Down Time-(not open, I repeat, not open)

[Brenden Erickson]

((once again, this is not open thank you. There person who it is supposed to be for knows it's for them.))

For once, there wasn't anything that he had to do and there was nowhere that he had to be. It was nice to just be able to sit around the house and relax for awhile. Of course he knew that his relaxation time wouldn't last for long. Somebody would end up calling and interrupting the silence of the home. Sure he had the television on but he wasn't really paying attention to the baseball game that was on. Of course, he'd never found the sport very interesting in the first place and it was just on for a little bit of noise. He was laying on the couch but his puppy was laying on the very end of the couch. Actually, it was his dad's dog but Brownie had became attached to him and now the dog followed him everywhere around the house. He was thinking about taking the puppy out to the beach later since he had discovered that the nine week old puppy loved to swim. Of course, he couldn't go out into deep water but still he knew that the dog would love being out there. Not to mention, Brownie liked attention so if a ton of people wanted to pet him it would be fine.

"You know what Brownie, I think that Anthony spoiled you too much last night when he babysat you for me. I know that he took you on several long walks and played with you for a solid half hour before you feel asleep on him." He said as he sat up and looked at the sleeping puppy for a moment before lieing back down on the couch and staring over at the t.v. for a moment before looking back up at the ceiling. Last night, he'd let Anthony babysit the dog since he simply did not have the time yesterday to give the puppy as much attention as he should get. Sure he could have asked Holly is she wold watch him but he actually had wanted Anthony to take him. The puppy and him were very attached to each other and he knew that Anthony missed having a dog. He absentmindedly played with the class ring that was on a simple chain around his neck. It wasn't his it had previously belong to Mike and Anthony had been the one to give it to him. He hardly ever took it off that chain and he knew that there was only five other people who knew that he had it. Since usually, nobody else saw it unless they caught him playing with it by sneaking up on him. Of course, that almost never happened since he didn't really play with it when other people were around.

He continued to play with it as his eyes made their way back over to where the t.v. was again. He knew that he probably should watch the game since he was the one who had turned the t.v. on but he just couldn't focus on it for some reason. Of course, last night he'd been at Jordan's until midnight just talking about things after they'd gotten back from going out of town to pick something up for Jordan's dad. Their conversation had turned over to sports and how much they really did look alike. People always said that Jordan and him looked like twins, he could see why they thought that. But he actually hadn't known Jordan until he had moved here two years ago. It wasn't until recently that he realized how much they really did look alike.

Actually, right now he wouldn't mind talking to somebody. The silent house was really getting to him now. If somebody didn't come home soon he would either A.) go somewhere else, or B.) call somebody up and try and get them to come over. He knew that Jake wouldn't be home for a few more hours and by that time he'd probably be long gone.

[theLiZARDQUEEN]

<sub>The house stayed silent for a couple of minutes more, it's inhabitants blissfully unaware of what was about to happen. Soon, footsteps could be heard outside, and a few seconds later, the front door crashed open with such force the doorframe shuddered.

"BREEEENNNNDEEEENNNN!!!"

Came a piercing shriek, high-pitched and obviously emitted from a female. A short, sharp whistle erupted, and there was a scrabble of claws on the floor. "Aww, baby! Hello Tallie!" The voice said again. There was a thump of something hitting the floor and then the creator of this chaos poked her head around the corner. Holly Erickson grinned evilly at the back of her brothers head. Setting the source of the scrabbling, a little brown-and-white puppy, on the floor, Holly backed up and ran forward, vaulting over the back of the sofa and landing neatly in place next to her brother. "Sibling dearest! How art thy fat one?" She spoke good-naturedly. Dressed in pristine white tennis shoes, white shorts and a white sleeveless tee, it was evident that the athletic sportswoman had just come from yet another heavy-duty volleyball training session. Holly was passionate about sports, and took her committments very seriously.

