"There are friends, there is family, and then there are friends that become family."

-Unknown.

Chloe's POV.

Grabbing a hand towel, I wipe off the beads of sweat rolling down my neck as I got off the floor. That was one hell of a workout. I walk out of my room with Snowy hot on my heels and head into the kitchen to pour myself a cup of freshly brewed coffee. I pour out the coffee from my French press into a mug before taking a seat on a barstool.

I sigh looking at the note Zach left me, he left for work before I even woke up.

Got some important work to get to Sugar. Meet you in the evening and have an amazing day.

Just like that, he walked in back into my life and it all feels so unbelievably normal. Is it good or is it as fucked up as my heart is? I have no idea where we stand but for some absurd reason, I want nothing more than to have my best friend back.

A part of me doubts that he left early so that he could skip the talk but I didn't want to believe he'd do that, he promised he would talk to me. He wouldn't break the promise, would he? What if he chickens out?

Stop fucking overthinking Chloe, you're not helping yourself!

These questions never left my mind since I woke up, probably because I fell asleep with the anxiety of how the talk would go. Picking up my phone from the counter, I scroll through the messages, one from Dan and another from Blake. Both checking on how I'm doing cause, oh well, I was occupied catching up with my best friend to message any of them yesterday.

As I replied to both of them, a message from Zach pops up on the screen making me smile and forget all the insecure thoughts – Are you free for lunch?

Checking on my itinerary, I make sure I have nothing important around lunch and message him back with a 'yes'. But, my thoughts pull back to my scheduled calendar and I open it again before breathing hard looking at the date, the day he relapsed.

The day he relapsed after moving to Illinois just a month after he left the rehabilitation center here. If I didn't know any better, I know he suffers from the anniversary effect. Oh, how I remember September 25th, the day I tried contacting him the most last year, and the day I rushed to Illinois two years ago, only to return disappointed. He didn't want to see me or rather, he didn't want me to see him in the condition he was. Maybe that was the reason, he got drunk at Lance's party.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts when I feel Snowy resting his two limbs on my thighs and licking my elbow making me chuckle before giving him some attention. I close my eyes as I rest my head against Snowy's furry head, "We've got Zach's back, right Snowy?"

I talk to him with a small smile, while he just tilts his head making me chuckle. Got to make sure he's alright at least when we meet for lunch. I can't risk losing him again.

~•~•~•

"We've finally got the complete photo series to hold an exhibit!" Dan squeals hugging me, "Yes! Finally!"

We've been working on these photo series for half a year now and now it's finally complete. It's a personal project that I started and then we both just took it to the next level when we decided to collaborate on the project, "I can't wait to start planning out the exhibit,"

I say as he releases me from a hug and drop back down into my chair, "Damn! It's already one p.m.! I need to meet Zach for lunch," I almost jump out of my seat before grabbing my car keys, phone, and wallet.

Dan suddenly grabs me by my arm and forces me to look at him, "Chloe, are you sure you're doing the right thing for yourself?" I sigh running my hand through my medium brown locks. I so wish I knew the answer to that.

"Yeah, it's all going good Dan. Don't worry about me," I try giving him a convincing smile and he just chuckles, "Just think about yourself too okay?"

"I will, I promise,"

"Okay then, go enjoy yourself," he finally says with a big grin making me sigh in relief before I smile back and walk out in a rush. Damn, I'm already late. My phone goes off and I check to see, Zach's name flashing on my screen before I got into the car, "Hey, I'm sorry! I know, I'm late. I'll be there in ten minutes,"

"Geez! Calm down, sugar. It's okay and I called to let you know that I'll be waiting in my office so meet me there," I reverse the car and start driving before talking again.

"Okay. I'm driving now so meet you soon," I say with a smile driving through the moving traffic. He hangs up with a 'bye' and my thoughts make their way back into my head. He sounded fine? I don't know if he's trying to cover up feeling anything or if he genuinely is not affected by today.

Well, at least I don't want to press on him telling me everything today. I needed him to be fine before we got into that talk and I could probably deal with being left in the dark better than seeing him suffer. Could I actually deal with being left in the dark? I'm not entirely sure, but we'll see.

Stopping at the signal, I look down at my dress to smooth out any creases on my grey body con dress. Damn, how I hated dressing up in these dresses but again jeans isn't formal enough for work especially when we've got people coming over for meetings. Another reason I wore this dress is probably cause I wanted to look nice for lunch but again he's not going to notice.

Stupid stupid, Chloe.

I let out a breath as I turn into the restaurant's parking lot, wondering how Zach is doing. Parking my car in place, I grab my phone before opening my door to step out and feel the pain in my heels, "Fucking shit,"

I curse as I continue to walk in the painful heels before locking my car and heading towards the glass doors of the restaurant, "Ms. Miller, good afternoon. Mr. Russell asked me to escort you to his office,"

Mr. Phillip surprises me with his formal tone out of nowhere and I give him a startled smile, "Oh, thank you, Mr. Phillip, I know my way around. You don't have to go through the trouble," I tell him while he just gives me a polite smile and I head over to the elevator.

Running my free hand through my hair, I try smoothing it out and the elevator finally dings making me sigh before walking in. I rest against the metal of the elevator car after pressing '2' on the elevator navigator, "Hey! Stop!" I punch the button to hold the doors open as I hear a voice.

My jaw drops as I see Ethan walk in with a bright smile dressed up in a grey suit, "Hey," he says as I mentally slap myself for stopping the elevator for him, "Hey, what are you doing here?"

