"Are you going to tell me what's wrong now?" I tease and he laughs putting the first aid kit away. He takes my hand again and leads me back to the living room to sit with him. He turns down his game and takes a deep breath.

"I-I broke up with Sabrina today." He admits quietly and I instantly feel guilty.

"I'm so sorry." I say genuinely meaning it. I feel awful for everything today, first was everything that happened with Nik, then he broke up with his girlfriend and now I'm here, dumping my problems on top of it. "If you want to be alone-"

"No." He says instantly and grabs my hand. "No I don't want you to leave. The last thing I want is to be alone right now." He whispers and I nod feeling him lean into me and I run my fingers through his hair, trying to comfort him.

"It must have been hard, I'm sorry." I whisper and he nods.

"It was only hard because breaking up with people is never easy." He whispers back. "It hurt because she came clean and told me her and Jake had been sleeping together for six months."

"Six months?" I ask feeling shocked and he nods again. "That's horrible."

"Jake, my best friend. Screwing my girlfriend behind my back." He sighs. "I just feel dumb and naive. I should have known or figured it out-"

"You can't blame yourself." I whisper wiping away his tears. "You like to see the best in people and you believe in them. Clearly she took advantage of that and didn't understand she had a good thing." I tell him and even I'm surprising myself with how much perspective I seem to have. I can't believe I'm the one dishing relationship advice.

"Thanks, Sash." He says quietly and I nod.

"I think you're a wonderful boyfriend, Nathan. She was lucky to have you." I tell him and he smiles.

"You think I'm a good boyfriend?" He teases and I feel heat rise in my cheeks.

"Well you're a great friend." I tell him and he laughs a bit. "And a good person."

"Point taken." He says quietly and I lean my head on top of his.

"This has been an awful day." I mutter and he nods.

"Amen to that." He says and I laugh. I turn my head slightly and kiss the top of his through his hair. "We still need to talk about everything." He says and I nod. "But not today, today has been hard enough. I just want you to know that.....that I really care about you." He says and I smile.

"Me too." I whisper and he nods leaning over and kissing my cheek. "Thank you for helping me, I didn't know where else to go."

"Anytime." He whispers and together we settle back into the couch, sitting in a jumble of arms and legs. Together we sit in comfortable silence and I just feel myself relax. Truly relax for the first time in ages, I feel free and finally happy.

Then I'm startled hearing the door open and the two of us move away slightly, trying to look less touchy-feely. His parents come in the door and their smiles immediately turn into worry and concern.

"Sasha." His mom says giving me a small smile. "How did your competition go today?" She asks and I feel my chest tighten and tears forming in the back of my eyes again. She immediately looks worried and I can see Nate out of the corner of my eye shaking his head.

"Not too well." I answer quietly and she sighs sitting down next to me on the couch.

"Are you alright?" She asks and I shrug.

"I-I guess." I say, I was mostly hurting emotionally.

"Oh honey." She says and gives me a hug that I accept with open arms. "I'm sure it'll be alright."

"I don't know." I whisper. "He's really angry right now."

"Did you leave home?" She asks quietly looking at my bags just a few feet from me and I nod again.

"I didn't know what else to do. He's trying to pull me from school and force me to train overtime at the rink. I didn't make it and he's still trying to force me to do what he wants." I tell her and she nods.

"Alright." She says quietly. "Look you can stay here tonight alright?"

"Thank you." I tell her and she smiles.

"I'll show you upstairs, we turned Jenny's room into a guest space a long time ago." She smiles and brings me upstairs to the room across the hall from Nate's. It's got a double bed, deep wood floors, grey walls, an armchair and a large dresser on one wall.

"All the drawers are empty, you can put your things in them if you'd like. The bathroom you share with Nate, it's across the hall." She says and I smile.

"Thank you so much, you don't understand.....you don't understand what this means to me." I tell her and she gives me another motherly hug.

"If you'd like to wash up or get changed you certainly can, we'll just be downstairs." She says and I smile thinking about how nice a shower would be right now.

I pick up the shampoo and conditioner I have and cross the hall with a clean set of clothes. I turn it on and let the scalding water flow over me. I start to feel all of the stress from today hit me like a pound of bricks. I end up crying again, today I was terrified of my family. My mother who didn't know how to nurture, my brother who'd rather settle anything by having people fear him. And my father who forced me to be perfect all the time. It just felt like I'd gone through ten years of my life without being loved, or knowing how to love someone else. And without my friends all I had was my awful, dysfunctional family.

I wouldn't even know what to do anymore. Dad wouldn't take me back, mom wouldn't fight for me and my brothers were leaving home. I get out and wrap up my night routine putting on comfortable clothes and then opening the bathroom door. I put my things down and then I pick up on a faint conversation.

"....I think she needs to go home and sort this out with her parents Nathan." I can hear and I creep to the end of the hallway listening in.

"Mom, this isn't just a squabble or a disagreement. Trust me, she needs to stay here for a while." I hear Nate say.

"How long is a while?" I hear his father say and he sighs.

"Until she's ready to leave." Nate says. "If we tell her to go home then she won't. She'll check herself into a hotel or get into something really ugly. She needs to stay away from her house and let that whole situation cool off." I press my lips together and lean my head on the wall. I knew I'd be a burden with this.

"Nathan what exactly is going on?" His mother asks quietly and I take now to start walking down the stairs.

"Mom in the simplest terms, Sasha's bordering on being abused." I hear him say quietly and then I walk into the living room. They all turn to stare at me, knowing I heard them talking about me.