"Aww! Why didn't you tell me?" She shrieked yet again, pointing to the screen. Leaning forward with interest, she shushed her brother with a stern face and glued her eyes to the screen in her usual contradictory manner. Tallulah, Holly's puppy, trotted up to her and wagged her tail. Eyes still focused on the screen, Holly Marie scooped up the little dog and settled her in her lap. "What've you been doing, oh mighty productive one?" She questioned her brother, shortly interrupting herself with a victorious yelp as an excellent slam-duck was performed on the screen.

Ah, yes. Miss Holly Marie Erickson had certainly arrived.</sub>

[Brenden Erickson]

He heard Holly scream his name out but it wasn't like she didn't know where he was. He was the only one in the house at the moment and the t.v. was on. Not to mention, his truck was the only one in the driveway he listened as she spoke to her puppy. His eyes wandered over to Brownie again, the puppy was still fast asleep next to him. He ran one hand through the animals short brown fur while the other one continued to play with the class ring. Holly had caught him playing with it before and he knew that she knew about where it had came from and who had given it to him. He watched as she launched herself over the couch and landed next to him. He knew that she was just kidding by calling him fat, since he certainly wasn't that. He ran at least once a day for a few miles and was usually off doing something physical. "Right now, I'm a little on the bored side and was trying to think of something to do. It was nice just laying around but now I feel like doing something." He said before he finally stopped playing with the ring. He didn't bother with hiding it again because Holly was the only other person here.

He watched Holly watch the game for a moment before he heard her next question. Today hadn't been a very productive day, but he had found out some things that might interest Holly. "Well, about an hour ago Anthony came over and dropped Brownie off. Since he babysat him last night as you probably already know. We talked for a little bit before he had to leave. And then, I got to reading the newspaper let's just say the sports writer mentions Jordan and me a lot. And if you want to go with what he thinks, we'll be conference champions for the third year in a row." He said before thinking of what he could tell her next. There actually was several things but he might as well tell her the news about somebody who she actually knew next. Today had been a very good day for finding things out, of course he half hoped that nobody read the newspaper today since he didn't feel like getting a ton of calls from people about what was written.

"Oh, and I found out that Jordan's sister heard some of the conversation that Jordan and I were having last night. She's finally starting to really get into better shape for volleyball this year and according to Jordan, is going to try and follow him and me to see where we actually run. That's not really news but it's rather interesting." He said and then wondered how long Ashley would be able to keep up with them. Where they ran wasn't a big secret or anything but sometimes the conversations that Jordan and him had while running were top secret. Of course, that was only because they'd get into conversations about certain things and he didn't want people knowing how much he still was bothered about certain things happening. That was why he was slightly worried about how much Ashley had heard last night. Had she heard when Jordan had coaxed him into talking about Mike? He hoped not, since he'd gotten slightly emotional while he was talking about him.

"Oh and there's one other thing too that you may or may not find interesting. You know that school down near Platteville that's got that basketball team that's good? You've probably heard of them but one of their ex players has moved up here." He said and then looked down at the coffee table before he found the paper that he'd printed off. He picked it up and handed it to Holly. "Ryan Smith, yes that article's two years old but it took me awhile to find it on the internet. Sure he was only a freshmen but look at those stats." He said before picking up the other piece of paper and holding it out to Holly. "So I know what you're thinking why he is an ex player if he's got stats like that? Well, you see he was involved in a little accident and hasn't played since. By the way that's courtesy of Conrad he just happened to call me up and talk to me about who his next door neighbor was now." He said before wondering why Conrad had been so interested in this person that he had called him up to tell him about the person who had moved in next to him. Conrad wasn't interested in just anybody when it came to sports which means that he found something impressive about this person. Once he'd read up about him he had saw when he had been impressed.

((Whee, over 800 words.))

[theLiZARDQUEEN]

<sub>[OOC__ SHUT UP! Now my posts look crap! RAWR!]

