Ricky cooked dinner for them that night and they sat around the table, filling her in on everything she'd missed. It was late by the time Aria headed to bed, falling asleep almost immediately and waking up early the following morning for school.

Nobody was awake when she entered the kitchen, grabbing her bag and leaving. Dexter was already waiting when she arrived at the diner, offering him a smile and following him inside. They had just collected their orders, when Aria heard Danny call her name and looked over to see him walking towards them.

"Shouldn't you be at school?" he asked, looking at Dexter and frowning as his attention returned to Aria.

"We're just grabbing some breakfast," Aria replied, not really wanting to talk to him and answering only to appease him.

"How about you let your old man give you a lift?" Danny suggested.

"I'll walk thanks."

Without another word, Aria led Dexter out of the diner and towards school. It was very rare for her to speak about her parents and her friends never asked questions, but she could always see in their eyes that they were curious.

"Why are you so quiet?" Casey asked a while later as they sat in the cafeteria.

"I just am... it's how I function," Aria replied with a frown, "Why does it matter?"

"I was just asking."

"Well, you don't see me asking why you talk so much."

"Sorry I asked."

"She's been in a mood since we had a run-in with your dad this morning," Dexter added.

"What did he have to say?"

"Nothing," Aria mumbled, pushing her tray away and ignoring the calls of her name as she walked away.

It was stupid how one man could stir up so much anger, but he had this way of getting under her skin and she found it impossible to shake. Sat on the beach after school, Aria stared out over the sea and looked up as a shadow fell over her.

"Penny for your thoughts," Brax stated, dropping down next to her and nudging her shoulder, "Rough day?"

Not sure how to answer, Aria stayed quiet for a few minutes and tried to put her thoughts into words.

"I'm just fed up of Danny trying to insert himself back into my life," Aria told him, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her chin on them, "I wish he'd listen."

"Do you want me to talk to him?"

"I can handle it."

"I know you can, kiddo, but sometimes it's okay to ask people for help and you only have to say the word."

With a nod, Aria watched as Brax stood up and brushed the sand off of his trousers before holding out his hand for her to take. She smiled, letting him pull her to her feet and following him to Angelo's.

It was a quiet night and she spent a majority of her time working on some of her school assignments, between helping Kyle serve tables.

"So," Kyle said as he joined her, looking around and lowering his voice as he continued, "It's Brax's birthday tomorrow and we were thinking of throwing him a barbecue. We know that he doesn't like surprises, but things have been stressful for everyone lately and Heath thinks that we could all use some time to unwind."

"I'm in."

Author's Notes: So it's been nearly a year since I updated this (which I am sorry about), but I stumbled across some notes for it today and decided to dust it off. I'm hoping to finish it, though it may take me a little while to get back into the story!