"That's enough!" I yelled laughingly as Linda scooped another plate of mashed potatoes into the Tupperware. "I can't eat all of this!"

"Well then you should have eaten more during dinner, then maybe we wouldn't have any leftovers..." she said giving me a pointed look as she scooped another spoon.

"Fine, fair," I said, pulling the spoon out of Linda's hand and putting it in the sink where James and Ryder were washing the dishes, laughing at us two.

"What are you two looking at," Linda snapped at the boys. "You do realize that you both will be eating the rest." That quickly sobered them up as I began laughing at their fearful faces.

An important thing to note is that while dinners at the Daniels's are always special, the food never is. Linda cannot cook, things are always oversalted or underdone and James can only work the grill, but he usually burns everything to crisp. Simply put, our plate is nearly inedible.

And today's dinner was no different. Just like that, it was easy to slip into old habits, getting comfortable in old patterns. It felt like the morning on the beach, easy with Linda and James, but this time Ryder was there. He didn't say much, and carefully observed to see if I would let anything slip, but as the night went on, he grew more comfortable, laughing and smiling, while I reminded myself that this was only pretend...

"I should head out," I announced, grabbing the salty mashed potatoes and heading to the front door. "Thank you so much for this Linda, James. It was great seeing you again."

"Sure thing honey," Linda said pulling me into a hug.

"Anytime," James grinned, messing up my hair.

I rolled my eyes at him and waved a simple goodbye to Ryder as he said, "Bye Rosie," an unreadable expression in his eyes.

I tried to read his emotions for a moment, before reminding myself that I didn't care, stepping through the door, and shutting it closed. A breath quickly escaped my lips, one that I didn't realize I was holding in. It may have been relief or maybe uneasiness, but for a minute, it felt like just maybe, I had gotten closure.

A chance to relive the past, enjoy it, and now close that chapter, and walk away. It was a small sense of comfort, but one that I was quickly beginning to cherish.

And just then, the silence of the night was interrupted by a lough thumping and ragged yell, "WAIT!"

I turned to see Ryder running down the street towards me, his hair flopping in the wind. The breeze was gentle but strong enough to pull his shirt flush against his chest, as I waited for him to approach and catch his breath.

He stopped a few feet away from me, after a dramatic run and threw me a smirk and simply said, "Hey."

"What are you doing Ryder," I asked confused.

"Walking you home?" He responded as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Why? I am more than capable of walking a few blocks." I said pointedly, a hand on my hip.

"My mom told me to get my ass out here," he said sheepishly.

I rolled my eyes as I continued walking, "you just know how to say the right things Daniels."

"Okay but you didn't let me finish," he said running in front of me, trying to stop me. "I also wanted to talk to you..."

I just continued quickly walking away from him, but despite my best efforts, he easily kept up with my strides. I just got closure, what the hell did he want? "About what?" I asked trying to keep my cool.

"Just....well...stuff..." Ryder began, letting his words drift. I gave him a pointed look, telling him to cut the bull-shit. "Okay fine. So dinner was nice tonight...right?"

"Yeah..." I admitted, not wanting to play games. "It was nice."

"My parents love you, they always have. They never stopped talking about you, not even after well..." Again he let his words trail off, careful not to say anything more.

And unlike the night on the grass, today, the cool air and the feeling of some sort of ending brought a semblance of a new beginning. I didn't want to fight, and for the first time, I wasn't so angry anymore.

"They are the best. Linda and James were there when times got tough," I said, not looking Ryder in the eye.

The tension grew thick as we took heavy steps forward. We were silent for a while until he asked, "Why did you pretend for me tonight?"

I was expecting this question, but I didn't have an answer. I suddenly had gone from screaming in a closet to faking the past. This much I knew- I wanted the closure as much as Ryder wanted to protect himself. Or at least I thought. It seemed like a win-win to just pretend, but to say that was the only reason was a lie.

So instead I told the truth. "I don't know...I guess I just wanted to stop fighting for a minute...and just start over..."

He held my arm stopping me from taking another step forward and whispered, "And where do we go from here..." It felt like we were only inches apart from one another, our breathing quickly becoming ragged. I felt myself drawing closer to him, a simple touch enough to drive away my clarity.

"I don't know," I said matching his whisper... "Maybe this is closure...I'm not angry anymore about what happened..."

With these words, Ryder held my wrist a little tighter, almost like he was holding me back from walking away and desperately said, "If you would just let me explain, this wouldn't have to end-"

I had to force myself to shake my head no as my heart began to beat quickly, wanting to know what 'this' meant. But I cut him off. "No Ry, it's fine. I don't want to rehash it. That past is done and over. I'm done. We're done." It felt so much like a break-up, like we were losing something, but how could we lose something again, when we lost everything before?

Ryder was never one to get angry, he rarely ever did, but at that moment, the frustration was beginning to creep into his eyes as he held my hand harder one last time, before dropping it and staring back at it me with hard steely eyes. "Fine," he said, loud enough to echo through the night.

