Saying Sorry {Milo}

[Addison Micklesen]

Addison walked to the park with an uncharacteristic gloomy mood, looking down at her feet as she clutched her bag to her side, not caring about bumping into someone if it came to that - she didn't feel like looking up and seeing where she was headed and she just wouldn't. So, truth be told, like was pretty sucky when she was in a fight with one of her friends. And when that friend happened to be Milo, it was even worse. Still, she couldn't understand completely why he'd done what he'd done. She knew she must have annoyed him, and she figured it also definitely hadn't been the good time to do it either, but it wasn't as though she'd been mean to him. She'd teased him and teased Taylor, something that was to be expected of her. She knew Taylor hadn't minded it, if anything she'd probably been a bit uncomfortable or embarassed about it because she really did like Milo, but at least there was that. She liked Milo. Whatever Addie did to tease her, and she would never go to the point where her teasing would be meant to pushing her away, she wouldn't give up on account of her. If anything at this point, Milo's actions would be those to push her away. Maybe he was just happy that for once he could blame it on Addison instead if anything happened.

Shaking her head slightly, she walked up the nearest big tree she saw and sat under it, shivering a bit seeing as it wasn't the warmest of days and she now didn't have the sun to warm her up on top of it all. Sighing a bit, she leaned back on the tree trunk and looked up at the sky through the branches and leaves, hardly able to make out some blue once you got past the brown and green but still managing it somehow. She wasn't one to keep things to herself, especially when she was mad, and that explained her outburst to Milo. She really did believe what she'd said to some extent to - apart maybe the fact that she wouldn't be around to screw up his life. She'd always be there to do that as long as he wanted her there. But she was still deeply hurt about what he'd done. Of course, she knew he was never really himself around that date, and to some extent, she could at least say that it wasn't really her best friend who'd back stabbed her. Still, he knew she cared about Connor, more than she usually did about any guy she went after. He even thought she was weird for it, but the point of this was that he knew she was serious about him. Fuck, she was giving the guy a chance when he went around saying he didn't really know her, and that wasn't acting like herself to some extent. And then he'd just gone around and told him it was nothing. Knowing Milo too, he wouldn't have stopped just at saying 'hey dude, get over her, she doesn't like you that way'. He surely added more, especially if he was in a bad mood.

However, after her little outburst and a good cry - once again, very uncharacteristic and extremely rare for Addie - she'd actually started to feel bad, at first for a reason she didn't really know. It was just that uneasy feeling in her gut that made her know she'd acted like a bitch and though she knew he was at fault, she was also aware that she was too. Then, she had (as he'd so nicely suggested) looked at the calendar and the guilt had sunk in deeper, making her feel as though she'd just done the worst thing on earth. September 11th. She should have known it wasn't a right time to tease him, even though it was just playing around. Milo always got extremely easy to piss off when it was around the date of his mother's death. And now, she just didn't know how to act anymore. She was a proud girl, and vindictive at that. Not as much with her friends as she was with other people, but it still took her a while to forgive someone when she was very angry or hurt by their actions. At this point though, she knew he wasn't the only one to blame, and she knew he was surely furious at the whole world. She probably would be too if her mother, or her father, had died. But apologizing did not come easy to her, and she didn't know how to approach him, or how long to wait before doing so. If she went to him with the intention of saying sorry and he turned her around, it would only set her off even worse and then who knows what would happen. But Addie needed Milo more than most people probably knew. He was more than a best friend for her, he was almost like her long lost twin, she couldn't be away from him for too long. During the summer it was practically unbearable not to see him every day, and for that she thanked God for the invention of cell phones and the internet.

[Milo Parker]

Milo was sulky, it was a rare occurrence for the prankster but it reflected his current emotion. He had recently come into the sulking emotion, it replaced the anger that had just faded. Previously, he'd been pretty pissed off. Mostly at the world in general, it was something that was a yearly occurrence. At the Academy he usually ended up taking a sick day on the 11th. Just staying in bed all day and being pissed off at everything. Every person in the world who hadn't lost their mother, every person who led a pretty average and normal life. He spent the day just hating them. Before he came to the Academy his father would spend all day working, but when he did come home and saw Milo sulking about the house he always yelled at him. Told him to just get over it and move on, to stop feeling sorry for himself and to grow up. Every year he had a date that night. Every single year. He hated him for it, and his father managed to be one of the people that he was pissed off with the most on the day. Because he never seemed to give his mother the proper respect that she deserved. If there was one thing that had become certian to him on the day that his mother died was that there had to be an afterlife. And that his mother was part of it. She had to be, because there couldn't be just nothing. It wasn't right for there to not be anything. He couldn't believe that it was just the end and he was mourning the person that she used to be. There still had to be a form of her out there. Something that would give her what she deserved. True, she hadn't been the best mother in the world, but she'd tried. She'd been the parent that cared about him. She did the best that she could and he always respected that about her. He wondered how she would have reacted if she knew how he was acting, she probably wouldn't have been too happy with him. Especially not with what happened with Addison.

Addie. That was the main reason for his sulkiness actually, the reason that he was even in the park walking around. He'd been mean to her, actually a bit more than mean. He'd been pretty horrible to her. He knew that she liked Connor, that she was really serious about him. He'd never seen her so serious about a guy, enough to the fact that she was willing to ignore the fact that the guy didn't even want to be seen with her. She was a proud person, he'd never known her to be the type that would agree to a secret anything. So she obviously had to be very interested in the guy for her to act so differently than she usually did. And yet he'd still gone and did exactly what she'd yelled at him for doing. He'd purposely fucked her chances over with him. Why? Had he really believed that Addison would say something that would fuck up his chances with Taylor? No, he hadn't. But had he wanted to? Yes, yes he had. He had wanted something that he could be mad at her for. He wanted something that he could honestly get mad at her for, because he'd been waiting for someone to do something that he could use against them. Some reason that he could make into a reason to be angry with the person. A reason to go get back at someone, maybe that would have helped him out in his plot to get back at the world. Obviously, it didn't work out too well. Because he'd just been an asshole to his best friend, that was all that he'd accomplished in his little stunt. That and made Connor think that he had no chance with the girl that he liked. And possibly screwed himself over if Taylor did happen to see the blog post he'd made. He'd done himself a lot more harm than good.

