in white houses,, OLIVER.

[mandy adams.]

'cause when she dances, she goes and goes.
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<sup>In Mandy's opinion, anyone who thought that conflict was what made the world go round was out of their minds. If the world were running according to Mandy's orders, everything would run completely smoothly. Take camp for instance. Mandy had to work and go to school all year round, and then she'd get to come to Camp and chill out. This wasn't a place to run into your ex-boyfriends who you had known since you were in diapers, the boy that you had not only kissed and dated...but also the boy that your parents had pictures taking baths with at age 2 and 3. This wasn't a place to see the kind of guy like that.

Except, oops, Mandy had. She had known that Oliver was here from the start, some of her friends had pointed her out to him, but she was too busy thinking that it was some other 'Oliver.' Definitely not the Oliver that Mandy was thinking of. It's amazing because sometime after that, Mandy started seeing him places. At dinner, down by the lake, everywhere. Mandy did not want to go up and say hello, fearful that he might not recognize her, or worse.

Mandy had to think. She didn't know about what, but the soft, basically inaudible chatter of the girls in her cabin were not allowing her to think. Mandy stood up, walking out of the cabin and stuffing her hands in the pockets of her jean shorts. A few stones poked into her dry bare feet since she had irrationally left the bunk with out any shoes. Mandy tucked a lock of stray hair behind her ear, sighing.

Where could she go? There wasn't any place to think, really. Or anything to even think about. Maybe camp wasn't such a good idea after all. Mandy knew that she had come here for years and years, and even her aunts and uncles and parents had come to this camp. It had been like a family tradition for so many years, that no one even bothered to ask Mandy if she wanted to come.

Mandy soon found herself wandering over to willow meadow, pleased to see that everyone else had chosen to occupy themselves elsewhere, and the meadow was completely open. Mandy found herself strolling along, plucking a few stray daisies. She finally plopped herself down on a patch of grass, leaning against a large boulder. A sigh escaped her lips as she began to thread the daisies together. Daisy chains. Just like she used to make when she was a kid.</sup>

[Oliver Flynn]

It doesn't feel right, when I look in your eyes,

His mind had been wandering, a few people were still littered about the cabin where he had been living, though Oliver wasn't really paying attention to them. Nails scratched at a stray bug bite that was resided on his ankle, brows pulled low in thought. He felt a bit bad, partly because his parents had been asking about Mandy, and how she was doing, and he couldn't truthful say how she as, he hadn't even talked to her yet. It seemed a bit odd that he hadn't, they had been friends since they were little, but then they had that whole odd breakup ordeal.

He couldn't even remember what really happened, just that she got mad at him, so he got mad back. But he wondered if maybe he should go see her, after all they were still friends. Well, he hoped they were anyway. He sighed out, fingers trailing towards his head as he tried to brush out his hair with his fingers, it was still partially wet from the surprise rainstorm he had been caught in earlier. Which was depressing, he hated rain with a passion. And now his hair was wet and soggy.

Deciding he couldn't wallow in bad thoughts about rain any longer, he picked himself off the bunk, grabbing the zipper on his sweatshirt and pulling it up, tucking the hood over his head as a safety precaution. If it rained again, his hair did not need to be eaten alive. So maybe rain didn't actual eat peoples hair, but to him, it was just as bad. Pushing open the door he walked outside, the sun had dried most of the ground, so at least he wouldn't have to risk his shoes getting wet. That was a plus.

He wondered vaguely where to find the girl who had been clouding his thoughts earlier. Feet trailed through the grass, as if he wanted to slow down the progress he was making. It was around mid afternoon, so she could pretty much be...anywhere. Sighing out, he chewed at his bottom lip, a habit he had took on since the time he was about two. Wandering toward her cabin, he looked around the perimeter of the area, and he couldn't find one blond in sight.

Scowling in frustration, he kicked a near pine cone and sent it flying, where it promptly hit a big wooden stick. Well, it was more of a trail head, but it was on a big stick. Besides, he would have to hike to go to, he read the sign, willow meadow, and he hated hiking. It was a wonder really, how he managed camp, considering all the things he hated were things that happened at camp quite often.

Rolling his eyes, he walked forward, knowing that at least this trail was flat. If there were any hills or sheer rock faces, he would definitely not go, but he needed to clear out his mind, so why not torture himself by walking through a weedy looking path while he was at it? Moving through the densely green trail, he made sure to step on all things that vaguely resembled bugs, or suspicious looking plants, attempted to kick a tree and failed when he tripped over a rock and almost landed face first into some kind of animal den.

In which he then proceeded to curse out the forest, before he finally broke into the meadow. Which was much better than the stupid trail, to say the least. And then his eyes trained on a girl who was busy twisting something around her hands, peering closer he recognized them vaguely. Well, speak of the devil, there was Mandy, in the flesh. He walked closer, head tilted to the side as he made out what she was threading, they were flowers, he remembered how she used to make something similar to that. And then proceed to force him to wear it.

