It took a while for my cheek to stop stinging from the slap. It took a few moments longer than a while for me to wrap my head around the fact Lily was here. Why was Lily here?

"Loca! Where have you been? I've been so worried." Lily walked past my mom, to me, and wrapped me in a hug. I didn't hug back.

"What's going on?" I asked once she'd pulled back from the hug. My mom stood in the middle of the kitchen looking ambivalent about my entire existence and I couldn't decide if that stung more than my cheek or not.

"You didn't come back! And I couldn't exactly call the police, so I called your mom and we got talking and we actually hit it off and she invited for me to stay over." She said it like it was the most normal thing ever. Except it wasn't: daughter becomes a prostitute, mom wants nothing to do with her, but wants everything to do with her best friend, WHO IS ALSO A PROSTITUTE. Makes sense? I think not.

"Um..." Was all I could manage to say. "When was this?" I asked, highly aware of Vic and Mike standing at the other end of the room awkwardly.

"Three days after you didn't come back" Lily said looking up as if she were doing the mental math.

"And you've just been staying here since then?" I asked just to clarify. My mom couldn't put up with my career but she could put up with Lily's? Lily nodded in response to my question. "Oh" was my only reply.

"Don't be like that, haven't you missed me? I've been so worried about you." I scoffed, pretty certain she was lying considering as soon as I was out of the picture she was moving into my house and replacing me as my mothers daughter.

"Leda-" my mom started

"Jesus mom will you just shut the fuck up?" Her face went pale and her eyes were wide, I'd never spoken to her like that in my whole life, I'd always had the biggest amount of respect for her and I was always polite growing up. But things change and I'd been through hell and my temper was short.

"Yo, Lee, calm down. You're back now and that's what matters right?" Lily attempted to diffuse the situation. I felt an urge to slap her across the face but I kept my hands fisted at my sides.

"Yeah, it must have been so hard for you to find me, that is if you even bothered looking." I snapped. I knew that if it was Lily in my position I'd have searched high and low for her.

"Oh stop whining for god sake, you're acting like a little bitch" Lily snapped back and I looked at my mom who was still standing in the same place, her face hard from either rage or disappointment (not that I cared which one)

"Go on, mom, I can tell you're just dying to interfere right now" I crossed my arms over my chest. She furrowed her eyebrows and then spoke finally.

"No, I was just thinking you've not only down graded your career but your wardrobe too" I knew it.

"Ha! Nice, anything else?" I snapped

"No. So come on then tell us, where were you?" I looked at Mike nervously and he nodded as if to say I could tell my mom everything if I really wanted to, I admired him for that but I couldn't bring myself to do it, I knew my mom would instantly blame Mike and maybe even Vic too.

"Eh, just..uh, never mind, its not important" I shook my head.

"My daughter goes missing for two weeks and you tell me it isn't important?" My mom scoffed.

"Well you didn't seem to give a shit a few minutes ago when you were introducing your hand to my face" I mimicked her scoff. She shook her head and held the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger, a gesture I knew well enough meant a headache was threatening.

"Jesus, Leda. Lets just get along okay I've missed you" I highly doubted that she did but things were taking a better turn than before.

"Fine, yeah, sure." I was still kind of mad at her for hitting me and mad at Lily too, just for being here. She always seemed to get the better end of the bargain while I always drew the short straw.

"So, who are these gentlemen?" Mom asked in an attempt to dismiss all the angry tension.

"Oh shit" I exclaimed as I realized I'd completely forgotten about Mike and Vic, standing awkwardly across the room, listening to everything. "Yeah, uh, this is Mike and this is Vic" I motioned to each one of them individually.

"Is she your client?" My mom directed this at Mike

"Jesus, mom, no!" I exclaimed before he could answer. I could have been sucked into the floor right there and then, well that's what I wanted to happen anyway.

"Is she yours?" She asked Vic and Vic shook his head looking at the floor like he was being scolded.

"Oh my god, will you stop!" I yelled

"What?"

"Shit mom, they both mean a lot to me, I was hoping the three of us could crash here for a while but I couldn't put up with you anyway and you're making them uncomfortable so forget it, we're out of here" I was beyond enraged, I mean, I knew my mom wouldn't treat me as well as she used to before I left but I didn't expect this. I stormed out of the room, if I was still living here I'd have grabbed my jacket by the time I'd passed the stairs but I wasn't still living here so I carried on empty handed towards the door.

"Okay, Leda, I'm sorry, I'll stop" she yelled and followed me "Come on..."

"Look I know you're mad at me for throwing everything good that I had, away but I have been through hell these past two weeks and the last thing I need is for you to give me shit okay" tears unwillingly filled my eyes but I blinked them away, I wouldn't allow them to exit, I couldn't.

"I know baby I'm sorry" she moved closer towards me and wrapped her arms around me. I hugged her back simply because she's my mom and I couldn't bare to feud with her. "Here, introduce me properly to those boys and I'll be on my best behaviour" she smiled and I was so glad things were finally fitting back into place.

Notes

I'm so exhausted so this was only short and kind of shitty because it's a filler but I'll update a more exciting chapter tomorrow :)

I CAN'T WAIT FOR MONDAY THOUGH. DID YOU GUYS SEE THE VIDEO PTV POSTED ON INSTAGRAM? Oh cyeahhhhhh