"We are so glad you're finally back home, Wyatt," Lynette said as we got comfortable around the dinner table. "Your father and I were just talking about how much we missed you."

"Yeah," Logan teased, "it's pretty annoying, actually."

"Logan..." Lynette warned. Don't start this petty sibling rivalry. He's back. Our family is back together."

"Cheers to that," I said as I held up my wine glass. I glanced to Wyatt who was sitting on the left side of me. He smiled as he tapped his glass against mine. Our eyes connected for a moment before the entire table tapped there glasses together. Everyone went back to looking at the menus and I downed the last of my wine.

Wyatt chuckled and I looked at him with a raised brow. "What's funny?"

"Nothing," he shrugged and pretended to concentrate on the menu. "It's just good to see you."

"Yeah," I laughed and looked back to my own menu, "at least now we can get back to our old routines. It sucked with you being away." I leaned closer to whisper, "Don't listen to Logan. He's been whining the most about missing his brother."

Wyatt scoffed. "I bet. I was always the cool brother."

I shook my head and tried to decide what I wanted to eat. As I looked over the menu, it became harder and harder to think. Being this close to Wyatt again was not something I was prepared for. Maybe I should excuse myself and go home. I told Logan I wasn't feeling well earlier. Maybe I could--

"Hey," Wyatt whispered, "you okay?"

No. "Yes. Why wouldn't I be?" I asked without looking at him.

"You're shaking."

"What?" I asked again. What did he say? God, why couldn't I think? Or concentrate?

That's when I felt him place his hand on my thigh. Oh, that's what he meant. My leg was shaking under the table. Since he was on my left side, he would have felt it.

My breath caught when he lightly stroked my skin with his thumb. "Are you okay?" he asked again.

I needed to get out of here. At least to compose myself. "Logan, can you order for me? I'll be right back."

I didn't even wait for his reply. I got up and walked straight for the woman's restroom. My heart was thundering in my chest, I was shaking, had chills...oh, God. It was happening. Again. I pushed my way into the woman's bathroom and leaned against the wall. I needed to try to breathe. Breathe, Amelia. Come on...

"Lia?"

My eyes were squeezed shut. What was that noise?

"Lia, can you hear me?"

Somehow I managed to open my eyes. Wyatt was standing in front of me. He must have followed me. He kept saying something, but I had a hard time making it out. He seemed to realize that and placed his hands on either side of my face.

"Look at me, Lia. Look in my eyes. Good." His voice was soft and calm. "There you go. Deep breath in. Deep breath out."

I did as he said over and over again. Once I calmed down, I asked quietly, "Wyatt, what are you doing here? This is the women's room."

He dropped his hands and I wanted to cry at the absence of his touch. "I locked the door behind me." He met my stare. I could tell from the frustration in his gaze what he was going to ask next. "How bad have they gotten, Lia?"

I looked away and walked over to the sink. I turned the water on and rinsed my face with the cold water. I didn't want to answer his question. I didn't want to make this night even more uncomfortable then it already was.

"How bad, Lia?" he repeated.

Looking into the mirror, my eyes met his. I shrugged a shoulder. "Not that bad."

"You're lying to me." I ignored him as I turned the water off and dried my hands. When I felt his hand on my shoulder, I slowly turned towards him. "Lia, I've never seen you have one like that." He glanced away and stood beside me; leaning against the counter. "Does Logan know?"

"No," I breathed. I never told Logan about my panic attacks. I never explained to him that sometimes my anxiety gets out of control. I've been lucky that he hasn't seen it happen. It was also one reason I didn't want to live with him. "Please don't tell him, Wyatt."

"How often?" he asked.

Before he left for college, Wyatt was usually there whenever I had an attack. He seemed to be the only one who could calm me down. Sure, there were a few times when I was alone or with my parents, but not that many. Especially since Wyatt and I were inseparable. Well, at least then we were. "How often, Lia?" he asked again.

"Um, sometimes it's just once a month or so. The worst has been a few times a week." I knew where this line of questioning was going to go; and it wasn't the place or the time. "Look, we can't talk about this right now."

Wyatt cleared his throat. "Okay. But I'm also guessing that you don't want to go back out there."