He came up behind her, feet stomping down the grass as he moved, placing his chin on her shoulder he looked down at her hands, "Mandy, why have you been avoiding me?" He whined out jokingly, of course, he didn't believe she was avoiding him, after all, it was an awkward situation, but still, she was fun, at least when they were getting along. So acting as he normally would, he poked playfully at her side, before twisting around to sit opposite her, smiling happily at her face.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[mandy adams.]

i can't escape this hell, so many times i've tried.
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<sup>Mandy was one that didn't like confrontation, obviously. She knew that she did like Oliver too, and she still was his friend but, still. If she completely avoided Oliver, sooner or later he would give up, wouldn't he? And then if Mandy's parents found out, then that might put Oliver's parents and her parents' friendship in danger, and Mandy would hate to be the one to make that fall. But she and Oliver had broken up, she wasn't supposed to like him anymore. He was like a brother, and they had tried dating, and it just hadn't worked. End of story. Or not.

Mandy threw down one of the daisy chains in frustration, plucking a few more and setting them down in her lap, picking through the ones that would be good for making the bracelet. She had no idea why she was doing this, but with every swift move of her fingers to add to the flower jewellery, another memory of making them was flooding back to her. Mandy was the queen of daisy chains. She had probably given Oliver a million when they were younger.

Mandy was furiously working on the bracelets, trying to get Oliver out of her mind. They had broken up as in, no more relationship. When you ended a relationship, your feelings for that person were supposed to be left with that relationship...not follow you out of it. Half of Mandy wished that she didn't have to see Oliver again, while the other half still had some hope that there might be a future for them.

Mandy's fingers were sore five bracelets later, and a pile of unworn daisy chains were laying next to her. She extended her tanned legs, staring at them, lost in thought. Okay, this was just getting ridiculous. Obviously some other girls had the same feelings for Oliver that Mandy did, and for all Mandy knew, Oliver already had a girlfriend.

Mandy heard some kind of noise deeper out in the forest, and she could pick out a few curse words, enough to sound like...Oliver? Ugh, Mandy was going to have be medicated soon if she kept this up. Hugging her knees to her chest, Mandy snatched more weeds and began to piece them together in the exact same fashion she did for the other ones.

Mandy had always had a secret little, tiny fear of forests ever since she had seen that insane movie "The Blair Witch Project", and she knew it was stupid, but still. She tried to focus her thoughts on anything but a boy that's name starts with an O and ends in a liver, or the fact that someone else was sneaking around the forest.

When Mandy felt a chin on her shoulder, she couldn't help but let out a small scream. When she finally inhaled and recognized the scent instantly. Oliver. She turned around, trying not to appear as in awe as she was. "Haha, I'm sorry." She said, desperately trying to get the blush that had suddenly broken out disapeer. "Long time no see. How are you?" She asked, her voice a little softer than usual, but she still leaned in and hugged him softly.</sup>

[Oliver Flynn]

It doesn't feel right, when I look in your eyes,

As he settled in next to her shoulder she let out a shriek, right next to his ear. Moving his head back, he shook it back and forth before saying, "Thank you, now I shall be deaf for the rest of my life." Scrunching his nose up at her as he tried, and failed, to look somewhat intimidating. She apologies and he broke out into a grin, "Its alright, " He assured, moving to sit across from her. As she spoke out a question, he looked up at her before responding, "Hmm, pretty good. How about you?"

And then she was leaning across the small gap and her arms were around him. Laughing, he reached up to grab her waist, pulling her down so she was pretty much sitting on top of him. Okay, so they used to do this when they were younger, but then Mandy had insisted that she was a dog and needed to sit on Ollie's lap, this was a bit different, but he didn't exactly mean anything by it, he was sincerely happy to see her. Arms moved to hug her for a minuet longer before he unwound himself, leaning back on the palms of his hands.

Blue green eyes scanned her briefly before he turned to look away, "Mmm, missed you." He told her, reaching up to poke her in the side once more, "I wasn't sure if you were still mad at me." He ended with a shrug, he still couldn't even remember why she was mad, but the important thing was that she didn't seem to be all that mad now. Which was definitely a good thing. A hand moved to grab one of her stranded bracelets, he examined it before turning to her, and placing it onto her head, "You look like some kind of faerie person." He informed her, fighting to keep the smile off of his face.

He sighed out as thoughts rushed his mind. He knew for a fact that he liked Duray, really like her, but he couldn't con himself into believing that he didn't like Mandy too, he still held small fragment of what used to have been, he still had a bit of a crush on her. But then they had moved on, and she threw words at him that made him think that it simply wouldn't be possible to get back together, like how he was like her brother.

So even though he may have liked her, he kept his thoughts to himself, after all, there as no need to plague other peoples minds with his brash thoughts. It was stupid for him to think about it, and he frantically tried to wipe it away from his mind, sighing out quietly as he tried to bring himself back to reality.

Eyes blinked slowly as the dim light surrounded them, he smiled almost bleakly at her, the dim thoughts still encircling his mind rapidly, like some sort of fly. A hand moved to tug at a strand of her hair, brothers did that, right? They pulled their sisters hair, even though he was doing it likely, and he looked at her far too adoringly to be like a brother.