Holly's green eyes tore away from the screen and fixated on her brother as he spurted out his news. Wow. He certainly had been doing stuff today. Clamping her hand on the sheet of paper that held Ryan's stats, Holly scanned them quickly, and gasped. Brenden had been right! These stats, for a freshman, were phenomenal! Eyes widened, she listened to the rest of his tales, then answered in awed tones.

"Really? Wow! Lucky bum! Did it say anything about your amazingly talented and beautiful sister?"

She joked about the newspaper article. Thinking over his next piece of information, she smiled. Aha. That conniving Ashley. Holly herself knew where Jordan and Brenden ran religiously almost every day, and had sometimes been granted the honour of running with them, one, because she was very fit and kept up with the boys easily, and two, she was so well regarded in her brother's books that he didn't hide anything from her and she almost came as a package with him; get Brenden, you get Holly. Brenden's friends were well used to their bud's eccentric, bouncy, dark-haired sister tagging along, they almost considered her one of the guys.

Well, not really. Because Holly really didn't want to know what the boys talked about when she wasn't around.

"Aw, Bren, don't be too hard on her. She probably just wants to be included. I always thought she was a bit jealous of how much you include me in on things with the guys. Maybe she wants Jordan to do the same thing. And why are you so worried? You weren't talking about Mike, or something, were you?"

Speaking carefully, Holly entered this subject with tentativeness, as if walking on eggshells. [Technically that expression is stupid, because who walks on eggshells?] She knew all about Mike, and how the wounds were still raw from Brenden. She spoke as if a counsellor, a somewhat more endearing quality of hers. She was good at giving advice, wanted or not.

"And this Ryan guy. Is he going to start coming to LHS? Will he be on the basketball team? Is he cute? And why is Conrad so nosy? I never liked him."</sub>

[Brenden Erickson]

((your posts are good though I love reading them. Not to mention I love how you rp Holly.))

He almost laughed at her statement and then tried to remember if it had mentioned anything about Holly. He thought that he'd said something about her but he couldn't remember now. "Hang on, I have to scan the article but, offhand I think I mentioned you." He said before grabbing the sports section of the newspaper. He read it for a few moments before he found what he was looking for. "Why yes, it does honestly it's right here." He said and then pointed to the article, located toward the bottom of it was Holly's name. "When asked about who he thought was his biggest supporter, Erickson surprised us all by saying his sister Holly and Jordan Anderson were at a tie in that department." He said and then looked over at Holly and smiled, he'd said that a long time ago and they must have just dug that out of their archives. "Sorry Holly, but I had to put you and Jordan up at the number one spot." He said before looking over at the t.v. again for a moment the basketball game had ended and now a tennis match was on.

He knew that she was right about Ashley wanting to be included but still, she didn't have to listen in on things. She'd hit on why he was worried though, he had been talking about Mike and luckily for him Jordan didn't press him about the subject. Since he knew that the two of them were the same way when it came to Mike. None of them ever spoke of him to people who hadn't known him. "Yes, we were talking about Mike." He said with a slightly sad tone before he sighed. Why hadn't Ashley decided to listen in on another day? "We talked about him for a long time last night, and I guess that I'm just lucky that she isn't going to tell everybody what was said." He said before running his hand through Brownie's fur. Last night they'd been discussing a lot of different things but somehow things always seemed to come back to Mike. He knew that Holly knew how much he really thought about Mike and how he still wasn't over what had happened to him. He then looked down and realized that he'd been playing with the class ring again, how long had he been playing with it? "I think she might have caught me playing with Mike's class ring too but I'm not sure. Of course she probably doesn't know that this one isn't mine." He said before he knew that he'd better get off the subject before he started to cry and that wouldn't be good.

"But then, we were talking about the chances of Anthony ending up dating...er, people." He said before looking over at Holly, he wasn't about to tell her who those people were. Since she was one of them but he knew that she probably knew that she was one of them. Actually, he knew that she knew that there was only certain people that he would allow her to go out with and they had to pass his inspection. That was the way Jake was with him, of course Holly had it worse since she actually had two older siblings. Not to mention her boyfriends had to pass the parent inspections too. Of course, over the past few years he really hadn't dated that much. Sure he probably could have any girl that he wanted but he actually really didn't know why he didn't date. Jake had his own theory about that and he was bothered by the fact that he might be right. Of course all he'd had to do was say the name of one person to get the explanaton.

