asked.

“No, go ahead.” I smiled at her, but she had already turned her back and was glancing over the edge.

I stood there, watching her for a few moments. Then walked toward the bathroom.

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What was she doing right now? She was probably with her parents, of course. Where else would she be? Man, I needed a life.

“You sure you don’t want to come?” Isabel popped into my room.

Michael and Isabel were going to Senor Chow’s to have dinner with Liz, her parents, and Maria and Alex. Maria had asked if I wanted to come, but I had declined.

“No. Tess and I are going to go to the movies.” I said, from my position on my bed.

“Haven’t you guys seen every movie there?” She joked.

“Well, yeah. Except for one. One of those cheesy ‘Boy-Meets-Girl, Girl-Hates-Boy, Boy-Falls-For-Girl, Girl-Slowly-Falls-For-Boy’ type movies.” I got that out all in one breath.

“Well, have fun.” She walked out of the room.

Yeah, right. There’s no way I’d be able to concentrate on a movie tonight. Not with Liz being so close.

“Honey! Tess is here!” My mom called from the living room.

I grabbed my coat, and walked toward the living room. Tess was sitting on the couch listening to my dad talk about something he did at work today. I smiled. I still couldn’t believe how close she and I had gotten. After Liz left, she was the only one I could talk to about how I was feeling. She told me how she had feelings for Kyle. But unlike myself, she could forgive Kyle and what he had done. Even though they weren’t a couple at the time, she still loved him. And I was happy to see that Kyle sincerely cared for, and loved her too.

“Dad, I think Tess is about to fall asleep.” I laughed.

They both looked up, startled by my entrance. Tess mouthed, ‘thank you’ to me.

“No, she wasn’t. She very interested. Weren’t you, Tess?” He winked.

“Of course Mr. Evans. I love hearing your stories.” She patted him on the head, then started for the door.