And he was really upset with himself for it. He hated the fact that he'd been a complete and total ass to Addie. He knew that he'd probably hurt her, and that had been the intention of it. It was meant to hurt her. It was all in the plan to hurt her. He'd wanted her to feel bad just because he did. But now, now he realized what kind of person did that type of stuff. He wasn't that type of person. He wondered how in the world he was suppose to apologize to Addie. He probably didn't deserve her to forgive him, but he did need her in his life. She was probably the person that knew the most about him in the world. Actually she definitely was. And on top of that she was the only person in the world that he felt actually cared about him. Each of them knew each other just as well as they knew themselves, if he didn't know any better he could have sworn that she was his twin or something. He cared more about her than he did more then anyone else in the world and that was a pretty big thing. He couldn't believe that he'd hurt her knowing all that. Knowing that he loved her - not in the romantic way but the family type way, and that he'd probably not manage to get by more than a day not talking to her in some way. It'd been something that was childish and stupid, but in his mind he hadn't been thinking. He'd been acting on the impulses that just came naturally. Now he'd have to figure out a proper way to apologize to her. That and make things right with Connor, because he owed her that much. Actually he owed her more than that, fix things even better. He'd have to find a way to get Connor to just get past his fears and go after her. It wasn't going to be an easy task, but he'd figure it out.

He'd been walking for a while when he heard his phone beep indicating a new message. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and called his voice mail box, hoping that it was possibly Addison that had called. It wasn't. It was Taylor, and of course she'd seen the blog post. Life was a bitch. It just figured that she'd have seen the blog post. Damn Holly for being right. It all ended up leading back to him. It was his own stupidity that landed him into his situation and he really hated himself for it. He shoved his phone back into his pocket and kept walking, he'd gone around the park more than once by now. And he'd ended up by a group of big trees, he noticed that the closest one had a person under it. He froze noticing that it was Addison. He still had absolutely no idea what to say to her. What was he even suppose to do now? He should just walk up to her and apologize, but that was a dangerous situation. What if she didn't want to hear it? He supposed that trying was better than nothing. He walked over to her and looked down at where she was sitting. "Hey," he said quietly.

[Addison Micklesen]

Addie sighed as she brought her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her knees with a light frown. She was bored but she was still in too much of a bad mood to do anything, and in all honesty she didn't know how to remediate to that. Well, actually, she knew. The only thing to do at this point was to talk to Milo, and that was not rocket science to figure out. But she just didn't know how it would go exactly if she did try to find him - well, that was actually another issue, finding him, because when he was in a bad mood he rarely stayed somewhere where people could talk to him or anything, so she wasn't sure if he'd be in his dorm at this point, meaning he could pretty much be anywhere, and looking for him everywhere around the Academy and Kansas City was not something she really had time for right now. Besides, at this point she just wanted to be on her own and be grumpy. Addison Blythe being grumpy was not something you saw very often in a lifetime, but at this very moment, that's how she was. She'd gone past the anger - which was the moment of her little outburst to Milo - and though the guilt was still definitely there, it wasn't the most obvious feeling at the moment. Of course, she'd had the need for revenge at one point too, and the urge to give Taylor the link to Milo's blog post had been extremely strong, but somehow she'd managed to resist - she didn't know yet that it hadn't changed anything though. Actually, at this point she almost wanted to call Taylor and tell her that whatever she did, she shouldn't go and read his post because he really wasn't a sane state of mind while he'd written and it and he didn't mean a word, but then she figured that might actually make the girl want to read it, so really it wouldn't do any good. She just hoped that things would turn out fine for the two of them... for some reason, Addie had higher hopes for Taylor than she'd ever had for any other girl Milo had gone out with. The fact that she was different from them meant in her head that she could actually do some good in Milo's life. Maybe even get him to talk to her about him.

Sighing a bit, she shook her head lightly and grabbed her bag, searching through it for her cell phone. Rolling her eyes as she didn't find it at first, she turned it around and emptied the content of the ground - really, it was so much easier that way, she wondered why she ever bothered doing it another way. Obviously, she had a lot of crap in her bag - it was like a regular purse except it was twice the size, so it had even more stuff in it. Most people wondered why she carried around so much things, especially stuff like crayons and an endless variety of pens and pencils. Those people who asked that though usually didn't really know her. She just couldn't go through a very long period of time without drawing at least one thing. Some people found it a bit weird when she stopped in the middle of something to just grab a piece of paper and started drawing a random doodle (a doodle that actually looked as though she'd worked on it for two days) before going on with what she'd been doing before, but really, drawing was like an addiction to her. It was her drug. Milo would know that answer, at the very least. Some times they'd just hang out together but not talk or actually do anything together - she'd be drawing, he'd be writing. And a lot of those times she actually drew him while he was writing, though whenever she did that, she didn't actually let him see the drawing. Mainly because there was often an edge of bitterness and sadness on his face and in his eyes whenever that happened. She kept all those drawings though, they were somewhere in her dorm room along with all those other doodles she'd drawn through the years. A lot of those were portrait, now that she thought of it. Addie liked drawing people, because it gave her a good excuse to examine the person more attentively, to stare at them without being told to look away. And there was always something to discover in a person when you looked at them more carefully. She loved comparing different drawings of the same person, because they rarely contained the same emotion. It was different in its resemblance.