"I guess that he's going to start coming here. But like I said those stats are two years old and he's actually a junior now and hasn't played since his freshmen year. So I don't think that he'd be on the team here. As for the whole is he cute thing, I don't know and I don't really care. But I do know that he has a sister who is a freshmen this year." He said before he thought about what she had asked about Conrad. He didn't know why he was so nosy but sometimes it was a good thing. "I don't know why he's nosy and not to mention if you seen how good he is at solving math problems you'd be amazed." He said and knew that had been a pointless piece of information. But, Conrad was good at math, he was too but now that he thought about it he couldn't remember the last time that Conrad had gotten a problem wrong. He knew that Holly didn't really like Conrad but he was a decent person, he was just a little too nosy at times.

[theLiZARDQUEEN]

<sub>Holly's face erupted into a huge beam as Brenden read out the short quote then turned to smile at her. She uttered a delighted shriek and flung her arms around her [now more loved than ever] brother. "Aww, Bren, thank you! And that's okay. Jordan's cool." She sat back after her sudden lunge of affection had finished. Settling against the cushy back of the sofa, there was a distinctive smug aura around her. Brenden was quite well-known in this small town for his sporting ability [actually, their whole family was... plus the Andersons, and the Wallaces], and him mentioning Holly as his number-one supporter along with Jordan gave her an extra boost in the popular-at-school stakes. Not that Holly really cared about that sort of stuff, as she had her own tight circle of friends, and she could hold her own there, but still.

Okay, I don't know what I'm talking about, so let's move on.

Holly sat with bated breath as Brenden spoke. She had noticed him start to fiddle with Mike's ring about five minutes ago, but hadn't said anything. Her eyes welled up with tears as her brother's voice cracked. She had loved Mike too, and his death was painful for her as well. But she had cried behind locked doors, as she knew that if Brenden saw her crying during the grieving process it would tear him down even harder. Sometimes now she even fell asleep on a soaked pillow, though she never spoke about it. She didn't know if anyone in her family knew. She was good at keeping secrets, but her two brothers were so damn attentive to her every move, which was both a blessing and a curse. "It's okay, Bren. Even if she did see anything, Ash isn't the type to blab it all over school. And she couldn't have known it was Mike's ring. Besides, if she does anything, I'll take care of her, don't you worry."

She cuddled Tallulah close. The dog's warmth seeped into her, and Tallie squirmed slightly under Holly's tight clutch. She loosened her arms, and Tallulah licked her face gratefully. She stroked the little brown-and-white splashed pup gently as Brenden spoke again. Holly blinked slightly at this new revelation. Of course she knew that Anthony liked her - the boy was over here all the time, and Holly wasn't stupid - but the fact that Brenden and Jordan were talking about them! It was enough to make Holly scream. Luckily she didn't. "Good, well, maybe she heard that instead." She answered, far too quickly. She would talk about anything with Brenden, but they were NOT talking about that. Eww.

She was quite aware of the unspoken rules of who-Holly-is-and-isn't-allowed-to-date that her older brothers had laid down. It was well-known in the family that any boy Holly became interested in - even slightly, like 'wow that guy in my Maths class is pretty cute' slightly - underwent a tough examination that Brenden carried out in school time, and reported back to Jake. Pretty much every guy failed. Apparently, Anthony hadn't. Great. She was allowed to date one of her friends. At this moment in time, Holly considered Anthony as a brother. And isn't it illegal to date your brother?

There. Problem sorted.

Of course, Andy wasn't ALWAYS going to be out of the question. She wasn't so blind to see that he wasn't cute, and she actually did have a tiny, teensy, weensy, itty-bitty crush on him - the size of an atom, of course - so she wasn't going to move in. No. If anything happened, it would most likely be forced upon her by Brenden, Jake and their ever-present conspirator, Jordan.

