Field Day

Tori's POV

Last night when I wanted to leave with Mark I just couldn't do it. Hayden was there with his flashy smile and Mark was beside me with his heartwarming smile. For once I felt trapped. I know part of me should have kept my promise with Mark and gone outside with him to walk around the neighborhood. But then I would have ditched Hayden, or did I ditch Mark by not going with him? No I couldn't have ditched Mark because he was with me. The three of us actually all laughed and had a good time. But I felt like a mouse, searching for cheese in a huge maze. It was different though, like two different kinds of cheeses at either end and I had to figure my way out.

What bothered me was Mark's 'costume.' It wasn't a costume it was his future uniform and it bothered me beyond comparison. It wasn't like Cali's costume that I just highly disliked. No I hated Mark in that uniform. If he left was there a possibility he'd forget me? Why did he have to leave in the first place? I'd rather have him stay here with his friends and family.

Then there was Shawn. I had never seen him lash out like that. In a sense, he didn't look like himself. Like some evil thing inside him decided to come out. I didn't understand the reason for his behavior. Only then after he lashed out on Trent, I knew I should have warned him. I felt guilty for whatever happened. I could have had the chance in preventing it. Whatever it was.

After his little outburst everyone tried to get back to what they were doing but they kept wondering what had happened. So the party was cut short. I was forced to make up another lie to Mark and tell him I wanted to help clean up and see what happened to Shawn, I said Cole would take me home. At least Cole backed me up in saying he would take me home and that he could really use a helping hand. After that Mark left peacefully like he totally understood. A thousands pounds of guilt were left on my shoulders.

I didn't necessarily lie. I did have to help clean up. Plastic cups were everywhere and paper plates polluted the floors. The backyard looked like a tornado had passed through it. A very young, energetic, teenage tornado. Even the tree house was filled with things I didn't want to name. It took us three hours to clean just the house and by that time dad, Lilly, and Suzie had arrived. They had decided to go to sleep while we finished up. I wouldn't blame them if they didn't want to clean up. They looked pretty exhausted.

We didn't finish cleaning though. Cole and I collapsed on the couch and Blake just sat at the sofa. We decided we'd clean the backyard and take the decorations down in the morning. When morning did arrive, I woke up with a slight regret I'd have to clean more. I groaned to myself throwing my pillow at the window wishing the sun could go down and leave me to sleep. Then I realized that was impossibe so I sat up and noticed two things. One, the black trash bags near the door that were filled with trash. And two, I was still in my costume. I was so tired last night I had just fallen in bed and passed out from exhaustion.

I got up changing into some sweat pants and a sweat shirt before grabbing the black bags and moving towards the hall. Everyone seemed to be awake because all doors were opened. Except for Shawn. His door was locked and really loud music kept leaking from under his door. I still wanted to know what happened between him and Trent. The way Shawn hit him and threw him around was scary, if Cole and Mark hadn't intervened then there could be a possibility that Trent would be in the hospital today.

"Hey," I said as I walked into the kitchen. Everyone mumbled a 'good morning' or 'hi' except Blake, who gave me the regular cold shoulder. A part of me wished he'd give me a chance like his brothers did. But I knew it was like asking the wind to move a mountain.

Cole had some toast in his mouth as he was trying to force more paper plates into the trash bag. Blake was grabbing any bag he found and would thrust it over his shoulder taking it to the garage. Suzie, Lilly, and dad all sat around the table watching. Well Suzie looked in a trance. All the left over candy buckets were at her feet and she just stared down at them.

"Look at all this candy." Suzie used her time to say every word. Like she had to think it through.

Cole chuckled, "All for you if you hand me the duct tape on the table right there." He pointed at the roll of duct tape near the center of the table and Suzie handed it to him with a smile. He grabbed the end of the tape with his teeth as he stretched it out while his other hand tried keeping hold of the ripped bag.

"Where's Shawn?" I asked deciding to help Cole instead of Blake. I only knew Blake would swipe me away like a flea on his shoulder. I kneeled by Cole's side holding both ends of the rip together as he tried to get a piece of tape to cover it up.

"I don't know," Cole pasted the tape over the rip, "But he better hurry up. I am not going to take down all these decorations. He helped put them up he better help take them down too."

"Like I always say," dad said from the table as he took a sip of coffee, "If you can make the mess, you can clean the mess."

"Amen." Cole muttered tossing the bag towards Blake.

"I think that's all the trash." Blake sighed and sat at table stealing some water from Lilly's glass. When he was done drinking he looked up at Cole. Of course I was just a see-through blanket to him. "Should we go get Shawn?"

"Yeah just because he snapped last night doesn't mean he's not going to do work." Cole grumbled getting up and extending his hand out for me. I took his hand and he hauled me up like I was a feather.

"Snapped?" Lilly asked. Dad looked up from his newspaper like he was now curious also.

"Yeah he had to much sugar," Blake answered quickly. One thing that I noticed in Blake, he's very quick. In everything. Especially lying though. "He just had a sugar rush and did crazy things. Don't worry, he's just having a sugar hangover."

"What's a hangover?" Suzie asked. Everyone turned to dad. While he explained to Suzie what a hangover was Blake stepped forward and started walking upstairs. I trailed after Cole who was following the leader, a very annoying, heartless, and bad leader.

Blake reached Shawn's door first and tried opening it but as I had assumed, it was locked. The music behind the door lowered down a bit when Blake tried turning the door knob and it only seemed to be making noise. "Shawn open the door."

"Go away." Shawn sounded different from the other side of the door. Kinda like he had a cold, I even heard a few sniffles and I wouldn't have been surprised if he sneezed. It was getting colder outside and to increase the chances of him being sick his room was right over the garage which had no heat. He probably did catch a cold, but something was telling me it wasn't that. If he had been sick he would have at least come downstairs to get some medicine or something.

"Shawn open the door." Cole stepped in front of Blake and stood by the door while I stayed in the back. "Dude come on. I'm not cleaning up after you. Get your ass downstairs....please." I almost laughed the way Cole meant to sound harsh, yet he could never pull it off. His harsh tone ended when he tried to be polite.

"Leave me alone dammit! Can't you see I don't want to come out!" Shawn must have thrown something at the door because it slightly jerked towards us and we heard a thump.

I pushed both Blake and Cole off the door and moved towards it. "Hey Shawn listen whatever happened last night...it's not your fault ok?"

"How do you know something happened?" We heard him say.

I actually didn't know something happened. I just assumed because why else would he be bothered? I also knew Trent had something to do with this, he had given me a warning and I chose to ignore it. God I'm so stupid. "Shawn what happened? What happened last night between you and Trent? What did he do?"

No answer. All we heard was the music and some shuffling in his room.

I sighed, "Shawn let us in. Look, Blake and Cole are here at least tell them. They're your brothers." Part of me felt like I was trying to coax a little boy out of his room. Talking gentle and trying to convince him, yeah I felt like I was talking to a little boy.

There was still no answer. We heard more shuffling and I looked behind me at Blake and Cole. Blake just had this hard glare on me, the usual. And Cole was looking down while biting his thumb. Finally we heard a click from the door and it opened up. What I expected was a angry or furious Shawn. What I saw was a boy with red puffy eyes and tear streaked cheeks. He kept sniffling to avoid the runny nose and his room was trashed, all his clothes everywhere and his costume was literally ripped. All Shawn wore were boxers but he held a blanket around his shoulders since his room was cold.

"Em dumped me." Those three words filled his eyes with more tears and I stood there unknowing what to do. I tried to look at Blake and Cole for support, but Cole looked bewildered and Blake just stood there with a straight line across his lips.

"What-what do you mean she dumped you?" Cole asked rubbing his thumb against his knuckles.

Shawn walked back into his room and we followed, Blake shutting the door after he entered. "Sacked, broke up, dumped, left. Do these not ring a bell Cole?" Shawn crawled onto his bed while I tried to stepover everything on the ground, scared I might step on something fragile and snap it in half.

"Why?" I asked sitting on his rolly desk chair after I had ventured through his polluted floor. This didn't make any sense to me. Shawn really does love Em, and I know she loves him with equally. I didn't understand what could have possibly been running across Em's mind when she brought down those lethal words onto Shawn.

Shawn went to the corner of his bed that was set up along the corner of a wall. He hid half his body and held a pillow to his chest. Now I realized what kind of music he was listening too. They all had some sort of love related theme. The One That Got Away by Katy Perry. I'm Yours by Jason Mraz. Mirrors by Justin Timberlake. Let Her Go by Passenger. Just all the songs he kept playing didn't seem like the appropriate things to listen to if you just got out of a relationship.

"Trent...he-he showed Em something. An-and she doesn't think I've ch-changed." Shawn had been crying so much his voice hiccuped whenever he talked. It was breaking my heart seeing him like this. He always joked around, played around, made people laugh. I don't think I've ever seen Shawn in a state where he's not kidding around. Even last night, after beating up Trent, he shrugged everyone off and told them to go back to what they were doing.

"So...what happened?" Blake asked sitting at the edge of the bed. Cole took a seat on the desk and we all watched Shawn.

He wiped his entire arm across his face. "She um..." He sniffled, "I walked away for a sec-second to get dri-dri-drinks. When I came back. Tr-Trent was sitting be-beside her. She ran away, I-I chased after her. We-we went outside an-and she said I would never change from being a play-player. She didn't be-believe me when I said I had changed. Tr-Trent showed her some ve-very bad things I had done at other party's."

I was out of words and all I did was frown. The little son of a bitch. After thinking it all over I realized it was all my fault. If I had never cuffed Trent and took pictures sending them to Shawn and others, then Shawn would have never said anything in the locker room. Trent wouldn't have been so mad and Shawn could be living a nice life with Em. Then there was the fact that Trent had given me a clear warning last night that I chose to ignore.

"That little mother fucker." Cole clenched his fists. "He's been a real pain in the ass this year. How were we ever friends with him?"