He shifted to move his gaze, landing on the sky, covered slightly by the rows of trees surrounding them. "So, why'd you scream? Don't tell me, your still scared of the Blair Witch Project." He said with a grin, he did know quite a bit about her, including random little facts that people didn't really know unless they grew up together, "Don't worry, your alright." He said, a small hint of a smile residing on his features as he patted her head lightly, laughing at the situation.

[mandy adams.]

melt down, can you feel the heat?
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<sup>Mandy couldn't help but giggle at Oliver moving his head, she hadn't meant to shriek in his ear. Although she always had been a pretty loud girl when they were younger, she was surprised that it had even effected him, since Mandy's parents had always told her that she was going to ruin Oliver's hearing by age twelve. Mandy nodded, content that he was happy. Oh god, how was she. "Oh, good, thanks." She replied a little too quickly.

Mandy was trying hard to keep her heart in her chest when he pulled her into his lap. She laughed, resting her arm by slinging it over his shoulder. Mandy remembered all of the times when they were younger when she had told him why she had to sit on his lap. She was a dog one minute, the next was that she had discovered some kind of disease in him where if he didn't get extra body heat he'd roll over and die, Mandy wasn't sure why she did it when she was younger, but now she knew. Just anything to get him to hold her.

"I missed you too," Mandy sincerely replied, climbing off his lap when the embrace had ended. She crossed her legs indian-style and faced him, eyebrows rising as she saw his eyes look her over. "Guess we're not the same gawky thirteen year olds anymore," Mandy said with a small smirk. Mandy sighed, hugging her knees to her chest. "I never was mad at you, Oli." She told him, tracing her name into the grass with her index finger.

Mandy grinned when he put the daisy chain ontop of her head. "Why thank you." She laughed, taking another one of the chains and taking his wrist in her other hand, sliding the delicate bracelet onto his wrist. "There. Now we're sort of matching." Mandy added with a smile, wiping her hands on her bare knees. It was so weird to sit here, and try to recall what Oliver had looked like when they were just little kids, wondering what they'd look like when they got to the age they were now.

Mandy had broken up with Oliver for one reason and one reason only. She didn't want him to get hurt. I know how stupid and cliche that sounds, but believe me. Right around the time that Oliver and Mandy had started dating, Mandy had started to develop her eating disorder. Right around the time they had broken up, Mandy had gotten sick and broken up with Oliver. She knew that she had made up a whole story about how it wasn't working out, and how she just didn't love him like that anymore.

Mandy's eyes had been directed at the lawn, but she had lifted her gaze when Oliver tugged at her hair. Well, at least he still had his playful side. That was one thing that hadn't changed, Mandy decided. Mandy blushed at his next words, but soon rolled her eyes playfully. "Maybe...okay yes," She laughed. "I don't know, we never did find out what happened. Did the witch like, eat them or something?" Mandy playfully gasped.

Mandy was still smiling when she dazed out into the distance, then back at Oliver. "So. What's going on with you these days?"</sup>

[/sup]

[Oliver Flynn]

It doesn't feel right, when I look in your eyes,

He peered at her dubiously as she spoke, but then shrugged and replied back with a, "that's cool then," Smiling at her briefly before pulled her on top of him. As she mirrored his earlier statement, he smiled. "Well good, that makes the two of us." He answered, glad she wasn't yelling at him again. That hadn't exactly been the best night of his life. As she spoke again, he laughed. "Yeah, guess not, miss famous...person." Well, that was an idiotic statement, but it was true, she was on a show now, of course, he really didn't think much differently of her.

When she spoke out the next statement, he looked away, feeling a light breeze hooking at his hair and trying to carry it away in the opposite direction. "Nah, you were. You were yelling, I remember. But it's okay, your my Mandy again." He said this because, well, that's what he used to call her, she was his Mandy, their parents used to gawk at how cute it was, but he didn't really get it, he was there for her, and when he was nine and one of her brothers friends made fun of her, well, he was banned from baseball bats for a long time after that.

It was a random thought, about when he beat up that kid for her. He suddenly laughed at the memory, "Remember when I beat your brothers friend up with that whiffle ball bat, because he threw your shoe into the river? You started crying and I got all mad." Yeah, he didn't know why he was sharing the story, but it reminded him of his earlier sentimental name, so he had decided to share it.

As he placed the ring of flowers on top of her head, he grinned and said, "Your welcome." Laughing a bit as she grabbed his wrist and proceeded to feed the bracelet onto his arm. "Yes, we do match. Except I look way more gorgeous than you do in it." Laughing briefly after he spoke. He sighed looked down at his new bracelet as she seemed to be thinking about something.

Eyes watched the wind pull at her hair, and he bit at his lip. "Mandy...I really missed you." He spoke again, face becoming slightly more serious as his eyes seemed to read out fragment of sadness, an odd experience on the whole considering he rarely let his emotions show through his eyes, which were fading into an odd shade of green as it blended with the grass.

