She cut her hair since the last time I've seen her a year ago. Her light blonde hair was now bleached and just above her shoulders.

"Hey, Lace..." I trailed off and gave her a small, warm welcome.

It was hard to look at her and not think of the time I held her small structure against that wall beside her, able to break her at any moment. I could've easily snapped her in half because of her size.

I felt Tyler's presence shift as he made his way into the house more comfortably but you could tell he was tense. I could feel his eyes on me.

Lacey then walked up to me swiftly and I braced myself to be slapped in the face by her small, yet strong hand. I gave her zero emotion as she approached me and to my surprise, she jumped at me to embrace me in a hug, rather than a fight.

"I missed you," She wrapped her arms around my neck and clung onto me.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out and hugged her back.

"I wish you didn't have to say that..." She trailed off with a friendly giggle. "But it's the past. Fresh start!" I couldn't understand how someone could still see me as family after all the harm I've done to them. Lacey walked over towards the living room, leaving me to stand by the front door and briefly said hello to Tyler.

Tyler bent over and kissed her passionately, in pure bliss to be around her. I don't think I'll ever understand how a person could love another person so passionately and unconditionally. It was an unsettling thought. But, It was nice to see his goofy smile again.

Clearing my throat, I said, "You two seem to be doing well for yourselves."

"Tyler has been working really hard for the last six months, he's taken a big promotion." Lacey piped up before sitting on the couch with her glass of tea that she picked up from the kitchen.

"Are you still working with your dad?"

Without looking up from his phone that he pulled out of his pocket after greeting Lacey, I heard a "Yup, keeping me busy." come out of his mouth and my only response was to nod.

"So, how was it out there?" Lacey turned over toward me, her hazel eyes widened with curiosity; her voice was chipper, switching the conversation back on me. "You look a lot better now than you did before."

I rubbed my face with my hands. "Yeah it was pretty strict."

"All your piercings are gone," She commented, pointing to her eyebrow. "Do you have plans on getting more?" I almost forgot that I used to have a nose piercing, eyebrow piercing, and small gauged ears.

Lacey was someone who I could actually have a conversation with and not want to claw my eyes out. She always has been so good at giving the right advice even though I don't think I've ever taken it before in my life. Even though I've done such wrongful things to her, I saw her as my very, very close friend. who I'd protect from anything and anyone, even myself.

"You know me," I striked a charming smile towards her. "Everyday is a surprise."

"I'm pretty sure your impulsive behaviour is what's gotten you in troublesome situations, Eli," Tyler glanced up from his phone for a moment before turning back to his screen. Must be a shame to be compulsively glued to technology in order to make a living for oneself; answering emails and planning meetings and conferences, I'd hate that.

"Do you have any plans on what you're doing now that you're back?" Lacey piped up once again.

"Uh, yeah I plan on trying to get my old job back at the shop."

"I think Tony and all those guys still work there so maybe they could put a word in for you." She smiled and reached over to the coffee table to grab the cup that was resting on top.

I gave her a small smile and watched as she sipped on the cup. "Yeah, maybe."

It's possible she forgot who exactly Tony was.

The thought of potentially seeing Tony again after what I did to him brought me joy and nerves at the same time. It would be thrilling to see the look on his face when I come back into his life after practically ending it a year ago. Technically I shouldn't be thinking about going back to my old workplace considering Tony was quite the trigger for me but the thought of falling back into chaos intrigued me.

"Let's talk about why you enjoy causing others pain."

I stared at her, expressionless.

"Let's talk about your father."

I could tell by the look on Tyler's face that he knew as much as I did how much I shouldn't go back to my old shop but considering we're such a small town, my options were quite limited. I could behave myself. Potentially.

"You cut all of your hair off," I lamely changed the subject.

She raised her hands to touch her platinum blonde, wavy hair and smiled at me. "Yeah, I got sick of brushing it." She laughed and said, "I think having it just at my shoulders suits my face, no?"

"I think you could pull off any style." I mumbled. She was pretty, gorgeous even. Confidence was her strong suit.

My attention fixated towards Tyler who put his phone away and moved away from the wall, only to walk toward the kitchen, where the balcony doors were. He grabbed a cup out of the cupboard and turned back towards me and Lacey, leaning on the island that was sitting in the middle of their open concept kitchen, dividing the living room.

"You want anything to eat or drink, Eli?" he asked me, and tapped on the glass cup he was holding.

"Nah," I replied, sitting up from my slouched position on the couch. "I'm really happy to be back here with you guys. But please, don't treat me differently because I went away for so long. I'm still me."

"Ha. I think we'll be getting back to normal in no time." Lacey raised her eyebrows at me in a taunting tone.

"When I get my job back, my first paycheck will go straight to you guys." I gave a sloppy one sided smile.

