After walking through town for the past half hour I find myself back at the lake I ran off to this morning. I guess you can't really call it a lake as it is more of pond, but I don't care. I think it's beautiful and it had always been great to just sit there and let my thoughts run.

The wedding is in three days. Three more days and I can go back home again. Three more days and I can finally leave the past behind forever. Behind me I hear some rustling of the bushes and it sounds as a person coming through. "I knew you would be here."

I look over my shoulder to see my dad standing there with some chocolate chip cookies. "Lillian told me what happened and I just knew you were here to seek some comfort. So I thought I'd bring some comfort food," he said as he sat next to me in the grass.

"I'm really sorry dad. You shouldn't be here worrying about your grown-up daughter. You're getting married in three days." I say and I can't help it to let another tear spill from my eye. God, what is happening to me? Since I've been here I do nothing but crying.

My dad simply wraps his arm around my shoulder. "It's okay, honey. I know how hard it is for you to be back here with everything that happened. And I just want to tell you how proud I am of you to be here. I'm not going to lie, for a moment I really thought you wouldn't come for the wedding."

He hands over the pack of cookies and I don't think twice as I open the package and eat a cookie. "I would never miss your wedding. No matter what this place does to my mental well-being, I could never forgive myself if I missed out on this important moment for you." I say as I rest my head on his shoulder. "I ran into Ian today" I say bluntly, just feeling the need to share it with something.

My dad moves his head and is now looking at me instead of watching over the pond. "And will that explain why Lillian walked into you crying? Have you spoken to him?"

I feel tears well up in my eyes as I think back to that conversation in the kitchen earlier today. "He asked me why I didn't stay here, with you." My dad moves up his hand wipes away the few tears roll. "And I know he deserves the answer more than anyone else, but I just can't talk about it. Not with him."

My dad pulls me into a hug and just lets me cry in his chest. He doesn't say anything at all and I appreciate that about him. My dad has always been the one who comforted me. That was one of the many reasons I was closer to my dad than I ever had been with my mom.

Sure, my mom loves me. And she really tries to be a good mom, but that's just it. She tries too hard. She wants to be a cool and hip mom. Always mingling with my friends in the non-cool way. But while she's trying to act like the cool mom around my friends, she's really strict and overprotective when it comes to me.

I get where she comes from, she doesn't want me to relive her mistakes. She doesn't want me to end up with a kid before I settle down, graduate from college. It just bothers me that she always tried to smother me, to micro manage my life. That's why I wanted to go and study in New York. She didn't agree on that, but then she finally realized that she really didn't have a say in it.

My dad moves away and drops his arm. He then stands up and looks down at me. "I'll head back to the house now, otherwise Lillian would kill me. So I'll see you at home okay? And don't be late, there are people coming over tonight."

I smile at him and nod my head. "I know that. I'll be home in half an hour and get ready. But this all makes me wonder, who are coming over tonight?" I ask him and I seriously am curious. And then something changes in his expression and I instantly start to worry. "Dad? Who's coming over?" I ask once more a little more cautious.

He then looks at me with an apologetic smile. "The neighbors are coming over for dinner. Lillian invited them this morning, she just told me. I'm really sorry, honey. If I knew you ran into him earlier I would tell Lillian that wasn't an option."

I just shake my head and stand up. "It's okay dad. We're all adults here right? I know I can't avoid him. It's a small town, he lives next door and I know he will come to the wedding. I have cleared my head, I think I can manage." I say and I give him a reassuring smile. "Fancy walking me home?" I ask as I stand up.

-

Back in my room I decide to leave the curtains closed for now. I don't want to risk seeing Ian again, and definitely not half naked with only a towel wrapped around his middle. That would be way too awkward and too much to handle for me.

I lay down on my bed and grab my phone to call Madeline. Madeline is my roommate back home in New York and ever since we moved in together she's my best friend. We're the total opposites. She's a blonde as where I am a brunette. She is the popular girly girl, with great grades, who loves to dress up and wear dresses. I am the girl who doesn't care about what others think, who dresses the way she wants and would never, ever wear a dress voluntarily.

She answers the phone on the second ring. "Hey there stranger. How is Cali?" she asks. She knows how much I didn't want to be here right now. That is because I wouldn't stop complaining about it for the past three weeks.

I smile to myself. "It's amazing, I missed it here so much. The weather is great." I say with sarcasm dripping off my voice. She knew me all too well to know something's up. And that's when her usual bubbly self, turned serious. All that I could notice through a single phone conversation.

"Okay, tell me what's wrong. Do you need me to come and save you?" she asks me, sounding serious as hell.

I sigh through the phone. "No, it's okay. I'll survive. Only three more days until I can come back home. I can do this, I want to be her for my dad." I look at the time and see that it's almost time to get ready. "Look Mads, I have to go. I have to get ready for dinner with the neighbors. And yes, before you ask. It's with him. I'll talk to you later!" I say and hang up the phone before she can say anything more.

Looking at myself in the mirror I decide that I'm just going to take a quick shower to rinse the flower and sweat of that day off, but to leave my hair out of the process. I like how it fell down in my natural waves this morning after I washed it so that would have to do for now.

I look in my suitcase, the one I didn't unpack since I would only be here for a short week, and take out my white jeans and my sleeveless denim blue blouse. I step into the bathroom and roll my hair up in a bun on top of my head before I step into the shower. After my body is washed and rinsed I turn off the shower, dry myself and get dressed.

Releasing my hair out of the bun, it falls down in my natural waves on my back. I then finish my outfit by wearing my baby blue Nike's, my watch and some metal bracelets to make it look like I actually tried to make something of myself.

Giving my appearance one more look in the full body mirror I give it a little smile before I make my way downstairs and into the kitchen. "Hey Lillian, you can use a few extra hands in the kitchen?" I ask with a smile on my face.

I don't know why but somehow I really like Lillian. Maybe it's because she doesn't try to act like my mom, that she makes my father happy or just because she accepts me as I am. Not trying to make me wear a dress for a stupid dinner with the neighbors, like my mom would've done.

Lillian, who's cutting some unions, looks up at me and smiles. "Look at you, you look great." She beams. Or maybe I like her because she always seems so happy. "If you could heat up the oven and help me cut the ingredients for the salad that would be great."

-

After half an hour of helping Lillian in the kitchen dinner is ready to be served and the doorbell rings. "Kat? Could you get that honey? I'll just take the final potatoes form the oven. Seeing the burn you already gave yourself today, I think it would be better if I take the risk now." She says and I can't help but laugh.

Still laughing I open the door, only to be greeted by not only Ian and his parents, but also by a familiar girl clinging to Ian's arm. My laughter dies down immediately and somehow I feel like suddenly all the air is punched from my lungs.