"Oh please," I whispered under my breath, "He learned it all from you three."

Although I whispered I knew they all heard me. Shawn just closed his eyes and tried to calm his breathing, he knew it was true. Cole's eyes softened a bit, he knew it was true also. Blake definitely knew it was true. But he looked angry, not regretful. "Why are you in here?" He asked me, "Your not even helping."

"I was just saying..." I muttered looking down. It annoyed me how I felt intimidated by him at times. Only if he caught me at the right time or in the right mood then I would feel intimidated. I shouldn't be intimidated though, I stood up to him plenty of times.

"Leave her alone Blake. She's not the issue at hand." Cole turned his attention back to Shawn. "Come on man you can't seriously think she's the only fish in the sea right? They're plenty of other girls out there."

"After knowing me for almost eighteen years you'd think you'd know I'm never serious." Shawn sighed and Cole muttered something inaudible under his breath.

"He's right though Shawn," I tried to encourage this theory on, "There are other girls out there. I mean you make everyone laugh. It won't be hard to find someone else."

Shawn choked on a sob as he spoke, "But I don't want any other fish!" He sounded like a little boy wanting his lost pet to come home. "I want this fish! The pretty one with the sparkly eyes. The one that liked me for me. The one who got me to read and the one that would cuddle with me whenever I'd read to her. I want that fish! Not some stupid replacement. I want the girl that I fell in love with."

At this point I couldn't hold it back. I felt tears stinging in my eyes just by looking at Shawn. He looked so heartbroken, so helpless. I never even thought he had a heart. The school had a way to travel rumors and stories around so I always assumed the Parris brother had no heart. Getting to know them has showed me that two-thirds of them have a heart.

I knew for a fact Shawn's brothers had no idea what they were suppose to do. So I climbed in beside the sobbing Shawn and hugged him tightly around the side. I layed my head on his collar and he hugged me closer to his side like a teddy bear. "It's going to be fine Shawn." My voice slightly cracked. I didn't think he'd be able to bring tears in my eyes, but he managed to. The way he looked so helpless it was unbearable. This wasn't the Shawn I had grown used to loving, this was something broken that needed to be pieced together. "Don't worry we'll think of something."

No one said anything for a good while. I just didn't know what to say, so I comforted him instead. "Well damn..." Cole said breaking the silence that had fallen between all of us. He was looking down at his hands as he realized he had everyone's attention. "Shawn I'm sorry. I just...I don't know how to help you man. Your my little brother and I can't do anything to help."

"You're just the first to actually love someone." Blake added awkwardly slightly rocking from side to side. "So...what do you want us to do to help?"

Shawn shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe jus-"

The door flew open and Suzie walked in munching on a Snickers. "Don't tell dad-" She took a look at Shawn and her eyes turned from mischievous to confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Shawn got dumped." Blake said without any effort to make it a sore topic. He's harsh even with his brothers.

"Wow thanks so much Blake." Shawn pulled me even closer which I found very odd since I didn't think he could get me closer than I already was. He was squeezing me around the waist which I found to some discomfort but not nearly as bad as I would think.

At first Suzie looked confused like she didn't understand what the big fuss was about, "I'll be right back." She put her Snickers down on the table and zipped out of the room and running outside where we couldn't see her anymore. We waited for her to return and when she did I slightly smiled with what she brought. In her right arm was two jugs of ice cream, chocolate and vanilla. In her right hand she had a bottle of  caramel syrup and chocolate syrup. In the left arm she had a bowl with five spoons, and finally she brought a recyclable grocery bag filled with chocolates. "Ice cream to num the heart. Spoons for everyone. Chocolate to dip in caramel for a sweet yet bitter taste." She said each item as she placed it at Shawn's feet.

Shawn smiled a bit. It felt good to see him smile. When I looked at the other boys they were smiling too. Even the heartless one who hates me to the edge of the world and back. Must I mention his name, doubt it, everyone knows he's the one with a stone heart. "Thanks Suzie," Shawn said as he was handed the bowl. We each grabbed our spoon and opened the ice cream containers. Shawn was the first to go as he piled his bowl with vanilla ice cream. Everyone else just ate from the containers. "Ice cream never tasted so good." Shawn put a chunk of delicious desert into his mouth. I waited for him to get a brain freeze but it never happened as he continued stocking ice cream on his tongue.

"Oh!" Suzie said putting her spoon down and grabbing the grocery bag. "You have fo try Hershey with caramel dip." She grabbed one of the mini Hershey bars from Halloween and unwrapped it. Then she grabbed the caramel and squeezed some onto the Hershey bar. "Here," She moved it towards Shawn's mouth, "Try it."

He didn't look convinced but he opened his mouth and Suzie layed it on his tongue. He chewed and his expression changed slightly. "That's actually really good." He smiled again which I found as another accomplishment.

"Of course it's good," Suzie said with a roll of the eyes, "Why do you think they make chocolates with caramel fillings?"

"How do you know about this Suzie?" Cole asked taking some more ice cream and combining it with a Twix bar. "Like how do you know about the ice cream and chocolates and..." Cole waved his arms around all the things Suzie brought up, "Stuff."

Suzie looked towards me as if asking for permission. I knew exactly why Suzie knew how to handle this kind of stuff. In my sophmore year I had a boyfriend but his dad got a job in a different state. So he had to move. I was a mess though when he left. We'd agree to break up only because we knew long distance surely wouldn't work. Mark and Cali had come over to make sure I was alright, and Suzie had stayed with us.

I nodded to Suzie letting her know she could tell them if she wanted to. I didn't really mind it was a long time ago besides right now I was to concentrated on dripping some chocolate syrup on my spoonful of ice cream. She smiled a bit and looked towards Cole. "Tori had a boyfriend. When they broke up I had ice cream."

The first reaction was Blake laughing, "Tori had a boyfriend?!" He erupted in even higher laughter, a very loud full hearted laughter, it was surely giving him pleasure hearing this news. If this was the way to make Blake laugh then he really did have a pretty messed up mind. "Oh god," Blake said between laughs, "Poor guy. No wonder he dumped you."

"Actually he-"

"Yeah your right poor him," I said cutting off Suzie before she said anything. I decided to just cut the subject and let Blake think whatever he wanted. No matter what I said he'd still find a way to laugh.

"So what did you do Tori?" Shawn asked looking down at his ice cream, "Like what happened after you two broke up?"

I sighed trying to remember the days after the break. "Well...we talked for a bit. Texted and stuff. Then we grew apart...haven't talked to him in a year, maybe more. Honestly I liked him, I really liked him, but now I can't even remember what his face looked like."

Shawn banged his head against the wall. "She's not going to text me. I've already called her, called her aunt too. Left I don't know how many messages but she won't respond. Won't let me explain that I was an idiot then. If her dog had a phone I'd probably be calling him too." His eyes shut close just as I saw new tears beginning to form. He took in a shaky breath, "She's gonna forget my what I look like..."

I shut my mouth after that. I hadn't meant to make the situation worse. I was just being honest. If I thought hard enough I could possibly remember my ex- boyfriend's face, but at the moment it just seemed hazed. Like all I remember are shadows and textures, but not the clear image. I think he had green eyes...maybe blue...I'll look in the year book later and see if I can find him.

"Nah man," Cole said throwing a wrapper towards the small trashcan but missing, "Your Shawn Parris. There's no way she'll forget you."

"Why don't you just...win her back?" Suzie said with a shurg of her shoulders. "You know? Flowers? Chocolates? Be all romantic! Like in the princess movies. You gotta sweep her off her feet."

Shawn finally laughed. Not the laugh I would want him to have but a small laugh that came from his throat and seemed to blend with his breath. "That's only in movies Sue. I don't think she'll want me. And...even if she does, I wouldn't know what to do."

"You have got to be kidding me." I nearly shouted. It had gotten to a point where I just didn't know if this was Shawn or some little baby. I sat up on my knees and stared at the awestruck Shawn. "Do you realize how unnatural you sound? Your Shawn Parris the littlest of the famous Parris brothers. Are you not the teenager that has the school in the palm of his hands?"

"Well yeah but-"

I cut him off, "The same guy that every girl wants? The one guy that is considered the school clown, and the guy that even makes teachers laugh? Are you not Shawn Parris?"

"Yes but-"

"You're also the same guy I would watch last year as you walked down the halls with the confidence the president of the United States. That's the Shawn I know. You can win her back Shawn. Just think! Does she really mean that much to you?" Everything I said was true. Shawn Parris was the funny bone of the school. Everyone loves him for the fact he doesn't take anything serious. Everything to him is a joke. So now I'm wondering if Em was just another joke.

"She means...she means so much to me Tori."

I smiled gently. "Then for once do something serious in your life."

Cole had this great smile on his face. Sort of like he seemed excited by what I said. I felt like a motivational speaker. I didn't know I could be inspiring. "You know she's right Shawn," Cole stood up, "We're a team. Me, you, and Blake. We've always been a team. Whenever we all do something, we never fail."

"Um...yeah we do." Blake muttered. I wanted to slap that boy. He needed to show some encouragement to his brother, but instead he decides to be a complete ass. "Love is overrated anyways. They all leave you in the end. You're better off having a one night stand than filling your heart with shit that ain't real."

"Blake could I like talk to you outside in the hall for a sec." I got up handing Suzie my spoon and moving towards Blake.

"No I don't want to talk to-" I grabbed his ear and cut him off. He instantly got up and followed me wherever I led him. His teeth were grinding together as I shut the door behind us. I made sure to walk down the hall far enough so everyone in Shawn's room wouldn't hear us.

I let go of his ear. "Would you just-"

Blake shoved me against the wall, his arm against my neck as it forced my back to the wall. "Don't you ever grab my ear again!" He whispered shouted through his teeth, his hand gripping my shoulder.