Shaking her head, she started putting stuff back in her bag while she looked around to see if she could find her cell phone before she put everything back in there. Old keys, broken sunglasses, elastic bands that had so many tangled hair on them that she couldn't really use them anymore, balled up pieces of paper, phone numbers she'd long before entered in her cell phone's contact list... the crap was endless. Sighing, she decided this was as good as any other moment to get rid of what she didn't want to keep, seeing as there were trash cans everywhere around the park - she'd just have to gather up those things when she left and throw them away. When she got to the sunglasses though, which was missing one of its lense, she simply pushed against the other that was still there and took it out, leaving her with only the frames, but that could actually be of some use. She made a face when she found an old gum wrapper with an old gum inside it, snickering when it was followed by an old condom package - though thankfully enough, that one was empty unlike the gum wrapper - and finally just a lot of messy stuff which she couldn't quite tell what it was. Well, at least there was one satisfactory thing that was happening today, that was unexpected. And she'd found her cell phone half way through the process, another good thing. Though at this point she couldn't even remember why she'd been looking for it, so she shrugged it off and put it back in the bag, wondering whether she should go throw away all the messy stuff right now or wait a bit.

She was about to get back to her feet, having decided on the first option, when she heard some foot steps coming her way. Looking up, she saw that Milo was walking toward her - instantly remembering that the reason why she'd been looking for her cell phone was actually to call him, but obviously now that wouldn't be necessary. Biting down on her bottom lip lightly, she got back to her feet, looking at him with a bit of uneasiness. This was a bit uncomfortable, which was definitely a weird thing - Milo was one of the people she was most comfortable with, but right now, there was definitely some awkwardness in the air. Maybe because they were both aware they should apologize for something and they didn't know how to, but that ought to go well... after all, the mere fact that they were not yelling at each other right now meant that the anger phase was over with for the both of them, and it couldn't really get any worse than that. She smiled a bit at him, shuffling her feet nervously. "Hey," she said back, remaining silent for a few seconds before laughing, shaking her head. "Gosh, how ridiculous are we," she said, trying to break the uneasiness she couldn't help but feel. It was like the first time they'd seen each other after their break up, except it was ten times worse.

[Milo Parker]

He couldn't help but notice how awkward the air was surrounding the two of them. He couldn't believe that it was so awkward, the two of them were never awkward around each other. Even with matters that weren't usually talked about with other people the two of them managed to talk about them like they were no big deal. He had never found himself embarrassed in front of Addison, there was never a reason to be. Even when they teased one another, it was comfortable between the two of them. Awkward wasn't something that they did. It was wrong for something to be awkward between the two of them. Not for them to just be able to laugh and joke off the subject. He just wished that the feeling would be over with already, that the two of them would just apologize and get things back to normal as soon as possible. That would be the ideal situation for him, for both of them actually. He still had no clue exactly how he was going to apologize though, he hadn't had to apologize to her very often. If ever really, because they usually just allowed things to blow over. But this was just one of those situations where things couldn't blow over just like that. It would take more of something from the both of them, an actual apology. He couldn't help but laugh slightly as she said that the situation was ridiculious, which it was. But mostly he was laughing because that had been the first thing that she'd said to him after they'd broken up as well. Somethings just didn't change it would seem, no matter how mad they got with one another.

"Look Addie..." he sighed and paused for a moment trying to figure out if he could even possibly explain what he'd been thinking. He was pretty sure that she'd be able to understand the point that he was trying to get across even if he wasn't so good at doing so. After all, most of the time they could practically read each other's minds. "I'm sorry. What I did it was really low of me and I shouldn't have even considered doing it. I know it's a horrible excuse but really I didn't want to hurt you or anything, not really. I just, I wanted someone else to feel as badly as I was." He offered her a small smile of apology. He really hoped that she would just accept the apology so that they could just move on with their lives. He figured that it'd be better for his case if he also mentioned that he planned on helping her fix things, too. "And I'll help you fix things with Connor if you want me, too." He added the if you want me to because he knew there was a possibility that Addie would just tell him to stay out of it. Not that it would work, both of them meddled in one another's lives so much it was a miracle that either of them managed to have even a little part of their lives separate from each other. He would never tell her not to meddle though, because he knew that it would be impossible for her and because he was just used to it now. It was weird when she wasn't at least a little involved with his relationships and such, not that anything was going to happen with Taylor now anyway.

"And I know that you wouldn't ever do something that would mess things up with Taylor," he said with a sigh. "Though that ship has sailed without me on it by now, and the only person that is at fault is me." He sighed as he thought about it more. How in the world was he suppose to explain to her anything when he couldn't explain anything to her? He really didn't think she'd just accept 'Hey I didn't mean it I was just upset.' without more of an explanation. And he couldn't give explanations, not to someone he didn't know. Hell, he had problems giving Addie explanations sometimes. And if he couldn't even tell her how in the world was he suppose to tell Taylor? Maybe it was better that it just ended like that right away, after all he'd probably end up getting himself into some trouble anyway. He wasn't the type of person that Taylor would actually be interested in once she got to know him even more. Maybe the external she could handle, or maybe she was just hoping that because she liked him he'd change or something. But he was pretty sure if it got further than that she'd be disappointed in who he was. Yes, it was going to be best for everyone that it worked out that way. For Connor and Addie however... that situation was a bit different. The two of them could actually be pretty good for one another he'd realized lately. They were possibly that one exception that there always was to his beliefs.

[Addison Micklesen]

She gave a small smile when he laughed a bit, figuring that probably meant they were getting somewhere at this point. Really, awkwardness was one of the things she hated the most. Being uncomfortable with someone annoyed the heck out of her, which was pretty much why she was always so forward with other people. She wanted to avoid all the shitty stuff at all cost, but right now she found herself right in the middle of it. And with her best friend, at that. Of course, it was to be expected sooner or later - Addie always figured that real friends didn't go through their friendship without at least a fight, a real fight anyway. Of course she and Milo had sometimes had some bickering and stuff like that, like when she'd dated Aidan or Andrew, and also during some of the times during which he'd gone out with girls that were so definitely not for him - then again, he didn't seem to know which girls were or were not for him, so that wasn't necessarily very hard to do. At some point though they'd giving up bickering about the dating aspect of each other's life, otherwise they'd spend most of their time arguing. Well, obviously, there were also times when they actually helped each other out, like Addie had tried to do with Taylor, because she really wanted him to find the right girl. She knew he would someday find a girl to whom he'd actually want to open up - even she'd had to force all the details of his life she knew about him that most people didn't. And while it wouldn't necessarily be over dramatic that he didn't find that girl in high school, because most people didn't really end up finding the love of their life in their teen years, she'd had a really good feeling about Taylor. The mere fact that he'd wanted to know more about her, that he'd even asked her to meddle when he usually told her to stay out of it, meant a lot.