"When we...well, broke up, or whatever. I missed you, we haven't talked since we were like...thirteen." He sighed out, nipping at his lip more forcibly as he spoke, "You were my best friend, and then you were gone, and you went off to get all famous and..." He paused, not really sure what to say, and maybe never love him again? But that was a stupid idea. He shook his head slightly before sighing and repeating his earlier words once more, "I missed you."

After he pulled at her hair, snapping her out of her reverie, his face lit up once more as she spoke, laughing lightly as he said, "I don't know, you were practically choking me and then you would scream and block the tv, so I have no idea what happened." He said, laughing at her as he did so. As she asked him the question, he simply shrugged, before deciding to elaborate. "Well..." He started, he might as well tell her the truth, at least then she'd have known he took her words from last time seriously, "I like this girl, her names Duray, and right now...well, I guess my best friend is Kylie." He shrugged watching her out of the corner of his eye as he asked, "What about you?"

[mandy adams.]

i can't control myself.
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<sup>Mandy felt goosebumps grown on her arms and legs. She didn't know whether she was cold, or if it was sitting here with him. It wasn't that bad, actually. Oh, who was she kidding. She was surprised she hadn't broken out in a cold sweat. She had never gotten nervous around boys, especially not nervous. When you grow up with a kid where you take baths together when you were little and where running around in your underwear was basic attire, Mandy never really got nervous around Oliver. So, why now?

Mandy blushed. Miss famous person? Well, that's one...that she hadn't gotten before. She knew that Oliver would've been more updated. She did send him the occasional e-mail, the awkward voice mail message. Every single Christmas her parents would bug her about having Oliver come over for the christmas party, but somehow Mandy always seemed to be 'busy' on the day of the party. Little things to keep in touch, but not too close for comfort. She didn't want to crowd him, she knew that she had hurt the both of them pretty badly.

Mandy sighed, resting her chin on her knees again. "No, Oliver, I, ugh." She added, frusturated that he thought that she was angry at him. She was angry that day, angry at herself that she had let this happen to her. If she had just dealt with the way that she was, then she wouldn't have gotten sick. She had tried to save Oliver from getting worried, and she had probably had the opposite effect on him. "It's complicated, okay?" She said, snatching his hand and squeezing it in her own. "Just know, I...I'm not mad at you. I never was." She murmured, quietly dropping his hand and looking away.

Mandy had to crack a small smile at the thought of Oliver beating the kid to a bloody pulp with a bat. He was always so protective of her like that, so, how was it that she was keeping the biggest secret of her life from him? "Of course, how could I forget?" She laughed, looking down at her hands. "Or the time that I snuck out of the house to meet you at midnight so we could go watch the sunrise?" She inquired, laughing. She had been the brains of that plan, she remembered.

"Oliver, I missed you too," She said quietly. Hearing the words that he spoke, stung her worse than anything she had ever felt before. She had been trying not to cause a scene, by slowly shutting off every person that she cared about in her life, one at a time. She had never even though about what Oliver would feel like. She felt her throat turn raw, and she resisted the urge to let the tears fall. "I can't tell you the specifics right now," She stated quietly. "Just know that I never stopped loving you, at all. I just...I had to leave. I was, something was wrong."

Mandy sighed, extending her legs and laying down. She twisted so that she could be looking up at Oliver backwards, her eyes widening. "Oh, girl problems?" She lifted her legs and extended them into the air, stretching out her legs before bringing them back down to the ground. She gazed up at the sky, listening to him. "That's cool. Tell me about them." She said, which was meant to be more of a question than an order. "I've been...eh, okay. Taking a break from singing and acting, to focus on...other things."</sup>

[Oliver Flynn]

It doesn't feel right, when I look in your eyes,

He listened to her deny the fact of her anger, resting his chin on his knees he watched her as she turned thoughts into words. As she spoke again, concerned ebbed on him, her hand reached down to grab his, and she squeezed it quickly before talking out again. "Alright," He spoke out softly, before, fingers moved towards her, placing them gently under her chin, lifting her face up again; "What's to complicated? Look, Mandy, I haven't been there for you in, well, forever, the least I can do is help now, whats wrong?" He asked her, he was usually incredibly nice, he couldn't help it really.

But this time he actually had meant it, he really did want to help her, like a natural instinct. And then she was smiling, and he was happy again, he laughed lightly before saying, "I don't know, sometimes people just forget things." If you read to closely into the statement, you could take it as an insult, like how she had basically forgotten him, but Oliver, being Oliver, meant it exactly as it sounded, the thought hadn't even crossed his mind as he spoke.

As she mentioned another memory he grinned, "Yeah, my shoe almost got permanently stuck in my drain pipe." He said, laughing at the thought of his converse as he tried to pull it out of the metal pipe, which he had in turn, broken. "And then when we watched it you said I had to kiss you for good luck, and I asked why you couldn't just kiss me and you called me a hooker, did you even know what that meant?" He asked, laughing freely as the memory became clearer.

When she spoke again, the climate changed, he peered at her silently as her face shifted, almost unnoticeable fashion, and if he hadn't known her forever, he probably wouldn't have. "Mandy, you said that before, whats wrong? Your sad, tell me. I don't like it when your sad." Which was entirely true, it was like her sadness was his sadness. It made him sad too. "What was wrong? Mandy, did something happen?" He asked, watching her with concern filled eyes.