"Geez, Brenden, no need to be so crushing. I was only asking. Then again, you wouldn't notice if he was cute, would you, seeing as you're a guy. Some help you are." Holly scoffed, cheeks red from vexation. "That's a shame. Because it would be awesome to have someone with such amazing stats to be on the team. We'd kill everyone." She laughed evilly, invisioning the beautiful picture. Stopping when she heard his voice again, she gave him the most dumbfounded look ever when he spoke of Conrad's mathmatical ability. "And I needed to know that WHY?!"

[OOC__ HAHA! 713 words, baby!]</sub>

[Brenden Erickson]

He watched as she flung her arms around him, he knew that she'd be happy but he wouldn't have guessed that she would be this happy. Of course, he could have mentioned different people but they didn't deserve credit for much. Well, actually now that he thought of it there were a few other people that he could have mentioned but most of them preferred not to get that type of publicity. "You'd better think that Jordan's alright since you're around him enough. Although they still think that they're not so sure I'm as good as Jake. Hello, Jake hasn't even really played football in three years but I'm sure that he's happy the press still has a love affair with him." He said and then looked around the room, he knew that his parents liked to save every little article that ever included any family member's name in it so he might as well just leave the paper on the coffee table. Of course, now that he thought back to what he had said he knew that even Jake was getting a little fed up about how much people would try and compare the two.

He knew that she was right about that too, it wasn't like Ashley had been spying on them years ago when he'd called Jordan up and explained to him what Anthony had just done. Which had included showing up at five in the morning and standing in the doorway for five minutes while Anthony cried on him. He was glad that Holly hadn't been up when this had been happening, or if she had she hadn't shown herself. This had all happened a short time after Mike's death and it hadn't been the last time something like it had happened. Just a few weeks ago Anthony had shown up at the door and he'd thought for certain that something was wrong but when he had seen the smile on his face he knew what was going to be said. At least Anthony had gotten one of his wishes, and that was to stop being home schooled and go back to a regular school again.

"Yeah, I don't think she'd know that it wasn't mine since there's only six people that know the whole story about it and how it came into my possession. You're one of those six if I remember right." He said and it was then that he wondered if she had been awake when Anthony had came over that day at five in the morning and they'd stood there in the doorway for about five minutes while Anthony finally let go of everything that he'd been holding back. After that the two had went on a very long drive (this had all happened a few weeks after he'd gotten his drivers license.) Then the two of them had ended up falling asleep in his truck. He was glad that Holly and him had such a good relationship since she was great to talk to and not to mention, she just had some strange effect on him that made him feel like everything was going to be fine.

He noticed how quickly Holly had said that maybe Ashley had heard their talk about Anthony instead of the one about Mike. "Aw come on Holly, it's not like he's not good looking or something. Since he inherited the good looks. Besides, if I remember right the girls in your grade all wanted to go out with him." He said before looking over at Holly, he couldn't really force Anthony on her and there's no way he'd do that to Anthony either. Yet personally, he thought that the two would make a cute couple. His eyes wandered over to the many pictures that were in the living room there were some of Mike and some of Anthony. And he did have to admit that it was rather hard to tell the two apart in some of them.

"Yeah I know, I honestly wouldn't mind having him be the the second person that I'd look for in basketball. Since first I have to look around for Jordan since I know that usually he's running around whoever is trying to block him. But trust me, I'm sure that you'll see this person eventually" He said and wondered what the chances were that this person would actually want visitors since according to some of the other people that he'd talked to this Ryan wasn't really fond of strangers. "I don't know why you needed to know that. But something slipped my mind. I was also talking with Jordan this morning, his dad sent him over to the house to fix a couple of things. And Ryan, well wasn't too happy about having a person near him since Jordan ended up working in the kitchen where Ryan was. He said that he felt like Ryan was going to attack him and that he was glad to get out of there." He said before finally being silent, he certainly was filling Holly in on a lot of things today.