"Sasha, honey we're sorry it was rude to speak about this-"

"No, it's alright." I tell her shaking my head. "I-um.....I'll pack up tomorrow and find somewhere to go. I shouldn't have put you in the middle of all this." I say and then start to worry about where I can go. Home isn't an option...maybe Micheal's?

"No, it's alright." His mom says walking closer.

"I don't want to impose." I say and she sighs.

"Sasha, what's going on at home?" She asks and I sigh.

"Nothing good." I mumble. "My dad is a tyrant. I don't know the last time he said he loved me or that he hugged me. Mom doesn't talk to me, in the interest of pleasing my father. Dad doesn't speak to my brothers.....it's just a real mess." I say with tears streaming down my face. "We got into an awful fight today, dad and I. He said a lot of mean things about me, and I said them back. It doesn't usually get at me that way but.....he was being blatantly hurtful."

She stares at me for a moment and then gives me a hug wiping her eyes. "You can stay with us as long as you need, alright?" She says and I nod. I'd tell her more later on, that was just the tip of the iceberg but I couldn't say everything now. Eventually I might be able to work things out with my parents but our relationship is so broken I don't know when that will be.

"Thank you, I know it's a lot." I tell her and she smiles weakly.

"I'm glad you feel safe enough to come here." She says and I nod. "You must be tired, why don't you head to bed?" She suggests and I nod.

"Thanks again." I say and she nods.

"Nate can take you, make sure you get everything you need to get settled alright?" She says and I nod taking a deep breath and having Nate follow me upstairs.

"I-I'm sorry I said you were...you know being abused. I just wanted her to understand the situation-"

"No, it's alright." I tell him with a small nod. "It-um, it summarizes everything well." He nods and I sigh running my fingers through my wet hair. "Thanks for everything."

"I don't mind." He says quietly and I smile a bit. "Did you need something to sleep in?" He asks and I nod without thinking. I really didn't but the chance to be loaned something of Nate's to sleep in was to good to be passed up.

He's back a second later with a shirt and a pair of gym shorts. I take them happily and give him a hug. He runs his hands over my back and I smile, pressing my face into his chest.

"I'm here alright?" He says quietly. "You're safe and I'm not going to let anything happen to you." I nod again and lean up to kiss the space under his chin. "I'm right across the hall if you need anything. Wake me up, no matter what, I don't mind."

"Okay." I say quietly and he smiles kissing my forehead. I feel completely unprotected, I don't have my usual make up on and I just feel exposed. "Goodnight."

"Night, Sash." He whispers and leaves the room, closing the door behind him. I smile and take a deep breath walking over to the clothes he left and getting changed. I decide against the shorts knowing they're just too big and then climb under the covers and do my best to relax.

Usually I slept easily, but I was finding it particularly hard this evening. The more I laid there the more my mind raced thinking about different things, wondering if I'd made the right decision. Then I thought about how much yelling I took from dad, how many insults. How often I would have liked to go out and have fun but dad refused to let me leave the house.

After an hour I just couldn't do it anymore, I was miserable and exhausted but I just couldn't fall asleep. I slowly opened my door making a split second decision to cross the hallway and find Nate. Strangely enough the door seems to open a bit too easily and then I see why, Nate was opening it from the other side.

He's shirtless, wearing a pair of gym shorts and my eyes take the view in. No we certainly weren't kids anymore. Or at least one of us wasn't, I on the other hand still had the physique of an eleven-year-old girl. His chest is gorgeous, defined lines and ridges.

"S-sorry, I-I just couldn't-"

"Sleep?" He says finishing the sentence for me and I nod. "Me neither." Then I remember the fact that I'm not wearing pants and I try to pull the shirt down more to hide more of my legs. "I was coming to see if you were awake."

"I am." I admit quietly. He smiles and steps out of his room closing the door and he walks with me to the other room closing that door as well. I then start looking for his shorts, or a pair of pants all the while keeping the shirt pulled down over my butt when he grabs my hand.

"You don't need to hide." He says quietly and sits on my bed pulling me over to stand in the space between his legs. "Not from me." He whispers and I feel his hands running up the sides of my legs making me squirm. "Don't think I didn't totally see you staring at me either." He says and I feel my cheeks heat up. His hands reach the hem of the shirt and he looks to push them up further but I stop him.

"Wait." I say quietly and he looks at me strangely. "I-I just.....don't pull it up." I beg quietly and he moves his hands to the sides of my face.

"Why not?" He asks quietly and I sigh.

"Because I don't like the way I look." I tell him honestly and he gives me a sad look.

"I love the way you look." He says quietly and before I can react he pulls me forward into his lap with my legs going off to each side and the shirt starting to ride up. He moves his hands to my waist and I feel my breath catch. My hands land on his bare skin and I feel lightning run though my body. "I wish you saw what I saw."

"I'm just not really used to the whole-"

"Intimacy thing?" He asks and I nod.

"We don't even hug each other in my house." I admit quietly, feeling my cheeks turning red. "S-so I'm not....you know the greatest with....you know, this stuff." I huff and he smiles.

"That's alright." He whispers. "There's no rush with any of this stuff, slow and steady wins the race. That wasn't the reason I came over here either." He teases and I smile feeling him pull the two of us down together. I snuggle up next to his side and I feel him wrap his arms around me. "I was just hoping your bed felt lonely like mine." I laugh a bit and lay my face on his chest.

"It sure did." I say quietly. "Doesn't feel to lonely now."

"Good, then I've done my job." He says and I fade off feeling his finger run through my hair. "Goodnight, Sasha."

"Goodnight, Nathan." I whisper back.