It hurt, I knew that much. But I just ignored the pain and spoke. "Fine whatever. Just stop being yourself for one day and support your brother." I hated him. I never thought I could hate someone but he was an exception. I especially didn't like being trapped between a wall and him. He had nothing in him, everything was hollow. Even his heart was just a cold piece of rock. There was no love there, not even for his own brothers. I wondered that if I tapped him if he'd just make an echo inside him like the Tin Man.

"You know what? I've always supported him. But I can't in this field." Blake spat out.

"Then let me, Cole, and Suzie help." I used all my force and weight to push him off, "You just stay away from us then."

"Don't tell me what to do." His vein popping out of his forehead, "They're my brothers. Not yours. No matter how much you get them to like you, you will never be our sister."

He walked off back into Shawn's room. It somewhat hurt if I thought about it long enough. I'm trying to look at them as brothers, and maybe in a way I have started to love them that way. But Blake knows his brothers better than I do. Is it true that I'm just a girl to them? Cole had called me his sister but did he really mean it or was it just to make me think that he meant it?

Then I remembered the bet I had placed with dad. I had till Thanksgiving which was less than a month away. I ran to my room and opened the drawer I had, then pulled out a small piece of paper. I ran downstairs and found dad and Lilly on the couch. What I didn't expect to find was them having an intense make out session. I almost screamed like the little girl in horror movies and ran upstairs.

I covered my eyes, "Hey dad!" I shouted just to make sure he could hear me. It made me sad to think this is what Lilly and dad do sometimes when we're gone. It bothered me still because I felt that maybe he was cheating mom. But mom would have wanted him to be happy. I guess if you truly love someone then you'd just want what's best for them.

"Tori what are you doing?" He asked a bit breathless.

"Funny I was gonna ask the same. Can I open my eyes now?" I didn't bother too. "Sorry Lilly could I just borrow my dad for a second? It's very important."

I heard her laugh, "Yeah go ahead."

I still didn't open my eyes so when I felt a hand holding my arm and leading me somewhere I figured it was my dad. "What's up?" He asked me once he closed his bedroom doors behind us. The master room was pretty big, it had double doors instead of one, and the bathroom had a giant tub in it with two sinks one for each person. Dad and Lilly both had their own walk in closets instead of the crappy ones I have upstairs, but that didn't matter.

"Well daddy," I started out, "Remember that bet we made a while back? The one that if I'm nice to the boys they might be nice to me?"

Dad grinned, "Yeah and you'll win a day with me and Apocalypse of the Zombies 2."

I smiled, "Yeah. Well I have this idea, but I need your help."

Dad raised an eyebrow. "My help? That's not part of the description."

I had the paper between my fingers and fiddled around with it. I handed it to dad, "This was my idea. But I'm not eighteen yet."

Dad took the paper and unfolded it. His eyebrows knitted together as he tried to read my scribbles. When I wrote this I had been in a hurry. The announcer had talked so fast I wasn't able to get all the information down, so I tried to memorize it as best as I could. Dad finally cracked a smile, "Oh they'll surely love you after this."

Now I smiled. I mean sure it was a long shot but if I did accomplish it then maybe Blake would see me differently. "So you'll help?"

Dad nodded, "Yeah. I'll get my laptop and enter. But Tor-bo I'm not sure if you'll win."

"But if I do...then they'll be happy right?"

"Of course. Just go pray to god you'll win." Dad chuckled and then handed me the paper. "Go on."

I took the paper and walked out the room. Before leaving I stopped at the door and turned to face him again. "Hey dad," I said catching his attention, "I love you and all but... I really don't want another little brother or sister."

"Now hang on a sec-" I shut the doors before dad could finish. I ran back upstairs before him or Lilly could corner me. When I ran up to Shawn's room I closed the door behind me and locked it. I slid down the door trying to get the image of dad and Lilly out of my mind.

"What happened to you? It looks like you've seen a ghost." Cole said. Everyone was looking at me but I just shrugged it off.

I think I prefer a ghost.

"I just saw something I didn't want to see." I finally managed to say. Shawn looked better now. His eyes weren't as red, and his face was regaining its natural color. He finally got dressed having some sweat pants and a basketball jersey. "You look better," I moved closer to him until I sat on the edge of his bed.

"Yeah," he smiled a little more, "We were thinking on watching a movie when we're done taking the decorations down."

I was glad he was feeling better. At least now he was sobbing over Emily. If anything I would think he'll be fine after today. Sure it'll hurt, it'll definitely hurt at school, but he said he would try to win her back. Maybe he will, maybe he won't. I would hope he wins her back, truth be told he seemed incredibly happy with Emily. I wouldn't want to see his little jokester side to deflate over a girl.

The ice cream had melted but only half of each tub remained so Suzie took everything back downstairs while we waited for Shawn to get out of bed.

****************************

"I don't get it!" Shawn shouted as the movie ended. We had finished taking decorations down and now we had concluded the movie High Crimes with Morgan Freeman. "The whole time your wanting this guy to win," Shawn ranted, "But then he does win! And you're like 'Finally all the suffering is over!' Why couldn't they just keep it there? But no they have to make a different ending! I mean...why?!"

"Well that's the point Shawn. You love him till the end." Suzie replied.

Shawn sighed and threw himself back into the bean bag. "I think it's dumb. Can we watch Lion King now?"

"I don't think it was dumb." Suzie said. "It seemed well planned."

"But the ending sucks!" Cole added.

I hadn't been paying much attention to the arguments going on. Shawn and Suzie were both fighting while Cole and Blake fought over the same topic. Each were having a debate and squaring back at each other. To me I just didn't really care. A movie is a movie, but then there are some that leave you wondering what's going to happen next.

"All they wanted was a baby!" Shawn shouted.

"Who would want a baby after that?!" Suzie shouted back.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. It was an old movie but definitely for anyone who likes mystery or crime. I took the movie out of the system replacing it with Lion King. Quickly, I grabbed the remote and muted the TV. Everyone kept arguing so I took the advantage and went directly to the menu.

Standing up, I walked to the door remote in my hand. Because it was still on mute I couldn't hear anything so I raised the volume and still nothing came out. So I braced myself and un-muted the TV. The speakers came to life, blasting the loudest music ever as The Circle of Life played. "Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba!"

Everyone in the room instantly cupped their hands to their ears. They all turned to me like I had just done the craziest thing on earth, almost as if I were a lunatic.

"Turn it down!" Cole tried shouting over the music.

I could hear him fine but I wanted to mess with him. "What?!" I shouted tapping my ear. "I can't hear you!"

Blake stood up and grabbed the remote from my hands. He held the minus button down until the music was at a normal level. "What the hell is the matter with you?" He turned to face me as he spoke.

"Shawn said he wanted to watch Lion King." I flicked my head towards Shawn who was rubbing his ears.

"Yeah I wanted to watch it. Not have my ears blasted out by The Circle of Life." He muttered.

"Well I'm just glad your not fighting anymore." I sat back down beside Shawn, Blake taking the sofa behind me. I heard him mutter something but I couldn't make it out. There was a high chance it was an insult, but I wasn't in the mood to ask what he said, so I let it slid. This once.

To Blake I knew I was never going to be a sister. I was simply a girl that lived under his roof. No matter what I did, I was always going to be the blood sucking parasite to him. That's it.

In the middle of the movie as Simba sang I Just Can't Wait to be King, my phone went of causing my whole bottom to vibrate. When I pulled it out of my pocket, the bright screen illuminated the whole room. Everyone turned to me and as I looked onto at the screen the back if my eyes hurt since I was so accustomed to the darkness of the room.

"Tori turn it off." Suzie complained.

"Seriously we're trying to watch the movie." Cole added.

"Sorry," I muttered my eyes adjusting to the light. The name written across the screen made me smile. I got up leaving the room where I swiped my finger across my phone and put it to my ear. "Mark?"

"Hey Tori," he said through the other line, "Wanna come over? Maybe a for dinner and possibly stay the night?" It made me smile because this is exactly what he would do. No introductions. No 'how are you doing?' Just him getting straight to the point of wanting me go to his house.

"Um..." I felt guitly because I surely wanted to go but then Shawn was still trying to cope with losing Em. I paced away from the theater and took a seat at the steps that led to the main floor of the house.

"Is that a no?" I could practically see Mark lifting his eyebrow.

I layed back on the wall bringing my feet up to the step as my knees came to my chest. "No I want to go-"

"Good because Suzie got to stay last time and now it's your turn." He took a small pause. "Besides dad said today we're having a barbeque in celebration."

"Celebration for what?" I asked.

"I don't know. He's not home he just told me to invite you if you wanted to stay the night. Want to?"

"Well duh." I exaggerated a bit, then smiled. Of course I wanted to stay the night. I hadn't been to his house for a long time, ever since I had moved here I realized I hadn't had enough time for Mark. Usually we'd have double sleepovers and he'd come over or I'd go there. But I promised Blake and the boys, and what if Blake was right? Mark may never talk to me again because I lied to him. And I'm still lying to him.

"Cool. So just bring your duffel bag unless you want to borrow my clothes."

"Which are ginormous on me." I added using my shoulder to hold the phone to my ear while my hands stretched to play with my toes. "I'll be there in a bit. So what did you think of last night?"

At first I didn't hear anything, only the squeak of his rolly chair as it moved back and forth signifying that Mark was at his desk. "It was alright," He finally said, "I mean Shawn had that moment but other than that, it was fine. Do you know what happened?"

I nodded then realized he couldn't see me. "Yeah. I'll tell you later. You'll probably find out soon anyways. He is a Parris." Everytime Mark would call, or I'd call him to invite each other we'd spend so much time on the phone that it might be forever when we actually arrive to each others house. Then I remembered Mark's costume last night and I felt like my mouth go dry. "So have you told your parents about the army?"

This time I didn't hear anything. Not the squeak of Mark's chair or his breathing on the phone I heard nothing. I wasn't sure if he just hung up or if he had walked away leaving the phone on the table. I shifted on the stair unsure what to do or say. It seemed forever until I heard the squeaking take up again. "No," Mark answered flatly. "Frankly I don't know how they'll react. Either really good or bad."