She listened to him as he apologized, trying her best not to interupt him though that was really hard for her when she just wanted to tell him it wasn't just his fault. She could see he really felt bad about it and she didn't like seeing him like that. She was pretty sure that, if it'd been someone else than her, his reason for doing what he'd done would probably just worsen it. They'd just call him selfish or mean for wanting other people to feel like crap, but she knew that in reality he hadn't necessarily meant for her to be sad or anything. It'd just been the need to not the only person in the world feeling like everything around him was collapsing, and she'd given him the opportunity to select her for it. Of course, she wasn't forgetting it all and saying he was completely blameless in the matter just because he was her friend - she was still hurt, though not so upset anymore. But there was also the fact that she understood his reasons now, and though it didn't change what had happened, she needed him too much in her life not to forgive him. "I'm sorry too," she said once he was done speaking, smiling a bit. "I mean, I should have known better than to piss you off around that date, I can't believe I forgot about it," she said, wrinkling her nose slightly. She usually didn't really talk to him much when it came to September 11th, just because she knew that not only he didn't want to be comforted, but he was easily set off as well. "And don't do anything about Connor just yet, please," she told him, knowing he probably wouldn't but still wanting to set things right herself. "Or at least, give me some time to talk to him myself first."

Unable to restrain herself anymore, she walked up to him and wrapped her arms tightly around him, hugging him as though she hadn't seen him in months. "Just don't do that again, jackass," she said with a grin, teasing him. "Next time you feel the need to piss off someone, go kick Andrew Preston's butt. That'll make you feel better, I'm sure." She kept her arms around him for a little longer, smiling a bit as she felt much better now - in some weird way, she always felt really safe when she was near to him, just like she used to feel whenever her father took her in his arms when she was little, especially before her numerous visits to the hospital. She'd always be scared, and he'd always assure her everything would go fine, and just to have his arms around her and hear his voice would make the fear, the pain, everything bad go away. It was always like that with Milo. Once he mentionned Taylor however, she pulled away slightly and looked up at him with a small sigh, shaking her head. "So she read the blog post and canceled on you," she stated, not even asking. "But you're wrong to give up this easily," she added with a frown, poking his chest lightly. "Taylor really likes you Milo, I'm not joking here. And I know you like her too, which let's face it is pretty weird," she added, her tone slightly teasing though she was also serious. "She must be hurt is all, or at least she figures she'd rather not get false hopes if you don't even believe there's anything worth happening. But I'm sure she hasn't actually given up on you. Girls like Taylor don't crush on random guys every two days," she told him, ruffling his hair lightly.

[Milo Parker]

He shook his head slightly as she apologized to him. She didn't have to, because it wasn't her fault. He knew that he hurt her and that she was nothing more than the real victim of the situation. "Don't apologize Addie, it isn't an excuse for me to treat you like crap." As always she knew what not to mention, everything exactly. They both knew what they were talking about, there was no reason to actually say it out loud. For some reason that made it seem worse than it was already. Just to mention it all out loud, it was something that he liked to aviod at all costs and she knew it. There was a plus side to having a best friend that stood out from all the others, they were more trusted of course. He did trust Addie more than he trusted any of his other friends. Which was why she knew more than anyone else did, well that and because over the last year she'd managed to beat a lot of it out of him. He nodded slightly when she said that he shouldn't do anything with Connor yet. Well it was probably best that she worked it out anyway. "Alright I promise I will stay out of it for now," he told her with a nod.

He hugged her back when she hugged him and smiled at her. Things would be alright, this was proof of it. Well that and the fact that the next comment that was made was teasing. He laughed out loud at her suggestion. "I'll have to remember that. Kick Andrew Preston's ass next time I'm upset," he said with a grin. "I might even invite you along with me if you'd like. I know it's a sight that you'd like to see sometime." He teased her just as she had him. Things always managed to quickly fall back to normal when it came to the two of them. They never wasted any time in that awkward stage that went between things being fine and not fine. They were just one or the other, and most of the time they were fine. Because neither one of them had the ability to stay mad at each other so they usually just got over themselves if they were mad and tried to just ignore whatever it was that made them upset. Like Aidan, Milo just learned to ignore the guy now and whatever Addie was saying when she talked about him. Actually, Addie just didn't talk about Aidan that much around him anymore.

He listened to her as she talked about Taylor and sighed slightly. "Addie either way I have no clue in how I'm suppose to not give up," he admitted. "What in the world am I suppose to do to prove that I'm not something to give up?" he asked her, not really thinking that she would have an answer for him. But at the same time he wanted her to have one. He didn't really want to admit it, but he didn't want to give up on her. Or rather he didn't want her to give up on him already. He wanted his chance to get to have a shot with her. Because for once she wasn't just some random girl that he was going to date for sex. She was actually the kind of girl that he could see himself having an actual relationship with and God knew that he hadn't had one of those in quite a long time. Or rather he hadn't been actually wanting to have a relationship with someone for a long time. Sometimes he was kind of forced into them by some of the girls that he dated, but it was rare that he was the one to suggest that they had a relationship. Let alone a serious one, but something was just different with her.

