In our family I'm the one who's always running late or doing homework at the last minute. And I guess one could say it was the same with my relationship with Emmett.

There was never a "perfect" time for us. It's like we kept missing each other, loosing those precious moments when we could be just happy. The first time we got together it should have been this ideal teenage love every girl dreams about, the thing from Hillary Duff films, the ever after. No wonder those films usually end the moment a couple gets together and a camera zooms out on them kissing. We never actually see what happens next, because nobody likes to think that evil mother-in-law is really a thing (does any Disney Princess have one?), that parents drama can be worse than teenage one, that Prince can cheat...

After everything that happened then, I knew that Emmett's feelings didn't go away, despite what he did. But it wasn't easy for me to forgive. It's so hard when your broken heart still longs for that lost love, but your head knows that the sensible thing is to walk away. So I tried to fix it, staple it back together with Alex, Noah, Ty... It started working pretty well, but wasn't giving me the same feeling, that energy like it did back then. And when I was ready to move on and complete the timeline with Emmett, his feelings were someplace else. What would've happened if Mandy was a real person?

I wish our next "get together" happened at better circumstances. We should've woken up cuddled up in bed, spent a lazy morning, discovering ourselves in a new way. You don't see a rom com where a heroine is running around for a morning after pill! Everything that happened later, for a quickest of moments was perfect. We had our new timeline, happy ever after 2.0. We loved this little bubble that we've created- how naive it was to think we could've stayed there.

Would I want to erase the following year and everything that happened? I wish my family didn't have to suffer. I wish people- me included- made better decisions. But all what happened brought me here and I like the person I see now in the mirror. I like the fact that I finally feel that words such as "switched at birth", "spoiled little rich girl", "that girl from dorm" don't define me. I'm not afraid of what's ahead of me and open to all options that are out there. I said my goodbyes to all the ghosts from the past and now looking forward to the future. Will there be a place for love? I don't know, I think I've already learned not to say a definitive "yes", "no", "always" and "never". So there's just a lot of "maybes", a lot of hope and excitement. This summer is gonna be a "Summer of Bay".

It's been two months since that unexpected phone call from home and I still couldn't believe that instead of preparing for Dragon Boat Festival- me and Daphne planned to take part in it since we saw it last summer- I was back in KC packing 19 years into stack of boxes.

- Packing for China was bad enough, how am I suppose to do it with all my stuff? - as our house was mostly empty these days, I've developed a dangerous habit of having long conversations with myself.

Daphne was busy with her summer internship which she managed to arrange last minute, Regina went for holidays with Adriana- something that they both needed, and K&J were supervising last minute changes at their new place. Yep, Casa de Kennish is no longer. Things didn't go as smoothly as I thought they would when we were leaving home. The sale of car washes did save the financial situation but with both of us gone and Toby living in his own place, parents decided to downsize and sell the house. When I got that phone call from mom I couldn't imagine going back one day without saying goodbye to all the nooks and crannies, so just as quickly as we decided to stay in China for longer than originally planned, we were back in Kansas helping with the move. Regina was already settled in a flat above "Cracked Mug" - she moved there shortly after Will left and was busy with developing business. It took Daphne an evening to do her room- being organised is another thing we don't have in common! I wasn't so lucky with my room, not to mention the studio. I've been trying for a week to pack everything away - so far I've filled 12 boxes and it didn't seem to make any difference to the "creative mess" around me. I was just going through some sketch books when a tape fell from between them.

- Ah yes, I need a soundtrack for this disaster. Now if I could just find a cassette player...

Ten seconds later my studio was filled with familiar Latino music and animal noises. I closed my eyes and tried to remember last time I listened to Angelo's mixed tape. My legs started to betray non-dancing me and soon enough I was moving my hips and shaking my hair to the rhythm of the song when I suddenly felt a light tap on my shoulder.

- Ay! Do you want to give me a heart attack?!- I jumped and turned to see the intruder.