I remembered the stories that Mr. Bennett would tell us. He said that his father, Mark's grandfather, wasn't allowed to go because his father, and mother (Mark's great grandfather and great grandmother) didn't want to make their child endure that. Yet he went. When Mr. Bennett told his parents about wanting to go, they were happy. Proud and they even threw a giant going away party. Mrs. Bennett was there telling Mike she'd wait for him because she was so madly in love with him. And she did wait and now she has Mark and Conlan.

So Mark knew it was two options for him. Either his parents don't want him to go or they're proud he wants to join. "Hey Mark don't worry." I said trying to reassure him, "They'll be so proud of you. Conlan will be proud. Your mom will be proud. Your dad! He'll be beyond proud Mark."

"What about you?" He asked quickly.

What about me? Of course I'd be proud. I just didn't want him to go. We always talked about college together or the fact that if he did leave we'd never forget about each other. But I came to a realization that he won't always be there for me. He'll go his separate way and so will I. As much as I hate the idea, it's bound to happen eventually.

"I'm already proud of you Mark." I answered. "Who wouldn't be? You've been there for me since as long as I can remember."

Mark sighed, "Could you do me a favor Tori?"

"Anything."

"Can you be there when I tell mom and dad?" His voice sounded unsure but I simply smiled.

"Then we'll tell them tonight." I didn't mean to force it on him but I just wanted him to get it over with. This way he wouldn't be able to chicken out, or make excuses.

"Now hold on-"

"You said your dad has good news. So first tell them and then if they do take it badly, which I highly doubt, then your dad still has the good news."

Mark didn't say anything at first, "Ok, fine. We'll tell them tonight." There was a three second silence that came between us, Mark was the first to break the ice. "Hey I need to ask you something when you come over ok?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"You have to come over to find out." He taunted.

"Fine then let me get my bag ready. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Awesome. See you then Tori." We said our goodbyes and hung up. I sat there for a second just thinking about everything. A night at Mark's would be awesome. He mentioned a barbeque and I instantly knew that would be delicious. Including the fact that I had Mr. Bennett with us and little Conlan.

"You know," I jumped where I was sitting and turned my head as Shawn walked down the hall and out of the shadows, "You two really are meant to be."

"Were you there the whole time?" I really must say it's creepy when someone pops out of nowhere like a ghost. Maybe a nice warning next time so I don't nearly have a heart attack.

"Sort of. I listened to some stuff, not a lot." Shawn gave me a grin that only added to his playful and comedian personality. It was still nice seeing him smile though. After this morning I wasn't sure if he'd smile today. Or tomorrow in that case.

"That's really creepy." I said to him as he came to sit beside me.

"You've been living with me for like five months and that you consider creepy?" He chucked before giving a small sigh a and playing around with his fingers.

"You ok?" I asked setting my hand on his knee. He still looked a bit taken back and depressed from the break up but I could see he was trying his best.

"Yeah." He forced a smile, my way of knowing he forced it was how the corners of his eyes wouldn't curl with the smile. They'd stay straight and it wasn't natural like his usual playful and happy smiles  that'd he'd have. I also recognized that usually happens when he lies as well. His smile wouldn't match the curl of his eyes and you'd know he's lying.

"Hey," I slid my arms around his torso and snuggled into his side as he put his arm around my shoulders to bring me closer. "If you need anything," I said looking up to him, "Just tell me I'll try my best."

This time his eyes curled with his smile. "Could you-could you maybe get her to come to homecoming this Friday?" I must have hesitated because he rushed out his next words. "I know you and Em are somewhat friends so I just thought maybe you can talk to her? Try to convince her."

I could see the desperation in Shawn's eyes. I just couldn't say no to him so I nodded. "Yeah. I'll convince her to come."

Shawn let out a breath he was holding and gave me a warm smile. "Thanks Tori."

"So you don't mind if I go?" I asked.

He shook his head before laying it against mine. "Sometimes..." He paused licking his lips for a second,  "Sometimes I wish I met you sooner. Before we became siblings...that way...we could have been friends before this."

*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*

I got out of my dad's car heading up the driveway towards Mark's house. When dad heard I was going to Mark's house he let me use his car so I wouldn't have to bike there. The car beeped behind me as I clicked the lock button on the keys and swung my bag over my shoulder. I jumped up the stairs to the front door where I rang the doorbell.

The sun was already setting behind the trees and the temperature was dropping with the loss of the giant star. It was a pretty sight though, sunset. The way it disappeared behind the trees turning the sky all sort of colors. Pink and purple near the sun as it slowly turned blue then a darker blue until finally it was black at the other end of the sky, were stars were already visible.

I waited there for a second until finally the door open. "Tori!" Conlan yelled as he gave me hug. I smiled putting my hand on his back.

"What's up? You never hug me like this." I didn't think it was bad that he was hugging me, only normally he's shooting me with foam pelts.

"You just never come over anymore." He said looking up at me as he did so. "You haven't been over in forever and I don't even think you invited Mark to your place yet."

I honestly felt like a truck hit me square in the chest. "Speaking of Mark," I said trying to change subject as I casually pulled Conlan off me, "Where is he?"

"He's upstairs waiting for you. I don't think he heard the doorbell he's listening to music." Conlan walked to the living room and I followed after him. I saw the TV and looked at what Conlan was watching. It was just Bugs Bunny with Elmer Fudd.

"Aren't you too old for cartoons?" I asked  as he layed down on his sofa with a small bag of chips.

"No one is too old for cartoons." Conlan retorted munching on his chip.

"Touche." I watched the episode with Conlan. It was the classic Duck Season, Rabbit Season fight between Bugs and Daffy. I still didn't understand the sudden interest of Conlan wanting to see cartoons but I assume it had something to do with his dad who has a passion for these things. "Did your dad put you up for this?" I asked him once the closing of Porky the Pig came on.

Conlan nodded. "We placed a bet. I've been watching Looney Tunes nonstop for a week. Tonight we're seeing who knows more. Winner gets to decorate his wheelchair."

"Well what's the fun in that for him?" I asked somewhat confused.

"He wants it camo I want fire rods. We were having that fight the other day so we came up with the bet. Whoever can predict what's going to come next the most times, wins." Conlan smirks never taking his eyes of the tv. "He hasn't even seen one episode. I'm so gonna win and make his wheelchair have unicorns."

"You just said you wanted fire on it."

"Tori this bet has forced me to watch these episodes over and over for a week. Not only that but I failed my vocabulary test in English because of this." His eyes looked so serious and he had a evil smile. "I'm gonna make him pay."

I mouthed the word ok a bit worried now but I simply posted his shoulder and started my way to look for Mark. "I'll be in Mark's room if you need me." I didn't think Conlan heard me, he was already watching a new episode with Tweety the Bird and Sylvester.

Once I was upstairs I walked down the halfway to Mark's room. Sure enough I heard loud music playing. The closer I got the more I could feel the shock waves of the music playing. I opened his door and took a peek through the small sliver I had made.

Mark sat at his desk on his laptop while he typed something. The speakers were underneath his desk so there was no way he could hear anything. I crept my way inside, softly setting my bag on his bed. I tip toed to him just as the song was ending. I stayed behind him waiting for the song to end, it was hard because I'd have to keep my balance on the tips of my toes or I'd fall and be compromised. When the song did end, I stopped my breathing and he picked up the can of coke to the side and took a sip. Thats when I grabbed his shoulders, "BOO!"

Mark yelped jumping inches off his chair and spilling his coke all over his shirt. I doubled over in laughter. "Holy smokes Tori!" He shouted bringing the music down and trying not to touch his soggy shirt, "You scared the living shit outta me."

It was hard for me to talk with all the laughing I was doing but at one point I was able to control the laughter. "Now we're even." I moved over to his bed lying down on my back laughing every other second from the memory of Mark's face.

"Jeez..." He muttered standing up and sliding his shirt off. "Now I'm all sticky." He whined throwing the dirty shirt into the laundry basket.

"On the up side you smell like Coca-Cola."

"I don't smell like Coca-Cola." He walked towards his closet in search for another shirt.

I raised my hands in surrender. "I think you do but I'm not gonna sniff you."

Mark chucked, "I didn't ask you to." He pulled out a black under armour shirt with short sleeves and threw it over his head.

"Your going to catch a cold." I rolled my eyes to add to the fake annoyance.

Mark shook his head pulling out his jacket. "If I get cold I'll just wear this." Before I could say anything else he jumped onto his bed, the weight making me lose my balence and jump up as well. When I touched back down we were both laughing. He was on his side facing me and as the laughter died down and we lay still I instinctively grabbed his dog tag and started playing with it.

"You said you had something to ask me?" I said fiddling with the metal. Mark always has his dog tag on. It's the only thing he wears around his neck. Mr. Bennett had gotten it for him when we were in middle school. It had Mark's name written across it and under his name it said 'Army Strong.' Since then we haven't been able to get Mark out of that necklace, it's almost like it became part of him. He never takes it off.

"Yeah...it's about homecoming." When I looked up at him he only seemed concentrated on watching my fingers twirl his tag. "You going with someone?" He asked looking up at me.

"Ye-yeah." It was hard to tell him when his eyes were boring into mine. I didn't know why thought, it just was. "I'm going with Hayden..."

Mark nodded a smile forming across his lips. "He's a good guy. I'm glad your going with him." Mark then gave me a playful smile. "Looks like Tori has a crush. Oooh."

I slapped his chest. "No. He's just sweet and asked me first." Mark chuckled softly while I just kept staring at him. "D-do you have a date?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "Nah. You know me." He then gave me one of his flashy grins. "Rejecting is my skill."

I laughed. "Yeah because I'm sure you had a ton of girls to reject."

"Three." Mark said nonchalantly.