I ask trying not to sound rude while the elevator doors finally close, "I work here?" he says almost like a question and now I just wish I could hide in a corner. This guy is clingy and even after the whole almost one-night-stand which turned out to be one of the most embarrassing things for me, he didn't stop trying to reach out to me.

"Oh," was all I could muster up while trying to avoid his gaze, "So, what are you doing here?" he takes a step closer to me.

"I'm here to meet Zach- uh Mr. Russell," I say and could feel him halt finally making me sigh inaudibly and look up at him, "Oh, are you guys together?" He asks almost disappointed. Wait, what?

Before I could say anything, the elevator dings opening the doors making Ethan take a few steps back, "Hey, sugar,"

Zach's voice gets my attention making me smile as he grabs my hand, "We'll catch up later," I try sounding promising as I look at Ethan but I'm pretty sure, it didn't sound convincing enough given my past record with him.

"Is there a problem here?" Zach asks in a sharp tone almost too bossy and Ethan's gaze moves from mine to his, "No sir,"

With that, he leaves the elevator doors to close before giving me a small smile, "Why did you have to scare him away?" I whine turning to face Zach while he rolls his eyes, dragging me to his office.

"Well, you're here to have lunch with me and I can't have my employee flirt with my best friend," he closes the door behind us making me shake my head in an attempt to not think too hard.

"From when did that become a rule?" I finally observe how casually Zach is dressed in a dark blue shirt and grey trousers with his sleeves folded up, damn.

His gaze holds mine in place while I try reading his face in an attempt to notice any signs of distress, "From now," he finally says before sighing and pulling me into a hug. My arms instantly wrap around his muscular body while I close my eyes, "Are you okay?"

My breath hitches as he nuzzles his face into the crook of my neck; "I am now," a sigh escapes my lips at his words. That's quite a relief, he's been on my mind all morning already. Oh wait, he's always on my mind.

I could feel his heartbeat against my chest in a calming rhythm making me want to just stay still like this, "Hungry?"

He asks me releasing me from the hug but not before leaving a lingering kiss on my forehead, "Yes, starving." I say with a smile, which he quickly returns before directing me to follow him.

I look at the comfortable couch on the end of his room with the coffee table with covered dishes, "I know it's informal but well, I needed off from all the formal shit,"

"It's just me silly and you know I hate formal stuff too, especially with my best friend," he flashes a grin before sitting down on the couch and patting on the space next to him for me to sit down.

I hiss as I sit down as the pain in my heels makes itself noticeable and I quickly take off my heels groaning, "Stupid shoes,"

"You should stop forcing yourself to walk in those deathtraps," a giggle escapes my lips at Zach's reference to my heels and I sit back, giving him a look. His hair is a little overgrown but it only makes him look even hotter. Hotter? Shut it, Chloe.

My heart drops as he extends his hand towards my face still smiling and never shifting his gaze off my face. His fingers gently tuck a few long bangs of mine behind my ear making me bite my lower lip trying to control the quiver his touch is causing. He quickly removes his hand off me and straightens out, "Let's eat, I made something special for you,"

"You cooked for me?" I ask him trying to regain my posture, but with a smile dancing on my lips, "Yeah, how could I miss making the empanadas you love?"

I grin as he takes off the lids of the empanadas and some fancy seafood spaghetti, again it looks delish, "Damn, I knew the empanadas were a sign,"

Moaning at the taste, I say with my mouthful of food. Of course, I recognized something he made the day I visited this place with Blake, "It's only on my special menu, I only make these once a week,"

He says before diving into his serving of spaghetti, "But you're not in the kitchen all day?" I ask him still with my mouthful. Screw, etiquette, I'm talking to my best friend.

"Nah, still got to handle part of my dad's company. It was part of the deal that he'd let me do what I like while partially handling a few dealings of the company," he sighs looking up at me. This he never told me before but his dad did make it clear that if he didn't succeed in what he chose to do in two years, he'd have to share responsibilities of his dad's company as well. That was what got him into so much pressure and is also one of the reasons he ended up in rehab.

He tries reading my face and chuckles, "I can't believe I didn't share any of this with you," I shake my head before extending my free hand to his face and caress his cheek, "You get to do it now,"

"I know. It's just..." he trails off closing his eyes and leaning into my hand, "Just get done with lunch, we'll talk about things after work today,"

"Zach-" he cuts me off by placing a finger on my lips, "I just want to have this meal in peace with you. Let's not talk about all the messed up stuff at least till tonight," he pleads with his eyes and I nod with a sigh.

He gives me a smile making me smile too before we got back to our food. He clearly hated how things went the past few years and is trying his hardest to not think back. I only wish, I could ease things up for him but I don't think we'll be getting anywhere until he opens up.

~•~•~•

I sit on the stairs of the porch breathing in the scent of the rain and close my eyes with Snowy resting his head on my lap. It's seven in the evening already and all I could think was Zach coming back home. I unwillingly left the restaurant after spending an hour with him in the afternoon but I couldn't concentrate on work, especially knowing that he's probably in pain thinking of everything that went down the past two years.

My eyes snap open as I notice the sound of a car and notice Zach opening the gate before getting back in the car to drive inside. I stand up and walk towards the gate to close it while trying to steal a glance at Zach through the car's window. Quickly closing the gate, I jog back to the entrance of the house to see Zach storming in, "Zach!"

I call out as fear begins to rise in me, he never skips greeting me, "Zach," I call him again to see him stop dead in his tracks with his shirt drenched and fists clenched.

"Chloe," his voice is barely a whisper but I could notice him shiver as I stepped closer to him, "Zach, what's wrong?"

My heart drops as I look at his bloodshot eyes and beading sweat rolling down his face, "I can't stop the urge,"

~•~•~•