She moved almost silently until she was laying down, he watched her and smiled down at her, listening as she spoke, "Not problems really, I just like her, I think I'm gonna ask her out." He ended with a shrug, plucking some grass and letting it fall through his fingers, falling softly onto Amanda's face. And then she was asking a question and he smiled, "Well, I don't really know much about Duray, but she's really pretty." He added, he was never one to use the adjective 'hot,' he was too incredibly modest for that.

"And Kylie, well, she's really cool. Amazingly awesome - really quiet though, but she's adorable once you get to know her." He allowed, smiling at the thought, before turning back down to look at her, blond hair falling into his eyes as he did. As she answered his question he nodded before saying, "That must be tough, all that work. What other things? The proper way to pitch a tent?" He asked her before grinning.

[mandy adams.]

i wanna stand up, i wanna let go.
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<sup>Mandy was so unsure of what to do now. She had worked so hard to keep them both from being effected by bad decisions that Mandy had made. Why did Oliver have to suffer because Mandy was uncomfortable being her? Mandy fiddled with one of the daisy chains, her teeth sunk into her bottom lip. She inhaled sharply. She had to tell him, she owed him an explanation, at the very least. She couldn't imagine what if must've felt like to not know why the person you were dating left.

"Oliver," She said quietly. "You have to swear, pinky promise, cross your heart, hope to die, stick a hundred needles in my eye--that you don't freak out." Okay, well, fat chance, but whatever. She bit down on her lip again before exhaling. "I was bulimic, Ollie. It got seriously bad around the time that I broke up with you. I did it because the doctors didn't know if if I was going to be okay. I didn't want you...I didn't want you to get hurt if anything happened to me." It all made so much sense when she had told herself this in her head four years ago, but saying it aloud, jeez, it sounded just plain, stupid.

Mandy felt almost good to get the words out. It was as if a burden had lifted off her chest. She blushed, just hearing him speak about how naive she was. Hey, maybe she still was naive, but I can assure that she does know the definition of that term now. "I remember it clear as day," She said lightly, a hint of a small smile on her face. "And then the next day I went swimming at your house, and I left my bra there and my mom completely interrogated me." She rolled her eyes, just thinking about how much her mother used to care. Now, she was just as oblivious to her problems as the rest of the world was.

Mandy flinched as the grass hit her face, arching her back to let the blades fall of her neck. She tilted her head and stuck out her tongue playfully. Mandy listened to his description of his friends and nodded, rolling over on her side. Her back was somewhat to Oliver, but not much. "That's wonderful," She said. "I'm happy for you." She sincerely stated.

It was the truth. She had left Oliver for selfish reasons. She had never stopped loving him, but she had no idea if he even loved her in the first place. Her fingers ran over the tips of the blades of grass as the wind whisked through a portion of her blonde locks. "Just be careful, a'ight? I don't want to have to break any faces in this early." She said, trying to mask her true emotions with humor. Over all, Oliver was her friend, and in the end she just wanted him to be happy. No matter what.</sup>

[Oliver Flynn]

It doesn't feel right, when I look in your eyes,

As she spoke once more, he tilted his head to the side, watching her carefully, "okay..." He trailed off, concern ebbing away at his thoughts. And then she was speaking about what had happened to her, his jaw dropped, and he closed his eyes - he had promised he wouldn't freak out, his breathing slowed as he tried to process information through his mind, how could Mandy, his best friend when he was younger, who would chase after fireflies with him at night, how could she be bulimic?

And then she was speaking softly again, the subject changing back to the memories, he nodded, giving a weak smile and exhaled, "Yeah, my mom barged into my room asking why your bra was in the pool house." He told her, light smile draped across his features. When she spoke of his friends he nodded towards her, laughing slightly at what she said, "Yeah, we really don't want you to break a nail now." He informed her back - smiling at her mockingly.

He sighed out then, body moving to lay parallel from Mandy, eyes trained on her, as he brought an arm around her pulling her close. He moved to kiss the top of her head lightly before saying dryly, "Sorry I wasn't there for you Mandy, I mean...I was stupid I should have...done....something." He trailed off, arm tightening around the girls waist as he pressed his forehead against hers, "You didn't have to do that you know...you could have, well, told me or something. I would have helped, or tried to at least." He bit at his lip, worried stare passing over her again.

"Do you still have it, are you still bulimic?" He asked her silently, pressing his eyes closed as he tried to imagine how she could have been so sick. Arms hugged her close as he waited for the frantic worried beating off his heart to still, how he thought she could have died, how would he have handled that? "Why did you...become...that, I mean, you were a stick, silly." He informed her smiling, though his eyes were still shut.

After a moment of silence he spoke out, "I hate it, how I couldn't help you, I mean what if you..." He had meant to speak out the word died, but he couldn't choke it out from his dry lips, face burrowed into the girls hair as he breathed out more slowly, "Mandy, I love you, your one of my best friends, I would have hated, if something happened to you...when I thought you were mad at me, when I was acting mad at you." He mumbled out lightly, and it was true, he would have felt horrible.

