Arriving home, Aria let herself in and chucked her keys on the side. Grabbing herself a can of soda from the fridge, she joined her brothers in front of the television and got comfortable as Brax wrapped his arm around her.

"Family dinner at Angelo's tomorrow," Heath told her without looking away from the movie that was playing on the screen.

"Sounds great," Aria mumbled sarcastically.

Leaving the house early the next morning to get to school, Aria decided to take a detour across the beach and stopped when she heard Romeo call her name.

"Can we talk?" He asked as he caught up.

"I really don't have the energy to argue with you today."

"I'm not here to argue," Romeo promised, tightening his grip on the strap of his bag and lowering his gaze, "Look, this isn't going to work and... I just think that we're better off as friends."

Standing in silence for a few seconds, Aria nodded to show that she had heard him and watched as he walked away. Not wanting to face her friends' questions, she went home and sent Casey a text to tell him that she wasn't feeling well.

Hearing the front door a few hours later, Aria looked up from where she was lying on the sofa and offered Brax a small smile.

"Bianca said that you weren't in school."

"Yeah, I wasn't feeling all that good."

"Another migraine?" Brax inquired, earning a nod from Aria and pulling out his phone, "I'll let Bianca know that you'll be back tomorrow, do you need anything?"

"Will you make me a hot chocolate?"

"Only if you put a decent film on."

Nodding, Aria got up and browsed through their DVD collection. Pulling out the first Lethal Weapon, she set it up and curled into her big brother's side as the movie began to play. Sitting in Angelo's later that evening, Aria listened as Kyle played around with his guitar and smiled when she recognized what he was playing.

"Finding refuge in my own lies, how are you, I'm doing alright. Small talk is a great disguise, just let me be, just let me be," Aria sung, causing Brax and Heath to fall silent as they turned to look at her, "Empty thoughts start to crowd my mind, am I only living, living to survive? Shake it off but I've lost the drive, just let me be, just let me be, let me be, okay."

Falling silent as the doors opened, she watched as Cheryl walked in with Danny and felt the familiar anxiety settle in her chest. Taking a sip of her drink, she took a deep breath and returned her attention to the music that Kyle was playing.

"You've built yourself a great place here, Daryl," Danny commented, looking around and accepting the beer that Heath offered him.

"We've done a pretty good job," Brax replied, motioning to the others with pride clear in his eyes, "Couldn't have done it without their help."

"Aria, how's school going?" Danny added.

"Fine," she answered, hearing Cheryl scoff and looking up with a frown.

"Fine?" Cheryl repeated, "You're having to have extra lessons because you're too thick to do the work... I hardly call that fine."

"Aria's got dyslexia like Casey, but she's not letting it hold her back and she's doing really well," Brax stated, fixing their mom with a glare, "They're both doing great."

Grabbing her sketchpad from behind the bar, Aria sat took a seat on one of the tall stools and turned to a clean page. By the time food was ready, Aria had finished the drawing she had started and took a seat next to Kyle to eat.

Bianca had been the one to suggest drawing, especially when she didn't know how to express how she was feeling and it had helped a lot. Eating in silence, she listened to everyone talking around her and helped Kyle take the dirty plates to the kitchen once they were done.

"I don't know how to connect with her," she heard Danny say as she approached the door that led into the restaurant, "She's my daughter and she will hardly even look at me..."

"What do you expect?" Brax replied angrily, "You may think that she was too young to remember the things that you did to us, but I can assure you that she remembers everything and she still struggles with the effect it had on her on a daily basis."

"How do I fix it?"

"That's something that only Aria can answer."

Exiting the kitchen, Aria went to get herself another glass of coke and sat at the bar alone. Watching as Kyle played on his guitar again, she turned to the next clean page of her sketchpad and started drawing.

"Hey," came Casey's voice from behind her, making her jump, "What are you doing?"

"Robbing candy stores, you?"

"Just robbed a bank... be my getaway driver?" Casey replied as he always did with a grin, "Romeo was avoiding me today, any idea why?"

"He probably thinks that you're going to kill him," Aria said with a shrug, sighing when Casey looked at her confused, "He dumped me."

"He..." Casey started, falling silent when Aria covered his mouth with her hand and continued.

"It wasn't going to work and deep down I knew that," Aria admitted, "Romeo is a good guy and he's been a great friend to you, Case, so don't give him a hard time about it."