Guns and Mirrors

FIFTY-TWO

♕Harley Anderson♕

I was expecting Oregon to feel like home when we returned. I was expecting it to feel like we were returning back to where we belonged, like it would feel like a familiar embrace. But it doesn't. Nowhere aside from Danté's side feels like home at this point.

The last time I was here, I was a different person. I was a girl haunted by her father's violence and her brother's disappearance. Now I'm a woman who has bigger things to face, to move on from.

Danté drives quietly beside me, taking the familiar roads back home. To our house. I almost cry when I see the house come into view. The house that Danté and I both bought together, the house we first had sex in, the house we fought and argued in, the house where I wept so many nights in. Here it stands before me, nothing different to the last time I saw it almost a year ago.

"Nothing's changed." I murmur. But everything has; me, Danté...

"Mason made sure to keep everything the same."  Danté replies, squeezing my thigh quickly. "Come on." He says as he climbs out of the car. The front door opens then and Mason walks out, arms open wide as he walks to Danté with a grin bright enough to light up the whole of Portland. He embraces the love of my life in a tight hug and I climb out the car, the cooler air of Oregon a relief to the humid air of California.

Mason pulls back, patting Danté on the back while they both laugh. The smile on Danté's face reminds me that Lina's death has not sucked the happiness out of him. When Mason turns to me, he offers a charming smile. "Harley Anderson, how nice to see you again."

I roll my eyes playfully, wrapping my arms around him. Mason hugs me while chuckling in my ear, lifting my feet off the ground. Placing me back down, I take the time to observe him. He doesn't look different either, aside from a little more stubble lining his jaw.

"What's wrong? Have I put on weight?" He asks and I shake my head with a laugh.

"No, not at all. You look exactly the same." I remark and he winks.

"I take that as a good thing."

"Quit flirting with my girlfriend and invite us into the house." Danté calls out, shutting the trunk of the car after retrieving our bags. Mason raises an eyebrow.

"Invite you into your own home?"

Danté chuckles and we all begin our walk
to the house. Entering it brings about some major nostalgia and I notice that it's just how we left it. No ornaments are missing, no fridge magnets are on the fridge. Picture frames of various memories still stay plastered to the wall and I smile, looking around.

"You guys are here," A familiar voice says and I look to see Samantha walking out of the passage. Her blonde hair has been dyed pink and is so long, brushing her waist ever so slightly, and my mouth drops before I put my arm around her and pull her into a hug.

"You look so good with pink hair." I exclaim in her ear and she pulls back, smiling at me with her angelic features.

"You look good with longer hair." She replies and I pick up a strand of my hair that's now below my braline.

"You think? I was considering growing it out again."

"I support that decision." She giggles and I laugh along with her before she greets Danté. When pleasantries are finished been exchanged, Danté takes our bags to our bedroom while Samantha returns to the stove where she continues to cook something heavenly. Entering our bedroom is like walking down memory lane. The covers on the bed are the same ones we left on and even the room still smells like us. Danté drops our bags on the floor at the same time that I drop onto the bed. I hear Danté chuckle and I peek an eye open to look at him before pulling myself into a seating position.