My fingers stopped playing with his dog tag and I looked up at him. "Seriously?" Maybe I was a little shocked. I know that over the summer Mark had been working out and now he didn't look bad. Sure he used to be average but now he did have more muscle that was shown sometimes when he'd wear tight shirts or polos that wouldn't button all the way because it bothered him and constricted his chest.

"Yeah," He shrugged his shoulders, "None were my type."

"So who are are you going with?" I asked starting to fiddle with the necklace again.

"By myself. I don't have to take a date. Don't really want to anyways." He shrugged again while I just stared at him. I found it shocking that Mark wouldn't want a date. Sure he wasn't the kind that asks a girl, but last year he did go with a girl to homecoming. Every other year me and him stayed home and watched movies or played videogames. I just thought that maybe, because it's senior year, maybe he'd want to go with someone.

"You should have said yes to one girl though." I muttered beneath my breath.

"Yeah but I didn't want to." Mark replied.

"But see I can't believe you just 'didn't want to.'"

"I just didn't want to ok?" He nearly shouted, agitation hinted behind his voice. "Just drop it..."

He rolled over onto his back just staring at the ceiling. At his movement, his dog tag slipped from my fingers and I just laid there watching his breathing even though I could feel the obvious tension. "Hey," I poked his side catching a glance from him after a couple seconds of silence, "I'm sorry."

I wasn't sure how we got to this position. Whenever we fight it merely lasts minutes, possibly an hour or so, but it does take two opposing forces to start a fight. The tension went down when I noticed Mark trying not to smile. His lips straining so they wouldn't curl. "I'm sorry too." He said as he turned his head to my direction. Now he had a full smile, the same heart warming ones that I have gotten used to loving so much.

"Can I get a snuggle from my favorite teddy bear?" I said with a huge grin that made me feel like a five year old showing off her new fallen tooth.

Mark laughed, a warm vibration from his chest that I could feel from where I was. "Yeah, ok."

I crawled onto him lying my head on his chest along with my hands as his arms wrapped around my waist. To say Mark was warm was an understatement. It felt like a warm blanket had just absorbed my insides and outsides. It felt like I was completly safe and protected, like nothing could happen to me. Or maybe it was that I couldn't imagine something bad happening to me if I'm in Mark's arms. It just wasn't going to happen.

"Could you please explain to me what the occassion is for having a barbeque?" I said rather lazily. I didn't feel like talking much but the question was nagging in the back of my head.

Mark didn't say anything at first and for a second I thought he might have fallan asleep. Finally he took a deep breath like he was gonna start giving a long lecture. "No idea."  He sighed out.

"When are we going to tell your parents?" I muffled out.

Again Mark didn't say anything. He stayed completly silent but I waited patiently. Sure I knew he was frightened, he didn't know how his parents would react but I knew it was time he would have to tell them. He can't hide this forever and then expect them to be happy if it's last minute. "You said tonight. At dinner." He fianlly said.

"So you will tell them?"

Mark sighed, "Yeah but only because you're here."

I smiled and concentrated on Mark's heart beat. "Your going to be fine."

"I would hope so."

"You are." I kept insisting.

"Yeah I know..."

We didn't say anything else, instead we let the silence take over us. I just listened to Mark's beat inside his chest. The rhythm was making me sleepy and it would slow down along with his breathing.  Maybe we were there seconds, or minutes, but we heard a sharp beep beep and we instantly knew that the garage door opened and Mr. and Mrs. Bennett were back. Mark groaned and threw his head back, "No I wanted to take a nap."

I chuckled and sat up on his stomach, "Come on let's help your parents."

When we reached the bottom of the stairs we saw Mr. Bennett wheel into the kitchen with a few grocery bags in his lap. When he saw me he gave me smile like he wasn't sure if I was going to be here or not. "Tori I'm glad you were able to make it."

"Hello Tori," Mrs. Bennett said with a quick wave as she set the bags on the counter. Her eyes flicked over to Mark who stood behind me. "Can you help me with the grocery's Mark?"

He nodded and headed out the door with his mother while I heard more Looney Tune cartoons being played in the living room. "I'll start the grill Mary," Mr. Bennett said as he grabbed he plastic bag that held the steaks and patties. "Tori would you mind..." He didn't finish the sentence he just moved his arms like he was train giving me the sign language.

I couldn't help but smile. "Course I wouldn't mind." I moved behind him and starting pushing him to the backyard. We passed by Conlan, still on the sofa watching something about Speedy Gonzalez. Mr. Bennett shook his head like his son had finally lost it. I wouldn't doubt it. Conlan looked possessed watching the TV.

"Why did you make that bet with him?" I asked Mr. Bennett after I set him in front of the grill. He had been smart enough to start it before leaving for the store. This way we wouldn't have to wait for the grill to heat up, we could immediately start cooking.

Mr. Bennett looked nice too. A nice dress shirt and a newly shaved face. His hair wasn't the usual messy I had grown used to seeing, but he still went around the world with the confident smile.

Nevertheless his personality was the same. "I just thought it'd be fun." He said with a wicked grin.

I laughed, "Well beware. Conlan said that if he wins he'll make your wheelchair have unicorns and rainbows."

"Oh Tori you underestimate me." Mike said putting a couple patties on the grill. "He thinks he knows it all but I know more."

"I don't doubt it. You taught me all about cartoons and how important they are for the heart and soul."

"Indeed. They are highly important in one's life of laughter and happiness."

"You will never cease to amaze me Mr. Bennett."

He chuckled, "I gotta say I missed home. It's nice being back. Seeing how much you and Mark have grown. And Conlan. The little kid is growing up too. It really is amazing how time can fly, Tori."

I playfully rolled my eyes, "You sound like my dad."

"Your father and I are great friends." He flipped another pattie adding the steaks to the opposite side of the grill. "Which reminds me, sorry we couldn't attend the wedding for your stepmother. Bill has told me alot about her. Is she kind to you too?"

I was definitly caught offguard by this. If my dad told Mike about Lilly maybe he mentioned the boys too. This secret was killing me. Every lie and everything I've had to make up to keep this secret for Blake and his troop. It wasn't worth the risk of losing Mark or his family, yet what if Blake was right. After all the lying and keeping secrets wouldn't it just make him angry at me? There was no win side to this. If I don't tell Mark then I can keep pretending that nothing is wrong, that I haven't broken any promises, and Blake will be happy as well. But if I do tell Mark then he may get mad, and Blake will surely be angry. So I should just keep both of them happy by simply keeping my conscious guilty.

Seems about right.

"Yeah she's really nice." I muttered not really wanting to talk about this right now.

"Sorry we weren't at the wedding Tori. I already gave my apologies to your dad, but you know what happened right?" He didn't look at me, maybe that's why he kept going on about the subject. If he'd seen my face then he wouldn't have kept going, at least that's what I think.

"Yeah I know. Don't worry you didn't miss much." Over summer when the wedding happened, Mark and his family went to Greece. Mr. Bennett was suppose to meet them there for a couple days before he was going to be stationed else where. Sadly his plans changed and he had to leave in a real hurry and was never able to be in Greece. Although Mary, Mark, and Conlan were slightly devestated they understood and went touring around the country. I find it so convinet that this was around my dad's wedding. Maybe another reason I shouldn't tell Mark, it's obviously some sign that he isn't meant to know right?

"So I'm guessing Mark asked you to homecoming?"

Mr. Bennett folks, the master of catching you off guard.

"Um...someone else asked me...so I wouldn't be able to go with him anyways."

"Oh?" Mr. Bennett pressed the spatula against the meet and it sizzled as the grease fell into the heart of the fire below. "Well I'd like to know this boys name? And make sure he's a good kid. You gotta swing him by sometime."

I laughed. Was it possible that Mr. Bennett was more protective than my actual blood related father? The answer to that is yes. Maybe it has to do with the fact that dad has Suzie and me and Mr. Bennett as two guys instead of girls. Either way they're both pretty awesome dad's. "Well," I started as I leaned onto the side of the house, "His names Hayden. He's a good kid. On the soccer team-"

"Oh...so he's a sporty guy?" Mr. Bennett opened the bag with slices of cheese and waited for the food to cook.

"Sort of. I wouldn't know. I don't know him that well."

"Is he a good kid though?"

"Yeah. But like I said I don't know him that well."

"Know who that well?" Mrs. Bennett said just as she came outside to join us.

I opened my mouth to answer but Mr. Bennett beat me to it. "Tori's new boyfriend." He remarked with a lifting of his eyebrows. "As in smootch smootch."

Mrs. Bennett laughed as my cheeks went pink. "That's some way to put it..." I muttered under my breath. Mrs. Bennett strolled her way to her husband as she wrapped her arms around his neck. The door clanged open and we all give a quick glance at the approaching Mark.

"Did we ever tell you how me and Mike met, Tori?" Mrs. Bennett said just as the Mr.'s kissed her arms.

Mark's eyes went wide. He talked so fast I wasn't sure if he was speaking or just jumbling words together to make sounds, "But I need to borrow Tori. Sorry mom maybe some other time." He grabbed my wrist so fast I was unable to respond until we were both seated on the couch inside, watching cartoons with Conlan.

"Hey! What was that for?" I yanked my hand away from his and rubbed my wrist acting as if his grip had hurt me.

"I just saved you an hour of story time on how my mom and dad met." Mark said casually bringing his feet onto the sofa.

"Yikes." We turned our attention to Conlan who had his face set into a expression to go with what he just said. Nevertheless his eyes were still locked on the screen of the TV. "I remember when mom and dad told us that story," He continued, "And I thought their talk on puberty was bad enough."

Mark and I laughed softly before turning our attention to Bugs Bunny. Waiting for the food was the longest twenty minutes of my life. After a couple minutes of TV, the delicious smell of the cooking steak sneaked its way under the door and clogged my senses. The three of us kept our eyes on the TV, but we were all at the edge of drooling for the food.

The moment Mrs. Bennett came into the room and called us to dinner we all shot out the door, I wouldn't be surprised if we were mistaken for bullets. "Now don't be like that," Mrs. Bennett said from the door as we had all just seated, "You have to help me with setting the table."

