Remind Me That We'll Always Have Each Other

As always, I suddenly became very self conscious. I rubbed my left arm with my right, and bit down on my bottom lip, as everyone stared at me.

"WELCOME HOME, KAYDENCE!" everyone yelled at once.

I tried to give the best smile I could; I hated attention.

"Thanks. . .everyone. Really. . .you didn't have to do this for me."

Tim walked over to me, and gave me a great big hug. "Of course we had to, Kaydence. You're coming back home."

"Okay, okay. Enough! I need to give my best friend a hug!" I heard the voice of my best friend, Lainey, yell from across the room, before she came running up to me.

This time, a natural, wide smile spread across my face.

"LAINEY!"

"KAYDENCE!"

We collided into each other's arms, and suddenly, I remembered why I had missed being home so much. Lainey was like my other half. She was my best friend of nearly ten years. It was insane being away from her for so long.

"You look so much better!" she whispered into my ear.

"Thanks, Lainey. You look beautiful, like always."

And in fact, I had never seen Lainey look so beautiful. By my special request, I didn't allow for her to come visit me at the hospital. I didn't allow anyone besides my immediate family to visit, for my own various reasons. Lainey no longer had her long, dirty blonde hair. It was now a hazelnut brown, stopped at her shoulders, and was layered to frame her face. Her once pale skin, was now tan, and she just looked so. . . healthy and beautiful.

"Thank ya, thank ya. I do what I can," she joked.

I laughed, and before long, my aunt Caroline, and uncle Brian came up and enveloped me in hugs.

"Oh honey, you look great!" Caroline told me.

"You really do Kaydence. We're proud of you!" Brian added.

I smiled at the both of them, "Thanks, Aunt Carolone, Uncle Brian. I've missed you guys."

They smiled at me and my aunt said, "We've missed you too, but there's been someone who's been biting our ears off about you."

My eyes suddenly bulged out of my head, as I realized who they were talking about. My favorite cousin, Ashley, was here.

"Whereisshe?" I asked, not taking the time to seperate my words.

"Okay, seriously Aunt Carie and Uncle Tim, you need to buy more - KAYDENCE!" Ashley ran up to me, and swung her arms around my neck.

I squeezed my arms around her, and her long red hair devoured my face.

"I can't believe you're here! I can't believe it!" As we pulled away from each other, I noticed she had tears collecting in her eyes.

At the sight of this, I began to develop my own tears. "I've missed you so much, Ash, you just don't know!"

She pulled me into another hug."We've got a lotta catching up to do!"

I laughed, and before long, I had greeted nearly everyone in the house. Although everyone kept telling me how good I looked, I knew that it was only in comparison to the way that I had looked a year ago. The me a year ago, weighed no more than 90 pounds, and was a walking skeleton. But, with the help of recovery, I've managed to get my weight up to 102 pounds. It's not much, but it's better than how I was.

I couldn't help but to notice that I didn't see my older step-brother, Jeremiah.

"Mom, where's Miah?" I asked her.

"Oh, I don't know honey," She glanced around the house. "Maybe he's outside?"

I nodded my head. "I'll check."

I walked out into the backyard, and the sight of it nearly knocked me off my feet. There were beautiful flowers everywhere, along with a giant oak tree in the middle of the yard, with a small swinging bench underneath it. I shook my head, breaking my gaze, and glanced around the yard. I saw Jeremiah standing near the BBQ pit. I ran over to him, and when he saw me, he dropped his spatula on the grill, and extended his arms out. I ran into them, and felt the loving warmth of my brother; the warmth that I had been missing.

"God Kaydence, I've missed ya."

I smiled. "I've missed you too, Miah! How've you been?"

He shrugged his shoulders, and dug his hands into his pockets. "Eh, I've been better. School's got me stressed out, and working doesn't help either. But, I'm glad you're home. It's not the same without you."

I nudged my elbow into his stomach. "Sure," I said, dragging out the r.

He laughed, and someone cleared their throat. We both turned towards the noise, and standing before us, was none other than the mysterious boy I had seen inside. He held a red plastic cup in his hands, and he had on black skinny jeans, with a green zip up hoodie. His long, light brown hair was sprawled out every which way, and his green eyes locked with mines.

"Oh yeah; John, this is my sister Kaydence. Kaydence, this is my best friend, John."

John outstretched his hand towards me, and I shook it. "Nice to meet you," I told him.

"Same here." His smile was a bit lop-sided, but adorable nonetheless.

After a moment, I pulled my hand away and my cheeks suddenly felt very warm.

So, mystery boy had a name. John. John was undeniably gorgeous.