"Your my Mandy." he breathed out once more, "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you again." He added, with a shaky laugh. Face pulled from her hair as he moved to look at her face once more, "I'll be the best brother ever, like you wanted, right?" He asked, a smile feathering his face, as he remembered her words. She wanted a brother, well, he would be an amazing brother.

He tried picturing what would happen if something did happen to Mandy, and shuddered, feeling a tickle of something on his cheek, fingers moved to feel it and he realized it was wet. He felt the same sensation on the other side of his face and he smiled at the girl across from his, "Look, I'm even crying, nobody can make me cry but McKenzie." He informed her, pressing his forehead against hers once more.

[mandy adams.]

the planets are aligned when you looked into my eyes.
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<sup>Mandy was so afraid to see what his reaction would be. That moment before she had told him was probably the worst, Mandy thought. Where he had no idea what she was going to say, so the worst case scenarios were vibrantly running through his head. Or at least, that's what Mandy would be doing if the roles were switched. It was going to be hard to explain why, it was hard to put something that complicated into words, and words that would make sense, too.

Mandy let her head rest against his chest as he hugged her closer to him, the feeling of his lips against her forehead lingering, even when his lips left her forehead. Mandy shook her head fiercely and as best as she could with out breaking Oliver's jaw. "Oliver, there was nothing you could have done. You didn't know, and I didn't tell you. It's not your fault." She truthfully told him.

Mandy sighed, shaking her head. "Not anymore. I'm still sick, my body's adjusting to being normal, but I don't...yeah." She said, blushing. She had never told anyone about this ever, or even talked about this anyone. Her mother had given her a quick peptalk about loving yourself in seventh grade, but that was the most that her mother had ever taken time to talk to her about that subject. Mandy fought off the tears as best as she could as she spoke next. "I just...I wanted to be perfect. I didn't think I was a perfect daughter, a perfect friend, a perfect girlfriend. I wanted to be perfect so that you'd be proud to have me as a girlfriend, or that my parents would be proud to have me as their daughter, anything. I wanted to look like one of those models." She shook her head at her own stupidity.

Mandy sighed, knowing quite well that there was a possibility that she could have died. "It was possible, Ollie. But don't worry about it, I'm here, okay? In the flesh, alive," She said, more for his sake than her own. She didn't know what she was feeling at the moment. Relief, sadness, grief? Chaotic. That's what she was feeling like. Mandy pressed her face closer into him, running her fingers through his hair as he spoke through her hair. "I'm going to be alright, Ol. I promise. I'll never leave you. Besides, who else will ward off all the other bimbos trying to take you away from me?" She managed to desperately choke out some humor in the last response.

Mandy heard his next words, and they added that little bit of extra sting that made Mandy inwardly cringe. "Yeah." She said, not sure what was going on. She didn't want Oliver to be her brother, but there was nothing she could do about that. That was the way that he saw her as now, a sister. She just had to take some time to wrap her mind around it, and then she'd be better.

Mandy softly smiled, tears beginning to roll down her own cheeks now. "I'm magical, remember?" She laughed, pressing the bridge of her nose into his playfully.</sup>

[Oliver Flynn]

It doesn't feel right, when I look in your eyes,

He sighed as he spoke before saying, "I wish I knew you better now Mandy." Not meaning it in an antagonizing way, not blaming her, just speaking the truth, he did wish to know her better, they had both changed, and he was only just to understand how big the word how could really be. He nodded into her hair as she spoke again, "Well, that's good then. I'm here for you, you know? If you need any help, or anything really, okay?" He told her, trying not to compare the little girl who he pushed into a stream to the girl next to him now, that wasn't fair. He was different too.

He listened to her speak, bristling against his will as she did, trying not to let the tears that stung his eyes on her behalf fall. "You were perfect." He sighed out, blinking slowly, "You were my perfect friend, who stuck up for me when I came home past curfew, and..." He stopped looking down at her, "I used to have the biggest crush on you," He said grinning, "Now, I may be biased, but to my little thirteen year old mind, you were the most perfect girlfriend in the world."

He smiled down at her before speaking again, "Ad your still perfect now, well, to me. Your absolutely perfect." He told her, smiling. It was true, he was speaking what he thought - he may have been nicer than the average individual, but he couldn't exactly help that - it didn't matter who had what flaws, they molded them into who the person was as your friend, if everyone was perfect, well, it wouldn't be exactly fun.

As she spoke again, he sighed out hollowly before saying, "mm, yeah, your here with me." He felt her fingers drag through his hair and pressed closer, he was sure brothers didn't do that, but at the point, he was beyond caring. Laughing slightly at her comment he asked, "And who, in your opinion, is classified as a bimbo?" He asked, a corner of his mouth pulling up as he spoke.

