Find Our Way Back - T.H

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Today is Audrey's first day of school, going to the school I went to my whole childhood. Lia is a teacher at the school so there will be one familiar face, but I'm still worried Audrey is going to have a hard time. She's use to going to dance classes, music classes, then educational classes thrown in here and there. This will be very different for her.
"There, you look great." I smile, putting her backpack on her.
"I'm excited!" She says.
"You are?! That's great!" I say, feeling some relief.
"I'm going to make so many friends!" She says.
I grab her lunch box off of the table and hand it to her.
"Alright then we better get going." I say.
We walk out to the car, and get in. driving to school.
As we pull up I look around at the school that hasn't changed one bit since I went there. Everything is exactly the same.
"Let's go inside, you ready?" I ask Audrey and she nods.
We get out of the car and I walk her into the principals office.
"Hey Mrs. Fern." I smile as I walk in. She's been here since I was in second grade all the way up to sixth grade.
"Allison!" She says happily, standing up and walking over to me. She pulls me into a tight hug.
"When Lia told me you'd be coming I was so excited." she says. "And you must be Audrey."
"Thats me!" Audrey smiles widely.
"My goodness she looks like your twin!" she says.
"Oh I know." I laugh. "It's crazy."
"Well why don't we get you signed in so you can go join everyone else?" Mrs. fern says.
We sit down, going over just a few papers left that needed signing. It's weird being the parent in this school. I never truly realized how much I've grown up.
"And that's all, how about I walk you to class Mrs. Audrey." Mrs. fern says and Audrey nods.
"Have a good day sweetie, aunt Lia is going to drive you home Okay?"
"Okay. Bye mommy!" She hugs me and starts walking away with the teacher. My sweet little girl is going to love going to school here. I just know it.
I watch as she goes into the class and then I leave myself. She's getting so big so fast.
After the drive home I text Lia.
Allie: let me know if anything happens Okay.
Lia: she's going to be fine. See you later. Stop worrying so much, maybe have a mimosa?
I roll my eyes at her text as I walk back into the house. I still have quite a bit of unpacking left to do.
So I get a big cup of coffee, and get to work.
___
After a good while, I've almost finished unpacking and got all of my stuff put away. Except one box. I found a shoe box filled with my old pictures from high school. I was such a huge photo taker back then, there could be hundreds.
"Oh my god." I laugh looking at the photo of Adriana and I when we snuck into a college party. That was an insane night.
Then I come across a picture of Tom and I. We were sitting in his backyard next to the fire roasting marshmallows.
The doorbell rings and I drop the photos onto the couch and get up, walking over to it. I open the door and am met by Tom. After staring at that photo for a good five minuets, it took me back, and having him in front of me made me genuinely happy.
"Hey." I smile.
"Hey.. I just wanted to come by and give you this." He says, holding out a plate.
"No way!" I say excitedly.
"Yes way." he laughs.
"Nikki's blueberry scones? Oh my god I haven't had these in forever!" I say, taking the plate. "Come on in."
I said that casually but every nerve in my body was going crazy thinking he would say no and leave, much to my relief he walked in and shut the door behind him.
"I see you've taken a trip down memory lane." he says, seeing all the photos laid out on the floor.
"Oh, yeah I just found them." I say.
"I remember this." he says grabbing the photo I was just looking at of us by the fire. "Wasn't this the night Haz brought that American girl over? And she turned out to be fucking crazy?"
"Oh my god I forgot about her!" I laugh. "I swear she tried to poison my drink that night!"
"Allie if there's one thing I know about you, it's that you always think someone is out to get you. She was definitely not poisoning you." he says.
"How would you know? You're not the one who drank the poison!" I defend myself.
"This was around junior year, I was absolutely infatuated with you, I would have noticed if you were poisoned." he laughs.
"Whatever, I know what I felt." I say.
"Whatever you say love." he says. Been a loooong time since I've been called that.
"You know I'd love to thank Nikki for these." I say, not knowing if I can handle being in such a small proximity with him much longer without the guilt eating me alive. He's trying so hard to move past and I'm lying to him.
"Alright, Let's go." He says.
We walk out the door and down the driveway, little did I know as soon as we passed the hedges that Lia would be parked there.
"Mommy!" I hear and my body freezes.
I turn and see Audrey run up to me in tears. My mama bear instincts take over and my face falls from fear to concern.
"Woah what happened?" I ask as Lia walks up.
"She didn't make any friends today." Lia says.
"Oh well sweetie.." I lift her chin up to look at me. "You can't make a friend in one day, it takes time to form a bond and a friendship."
"But no one even talked to me!" She frowns as she wipes her tears away.
"You know what?" Tom chimes in, which I definitely wasn't expecting at all. "You walk straight in there and tell all of them your friends with Spiderman."
Audrey's little eyes light up when she noticed Tom.
"Oh my god, you are Spiderman!" She says excitedly.
You can imagine how much I love the fact that her favorite movie right now is far from home. Sarcasm definitely intended.
"Mommy he's Spiderman!" She says excitedly, then quickly wrapping her arms around him and hugging him which causes a laugh to escape his lips.
Lia gives me a nervous look, which I push away and focus on the situation.
"Here." he says, grabbing the notepad poking out of her backpack. "I'll sign the cover so everyone knows were best friends."
She hands him the pen in her bag and he signs 'you're the coolest Audrey! -Spiderman'
"Thank you!" She smiles.
"No problem, and you know what? You wait for the right friend to come around cause when they do, it's absolutely amazing." he smiles at me.
"You got it Spiderman!" She says. "I'm going to go show gran!"
"I'll see you around kid." he says, highfiving her, before she runs inside the house.
"I'm gunna go say hi to mom and dad." Lia says, leaving too. Aaaaand it's back to fear.
"So uh.. that's a surprise.." he says. "Had no idea you had a kid." 
"Yeah.." I nod, not quite knowing what to say.
"She's adorable.. looks just like you." he says.
"Thank you." I smile lightly.
"So that must mean you're with someone?.." he says awkwardly.
"No." I shake my head. "It's just us."
"Oh" he says, almost with a smile.

A/N: hope you guys are liking the story so far! I've had this idea and have been writing little snippets for it for over a year now so this book is very special to me❤️