[Addison Micklesen]

She smiled a bit when he agreed to not doing anything yet about the whole Connor situation. She'd been thinking on it a bit herself anyway, and she knew there were some things that could be done about it without having to involve her best friend in it. Besides, she couldn't help but wonder how Connor would feel toward Milo when he learned he'd been lied to, because she couldn't really leave that part out when she explained everything to him. She wished there was a way around it, because she didn't want Connor to think Milo was a jerk or anything, but really there wasn't much she could do to help in that situation. But she'd figured that if Connor didn't want to be with her in front of everybody else, he still wanted to be with her, and though she really wasn't so high on secret relationships, she figured she could actually give it a try. Not with the intention of staying that way forever, of course. She wanted to show him what it would be like to be with her, she wanted to show him how great they could be together, because she knew they would. And if he just didn't get that, well... then, at least she would have tried.

She giggled a bit as he agreed to her suggestion of kicking Andrew's ass next time he was upset, grinning lightly when he invited her to witness the whole thing. "Well now, it's really hard to say no to that, I think I'm gonna have to accept," she said brightly, nudging him slightly. It was pretty much amazing how fast they got over themselves, really, when it concerned one another. Addie was usually a very vindictive girl, she didn't forgive easily when it came to most people, but Milo was, well... it was Milo. It was just impossible to stay mad at him, it was against her nature. And he was too important to her to keep him out of her life for very long anyway. Besides, she didn't want to keep him out of her life at all, it was too much of a hassle for one thing, and then, there was also the fact that she just loved him too much for that. Anyway, they just sucked at hating each other or even being not so close. Their fights were probably the quickest solved ever, because no matter how mad they got at one another, it was only a matter of time before they got to the withdrawal stage. It was a bit extreme, but it was like that.

"Milo, it won't be all that hard," she said, shaking her head. "Taylor hasn't really given up on you, I'm sure," she added. "I mean, does she really seem to you like the kind of girl who'd just move on from a guy to another in less than a week? And if the blush on her cheek whenever you're mentionned in front of her is any sort of hint as to how much she likes you, it must be pretty near to the top," she added with a light giggled as she remembered how red the dancer girl had turned the first time she'd talked about Milo in front of her. "You just gotta try to get to her, talk to her, let her know you're not actually willing to just give up on the whole thing. She's not gonna be able to resist you, I mean, who'd be able to resist that face?" she asked teasingly, pinching his cheek lightly. "Besides, she told me she already bought her dress, so she'll probably be going to homecoming anyway you know," she added with a slight nod. That would definitely be the best occasion to try to get her back, well, figuratively speaking of course, because he didn't actually have her yet. "I'm sure she won't dare refusing a dance if you ask her nicely," she hinted, grinning widely. "And I find myself enjoying match making so very much. I will seriously take pride in it if anything happens between the two of you."

[Milo Parker]

He smiled as she nudged him, glad at the inability between the two of them to be mad at each other. It saved the two of them a lot of times, and he knew that if anyone else tried to pull the same types of things that Addie did he wouldn't forgive as quickly as he forgave Addie, or at all for that matter. She managed to be the exception to all of his rules about people... well most all of his rules anyway. And he knew that the same thing was true for him, which was probably why the two of them liked to toe the lines of what they were able to do and what they weren't with one another. Just to see how much they could get away with without the other person getting upset. She could probably kill him and in the end he'd still forgive her for it. It was possibly something that could land him in deep water someday if something like that ever came about, but he preferred not to think about it. Mostly because he trusted Addie enough to never do anything that would have long lasting effects, and he knew that the feeling was mutual. The rare times that the two of them actually did hurt each other weren't pretty to witness because they did know everything about one another, but as they were proving they could easily get over themselves for each other.

He shrugged when she asked what kind of girl Taylor seemed like, he didn't know. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn't, who knew? Not him, but Addie seemed confident in what she was saying to him. So he guessed the best thing to do would just be to listen to her, after all she did seem to want to help him out. And he supposed that she knew much more about girls in this case than he did, mostly because he didn't have any experience with the type of girl that Taylor was. He'd never really be interested in anyone like her, there just hadn't been a reason for him to be. No one had caught his eye before. He just hoped that all the weird feelings of actually liking a person for who they were would go away soon. They were starting to scare him actually, he was almost not himself. Actually he definitely wasn't himself, he hoped that it all went back to normal soon. He didn't know how much more of it he could take. He'd never actually wanted to impress a girl for reasons that were not getting into her pants. The thought that he would start doing it more often or something was scary.

He laughed slightly as she pinched his cheek lightly and teased him. "You've got a point there no one can resist it," he said just as teasingly before falling silent as she began to speak again. Well if she was going to Homecoming then he'd just go to Homecoming and charm her there, and to do that efficiently he'd have to do the one thing that he'd never done before... go to a dance without a date. She'd better be worth it all in the end, because he had a few ideas of what he could do to improve his chances. "Right so charm her at the Homecoming dance, got it." He said with a nod. "And I'm sure that you will take pride in it, if anything happens between the two of us," he said and then added teasingly, "Maybe you should be a professional matchmaker then if you like it so much. I can see it now you could have your own t.v. show on some women's channel or something. You know the shows that no one ever watches." Admittingly he'd watched one once out of curiosity it was a very dull program and all the commericals weren't of anything of his interest either.

[Addison Micklesen]

She rolled her eyes slightly when she saw him shrug about the whole Taylor thing. She was actually really curious at this point - there was definitely something different about her that made Milo act in a way that wasn't really usual for him, and she could somewhat see that he wasn't actually all that comfortable with it. She could guess why too - when you were always so busy finding girls after girls who you just wanted to shag and not have any sort of deep meaningful relationships with because being emotionally involved was just too much of a risk to take, finding a girl who actually seemed worth it was surely a bit of a shock and it might even be a bit scary. If she looked at how her own emotional life was going right now, she could understand to a certain extent what Milo felt like. Of course, she wasn't really as much of a charmer as he was, she'd had some relationships that weren't only for the physical aspects of it, and she'd even enjoyed them to a certain point. Still, the intensity of how things were turning out to be with Connor completely freaked her out. She didn't know if it was quite that strong for Milo when it came to Taylor, but she figured it might feel the same way because he just didn't do serious, and there came a girl who was actually something more than a body.