I hadn't realized that there was nothing on the table outside on the deck except for a white top so we couldn't get the table dirty. The rumbling stomach and tingles on my tongue were slightly worrying me. After all, I'd only eaten ice cream and candy today. To describe my hunger would be like describing the hunger of a pack of wolves.

The temperature had dropped drastically and around the table we had candles to give us light in the dark night. The lamp above also provided light, but unlike the candles it didn't provide any warmth.

"Boys go help your mother." Mr. Bennett used his fatherly voice and moved his way to the head of the table with the plate of meat in his lap. Mrs. Bennett had the plate of patties with the melting cheese and placed it next to the steak.

Conlan, Mark, and I rushed inside towards the kitchen. Mark grabbed the plates, I handed Conlan the utensils and ended up balancing the glasses in my hands. We had to take two trips to the kitchen. The second trip was to bring the buns for the burgers, ketchup, and the different bottles of sodas. When everything was set we sat around the table and waited for Mr. Bennett to tell us to dig in.

"Well..." He said to us before waving his hands at the food on the table. "It's not going to eat itself."

We all took some food onto our plates, me sitting besides Mark. His leg was bouncing up and down and from the years of knowing him I knew this was his form of anxiety. He was still nervous but I guess anyone would be nervous. There was the darker part of me that kept thinking he was just overreacting and it was getting slightly annoying that he wouldn't believe me. I still wanted to be there for him, after all he was my best friend, so I took his hand, grabbing his attention and gave him a warm smile, which he gladly returned.

"So...dad." Conlan said chewing his food and swallowing before continuing, "We gonna finish that bet after dinner? Because I'm thinking on adding glitter to the wheels. That way it'll sparkle as you roll by."

Mr. Bennett laughed, "Yeah right son. You might think you know all of them but you don't."

"Please," Conlan scoffed, "I even researched the years and producers of each episode. There is nothing you can throw at me that I won't know."

"Oh?" Mr. Bennett took a bite into his burger. The whole while everyone was gladly eating and listening to the ongoing war happening at the table. "You underestimate me Conlan." His father said with a devilish smile.

"Your little army-dad-ghetto thing doesn't scare me...Mike." Everyone turned to look at Conlan with wide eyes.

"Conlan Samuel Bennett what did you just say to your father!?" Mrs. Bennett said sternly.

"Ooooh..." Mark said cupping his hands around his mouth for emphasis, "Looks like someone just stepped into No Man's Land."

"See now I'm for sure not going to take it easy and going to use all my skills on you...Conlan." Mr. Bennett smirked.

"Save your skills for mom, dad. I mean that's what you do at midnight right?" Conlan grinned at his own joke and slipped his fork into his mouth, having a piece of steak at the end.

"And Conlan strikes back!" Mark used an announcers voice while Mary blushed a bright red and Mr. Bennett rolled his tongue in the back of his mouth.

"What happened to you?" Mr. Bennett said all of a sudden, "Ever since you hit puberty your becoming one of...them."

"Them being who?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Snooty little teenagers that think they're so much cooler than their parents."

"Hey!" Mark and I shouted causing a bit of commotion. So maybe we are a bit hormonal and out of order but that doesn't mean we have to be called, Them. It make's me feel like some alien that has just moved into Earth and humans call us Them instead of something else.

"You set yourself up for that one." Mrs. Bennett laughed.

"I'm just going to be the announcer from now on." Mark muttered.

"No your going to be an anchor." I said nudging my shoulder against his.

He looked like I had just slapped him across the face. It was now or never and he knew that. He cleared his throat shifting around his chair. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett looked up from their food along with Conlan as if they were all waiting for him to just get on with it. "Well...I have some news...I've decided that I want to jo-"

"Wait!" Conlan shouted. Everyone snapped their attention to him. "I want to know why dad and mom are so happy first. Like I haven't seen this much meat on the table since...well since we went to Ruby Tuesday months ago."

If Mark was a tower he'd be crumbling down at this very moment. Our plan had been to tell the family before Mr. Bennett gave his big news but of course Conlan interrupted. It's in a little kids nature to interrupt people. Why couldn't he just be a quiet little good boy? The one that gets shy in public? "Y-yeah." Mark stuttered forcing a smile, "Go ahead dad...yours is more important I bet."

Mary reached over and grabbed her husband's hand. He used his thumbs to rub circles on her knuckles and they were both smiling like they had won the lottery. "Tell them Mike." Mrs. Bennett urged on.

Maybe they did win the lottery...

Mike had the one million dollar smile written across his face. "Well kids...me and your mother have decided to get me prosthetics. I'll be able to walk again and finally get out of this fu-" He stopped in mid-sentence and covered it up, "I mean get out of this stupid chair."

"What?!" We all shouted except for the two of them who continued smiling. Their smiles were contagious and flew onto everyone's faces. It was unbelievable to think that I would see Mr. Bennett stand again.

"That's so awesome!"

"That's great dad!"

"Honestly don't know what to say. I'm just super happy right now."

We all just started to shout ideas of camping in the mountains and having more trail rides. It kept piling over and over and we all got excited leaving Mr. and Mrs. Bennett laughing and telling us to slow down. It would be great to have Mr. Bennett standing and moving around again. I could just see him and Mark jogging in the mornings or the whole family going up to our camping site and sitting around the camp fire telling scary stories. To have Mr. Bennett moving around again was just amazing! In my eyes this was better than the lottery. The lottery can't bring you half the future adventures we'd have with Mr. Bennett.

After we calmed down a bit Conlan decided to be the newbie teenager and whined. "When I win and you get your prosthetics I'm painting a unicorn on it."

Mr. Bennett rolled his eyes, "But see your not going to win."

"I beg to differ."

"Where did you even learn to say that?" Mike threw his arms into the air muttering this to himself, "What happened when you could only say Papa and Mama?"

"He grew up Mike." His wife said with a small smile. The look in her eyes was that same look dad would give me whenever he'd talk about the days I was younger. It seems every parent has that gleam of whenever they speak of the old days when they're children would get in front of a crowd and start singing and dancing.

"Yeah I know." He smiled a bit the gleam starting in his eyes too. Mark must have noticed because he rolled his eyes. "So," Mr. Bennett looked over at his eldest son before picking up a steak and setting it where his burger had been. "What did you want to tell us?"

Under the table I felt Mark grab my hand so tightly I wasn't sure if my blood flow was going to the tips of my fingers. "Oh it's nothing important." Mark covered up.

"No it's really important." I added in, giving Mark a glare for him to move on and tell them.

Mrs. Bennett had her elbows on the table lying her chin on her folded hands. Conlan didn't seem to think it was to important since he occupied himself with squeezing ketchup on his burger bun. Mr. Bennett kept his eyes on Mark but kept cutting his steak, occasionally putting a piece in his mouth.

"I want to join the army." Mark finally said holding his breath. His leg stopped bouncing yet his hold on my hand only intensified. The moment of truth awaited for him and so far no one has made a single move.

Hours could have possibly passed by for my best friend but to me it was merely seconds. Mrs. Bennett clasped her hands together putting them to the edge of her lips as a smile broke up. Mr. Bennett had such a big smile on his face. No matter how many times I had seen him smile it was never like this. Never with this much love and...pride.

"My boy wants to join." Mark's mom said with what seemed like a tear of joy. "I knew this day would come." Mark finally let out the breath he was holding and the smile appeared on his face. "Come give me a hug!" Mark quickly got up and went to hug his mother before taking a seat back down beside me.

"The legacy continues!" Mr. Bennett said raising his glass of Sprite in the air. "Cheers! I'm proud to know my son will be Army Strong as I am."

Everyone raised their glasses in the air, "Cheers!" We all said looking at Mark. I wanted to so badly scream I told you so! In his face until I saw Conlan. His glass was untouched and his expression blank. My smile faulted while everyone drank their soda.

Mike saw my expression and turned to Conlan. It quickly caught on and everyone looked at the young teen. "Do you have anything to say to your brother Conlan?" Mary said in her gentle voice.

Conlan nodded before standing up from the table. He moved so quickly the chair nearly fell and his hands hit the table so hard the utensils shaked. He glared directly at Mark anger and agony radiating off of him like the heat from the sun, "You're suppose to be there for me!"

No one could react to the way Conlan ran into the house. His feet were hitting the stairs so loud we were able to hear them from out here. Mark's face fell as he held his head in his hands running his fingers through his hair. "Shit." He banged his hand against the table causing everyone to flinch.

"Let him cool down Mark." Mr. Bennett said, "He just loves you. Don't worry he'll be fine in a bit. Just let him cool."

I bit the inside of my lip leaning over towards Mark and whispering softly so only he could hear me, "Hey Mark...don't worry he's just upset. He'll be fine in and hour or so...don't worry ok?"

Mrs. Bennett though, being the mother she is, went inside the house leaving the door open and yelled up the stairs, "Conlan! Come down here and say sorry to your brother!"

"Tell him to go to a regular college!" We heard Conlan yell only making Mark pull at his hair.

"Conlan you come down here and congratulate him right now!" Mary shouted again.

"Mary you're only making it worse please just come back to the table." Mr. Bennett shouted loud enough for her to hear but not loud enough that she would actually pay attention. I started to rub my hand against Mark's back seeing if it'd calm him down a bit.

"If Mark leaves tell him I'm never going to talk to him again!" Conlan shouted at the top of his lungs, "He can just forget he has a brother!" Conlan's door slammed shut making Mark cringe.

Mrs. Bennett came back sitting down beside her husband rubbing her temple. "He's just upset Mark he didn't mean it."

"Let me go talk to him," Mr. Bennett said already changing the direction of his wheelchair.

"No!" Mark quickly said standing up. "I mean no. Let me talk to him." It felt unexpected when Mark grabbed my hand and took me with him inside. He kept me behind him and I surely didn't feel like it was my place to talk to Conlan. This was between him and Mark so I slid my hand out of Mark's and he stopped to look at me.

