I sat there and stared at the clock. As each second ticked by I was anxiously waiting for the explosion. It was nice being back in my apartment but I definitely wasn't ready for when my roommates returned. I didn't know when Jetson was showing up but I knew Monroe and Becca were on their way back and would be walking in any minute now.

I was excited to see them but I knew my friends wouldn't let me hide away. There were still things I'd been running from. The main thing was the decision on if I was going to make a statement to the cops. If I did my parents would be arrested for what they did. Part of me thought that's what they deserved but there was another part that still saw them as my parents, my family. I hadn't figured out if I was ready to let go of that. There was a lot of years of lies I was still trying to unlearn.

"Evan!" Becca busted through the door making her way right towards me.

She didn't even pause before throwing her arms around me in a hug.

"Hey Becs." I smiled just letting her hold me as long as she needed.

"Are you ok? Oh god I missed you so much." She pulled away from me just enough to scan my face, my injuries faded and starting to heal so there was a lot less to see than before.

"I'm okay." I assured her.

"If you keep trying to squeeze the life out of him he might not be." Monroe commented walking up to us.

Becca let go of me and turned to glare at her boyfriend.

"I was being gentle, you're so dramatic."

"It's good to see you." Monroe ignored his girlfriend and came over to give me a short hug,

Monroe wasn't really a hugger so it felt nice to get one even if I knew it was just because he had been worried for me.

"I missed you guys." I confessed and being here with them was helping me ease some of the lingering anxieties.

My roommates were just an extension of the family I was building for myself. Monroe and Becca were two people that had stood by me since the day we met and I didn't think I would have survived these past weeks without knowing I still had them there to support me.

"I'm never letting you out of my sight again." Becca said and I wasn't totally sure if it was a joke or not.

"The chances of this happening a second time are pretty slim." I joked.

"Yeah because he deserves to be locked up in jail." Monroe grumbled.

"Monroe we talked about this." Becca looked over at her boyfriend scolding him.

"You talked and I listened, I'm not going to apologize for wanting the person that almost killed my best friend to go to jail. No one should be able to do what he did and get away with it." Monroe argued.

"Step out, I told you not to bring this up and that you needed to let Evan make that decision himself." Becca fought, I could see the annoyance and frustration in her face.

This wasn't the first time I'd seen the couple argue but it was the first time I'd been the reason for it. I hated that they were arguing because of me but as I stood there I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. I'd been struggling with what to do about the cops and my parents. I didn't want anyone trying to pressure me into making a decision I wasn't ready for.

I didn't think I was even capable of going through my statement let alone having to face either of my parents again. It had been hard enough to go back during break, now I didn't think I could handle seeing my father or my mother again.

"You can't kick me out." Monroe snapped.

"You need to take a step away and calm yourself down. We can't have any type of conversation when you're all worked up like this." Becca reasoned with him.

Monroe seemed to relent to her argument and turned to slip into their room. Monroe was fiercely protective of those around him and sometimes that protectiveness caused him to lose himself a bit. He wanted to fight all the battles I wasn't strong enough to fight myself and I knew this thing with my parents was something he'd been waiting to fight for me since the day he found out about the nature of my relationship with my dad.

"You didn't need to do that." I told Becca.

"I told him not to pressure you. If you want to go to the police and make a statement then we will support you but if you decide that isn't something you want to do then we'll be by your side for that too."

I felt some relief at her words. I didn't want to let my friends down if I didn't think I could do it. I knew the people in my life wanted me to make sure my parents got what they deserved but I didn't think I could be the one to give it to them.

"I don't want to face them again." I confessed.

"Then don't, you don't have to do anything you don't want to."

"Thank you." I gave her an appreciative smile.

"Don't thank me for loving you the way you deserve." She smiled right back and wrapped her arms around me in a loose hug.

"I love you too Becs."

"Want to get some take out and watch movies?" She asked.

"As long as you don't mind Jake joining, he's supposed to be stopping over once he unpacked his things." I told her.

"You know I don't mind having him around, I like Jake."

It was another thing I was thankful for. Jake fit into my life so perfectly, my friends had liked him from the start and there never seemed to be any weirdness when I had them all together.

"I told him I loved him." I said.

"Evan." My best friends eyes widened and her smile somehow doubled. "That's really great, I'm proud of you for being able to tell him that."

It had taken me awhile to be able to tell Becca that I had loved her and for me to be able to hear the words back. I hadn't been loved properly growing up and experiencing that for the first time took awhile for me to come to terms with. But my roommates had been the first people to help me work through that. Jake had been the first person to make loving someone seem easy.

It was like just thinking about Jake summoned him. My phone buzzed in my pocket and when I pulled it out to check a text from Jake was waiting for me.

Jake- hey sorry I'm not going to be able to come over today.

Evan- everything okay?

Jake- yeah just some things going on with the roommates, I'll tell you about it later

I sighed. I had been excited about seeing Jake but I knew that he wouldn't cancel if he didn't have to. I just hoped everything was okay with his roommates.

"Looks like it will be just us." I told my best friend.

"I'm feeling nice so I'll let you pick the food and I'll pick the movie." She beamed and went to throw herself on the couch.

A/n:

I saw someone ask if I could show what certain characters looked like. I had put together a collage for both sets of roommates when I started the book but decided not to share it. But since someone asked I figured I'd add it to the end here.

The Westerly roommates:

I'll post the one for the Kingsley roommates in my next upload.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
-Cora Leigh