She grinned lightly as he responded to her teasing, ruffling his hair again lightly. "Well there you go big boy, put a big goofy grin on that handsome face of yours and sweep the girl off her feet. Do catch her before she hits the ground, though," she poked his stomach lightly, smiling at him. She giggled lightly as he added more, looking at him with fake hope on her face. "Really? You think I could actually do that, for real? Oh Milo, please tell me it's true," she said, tugging at the front of his shirt in a childish way before releasing him with a giggle, shaking her head. "Nah, I think I'll keep my match making skills for close friends," she grinned, nodding slightly. "You know, kind of a private business thing." If she was completely honest, it was pretty much only when it came to Milo that she got involved in it, maybe because she was particularly nosy in order to tease him, or more likely because she really did want to see him happy with a girl for once - not just satisfied from the sex, actually happy. And she firmly believed that was actually possible, though he might not quite.

She moved to sit back down on the ground, tugging at the leg of his pant to get him to sit beside her as she grinned a bit, leaning back on the tree trunk once more and pulling her legs up to wrap her arms around them again, resting her cheek on her knees as she looked at him sideways. The grin faded from her face as it took a more serious expression, looking at him a bit more thoughtfully than before as she considered a few things through her mind. "What's different about her?" she asked curiously. Usually she could only take guesses to those kind of things, and though she was never that far off, right now she felt like really comprehending the way he felt. "I mean, why do you want to go after her so bad? I'm not saying that she's not a nice girl or anything, just trying to understand why you chose her now," she said, smiling a bit at him. "Because obviously there's more to it than just the physical attraction, and that's saying something cause she is pretty hot," she added, laughing a bit. "So why does she actually get to you so bad?" She hoped he wouldn't close up at her questions - sometimes he did, sometimes he didn't. She hoped this time would be a case for the latter option, because she was in the mood for some confession time.

[Milo Parker]

"Alright I think I've got it," he said teasingly. "Smile, sweep girl off feet and have someone there to catch her before she gets knocked out. Sounds like a good plan to me." He poked her back in her side lightly as she tugged at the front of his shirt, he laughed slightly. "You're right keeping things more private will help you out, that way you don't get swapped with business from all the love sick people in the city who are in need of a matchmaker like yourself," he said with a nod. "I bet this place is full of sad lonely people looking for other sad lonely people." It seemed that things between the two of them weren't able to stay serious either, there were those times when they actually had serious discussion for a bit but it could never last. One of them would end up joking it off or something, because when things did get serious it was always an intense situation because if one of them directed the conversation that way they were actually very curious or extremely serious about the matter. Usually, Addie would be the one to bring up a serious matter and he'd be the one to joke it off, but sometimes it was the opposite.

He sat down next to her when she pulled on the leg of his pants. He watched her as she seemed to change moods, something more serious. He internally sighed, he had a good idea what was coming before it got there. Still he didn't know how to answer her question once it was out. He frowned slightly as he thought. "I don't know," he said honestly. "It's hard to explain. And more than that it's hard for me to understand myself, so I don't know if you will." He didn't understand it all himself. Why things were the way that they were. But he hadn't said no to answering her question, not that he wasn't debating on that option but he really had to think before he could say anything. He stared out into the distance trying to figure out how he was suppose to try and explain what was going on without exactly knowing it himself. If it were anyone but Addie... he thought. But in reality he was kind of hoping that maybe she'd be able to help him understand the situation better than he was currently. She usually was able to, when he actually opened up to her about things.

"She makes me want to listen to her, not because I think that if I don't I won't get any from her or something, but because I actually want to listen to what she has to say," he said after a few minutes. "She's got a lot more to the picture than she lets show, and it makes me curious. She's amazingly passionate about what she does, and you don't even have to see her dance to know it. She gets embarrassed easily you know, and it's cute the way that she blushes so often." He smiled slightly as he paused for a minute. "She's extremely attractive but she doesn't throw it around or rely on her looks to do anything, even if she could." He liked that about her quite a bit, it was one of the things that made her different so much. "She's honest too, to a point where it's almost overwhelming the way that she just looks at you and you know that she's telling you the truth." He paused for a minute, staring off into the distance for a bit longer before he turned back to Addie and looked at her. "She's different Addie, different in a good way."

[Addison Micklesen]

Addie looked at Milo with a light smile as he started speaking, nodding slightly when he said he didn't really understand it himself. In her mind, that was the biggest hint of the fact that he really did like Taylor. Emotions to her weren't ever easy to understand, and the stronger they were, the more confusing too, until you finally got the hang of them or accepted their real signification. It was hard, actually, well for her anyway, to accept strong feelings toward anyone. She'd been in love before, though not very often, and it was definitely not something easy to deal with, because it needed an incredibly large amount of trust, trust in yourself just as much as in the other person. It was pretty much all about giving your heart to someone else and believing deep down that they wouldn't actually do anything to hurt it purposedly, hoping it too. Heart breaks weren't fun for anybody, and the more you loved someone, the harder they were. Some people didn't let themselves fall in love because they figured that they were actually putting their heart in safety, keeping themselves from being hurt. But Addie didn't think like thinking that way - in her mind, avoiding pain was just avoiding life, and she definitely didn't want to avoid life. She wanted to embrace it.

"Well I might not understand it fully," she said with a light smile, moving a bit closer to him and resting her head on his shoulder. "But I'm sure gonna try to," she added, her smile turning into a small grin as she reached for one of his hands with hers, taking it. She always enjoyed the closeness with him, though unlike with other guys, it never gave her any kind of ideas that she had about other guys, because she just didn't see him that way. She wasn't actually 'attracted' to him. Of course, he was really handsome and that she would tell to anyone who asked, but she didn't feel anything in that sort of way toward him. Being close to him was just comforting, the way a family member would be. She listened to him as he started explaining how things were to her, or at least trying to, trying her best not to interupt him all through it. She was glad he'd actually decided to tell her - she was always glad whenever he confided in her, because she knew it was not something usual for him, and she knew it meant he did trust her a lot, just like she trusted him a lot.