"You and Conlan need to talk about this. I don't need to be in the room with you guys."

Mark sighed, "I know...could you just be on in the hallway? I'd feel better and more relaxed if I knew you were there." It still made me unsure, like I wasn't meant to hear all the things he and Conlan were going to talk about, but if it made Mark feel more confident then I'd be there for him. I nodded and once again he took my hand and led us upstairs.

When he reached just outside of Conlan's room he let go of my hand and took a deep breath. I moved over to the wall beside the door, this way Conlan wouldn't see me if he happened to open the door. "Conlan?" Mark said with a tap of the knuckles against the door. "Please let me in."

There was silence on the other side of the door, I held my breath to see if I heard anything. "Go away," We heard Conlan say so softly it was like listening to a pin drop.

"Come on man let me in."

"Why should I?" Conlan suddenly bursted out. "Your leaving just like dad did! Your suppose to be there for me. And look out for me. And now your leaving me like he did!"

Mark sighed leaning against his forearm which rested against the door. "I'll still look out for you. I'll still be there. I'm not leaving I'm just....working."

The door flew open and Mark nearly fell into Conlan's room. By my position Conlan couldn't see me which I found as a good thing. I doubt that he would want to have this conversation if he knew I was in the sidelines listening in. I considered going back downstairs if Mark happened to go into Conlan's room, but I decided against it not wanting to hurt Mark. "Look at dad Mark." Conlan said at the verge of shouting again. "What if-if you don't come back? What if your not as lucky as him?!"

"Now hang on-"

"You're suppose to look out for me. Be there for me. Be a phone call away so I could talk to you about anything." I head Conlan walk back into his room and Mark followed leaving the door cracked slightly. Conlan's bed creaked and I imagined him and Mark were sitting on it. "What if you don't come back?" Conlan said his voice at the edge of cracking.

"I will come back." Mark replied. I moved my head and upper body until I got a tiny view through the crack of the door. Mark had his arm around his brother's shoulders while Conlan laid his head on Mark's chest. They weren't looking at each other instead Mark just stared down at Conlan's head.

"But you're abandoning me." Conlan choked out starting to sob against Mark. "Dad was never there for us. But you've always been there for me. Always. And now you're leaving."

"Buddy I'd never leave you." Mark pulled his brother into a hug and Conlan gripped his shirt like dear life depended on it. "I'll still be able to call. Skype. Face time. And on holidays when I have break you know I'll come visit."

Conlan had his face buried in Mark's shirt, his words muffled, the crying only making it worse to understand. "What about everything you'll be missing out? Have you even thought about this?"

"Of course little man. I've thought of everything you're thinking of now."

"Like what?" Conlan said sniffling and looking up at his brother.

Mark took a deep breath, "Like I know you guys are going to be worrying about me. Because we'd do that all the time with dad." That was true. Every time the phone rang and Mrs. Bennett knew it was where her husband worked there was always that small fear that something had gone wrong. Not to mention the nerves of just constantly knowing your husband or father is out there. It can be stressful for a family, yet it's always worth it when they come home.

Conlan nodded and Mark continued, "I know it'll be hard and I can't make promises I'm not sure I'll be able to keep." It is unpredictable. Mr. Bennett had made promises to Mark and Conlan to come home for their birthdays, but it just never happened. He'd plan it out but last second be called out for duty. So after a while Mark just made sure to never ask his father to make promises. It was better not to, after all it'll get your hopes up only to send them crashing down when you realize they couldn't make it.

"Yeah don't make promises..." Conlan muttered under his breath. "What else?"

Again Mark gave a large sigh, "I know I'll be missing out on your life. Just like dad missed out on us. I won't see you growing up everyday. One day you'll be twelve and the next day you might be fifteen with some studs trying to grow out a beard."

This not only earned me a smile but Conlan as well. Although it was true, Mr. Bennett had missed out a lot in his sons lives, it was always a happy moment when you'd see how much we'd grow up or the family dinners they'd have when he'd come home. "I don't think I'd look good in a beard." Conlan admitted.

Mark laughed softly, the melancholy air that clung to the room like a veil floating away like Mark's laugh was the joyful wind itself. "You're right. You'd look awful in a beard." Mark pulled Conlan into him rustling his hair with his fingers. "I just want you to be proud of me for going. I don't want to leave knowing you're not happy about it."

Conlan pulled himself out of Mark's grip turning his attention back to the ground. "I am proud. I'm just scared. I don't want to lose my brother..."

Mark smiled gently, it was his smile that made my heart flip. He was just kind and easy going. It was hard not to love the guy. "You know," Mark said nudging his shoulder against Conlan's in a playful manner that got a smiled to appear on Conlan, "That's one promise I can keep."

Conlan lifted an eyebrow, "What?"

"That you'll never lose me. I'll always be your brother and I promise to always come home to you." At first Conlan simply smiled before crushing Mark in a hug that made my insides warm up.

"You're my best friend," Conlan said into Mark's shoulder, "You're my brother and I love you."

"I love you too kid." Mark replied holding Conlan against him. They were there for about a minute before Conlan pulled back and glanced at the door. I quickly moved my head out of the way hoping he wouldn't see me.

"You can join the hug too Tori." Conlan said. I smiled and walked through the door and towards the boys sitting beside Mark. I had one arm around each of them and Mark hugged us both. "You know spying is rude." Conlan said causing me to laugh softly.

"It's not spying when one of the people tell you to wait outside." I replied.

Mark chuckled his laughter vibrating off of his chest. "My two favorite people in the whole world..."

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"See now Tweety is going to fly to the other end of the tight rope and Sylvester is going to follow her. Him...whatever Tweety is. Anyways then Tweety is going to bring her toe claw thing and make the rope vibrate causing Sylvester to fall in the tank of water below." Conlan said was we were all huddled in the living room with some fruit salads watching the bet between Mr. Bennett and Conlan.

Just as Conlan had predicted Tweety flew over to the other side of the tightrope and Sylvester followed her. Tweety made the rope vibrate and Sylvester lost his balance falling down into the water. Conlan did a fist pump into the air and Mrs. Bennett wrote another tally on the small notebook she had in her lap. So far Conlan had twelve tallies and Mr. Bennett had two. He seemed highly distracted in eating his fruit, like there was no worries in the world.

"Told ya dad!" Conlan said like he was the king of the world. "Face it you're no match for me."

Mr. Bennett smirked, "I said you have to know cartoons right?"

"Which I obviously do." Conlan replied with a grin. "I know you love Looney Tunes so I chose them because these are like the only old cartoons you watch."

"Oh?" Mr. Bennett placed his empty bowl on the coffee table and wheeled away, "I hope you really did study everything."

Conlan's confident smile faltered. Of course Mr. Bennett knew what he was doing. He was the one that always found a loop hole or an easy way out. But he also thought ahead of time. Careful wording and careful maneuvering managed to make him smart yet sneaky. If he had to resemble any animal it would surly be the fox. Mr. Bennett was just as cunning, swift, and unnoticed as a fox.

"What's he doing?" Conlan asked nervously nibbling onto his apple slice.

"I don't know..." Mark had been looking in the direction of where his father had just left but now turned his attention to his brother, "But you're so screwed."

"Mark don't say that kind of stuff." Mrs. Bennett said even though Mark just shrugged it off.

When Mike came back wheeling into the room he handed his wife a DVD. "Could you please put this in Mary?" He asked kindly as Mrs. Bennett nodded standing up and walking to the DVD player.

"You know something...I don't get why I'm the only one in this family without the M name." Conlan stated out of subject. I rolled my eyes and continued eating my grapes. I had been seated next to Mark my feet under me to keep them warm, and me slightly leaning against Mark's side. "I mean," Conlan continued as Mary had just put the DVD in, "Mike, Mary, and Mark. But Conlan? Like where did that come from?"

"We were considering on naming you Matthew but then realized the same thing and decided against it." After proving his point Mr. Bennett pointed his fork to the TV, "Now watch and see who the real master is." Across the screen, in black and white, the name Popeye was read.

"You never said we had to learn Popeye!" Conlan shouted in disgrace.

"I never said what specific show you had to learn." Mr. Bennett shouted back without the intensity, "Next time be more specific son."

Conlan sunk down in his chair and watched as his father continually said what was going to happen next. Episode after episode Mr. Bennett ranked up points until an hour of A-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah! finally ended.

Mr. Bennett stretched his arms and cracked his neck. "What's the score Mary?"

"I'm afraid to know..." I muttered only getting a smile on Mark's face seeing as to he was the only one that heard me.

Mrs. Bennett sighed, "Twelve to seventy-six."

Conlan paled as his father looked at him with a devious smile. "I win."

"That's not fair though!" Conlan said trying to regain some pride in losing. "I mean come on there weren't even colors!"

"You're going to need some ice for that burn Conlan." Mark laughed, "Shame too. I know you already bought the pink glitter."

Conlan gave a glare to Mark, "Shut up you idiot."

"Ouch," Mark said putting his hand over his heart, sarcasm filling his words. "That just hurt so much Conlan. I think I need medical attention."

"Why don't you get Tori to give you mouth to mouth I'm sure you'll love that." Conlan retorted.

Well there goes the I love you because your my brother ordeal.

"At least I don't day dream of snogging with Suzie." Mark shot back.

"You wanna go there!"

"You crossed the line first you twit!"

"Boys!" Mrs. Bennett shouted over them.

"Seriously chill out." I rolled my eyes. I will never understand boys. Like ever. They are so complicated. I mean one minute you're loving each other and the next it's like an atomic bomb has exploded between them. Bipolar much?

And guys say girls are complicated. Please most of us are easy to understand. Half of the women population loves the same stuff. Shopping, and cute furry animals that are snuggleable. But boys? I will never understand their nature, but I must say they can be more easier going than girls. We get sassy, and incredibly bad mouthed when we're talking to people we don't like. Now guys, they give each other a blow to the face and just let it rest. Maybe even forgive each other in a couple days or so.