((Y@Y -claps, that post you wrote rocked.))

[theLiZARDQUEEN]

<sub>Holly nodded with a smile and laughed as Brenden mentioned the media's 'love affair' with Jake. Fair enough, that was quite true. Her second brother hadn't played football in ages, but when he was the star of the school team, there was uncountable [if that IS a word] amounts of articles printed about him. Apparently they still loved him. Holly knew that it wouldn't go to her brother's head, but he definitely would show off to Jordan and Brenden about it.

"Speaking of Jake, where is he?" She interrupted thoughtfully. Glancing at the TV screen, where the tennis game was still going. She watched for anything good, but it seemed quite boring so she leant forward and switched it off. She liked tennis, but it could be boring to watch if it wasn't one of her favourites playing. Trying to sit back in her seat, she almost toppled off the sofa and braced herself on the floor before hauling herself upright. Besides, talking with Brenden was a lot more fun than watching TV, even if it was sports. She kicked off her sneakers and leaned back, just barely missing Brownie. Yelping, she sat up and picked up the puppy, plopping him next to Brenden and leaning back against the arm of the sofa with her knees up in the air. She cuddled Tallulah in her lap and smiled.

Listening to Brenden talk about Mike's ring brought pinpricks of tears to her eyes, remembering the night she found out. Well, morning, seeing as it had been around five-ish when Anthony had turned up on their doorstep in tears. Holly herself had been going to the kitchen to get a drink, and the sound of sobs and murmuring alarmed her. Poking her head around the corner, she heard the words 'Mike', 'car', and 'dead'. At first she hadn't believed it, but listening silently for a few more seconds had confirmed it. Mike, their Mike, was dead. She hadn't been the same for about a year after that. No-one had. And it had subconsciously brought her and Andy closer.

Speaking of Andy Wallace, Holly went a deep red as Brenden mentioned Anthony's good looks. It was true, she did think so, but only her diary knew that. It would never be spoken aloud. Well, maybe, but not now. She followed Brenden's gaze around the many photographs. Jordan, Mike and Anthony were practically part of the family, and there was no shortage of photos of them. The kids were all as tight as, and every family's living room had pictures with all seven of them. Six boys and Holly. One photo caught her eye. It was of her and Anthony a couple of years ago. Holly was piggy-backing on Andy's back, and they both had huge grins, watching something off camera view. You couldn't tell, but it had been Brenden and Jordan being idiots. She liked thr photo, for more reasons than one. "Brenden. Shut up. I refuse to take part in this conversation." She said with crimson cheeks, grabbing a cushion and fiercely whacking him over the head with it.

"Good. Because he sounds awesome. Maybe he can give me some tips." She said thoughtfully. "That's weird. Why was he so freaked?"


[OOC__ Not one of my best, but hey.]</sub>

[Brenden Erickson]

He knew exactly where Jake was, unless he'd skipped work but that wasn't like Jake and not to mention it wouldn't be a good thing to do if he wanted to keep his job. He knew that Jake did want to keep his job though and that he'd been working at the same place for years now. "Right now, he's most likely at work at the hardware store. But today, I guess that he has to work longer today so if I were you I'd find somewhere to be in a few hours when he gets home. Since I know that he's going to be crabby, especially since he had to get up before ten o'clock." He said and wondered when Jake would ever actually break his habits that had been formed after he graduated high school. Actually, he personally wondered how Jake could sleep that late. Of course, he knew that Jake actually did miss high school, he could just tell by the way that he was sometimes. Not to mention, he was at every single game and it didn't matter where it was.