She looked up at him when as he finished, seeing on his face that all he'd just told her was definitely true, and she could also guess it was freaking him out a bit to feel so strongly about a girl. She moved her head again to look ahead, trying to find something to say, but not finding anything really great right away. "Wow," she said finally, figuring that wasn't much to say but that it summed it up pretty well. Actually, in all honestly, she knew exactly what to say, but she wasn't sure if it was the best of ideas to say it because she was almost sure Milo wouldn't necessarily like it. "Milo... don't get freaked out, okay?" she told him first, moving her head off his shoulder and looking at him with a serious look on her face. "But I think you're actually falling for her," she said with a light smile. There was no trace of teasing in her voice, and she was actually very happy about it. She really did want to see him off with a girl that would be his perfect match, and the more she talked to him and Taylor, the more she was convinced it might actually be it. Especially by how he'd just described her - it sounded to be of a lot more importance than any other relationship he'd had. She'd practically considered using the L word, but she knew that would have put a stop to his little mood right here and there and he would have most likely closed up.

[Milo Parker]

He smiled slightly as she rested her head on his shoulder and took his hand in hers. He could tell that some of the people that were passing would probably think that they were something more than they actually where, and it was something that happened quite frequently between the two of them. Most people didn't understand how the two of them could be so close to one another and not be attracted to each other or have something going on between the two of them. Not that Addie wasn't attractive or anything, because she was he just didn't see her that way. He'd told people that several times and some people just couldn't believe it. In the end he usually let those people believe what they would because both of them knew their relationship and that was all that mattered. It went along with neither of them caring much about what other people thought, they would gossip anyway even if they did spend all their time telling people that they were just friends and they'd go into the argument that the two of them were simply in denial. It was always going to be that way he assumed, until people got it through their heads.

"Don't get freaked out?" he repeated, looking at her with a raised eyebrow in question and a light frown upon his face. "I don't like how this is beginning." Anything that ever started with don't get freaked out usually wasn't news that he wanted to hear. She knew as much too, he would have thought by now she'd know not to use that phrase if she actually wanted him to not get freaked out, well worried better described the emotion. He stared back at her as she looked at him seriously, he didn't like the serious face it rarely bore good news. In fact, he usually got even more freaked out when she brought out the serious face. But what she threw out at him was enough to make him stare at her in disbelief. There was no possible way that those had been the words out of her mouth. But as he looked at her and analyzed her smile he realized that there wasn't a trace of teasing in her voice. She was serious, and happy about it. Like it could possibly be a good thing in some world, like she was glad for him that he was falling for someone.

He shook his head. "Falling for her? No way Addie, none," he said in denial. "I don't fall for people. You know it and I know it." He thought about it for a minute, everything that he'd just said and all the weird feelings that had been going on and not wanting to just have sex with her but actually know her... oh God he was falling for her! It couldn't be happening, no way. He was Milo fucking Parker, he didn't do love, or anything close to it. "Addie do you realize what this means!? I'm going to go soft and mushy and God I can't do this! I've got to stop this nonsense before it goes any further. Maybe if I just date her once it'll go away." He really hoped so at least, it wasn't something that he wanted in his life. He didn't want to be different, he liked the way that he was. His life was fine as it was, the way that he operated was fine. He was very, very freaked out by Addison's analysis on the situation, and more freaked out that it was true. He was considering just not going after her at all if this was what was going to happen to him.

[Addison Micklesen]

Addie sighed a bit as she waited for Milo's reaction, knowing it wouldn't necessarily all that good but ready for whatever he might want to throw at her at this point, knowing rather well it would surely be denial first. Of course, she hadn't started with the best of ways either, getting him worried already as to what she was going to say next, and anyway, no matter if she told him not to freak out or not, he would still. After all, he might not want to admit it, but she was pretty sure that he did have some commitment issues, or at least he would whenever he'd first try getting into a commited relationship. Maybe that was what scared him, after all. The fright that he wouldn't be able to deal with something commited. Not that she thought he'd ever be able to cheat on someone he really did like even as much as he seemed to be liking Taylor right now, without mentionning love. But seeing as he'd never even tried it... Of course, she was only taking a wild guess with it and she was possibly completely off track. But still, she figured that seeing as he'd always been a ladies' man, maybe the thought of being with only one girl for a long period of time was a bit weird and scary.

Addie sighed and rolled her eyes as he finally reacted to what she'd said, figuring she definitely wasn't surprised by this reaction after all. Of course he was freaking out, in what reality wouldn't he have? Here she was suggestion he might actually be on his way to loving a girl. That was insane of her, completely crazy... but it was true, and she knew it. He wasn't there just yet, but he would get there soon enough if it kept going this way, and she wished he would just accept it and go along with it. Taylor was a great girl, and she would be perfect for him, she was sure of that. After all, it might even help him to actually settle down - if he liked her that much, and seeing the kind of girl she was, he would probably do everything in his power not to hurt her, and that would be something new. Not that he usually tried hurting girls, but he didn't have such a big feeling of regret when he did because they weren't girls he cared about, just sex most of the time. "Milo, get a grip on yourself," she said, looking at him pointedly. "Just because you've never fallen for someone before doesn't make it an impossibility."