"Make sure you're steady before you pay rent. We can survive fine without it until you're set." Tyler warned me. I didn't doubt that they'd live fine without my extra money. Besides I'm sure if they were ever short on anything, James would come to their rescue in a second to save the day. It was more of a dignity thing, I suppose. I needed to prove that I was worth something and could contribute my hard earnings.

I touched Lacey's hand before I stood up, reaching into my back pocket for the pack of smokes that I bought at the airport. I took one out of the pack and put it in between my lips before making my way towards the balcony doors and winked at Tyler who was looking at me with a confused expression. He couldn't expect me to be a perfect angel now.

The second I walked outside, I caught myself breathe in a large breath of fresh air and look out at the view of nothing but trees and grass, followed by a bike path which would lead you through the forest and to a beautiful area of water.

I put the white cancer stick in between my lips and lit up the end of it, narrowing my eyes towards the cigarette and watched as it lit up orange. I then walked to the rails of the balcony and leaned my arms over the top and felt the light rain hitting my hands. I inhaled my first puff and watched the smoke leave my mouth and travel into the air, disappearing into nothing. My first smoke in six months. I couldn't help but feel a sense of calming relief as I continued, surrounded by a place that I could call home again.

What I always loved about this house was that it's elevated. You have to walk up a bit of stairs to get inside, and it paid off because when you go out onto the balcony, you're high up. The view was beautiful. It was relaxing, and being outside calmed me down.

I crumbled the butt of the cigarette in the ashtray and took one last look outside before I made my way into the house, walking into the middle of a conversation between Lacey and Tyler.

"Hey." I cut in, subtly letting them know that I was in hearing range. "If you guys don't mind, I think I'm going to head to bed. It's been a long day and I'm pretty beat."

"Sure thing, man. Lacey set up your room this week for you so you're pretty much good to go." Tyler motioned towards the door where the suitcases were. I almost forgot that my room was near the front entrance of the house, meanwhile Tyler and Lacey's room was around the corner where it's slightly on a different level of the main floor, but only by four steps. The guest bedroom was right beside mine, but it was never used.

I nodded my head towards Tyler and watched him do the same towards me while laying on the couch, resting his head on Lacey's lap. Love birds, love birds.

I walked up to the two of them and leaned over the back of the couch, giving them a light embrace. "Thank you guys, seriously." I mumbled to them. I didn't particularly like a lot of contact but there's always exceptions. I didn't know if they realize how thankful I actually was towards them for everything they've done for me over the last four years of our friendship. "Goodnight."

I gave a small salute to them before opening my door and pushing my suitcases inside. Closing the door behind me I flicked the lights on, stunned by what I was looking at. My old room. It looked the same from when I was last there except for the fact that it was cleaner and the bedding has changed. The dark grey walls still had various picture's that I hung up in the past, untouched. It was a shock that they actually wanted me back here, and even planned for it in the first place.

I looked over and felt the excitement as I remembered that I had a walk-in, personal bathroom. While inside the bathroom, my hands touched the granite counter top and tapped a small drum beat on the top before I looked up in the mirror, taking in my appearance.

The last time I looked at this mirror, I was so different. I brushed the thought out of my head and took off my shirt, throwing it on the floor, immediately not caring about keeping the place clean, as all I wanted to do is go to sleep.

Before taking off the rest of my clothes, I turned around and look to where the bathtub was, beside the stand up shower and saw that there was no hole in the wall anymore. They've patched up my visible anger where it should've been me fixing my own mistakes.

I shook my head and turned back to the mirror, looking at my torso and marks that lied on my skin from my childhood. I leaned forward at the mirror, taking in a good look at my face and my features for the first time in a very long time. I actually had colour in my face - no grey skin from not eating, no bags under my eyes from not sleeping, and no sunken in cheeks from my habits.

Telling myself that I actually look good is something that I never thought I'd admit to myself but looking at my strong jawline and healthy body, I felt confident. I actually had toned arms with muscle and abs when I flexed instead of being skin and bones and it was something I never thought I'd see on myself. It was fucking weird.

I shrugged at myself in the mirror and pulled open the top drawer in the bathroom and grabbed a toothbrush that was sitting in there, wrapped in plastic beside a tube of unopened toothpaste. I mentally thanked Lacey and turned on the tap, brushing my teeth to get rid of the cigarette taste.

After I finished getting ready for bed, I made my way to my freshly made king sized bed and fell into it, landing on my back. My body tingled all over as it adjusted to the relaxation. I had never been more excited to go to sleep before. I crawled under the covers and made myself comfortable, then plugged my deactivated phone that I only got back a day ago into the wall and rested it on my bedside table.

Beside my phone, rested a very familiar picture in a small frame, sitting in the exact same position I left it in. I touched the glass of the picture, tracing over the edge of her face with my finger tip before dropping my hand and turning off the small lamp that was lighting up a portion of my room. I let the darkness take over my vision before I closed my eyes and drifted away, the only thought in my mind was that I wished she could see who I was becoming, but if she did, she probably wouldn't like it.