He heard Holly tell him to shut up, sure he probably shouldn't have been bothering her so much about Anthony. But in a way he could kind of tell that she had feelings for him. Now, he knew that Anthony liked her but there was no way that he'd ever break the promise he had made to him and tell Holly. Besides, it wasn't like either of them had done something like that to him. He felt Holly hit him over the head with a cushion, my she was really defensive about the Anthony subject. "Alright, I'll back off the subject and we can talk about something else. Like how Lucky got out last night and Jordan made Ashley got get him since she was the one who let him out. She was chasing him around for a good ten minutes." He said and noticed how red Holly's cheeks were, he made a mental note not to ever bring Anthony up so suddenly again. Of course, he probably still would and then this whole thing would happen all over again.

"Well, I guess that Jordan wasn't very comfortable with the looks that he was getting from Ryan. And when Jordan got to talking with his sister, she mentioned how he didn't like strangers and didn't even want to be up here. Of course, Ryan could probably hear the conversation that Jordan and Kelly, Ryan's sister were having about basketball too. Since I guess that he hates it now and hasn't played since he got those very nice stats." He said and wondered how one could be so good at basketball one moment and then hate it the next. What type of accident had this Ryan been in? Was he afraid of playing again or something because if he was then he could tell him a little story of his own. One that involved Jake taking him out to the woods to this tiny little basketball court and telling him to shoot. Then after he actually made a very tiny shot he told him to step back to where he was and do the same thing. The whole thing had went on for about fifteen minutes or so. Of course, that incident was just between the two of them and Holly didn't even know about it.

He heard somebody knock at the door and knew exactly who it was. Yet he wondered why they were over here. "Well, look who showed up here again." He said and wondered if Holly knew that Anthony was at the door. It couldn't be Jordan, he was working and nobody else would probably show up here. He then looked down at Brownie, who had stood up once he heard the knock. Did the dog really know who was at the door too? He then stood up and made his way over to the door and opened it to see Anthony, he didn't look upset. So perhaps he was just bored or something. Yet he could see in Anthony's eyes that something was up and he had a slight idea of what that something might be. It involved Holly and he' d let him go on with whatever plan since he had passed the test a very long time ago. Yet the question was, he did know how Anthony felt about Holly but how did Holly feel about one of the people that she'd grown up with? He then looked back to see Brownie running toward the door before stopping right in front of Anthony.

He couldn't believe that he was going to do this. But, he just couldn't take it any longer and perhaps once he got everything out things would go back to the way they used to be. Although he knew that probably wouldn't happen He noticed Brownie had stopped right next to him so he bent down and began to pet the puppy. "Hey Brownie, you couldn't have missed me already. I was gone for what, an hour." He said before looking at Brenden, he probably wondered why he was here but he wasn't about to say anything until he was sure that Holly was here. Brenden probably had picked up on some very subtle signal about what he was planning on doing and he just hoped that things would start out right. He still couldn't believe that he'd developed a crush on Holly in the first place.

((Whee, this should be fun.))

[theLiZARDQUEEN]

<sub>Holly made a face as Brenden mentioned how crabby Big J was most likely to be when he came home. She thought of where she could go. She hated Jake when he was poopy. It was like a cranky toddler times a girl with her period.

Not a nice combination.

Maybe she could ring Ashley and ask if she wanted to go jogging. Or she could loiter around the mall. She considered her options and picked Ashley instead. Little did she know, she wouldn't get to call her best friend that day. ;] Listening to Brenden ramble, she tuned out and stroked Tallulah, staring off into a corner of the ceiling and nodding and murmuring every so often to make him think she was listening. Which she wasn't. [Now, before you all go 'ooohhhh, she's thinking about ANTHONY, wooo-hooo!' - she wasn't. She was thinking about the new CD she wanted to get. So there.]

She snapped back to reality as the doorbell chimed and Brenden got up to answer it. Thinking it was a 99% chance it was Jordan, Holly relaxed and stretched her legs out. She couldn't see the door from here, so she plopped Tallulah on the floor, who promptly ran after Brownie, and sat on the floor, sinking slowly into the splits to keep herself limber for that jog this afternoon. Dancing was a great love of Holly's, and she was good at it.