And then he walked away. I watched his retreating figure feeling a heavy sadness, realizing that this is what closure really was. Not the light easiness that I felt before, but rather a heavy heart, knowing that I had ended something, officially letting go of a possibility. And I suddenly had to be okay with that.

I couldn't even be mad, because this time, I told him to walk away.

So all I could do was turn around and walk back home.

~**

As I reached the door to my apartment, I heard some noise coming from Jules's door when the door quickly opened and I saw a familiar mop of brown hair and heard the unmistakable giggle of little Lannie.

"Dylan?" I asked, surprise evident across my face.

Jules was holding Lannie, a big smile spread across their faces.

"Oh hey Ro! I was just stopping by to drop off all the stuffed animals from the other night," Dylan explained, "I didn't want them to miss Lannie's tea party," he teased, tickling Lannie.

Jules was laughing at something Dylan whispered as Lannie reached for him. They quickly got lost in their own little world, completely forgetting about me.

I aggressively cleared my throat quickly getting their attention and some sheepish looks. "I love being a third-wheel," I teased. Jules's cheeks quickly turned a deep red as Dylan refused to make eye contact.

"It's not like that-" Jules began, but I immediately cut her off.

"It's okay, I get it, I'm forgettable," I wiped away a few fake tears and packed on the self-pity.

Dylan rolled his eyes as a noise grew louder from the stairwell. This too was one that immediately recognized, a noise that I had grown accustomed to in the past few days. Their blond heads bobbed up as their bickering continued. They were so consumed by one another that they didn't notice the audience they had garnered.

"You are being so stubborn!" Xander exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

"And you're being thick-headed," Cas said mimicking him. They were so chaotic, but behind their frustrated facades, a small smile was hidden on their faces as they broke out into a burst of quiet laughter.

Lannie was the one that got their attention as she waddled over to Cas began begging her to pick her up, tugging on her leg.

As the two realized that we had watched the scene unfold, they awkwardly grinned back at us. "How long have you weirdos been watching us?" Xander asked.

"A few minutes now." Dylan casually admitted.

"You would have noticed, if you weren't so consumed in one another," I winked suggestively.

"Eww, gross," Cas yelled, a little too quickly.

"Yeah, gross! I can't stand her," Xander yelled, matching Cas's high pitched tone.

"What are y'all, even doing together if you can't stand each other?" I asked, rolling my eyes at their resistance.

"Xan was giving me a ride..." Cas began as Jules cut her off.

"Hmmm... Xan? Nicknames already...moving fast are we now?" she teased earning a glare from Cas, while Xan's cheeks tinged the faintest pink, nearly imperceptible.

And as the two continued to give me, Jules, and Dylan cold hard stares, we broke out into deep laughter. The whole group of people I was surrounded by was never a combination I would have ever anticipated, but somehow here we were, and somehow, it worked. Xan and Cas easily lost their resolve, laughing along with us. It felt like that moment lasted forever, but truly for only an instant- because the moment before something that becomes a memory, is never forgotten.

Lannie began to giggle and scream as Ryder was heavily panting up the stairs. A few beads of sweat rested on his forehead as he continued walking, his gaze set on me. "Ry-Ry!" Lannie cheered, Jules scooping her up.

"The whole gang's here," Cas teased, obnoxiously cheering, "SQUAD UP!"

But Ryder didn't engage, giving everyone small smiles, before looking back at me again. The word closure loomed over my head as I felt him trying to reopen a closed door. "Rosie, er, Ro" he corrected, "I need to talk to you."

"So talk," I said nonchalantly.

"Not here." He rolled his eyes as he pointed out the gross lack of privacy. Ryder grabbed my hand and frantically pulled me down the stairs, not giving me a chance to resist.

"You know, some people call this kidnapping," I joked, as I carefully placed each foot on each stair.

But he ignored my joke, instead ushered me to the sidewalk below the entrance of the apartment building with his hand held out.

"What are you doing?" I asked, oddly staring back at him.

"You said you wanted to start over, let go, get closure. You're right, the past is done, the chapter is closed. But the future is still open and unwritten." He looked up at me, his eyes expressing a sincerity that felt deeper than my fear of the possibility he held before me. "Let's start over. A new chapter. Please?"

He pushed his hand out further as the wind caressed our faces. "I don't know..." I said, the unsaid words being 'I don't know if trust you.'

And he said back, 'give us one last chance.'

"My name is Ryder, but people call me Ry," he said, his hand wavering in the space between us.

For the second time that night, I felt myself being pulled towards him. 

But this time, I didn't resist. 

"My name is Rosalyn, but people call me Ro." I took his hand and let the fire run through my veins.

"Rosie suits you better," he winked.

I felt myself easily smile as I said, "So I've been told..."

Who would have thought that starting over, would have felt so familiar...