- "Sorry! Didn't mean to scare you." - Emmett signed.

I knew he was back for the summer. Since we came home we've tried to renew old friendships and we've met with Natalie and Travis few times and caught up with all the gossip. After being a single child for most of his life now Emmett had three new siblings and he was using his free time to bond with them.

- What are you doing here? I mean, I didn't expect seeing you here.

- "I got a text from Daphne about the move and I wanted to drop off some of her DVDs I found in my room."- his signing was a lot faster than I remembered it being last time, but 10 months of one-to-ones with Daphne meant that I had no problem following his words. - "What was the song you were dancing to?"

- Awww, we both know that you're being too kind by calling it dancing. It's "El Bantu", from that tape we've found years ago...? - I didn't think he'd remember that.

- "The groovy one with the birds?" - he moved closed to the hi-fi to turn up the volume. Seeing his feet starting to move brought back all the memories of "my dad hunt" but then the song was finished and so was I with remembering all my teenage drama. - "Would you like some help?"- he asked.

- Don't tempt me with that offer or you won't come home until all of this is in boxes.

- "I don't mind. My mum and dad went to the Zoo with all the kids so I'm free".

That was our first conversation since the infamous gallery debut last year. We've parted on good terms, but for the whole time in China we didn't text, e-mail or FaceTime. I got regular updates from Daphne, as she was in touch with him and I assume he knew all about our life there. Would it be weird after all this time to be alone with him?

- I do have some boxes in my room that I was meant to move here to take to the "Cracked Mug"... - I started thinking out loud.

- "Aren't you moving in with your parents?"- Emmett asked.

- No, since Regina is on holidays, I'm working there over summer and I thought that moving to the apartment above makes more sense. Think about all the time I'll save on commuting!

- "Not to mention petrol, CO2 emissions..."

- Hey, do not mock The Thing! It can hear you and I can't afford it being offended by your insensitive comments! Unless you can move the boxes with the power of your mind.

- "Ok, ok. So where should we start?"

- Upstairs. But I warn you- the state of it is not for faintly hearted and I can't even pay you in food since mom is too busy with the new place to cook.

- "Things did change around here. I don't remember one time when you didn't have enough food to feed a whole baseball team".

- Yeah, well, if you prove yourself as a one-man moving company I'll consider ordering take-away.

- "Challenge accepted."

I could feel the light mood changed the moment we entered my bedroom. All the memories of precious, intimate moments that I kept stashed away came back and I felt my cheeks getting hotter. Suddenly I became very aware of Emmett's body, I could even smell his after shave; a scent that hasn't changed since first time we were dating. I lifted my eyes. He was looking around the room, as if checking everything was where he'd last seen it. "Quickly Bay, make some silly, random comment! Boxes! You need to move the boxes!"- I was trying to put the memories back where they belonged- in a dark, distant corner. Ideally in a locked container. With a missing key.

- "So which things you need me to move?"- Emmet was first to brake the awkward silence.

- Aaah, the ones from the wardrobe and under the window.

An hour later my room was almost empty and The Thing was buried under my boxed up possessions.

- Should I order some food? Just don't bother suggesting Chinese.

- "How about Sal's pizza? I bet you were missing those garlic knots!"

- I even considered shipping them! You'll want a family size meal for one I presume?

- "That and a side pizza as well please".

After ordering our food, we went to do one last sweep of my bedroom.

- "Aren't you gonna miss this place? I mean, there's so many memories..."- asked Emmett as we were taking down posters and pictures from the walls.

- Well yeah, but it's not like I haven't been already living away from here. I guess I never thought I'll be spending Christmas or playing hide-and-seek with my kids anywhere but here but sometimes moving on and letting go of the things from the past is the best thing you can do...-

- "It worked for us, didn't it?"- Emmett's eyes were carefully studying my face expression.

- Well, yes... Yes, it did.- "I really need it to work" I thought as I heard Sal's delivery man ringing the doorbell ending the face studying and potentially dangerous conversation.