When she responded to his earlier statement, he looked over the top of her head, frowning slightly, he didn't want that, he didn't want to be her brother - but of course, that was selfish, she was going through so much, why would he try and weigh her down with his opinions, when he should be helping her keep her head above the water. As tears flowed quietly down his face, he grinned at her comment,

"Yeah, your pretty magical alright." Speaking softly as he let his hand rise, wiping away the stray tears running down the girls face with his thumb. "Whatever happens Mandy, I don't care if you hate me so bad you want to beat me with a bat," he grinned at this, "will you please come tell me if your having trouble, even if you don't want to tell me, I'm selfish enough to want to know when your hurting, so please - promise?" He asked, looking down at the grass as he spoke, too nervous to meet her gaze.

[mandy adams.]

bet on it, bet on me.
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<sup>Mandy sighed, surprised that Oliver had said that. She hoped that he wasn't mad at her still, even though he had every reason to be. She had kept the biggest secret of her life from him, broken up with him and left him with out even as much as an explanation. "I'm the same weird, old Mandy, Ollie," She said, even if part of that wasn't true. She still was her old self, even if she looked different and now the real reason of the break up was on the line. "Ditto, mister." She said, half-smiling.

Mandy bit down on her lip as he spoke, his words tickling her ears, even if they weren't pressed against her ear. She smirked, remembering how badly she tried to be convincing to her parents and Oliver's parents that he really was actually forced to stay out past curfew by Mandy. And it was all her fault, and usually that was right. Her parents would give her a grounding, that was usually lifted a few minutes later.

Mandy smiled, looking up at him. "You don't give yourself enough credit, Ollie. Honestly, I don't think you understand how much you helped me when we were younger," Mandy said, plucking a piece of grass from the meadow and picking at it. Oh geez, if they stayed here any longer the meadow was going to be grass-less. She loved the feeling of his arms around her, even if that feeling was not supposed to give her that weird fluttery feeling in her stomach.

She wished that she would stop reminding herself that she would do anything just to let herself melt into him, but she couldn't. There was other girls that had their eyes on him, and vice versa. Mandy was the past, and that was it. "Yes I am," She murmured in the same tone that he did. She scoffed at his next question. "Every girl. I have to see which ones have good intentions, and I have to pick the ones that aren't good for you and show them a thing or two." She said with a giggle.

"As are you. We're just a magical duo." She laughed, her fingers still running through his hair, inwardly wincing every time her finger tips would graze the nape of his neck. "I promise. You have to promise too, though." She said, a small smile plastered onto her face as she took one hand from the back of his head, extending her pinky finger playfully

[ooc. yuck. xD sorry]</sup>

[Oliver Flynn]

It doesn't feel right, when I look in your eyes,

He listened to her quietly before laughing, "Yeah except you probably have some weird actor who I now want to beat up tripping over his heels to go out with you." It was a stupid comment, but the boy was at least trying to lighten the mood a bit. As she spoke once more, he smiled. "Alright then, miss." He said, fingers moving to tickle under her ribs as he did so, grinning in that way that said he was going to do something that others didn't like.

Are she spoke out softly once more, he raised an eyebrow, watching her as he murmured out, "And how was that?" He wasn't trying to shoot her down, no, he was merely trying to see her side of the story, rapidly sorting through memories he could think of no way in which he could have supported her. Scowling playfully as the mood lifted once more he spoke out, "now don't go disappearing on me now.", even if he was half serious.

He laughed openly at her next words, "Are you going to educate them on the finer points of how to be acceptable to date me?" Grinning as he rolled his eyes playfully. "Weirdo, I went out with you after all." Poking her in the side so she would know he was teasing her as he rolled onto his back, hand moving to lie across his stomach, his shirt now littered with weeds and bits of dirt.

He felt her hands fluttering through his hair softly, shivering almost self consciously as she did, trying not to enjoy the feeling off her fingers fluttering over his skin, as he bit down on his lip. She cracked a smile before saying, "Yeah, we should totally join up with Harry Potter and his flat mates." So he didn't really have any idea what those books were about, as he never did actually read them - as much as his little sister had bugged him about it. But at least he knew they were magical. That was a plus.

As she responded back to him he sighed out, visibly relieved, raising a hand as he hooked his pinky around hers, a small grin etched to his face as he spoke out, "Of course." Bringing his hand down, his pinky still looped around the girl who was laying next to him, back to his chest, eyes closing as he tried to clear away the thoughts bogging down his mind. Whispering harshly of what could have been, what could still be.

But it as pointless - he knew it was, there had been a time, a place, a chance, and he had blown it. Like many other tales who's stories had been retold for centuries. He felt his lashes flutter softly as he lifted heavy lids, trying to keep his gaze averted from the girl opposite him, that held the stinging that he was feeling in his chest away. Like she ripped a part of hi away when she left, and was now taunting it in front of his face, and his body wanted it back. Bad. Instead, green eyes moved to trace patterns from the darkening clouds, as he hoped profusely that it wasn't going to rain.

[mandy adams.]

please don't flatter yourself.
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<sup>Mandy playfully rolled her eyes. "Please. You know I don't fall for guys like that," She laughed, knowing even though she was being humorous that there had never been another guy after Oliver. She hadn't had the time to find another guy, nor did she want to. Everytime even another guy looked at her, she immediately thought of Oliver. Mandy let out a burst of giggles when he tickled her under her ribs, throwing her head back. She always had been a ticklish girl.