My hands gripped the counter top. He was right. The thought about walking through all those people again..."I have to," I whispered. I promised Logan that I would try my best tonight. It meant a lot to him for me to come to this dinner.

Wyatt stepped in front of me and held out his hand. "Come with me, Lia. Let me take you somewhere. Anywhere that you can relax and catch your breath. Somewhere we can talk."

I looked from his eyes, to his hand, to his eyes again before I finally placed my hand in his. "Okay."

"So, this is your place?"

I slipped my heels off and placed my keys on the breakfast bar. "Yes, this is my apartment. I moved in last year." I know asking Wyatt to bring me home wasn't the best idea, but it's where I wanted to be.

I wanted to get out of this dress and into comfy clothes. I wanted to be around my things. I started walking towards my bedroom and turned to face him. "Make yourself at home. I'm going to change."

I disappeared in my bedroom and realized a little too late that there was no way I could unzip my dress by myself. Shit. I ran my hands over my face before I called, "Wyatt?"

He appeared behind me moments later with concern on his face. "What's wrong? Are you having another attack?"

I shook my head. "No. Um, my dress. I can't unzip it." He didn't say anything. He just...stared. Just like that day we graduated high school. "I'm sorry. You don't have to--"

"It's okay," he interrupted and cleared his throat. "Turn around."

I turned away from him and pulled my hair over my shoulder. I refused to look in the mirror. He unzipped the dress painfully slow. I also didn't miss the way his fingers trailed down my back and followed the zipper.

After he had the zipper all the way down, he immediately walked out of my room. He didn't say anything, and I was glad. Being around him was hard enough.

I quickly put on my pajama shorts and tank top before leaving the privacy of my bedroom. I found him in the kitchen cooking something on the stove.

"What are you making?" I asked curiously as I took a seat on the barstool.

"You'll see," he quipped. After another few minutes, he poured whatever it was in a bowl and sat it in front of me. I looked at the contents in the bowl and back at him with surprise.

He smiled sheepishly. "I remember you always like it when you didn't feel good. You used to have your mom make it."

I looked at the bowl of tomato rice soup again. My chest tightened and I smiled at him. "Thank you." I started sipping the soup and I instantly started to feel better. I glanced over to Wyatt who was watching me intently. "You're staring."

He smiled and a chuckle escaped him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to. It's just-- really good to see you, Lia."

"You, too, Wyatt." It was the truth. Now that I thought about it, if we had our reunion in a not so public place, I probably wouldn't have had an attack. I had never done well around strangers.

"Lia, we're here now. Alone. Just the two of us. Why didn't you tell me about the attacks?"

I sat my spoon in my bowl and turned towards him. "You left, Wyatt. You went across the country. It's not like there was anything you could do."

He had a pained expression on his face before he replied, "You could have called me. Or texted. You know I'll always be there for you."

As a friend whispered through my mind. I got up from the stool and put my dish in the sink. "I know that, Wyatt." I filled the bowl with water before I asked, "So, what did you tell Logan and your parents?" Right now, I was in desperate need of a change of subject.

He shrugged and took a seat on the couch. "I told them you weren't feeling well and I was going to take you for a drive so we could catch up."

I left the kitchen and walked into the livingroom. As far as excuses went, it wasn't horrible. It wouldn't seem odd with me and Wyatt being close friends. "I guess that works."

He was quiet for a few moments. "I'm assuming Logan doesn't live here?"

Great. Awkward conversations. Actually, now that I thought about it, it was probably only awkward to me because I had feelings for Wyatt. He only looked at me as a friend, then it was probably just normal catching up stuff. "No. He's been asking me to. I'm not ready for anything like that."

Wyatt stretched before he got to his feet. "Maybe I should let you get some rest."

Panic filled me and I quickly stood up. Whenever I had an attack like I did tonight, it took a lot out of me; and I was always alone. I didn't want to be alone. I wanted Wyatt to stay a little longer, but I couldn't find the words to ask him.

He read my expression before he sat back down on the couch and handed me the remote. "Why don't we see what's on TV?"

I sat back down next to him and let out a relieved breath. "Yeah, sounds good."