"I need to get away from all this drama. I need to be set free, to experience this city, this world on my own. I love you guys but I need this. I need to do this for me, so just let me go without any big goodbyes."

That was the last thing I said to friends that night, that's why I lost all of them. So if you ask me if I feel ashamed, my answer will be of course I do, I feel miserable, and I've hated myself everyday since then. I don't know for sure if it's the only sad thing, but it feels like it was just yesterday that I said that, that I did what I did. I still hear their voices and I can still kind of see their faces and it just makes me sad. It makes me think about leaving my life here to go back to see them again, but the thought of them telling me I had my chance to redeem myself and I blew it makes me uneasy.

What they didn't see as I was leaving that night was I had started to cry, I was crying on the inside and I was crying on the outside. I know that was my idea to leave like that, but I miss my friends so much. I miss them so much that it actually hurts me to talk about it. I hear that most of them are big and successful, with a really nice life.

"Ms.T," said her assistant.

"Yes what do you want?" Ms.T said.

"You have a few visitors," her assistant said.

"Send them in" Ms.T said.

Who could it be, who could want to see me that isnt my boss?

"SURPRISE!!!!" Tommy, Cindy, Brooke, Noah, Emma, and Finnley shouted.

"OMG" Ms.T said in shock.

"Speechless are we now?" Brooke asked.

"Sorry, yes. Hi. wha..what are you guys doing here?" Ms.T asked, still shocked.

"How could we forget your birthday?" asked Noah.

"True that, but it's been almost 3 years since i've left, and you guys haven't visited before." Ms.T mentioned.

"Well, the first year we were confused and mad on why you left, especially since we've been through just about everything together"

"Then the second year, we all wanted to come and surprise you but we all got super busy with work and nothing we tried to do would work."

"Oh, well you're all here now why don't we go and do something together"

"Sounds nice, what do you want to do?"

"Oh, I don't know, I get off in about twenty five minutes, or maybe earlier if I can finish the paperwork I need to do. How about I meet you in the lobby, I'll let one of you know when i'm done"

"Ok, who's number do you still have?"

"All"

"Ok, yeah that will work. Until then we can see the city."

"Cool, thanks guys, see you soon"

Of course just as they walked out of my office, my boss walked in.

"Who are they?" he asked as he walked in.

"My friends from my hometown." I reply cautiously.

"Well....."

"You want to meet them don't you?"

"Yep"

"Hey, guys wait"

"Yeah?"

"Can you come back real quick?"

"Sure, why?"

"I don't know why, but one thing my boss likes to do is meet everyone who comes in "his" part of the building"

"I like to meet everyone because it's a nice thing to do. It also shows that us New Yorkers aren't as mean as people think we are"

"Ok, anyway, starting in the back we have Tommy, Cindy, on the other side of Tommy we have Brook, Noah, then on the left of me is Emma, and on the right of me is Finnley. There you met my friends, now can I get back to work?"

"Why do you want to get back to work so quickly?"

"She wants to get back to work because we have plans, and she wants to get the paperwork she needs to get done, done so we can hang out."

"Ok. This is so unlike me, but go ahead, just make sure you get it done tomorrow."

"Cool, thanks"

That night was so much fun. It was so fun it's hard to describe. I think by far it was the best birthday i've had in awhile. The one thing that made the night stressful for a bit is when they realized that they didn't book hotel rooms, but I had room at my place so they stayed there which made the night fun again.

It's 3 in the morning, and i'm thinking i'm the only one up until I get a text from Finnley asking me if i've been awake, or if he just woke me up. From there the early morning got weird. I don't know how it got weird since all we were doing was catching up over text. Well, I guess it got weird after he asked me if I was dating anyone, and if I've dated anyone since I got to New York.

Come eight thirty, and we're still the only ones up, so we decided to go and get some breakfast. From there it felt like old times, but in the back of my mind it felt like he was only up so we could talk, catch up, then when he asked if I wanted to go get some breakfast with him, it felt like he was asking me out in a way. I know that's crazy but that's what it feels like, kind of because we almost did go out, back before I left. Anyway, once we left my place we started to talk normally.

"Hey, whatcha thinkin bout?"

"Oh, nothin"

"Come on there's got to be something you're thinking about"

"Well,"

"Yes,"

"Now you can't say anything til I finish talking. Do you think that if I hadn't left all those years ago, we would have........"

"Dated? Gone out?"

"Yeah,"

"Yeah, maybe. I've just got to ask, why did you leave? Why did you leave when you knew that I really liked you, and that I wanted to be with you, especially since the day after you left would've been our first date?"

"We decided it would have been a "tester" date, and I left because I needed to leave. It wasn't because of any of you guys, and try to believe me when I say, I actually thought of leaving months in advance, before I found out that you like me, before you asked me out, before all of it."

"There's more to why you left, I know you more than you think, and you know you can trust me,"

"About less than a month before I left, I got an email from the company I worked at before the one I do now, I don't remember what the email said, but it was a huge opportunity for me. I thought about both sides, if I went, and if I didn't. I was so close to turning it down, but then my parents happened."

"Is that what you meant by drama, your parents?"

"Yeah, I didn't want to leave, but I didn't want to stay and deal with my parents again. So I left. I know you guys would have said I could talk to you guys about that if I wanted, but I didn't want to have you guys deal with that part of my life."

From there, there was an awkward moment of silence.

"How have holidays and all of that worked out?"

"Well, the first year I actually went back for a few days for christmas,"

"You came back?"

"Yeah, I thought about seeing if you guys wanted to hang out, but it was just a few months after I left so I decided to leave it be"

Meanwhile back at Grace's place the rest of them had started to wake up.

"Hey where's Finnley?"

"Where's Grace?"

"I'll text them"

Back at the cafe, where they were waiting in line when Grace got a text from Brooke.

"Who is it?"

"Brooke, she wants to know where i'm at, and if you're with me."

She replies with:

"Yes, Finnley is with me. We went to go get some breakfast since we have been up since tree"

"So, what's new with you Finnley"

"Nothing much"

"Come on, there has to be something that has happened to you since I left."

"Nope"

What Finnley wasn't telling Grace was that he hasn't dated anyone else since she left because he still really likes her, and doesn't want to give up on the thought of them being something. Well not until she asked if he was seeing anyone.

"You asked me if I was seeing anyone, and who I have since I got here now it's my turn."

"Nope, not dating anyone"

"Why not, you're clearly amazing"

"..........."

"What....what"