"Ok well," Mr. Bennett clasped his hands together, "Conlan tomorrow we go out to buy army supplies because you have to help me decorate the wheel chair."

"Fine..." Conlan grumbled his arms crossed and his face obviously in a grumpy mood for losing. No one likes to lose. Winning is fun because then you rub it in the losers face. At least that's what I do...plus the polite Good game you're suppose to give. But behind their backs you're laughing and continually loving the fact you won.

But when you lose you have that mood that last all day long. The one where no matter how fun or exciting something might seem it's just plain and boring. Yet not everyone is a sore loser, it's just the feeling some people get when they lose. Me being one of those people.

"Now off to bed." Mike said clapping his hand once again before waving his arm upstairs as if we didn't know where to go.

"What? But it's so early." Mark whined.

"Yeah dad why you making us go to bed so early?"

I didn't want to say anything, after all I am the guest. As much as I love this family, and even though I've known them for like, forever! It's still rude to step out of line. At least in my eyes it was.

"Well Conlan told me to save my skills for mom," Mike winked, "So I have."

"Ew!"

"Gross!"

"Ok I'm mentally scarred." We all ran upstairs, Mike's laughter trailing behind us. He was definitely a sneaky fox.

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I heard the sink turn off and Mark walked out of the bathroom while I lay sprawled on his bed my legs propped up, one leg on my knee. I had already put on my fuzzy pajama pants with the Superman logo on, and a sweat shirt over my tank top since it was getting colder.  I had Mark's television remote in my hand and I was flipping through channels but nothing interesting came on.

I took a look at Mark, his toothbrush in his mouth as he looked at the TV screen as I surfed through. He was shirtless his bare chest in display and his sweat pants hung low on his hips. I never really liked guys with low hanging pants. My thoughts were more like: Keep your junk in your trunk and don't put it on display please. But I didn't think the same with Mark. He had a way of making it look fine...

Mark looked towards me and I snapped my head back to the TV so he wouldn't catch me staring. He mumbled something that I couldn't understand because of his foamy toothpaste around the corners of his mouth and the toothbrush still between his teeth.

"What?" I asked scrunching my eyebrows to show my confusion.

He held a finger up telling me to wait a moment and walked back to bathroom. I heard him spit, then gurgle, finally he came out wiping his mouth with a towel. "Want to find a movie on Netflix?" He asked throwing the towel back in the bathroom. I couldn't help but laugh softly as it fell on the floor.

"Guys are such pigs." I muttered rolling my eyes.

"We are not." He replied walking towards me and unmaking his bed.

"I'm trying to be comfortable." I lay there stubbornly, not allowing him to pull the covers back so he could get in his bed. I mean he was the one being rude. I am incredibly comfortable right now, he doesn't have to get in bed now. He can do it later when I'm not comfortable. Honestly if only he understood that this bed was cold when I got here and now it's warm as am I. I don't want to move to another cold spot.

"Please." Mark said with a pout of his lips and his eyes wide like a puppy.

I laughed, "Eyes don't work on me remember?"

Mark cursed under his breath. "Right because you got so used to my puppy dog eyes that they have no effect on you anymore."

I clicked my tongue in response, "Ding ding ding."

"I guess we'll have to do it the hard way." Mark stood up looking at my body that blocked him from getting into his bed. He held his hand under his chin like he was examining what to do. "Oh I got it," He said all of the sudden. Like a flash he picked me up and swung me over his shoulders.

"Mark!" I banged on his back. My butt was already starting to get cold, the little warm nest I had on his bed was probably already cold like my rear. "Let me down!"

With one hand he kept me on his shoulder no matter how much I punched and kicked him. With the other hand he opened up his bed pulling the sheets back. How he did it, I have no idea. When I looked up I saw Conlan at the door holding his hand to his mouth so he wouldn't burst out laughing.

Help me! I mouthed to him. He nodded and while Mark was still trying to open his bed Conlan sneaked from behind. When I caught on on what he was doing I nearly face palmed. He and Suzie were so meant to be. Where do they find the joke in this?

I closed my eyes just as Conlan grabbed Mark's pants around the knee and pulled them down. "Oye!" Mark yelled like some stereotype Canadian person from the movies. Conlan ran away his laughter following him to his room where we heard him shut the door. Mark turned around even though his sweat pants hung at his ankles. He had his boxers underneath, the reason I closed my eyes is because you never know if a boy wears them or not.

He tried to run after Conlan while I still banged on his back to let me go. Of course Mr. Pig here didn't notice soon enough that he couldn't run with his pants down. So he fell, carrying me down with him. Now the other bad thing was I was the first to fall since I was on his shoulder, that didn't hurt as much, until the pig fell on me.

Mark knocked the breath out of me, his much larger form nearly crushing me under his weight. "Holy cheese." I managed to breath out trying to suck in air. "Dude you gotta lose some weight. That hurt more than having a goat ram into me."

Mark groaned his eyes fluttering open his words breathless too his face quickly gaining the red color of a tomato, "Tori your knee freaking hit me where the sun don't shine." That's when I realized that when I fell I brought my knee up and Mark fell onto it. "Please move it." He managed to say. I did as he asked and took my leg down. "Thank you." He rolled off of me holding his crotch in his hands as he groaned in pain.

"I'm sorry." I said sitting up even though it hurt my stomach.

"No you're fine. Just give me a sec." I tried not to laugh but anytime a guy got hit in the balls it was hard not to. So I laughed catching his eye that had a small tear in the corner of it. "It's not funny."

I continued to laugh shaking my head, "Yes it is. That's what you get for trying to pick me up."

"You hit me in my freaking balls."

"You landed on me."

"And I thought when you land on someone it's considered a 'soft landing.'"

"Now you know not to land on someone or you'll be hit in the balls."

"Lesson learned." He rolled his head back staying on the ground for another minute while I got up and went to his bed. There I opened the rest of the bed up and slid into it putting my arm behind my head as I kept flipping through some stations in look for some good show. Any good show that could make me laugh.

Mark finally stood up with a groan and pulled his pants up. When he tried to take a step towards me he winced a bit and his hand went back to his crotch. "Damn Tori I think you just made my balls concave."

I laughed, "That sounds incredibly painful."

"You have a strong knee." He mumbled sliding in bed beside me. He moved to his side closing his eyes, nostrils flaring as he breathed out. "Just go to bed."

"I'm not tired." I answered stopping on Nickelodeon to watch Drake and Josh. Mark slid his arm around my waist pulling me into his chest where he placed his forehead on the side of my head taking a deep breath. "What's wrong?" I asked just above a whisper turning the volume low on the TV. I didn't need to hear the problems Drake was having with Josh because they were stepbrothers. I have three at home that have better stories than this show.

Mark shrugged, "I'm just really happy right now."

I raised an eyebrow, "Because I hit you in the balls?"

He laughed, "No. That was painful."

"Then why are you so happy right now?"

Again he raised his shoulders, "I'm just happy mom and dad are happy that I'm joining the military. And Conlan...well he freaked out but I think he's ok now. And to top it all of your here with me."

I smiled, happy his eyes were closed and the only light was from his lamp that was behind him on his desk, this way he wouldn't see my pink face. "Sounds like a sundae. The ice cream is your parents, and Conlan was the syrup-"

"And your the sweet cherry on the top." He said with a smile, completing my sentence for me.

"Yeah I guess..." I replied quietly not really thinking of myself as sweet or a cherry. To other people I'm just the weird freak girl. Like Shawn said, maybe I am part gorilla.

Shawn...I wonder how he's doing right now. I hope the guys and Sue are taking good care of him. I just hope he cracked a joke or laugh. If I get home and see him stuck in his room again I'm going to kick Blake so hard his balls will concave. And Cole...actually no I'll just take my anger out on Blake. Cole is actually nice and not a jerk.

"Go to sleep Tori." Mark whined turning over to quickly shut the light off, he then came back to his original position.

"Just this episode and then I'll sleep."

"Fine." Mark grumbled. Even after the episode finished I watched the next one. And the next until my eyes felt droopy, slightly stinging from the bright light of the TV. I yawned turning the TV off and pushing myself farther into Mark's chest. He was still the big warm teddy bear that made me feel safe.

I was already drowsing off, no recognition of what was happening around me. "Hey Tori," I heard a whisper in my ear. It must have been Mark, who else. Either way he didn't sound asleep at all. More like he was fully awake. "You awake?" He said again his mouth inches away from my ear where I could feel his breath trickle down my neck like mew down a spider-web.

"Hmmm..." I managed to say, my breathing already slowing down. The warmth around me was already enveloping me. I could just feel sleep calling my name, it was so welcoming. Nice rest in darkness where my body and mind could heal for the night. Mark was taking to long to talk to me, maybe he had fallen asleep as well.

"I need to tell you something," Mark whispered yet again.

I only managed a groan in response. But still minutes went by before he said anything else. These minutes counted though, I was seconds from falling asleep.

"Tori....I lo-"

That's when everything tuned out and I plunged into my dreams of Drake and Josh.

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Omg! I finished! I'm terribly sorry for the long wait! I will update sooner. My explanation for a long wait: It was Christmas break and I was spending time at the beach with my brother and dad. I lost half of the chapter earlier in December and didn't feel like writing it all over again because I just wanted my imagination to run lose. Anyways I'm really really really sorry! I hope this made up for it...and I will update faster.

Also next chapter will be long as well. I'm planning on hurrying up a week to when it's homecoming :) what are Shawn's plans? The world may never know!....unitl next chapter. So ok...I hope you guys liked the extra long chapter. It's 17,500+ words...I don't think I've ever written that much in my life! Well I hope you guys liked it! Again sorry for the wait. Please please please comment and vote. Voting is good too. But give me your thoughts, not a "Please update" on the comments. Because this is a long chapter. Till next chapter! Happy January!

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