"He's out 'back." Mr DeMarco told me as I snook around the building site. I'm tired from jet lag and just want to crawl into bed but I haven't seen my best friend in three months, so sleep can wait.

"I've got it Tommy, you go help Bob."

It took me a second to recognise his voice, it's gotten deeper, raspier almost, but I knew it was him.

I climbed past the scaffolding, trying my best not to trip or accidentally step in wet concrete, earning me a few weird looks from the older men, but I eventually saw him, carrying multiple planks of wood on his shirtless shoulder. His back was more muscular and his curly hair was slightly longer.

"Damn Dory, someone's been busy."

He paused and turned around, his smile growing as he saw it was me. "Cami!"

He dropped the wood and wiped his hands on his trousers as he walked back over to me.

"I did miss you, but I'm not hugging." He chuckled, maybe he hasn't changed that much.

"Same goes, I can smell you from here."

He walked closer and gestured to a pile of bricks before sitting on it. "How was your summer?"

I sat next to him, "So fucking good."

"Still can't believe you travelled the world without me." Although we still kept in touch, the time zones and with Theo working really messed it up.

"Well you seem to have your hands full here." I gestured to the almost built building in front of us. "What do you do, get the coffee or something?" I teased.

He chuckled slightly before being shouted at by one of the larger men, "You already had a break, buttercup!"

He raised his middle finger at him before turning to me with a sorry look.

"Don't worry, I need to go home and sleep." I stood up and brushed off my ass, "get back to work, buttercup."

"You're not going to forget about that are you?"

"Not a chance."

He stood up beside me and I quickly noticed how I had to look up to see him, he's gotten slightly taller too. Or maybe it's his work boots in comparison to my flats. "Nice to have you back."

I walked back out to the car park where Zoe was sat waiting for me.

"Is he still hot?"

"Will you stop, Zo, oh my god, he's ten years younger than you."

"Not for me.."

I rolled my eyes and glanced out the window to ignore her. I get it all the time, the 'why don't you date?' questions, or the 'are you a couple?' 'you look so cute together'.

People joke about it but they don't understand how much strain they put on the friendship. I guess we've grown immune to it though, because it's never changed anything between us.

"Home sweet home."

I unlocked the door and the familiar smell of home hit me. I groaned as I kicked off my shoes and dropped my bags, going straight to the sofa and flopping down onto it.

I collected myself enough to carry myself and my bags upstairs and to my room. It looked empty without all my belongings and clothes. I took off my sweatshirt and got into bed, dozing off within seconds.

"Cam! I'm ordering pizza!"

I groaned and rolled over before finding the energy to shout back. "Pepperoni, please."

I checked my phone to see it was nearly seven o' clock, meaning that Theo should be home.

Dory ~ *just got home, gonna take a shower.*

I opened one of my suitcases and pulled out some clothes to wear for the evening. I decided on a red hoodie and black joggers. I was putting my hair in a bun when Zoe knocked on my door, "I ordered extra so you can invited Theodore over."

"Thank you."

I opened my phone and texted him *ordered pizza*.

*omw*

I went downstairs to get the pizza off Zoe and thanked her before going back up to hear a knocking on my window. I debating on leaving him outside but ended up unlocking it and climbing out with him and into our tree house. It was kinda hard to do with one hand and he found this hilarious. "Will you at least take the box off me so I can get in?"

"I'll take it off you but there's no saying I'll give it back."

The treehouse was perfect when we were little but we're getting a bit big for it now, so our legs hang off the deck and we use the inside part to keep cushions and blankets for colder night.

"So, anything exciting happen here?"

We dug into the pizza as he filled me in on all the events I missed.

"Joey got with Emily, then Sam, then Lucy, but now he's grounded because he got caught with marijuana. Sam has a new boyfriend though, he's in the year below us, Rob or something."

"Damn. So who've you seen if Joey's not around?"

"Well Katie came to visit me sometimes while I was at work-"

"Katie Stanford? No fucking way."

"Shut up." He stuffed his face with pizza. "And Matt works on the site sometimes too."

"God I feel like I've been gone for ages."

"You have, it's been hell."

"I'll take that as a compliment. How's your family? I saw your Dad earlier."

"He's probably the only one you'll see. Mum and him have been arguing a shit tonne so she takes extra shifts at work. Becca left early for college to avoid them both, and I've spent all my summer working my ass off."

"Fuck." I took a second to take in how shit it's been for him. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

"Well I'm home now, and my window's always unlocked."

He gave me a nod but kept quiet about it.

"Wait a second." I grabbed his face and turned it so I could look at him, "You got a piercing."

"Oh yeah, that too." He said muffled, his face still squashed by my hands.

"It actually suits you."

"Thanks. So have you any other news or were you too busy sunbathing?"

I told him all about Europe as he told me what our other friends have been up to. We go back to school in four days so we planned how we would spend our last few days.

We talked and laughed just like always until it went dark and we eventually had to go back inside. "Be ready by 9 and I'll take the morning off work."

"Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise, I want to show you something. Goodnight, Cami."

"Night, buttercup."

I was gifted with his famous middle finger as we both went back inside and switched off our lights.