Mandy shook her head, moving her head so that it fell against his chest. "I'm not going to disappear again, Ollie. I promise you that." She said, laughing softly, knowing quite well that she was done. She had worked so hard to get where she was right now, but she would leave all of it just to go back to be with Oliver. Whether or not they were going to date again was up to fate, but she never wanted to leave Oliver's side ever again. It had been too painful for the both of them.

Mandy laughed. "That's exactly what I'm going to do," She said playfully. "Except you know that there's never going to be any girl that gets you in as much trouble as I did, or that gives as good of a kiss as me." She jokingly warned, poking him back with the same light force that he had done to her, she giggled, rolling over on her back as her blonde curls flailed out behind her.

Mandy didn't like how silent it was now, but she knew that they were both thinking about the same thing. She let her arms fold against her chest, tilting her head so she could stare up at the sky and over at Oliver at the same time. She bit down on her lip, noticing that Oliver had been doing the same thing a lot while they were together now. Maybe it was a habit they had both picked up at the same time.

"So, that girl," Mandy sighed, her eyes still directed up into the heavens. "You never did tell me more about her. What's she like?" She inquired, turning to look at him.</sup>

[Oliver Flynn]

It doesn't feel right, when I look in your eyes,

He laughed along with her before saying, "Yeah, but you could now." Grinning at her sheepishly as she spoke. As he moved to tickle her, he heard with satisfaction, her laughed. As he pulled his hand away he was still grinning, that, of course, was how he used to be able to grab the last cookie, or beat her in a play station game. The girl was far too ticklish for her own good.

As she spoke out to him he sighed, pressing his hand at the small of her back he whispered out, "That's good, I'm glad." A small smile littering his face as he spoke. When she answered his question, he couldn't help but laugh, "Of course not." He spoke out, "Of course, that dog we found came pretty close to your kissing abilities, after all she didn't slobber as much." He spoke out, teasing th girl who was lying beside him.

As she asked about the girl he liked, Duray, he sighed out. He wasn't exactly sure how to explain it, but then again, she should have a right to know what was going on with his life. "Well, she's really pretty, a blondie like you." He said with a smirk, "I don't know her amazingly well, it's her first year at camp, she doesn't really know a lot of people." He shrugged as if to annunciate his point, "But she seems nice, and I think she likes me back..." He trailed off.

Actually he had almost solid proof for that little idea, mainly because he had asked her to be his girlfriend and she had said yes, "Well I hope so anyway, because I kinda asked her to be my girlfriend and she said yes." He said, grinning to himself as he seemed to be remembering something. "Hmm, I guess you'll just have to check her out for yourself then." He added with a laugh, shading his eyes from the sun overhead.

A hand moved up to ruffle out his hair, arms shifting upwards to stretch before pulling himself up so that he was sitting. Eyes scanned briefly over the darkening sky before he turned back to the blond laying beside him, "You may want to start back to your cabin, it's getting dark and then it really will seem like the the Blair Witch Project, he said, trying to control the grin that was fighting to overtake his face as he spoke.

}}sorry for the shortness /:

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[mandy adams.]

i'm getting closer, closer to closure.
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<sup>Mandy rolled her eyes, giggling. "I would never fall for actors. I'm around them all time, they're all...the same." She wrinkled up her nose in disgust. She had met a few nice boys in Hollywood, but they were mostly friends. She had never met anyone besides Oliver that had really caught her eye. Her friends told her that Mandy had her standards set too high, but when she was out with them and they'd point someone out and Mandy would veto them, she knew that all she could think about was him, and not the guy being presented.

Mandy laughed. "Well, it's good to now that I only have one competitor for that category, although it's not really competing. She did walk on all fours," Mandy playfully joked, her stomach still uncontrollably fluttering from the feeling of his fingers against her skin. Mandy and Oliver always had teased each other, Mandy knew that whenever he said anything that any other emotional girl might find hurtful, he was just joking.

Mandy felt a little bit of the happiness inside of her die off a little bit. 'A blondie like you.' Was he comparing Mandy to this new girl? Mandy didn't know if he had meant it to be that offensive, but she swallowed the intense emotions and went back to listening intently. "Mm, is she a natural blonde or a dyed blonde? You gotta be careful about those natural blondes," She joked, adding a small laugh at the end to make sure that he didn't take it the wrong way. "She sounds like a nice girl," Even though Mandy had heard only her hair color. "Good luck, tell me how it turns out."

"Oh, wow, really? Congratulations." Mandy said, turning away to hide her blush. How foolish she had been. She knew that there was another girl, but she hadn't been sure of it. She had just told herself that to distract herself from the fact that she really did want to be his girlfriend again. Mandy bit down on her lip, nodding. "Yeah, well, it was good to see you," She leaned over and loosely hugged him. "I'll see you around." She said quietly, standing up and walking back in the direction of camp.</sup>