She sighed as he kept going, though the last of his little speech made her think he'd actually realized what she was saying was true, but he was really a dork sometimes. "Milo, calm down," she said, moving so that she was kneeling in front of him, leaning closer as she put her two hands on his shoulders. "Breathe, relax, you're not going to die right away. This isn't the end of the world, you know," she told him, giving his shoulders a light shake. "You don't have to stop it. These kind of things don't turn out the same for everybody, you know," she rolled her eyes, shaking her head slightly. "Just because some people get all mushy whenever they get closer to someone, doesn't mean you will, and those feelings won't just go away because you want them to," she warned him, frowning. "If you try to cut this short because you're scared that you'll actually fall in love or something close to it, it'll get worse, because those feelings are already there, though they haven't grown completely yet, they're there! And just the way you felt about her cancelling your date is gonna be ten times worse if you just decide not to go along with it, because even though it freaks you out, it's what you want," she said, sitting back on her feet and letting go of his shoulders as she looked at him with a small sigh. "Do you really want to just regret not trying it out even if you might actually have a commited relationship for once? Do you want to see Taylor with another guy in three or four months when she'll have moved on?"

[Milo Parker]

He sighed slightly as Addie told him to get a grip on himself, of course she was right about it not being an impossibility. It had to happen somewhere along the line, that there would be a girl that actually captured his interests for something that was more than sex. He just never liked to believe that day would ever come, especially not while he was in high school. If he expected it ever, he had expected it to be around the time he was thirty or something. When he was starting to chill out a little on the amount of girls that he was dating or rather the amount of girls that he was having sex with, whatever it was really the same difference in his mind. Sex and love obviously weren't something that needed to go together, not within his mind anyway. Sex was sex, it was basically a necessity for him, and love was well love it was something that he might have found someday when he got older and started looking for it. There was no way that it could possibly be any other way than it was already planned out. He had a life plan and that plan was supposed to be followed, it'd be for the best if it was.

He listened to Addie as she moved so that she could place her hands on his shoulders. She was right about one thing though, he did need to calm down. Panicking wasn't good for him, he took a deep breath as she told him to breathe. Well that did seem to help out a little, getting some good ol' oxygen to the brain cells, would probably make them work better. What did she mean it wasn't the end of the world!? It was the end of his world, things as he knew them were about to change. He hated change, he'd rather that everything just stay like it had been. Which was exactly why he had to stop it, why wasn't she seeing the logic here? She was just going on about how things didn't turn out the same for everyone, but if anything turned out at all then it'd still be changing the way that he lived. If he actually were to date a girl like Taylor that'd be it. No girls on the side, no sex on the side, no nothing! Because Taylor didn't believe the same that he did. In her mind love and sex did go together, how could he go without sex just waiting for her to decide when the time was?! That was impossible, he couldn't do it.

He toned back into what Addie was saying, coming back in around feeling ten times worse about not going along with the plans. Ha! If it freaked him out how could it possibly be what he wanted? That logic right there made no sense, Addie was clearly crazy. What he wanted didn't creep him out, never. As she went on he restrained himself from nodding, yes, yes he did want to not try because it meant a committed relationship. But no, no he didn't want to see Taylor with another guy. "I don't know!" he exclaimed in frustration. "I'm tired of all these damn confusing feelings!" He just wanted them to go away, he wanted Taylor to go away so that he wouldn't have to have the feelings that he was having, but at the same time he didn't want Taylor to go away because he wanted her there. Every thought was contradicting the previous one, the girl was going to drive him insane slowly, but surely. "Addie I have no clue what I want okay? I want her but I don't, I want to listen to you and I don't. I want to have a claim on her but I do not want a commited relationship."

[Addison Micklesen]

Addie didn't quite know that much about Milo's future plans - that was one thing they rarely discussed, maybe because it was just a bit too personal for him, maybe because she was never really sure if she really should plan for the future. She'd been living for the present for so long now, seizing the day as they said, that she sometimes got a bit scared or confused when she thought about the future. She never really talked about it, though some people might have guessed it, but she often did worry about her heart, and it was one of her biggest frights, getting sick again. She couldn't help but worry that it was too good to be true, that she hadn't really gotten a new chance at life itself, merely the occasion to extend it a little, to just grasp as much of it as she possibly could and not miss one single experience. Of course, with that kind of thinking, there were still some things she figured she might never be able to get, like having children, and getting married to a certain extent, because there was no saying she'd meet the 'love of her life' young. Anyway, she wasn't one of those girls to hope a big fancy wedding, but that wouldn't really be expected by many people anyway.

She sighed a bit as she listened to him, understanding all the mixed feelings he was getting a feeling a bit bad for it, but not ready to give up on it just yet. She could figure a bit of the things he was thinking about, and she knew Milo didn't like change - she understood it after all the changes his mother's death had brought into his life, it probably didn't give him the best of opinion about the whole process, but he did have to learn that change could be good and definitely healthy though most people were quite worried about it whenever it came into their life. And besides, this seemed like a good change to her, but yeah, he probably didn't agree on that one. Still, even though he was the kind of guy to like... let's say, variety when it cames to girls, he liked getting a lot of them in a pretty short period of time. And she didn't know much about his waiting skills, either, because if he did decide to date her, he'd have to get his hand in pretty good shape for a little while, because Addie was pretty sure Taylor wouldn't want to have any sexual intercourse before she heard the L word, or at least before she felt it.

"Milo, it's not as complicated as it seems to make a choice here," she said with a sigh. "You know the answer already, I know you do even if you don't want to admit it to yourself!" she added, putting one of her hands on the side of his face to force him to look at her. "I know it's not something you're used to, alright? I know you like how your life is right now, I know it's not part of what you'd expected the year to turn out, but have you stopped to think that even though being with a girl like Taylor will no allow you to get many girls at once or have sex for a little while, it might be worth it? Don't you think she's gonna be worth all those girls you usually see, that when you're with her you won't want to be with other girls?" She was trying to get at least that point through his head, figuring if she did that it might be easier. She desperately wanted to see him happy, and she wasn't sure that he was entirely. He enjoyed being the ladies' man, that was for sure, but there was something that told her Taylor and him would just be... perfect. That he deserved more than random hook ups, that she might even help with on some aspects, help him to open up, if not to everybody, at least to her. Help in to just fall in love.