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30

A few days after we got back to Columbus, Josh and I stood out the front of the Dun family home, waiting for someone to unlock the door, happy to see family once again.

"Ari!" Ashley opened the door and scooped me up like a child, hugging me tightly. "I missed you!"

I chuckled. "I missed you too."

"What about me, Ashley?" Josh said, placing his hand on his heart, mocking offence.

"You aren't as cool as Aria."

"That's true," Josh said admittedly.

"No," I felt my cheeks heat up. "I'm not cool."

Ashley only chuckled and threw her arm around me.

"How long have you guys been in Columbus for?" she asked.

"About three days." Josh answered as we walked through the hallway that was filled with pictures and into the kitchen.

"Josh! Aria! How nice for you to visit!" Josh's mom smiled at Josh and I and came over to give us a hug.

"You made it just in time for lunch too! We're having tuna bake, is that alright?"

"Yeah." Josh and I spoke in unison.

As Josh and his mom had a conversation, I slipped away to find Abbi.

I opened the door to her room to find her sitting on her bed with her legs crossed and her earphones in, her computer sitting in front of her.

"Hi Abbi." I smiled at her as she jumped out of her bed and ran over to me.

"Ari," she sort of whispered it, like she was relieved to see me. "Are you okay?"

I tilted my head in confusion. "I guess? Why?"

"Josh called me the other day – obviously you didn't know." She kind of realised mid way through the sentence that Josh hadn't told me he had called his sister in regards to me.

"What did he say?" I asked.

"He said you weren't doing well. He told me about how you refused to get out of bed one morning and some other stuff that i'm sure you can figure out. He thought he was doing something wrong, so he called me."

"Of course he wasn't doing anything wrong. It's not his fault that I was upset."

"I told him that."

Abbi gave me a hug again and squeezed me tight.

We continued to have our conversation for about ten minutes before Jordan came in, knocking politely.

"Mom said lunch is — Aria!" Jordan came in and gave me a high-five. "Mom said lunch is ready."

"You ready Ari?"

"Yeah, lets go."

We all sat at the table and waited for Laura to sit down.

I was sitting next to Josh on one side and Jordan on the other, both of whom kept trying to get their mom to hurry up so that they could eat.

"Just wait thirty seconds, both of you." I said, shaking my head playfully.

Ashley snickered before hiding her face.

"When it comes to food, you're both like blood-thirsty animals." I added, making Josh pout at me.

"At least i'm not as bad as Tyler." he said.

I paused for a moment before turning to Josh slowly. "Are you actually going to sit there and tell me that Tyler is more aggressive when it comes to food?"