From her splayed-out position with both legs completely stretched out on either side of her, Holly looked quite relaxed as she waited for Jordan to come into the room so she could ask him where Ashley was. But upon hearing a familiar voice talk to Brownie, Holly panicked when she heard Anthony's voice. Could he have heard her and Brenden talking? She leapt up from her split and yelped as pain shot through her legs. Sprinting to the sofa, she vaulted over it and went to run to her bedroom and stuff her head under her pillow. But, forgetting she was in socks, she promptly slid on the lino and skidded toward Brenden, slamming into him and falling over. Bouncing up, she smiled widely at Anthony, cheeks bright red with embarrassment.

"Hi!" She spoke loudly, trying to cover up her embarrassing stint in the hallway. Damn, that was so humiliating. Even more so because everyone knew that Holly had superb balance and hardly ever stacked it. She looked at Anthony with a pounding heart, and not just from her acrobats.

[OOC__ HAHAHAHAHAHA! My post even made ME laugh!]</sub>

[Brenden Erickson]

He watched as Holly seemed to slide toward him and half expected what was going to happen. Yet he still was slightly shocked that she actually ran into him, apparently she couldn't stop at all. Yet when he noticed how red her face got he wondered if was for two reasons. One she'd just ran into him, two the person who they'd just been talking about was here. "Good going Holly, now what would you have done is Brownie wasn't so interested in Anthony and you ran into him instead?" He asked before looking to where Brownie was, the puppy was only focused on one person. He wasn't mad at Holly, he was just a little shocked by the event that had just happened. "By the way, don't run into Jake like that since he isn't so nice about things like that. Especially when he's had a bad day since I've done that before." He said and remembered the result of when he'd ran into Jake. They'd ended up getting into a yelling match before Jake left going who knows where.

Anthony watched as Holly ran into Brenden it was then that he stopped petting Brownie and stood up. He missed having a dog so usually he was around Brownie, or Jordan's dog Lucky whenever he could be. Since he knew that the chances of his mother agreeing to get a dog were slim. She was always the obstacle when it came to everything since most of the time his father sided with him. But his mother usually didn't side with the two of them and she'd been the huge obstacle when it came to going back to a normal school. He had actually accidentally dragged Brenden into that little disagreement and he wondered if something that he had said had actually made a difference. He hadn't been around when Brenden had went over there and spoken to his parents. He hadn't even know the whole thing had happened until he had spoken with his dad.

"Hello Holly," he said and then looked over to where Brenden was but now he just seemed content to stand away from the action. Yes, he must have figured out some of what he was planning on doing. How he could he be so sensitive to emotions? "I was thinking about going on a walk, or run it doesn't really matter. Feel like going with?" He asked as his eyes were on Holly and was surprised that what he had just said had came out so calm. He was a bundle of nerves on the inside and not to mention he didn't know if Brenden would even back him up. Since he'd left this home an hour ago he had went home for a few moments before realizing that his mother would be coming home soon and he didn't want to be around her when he was alone. Not to mention he had felt like he needed to do something about his whole crush on Holly situation.

He knew that there was no way Anthony was really that calm, he was a very good actor right now. Yet, he knew that he'd have to think of something really quick to say so that it didn't seem like he was off in space. Wait, Jordan had told him that he had to take Ashley to a dentist appointment? Aha, now that not only would make it look like he wasn't just day dreaming but it would also be a reason for Holly to go with Anthony. "Jordan had to take Ashley to a dentist appointment today so they probably are not going to be back for awhile. But, sometime today I have to go and kick Greg and tell him that there's no way he's going to get hurt again and that everything is going to be fine. So that he doesn't wimp out and decide not to join the football team this year." He said and then checked his watch, sure he could do that almost any day this week but if Holly was leaving then he wanted to. There was no way he wanted to be home if Jake got as crabby as a toddler who woke up too early and was hungry.

"Don't kick him too hard because then you might actually hurt him again." Anthony said and then watched as Brenden rolled his eyes at him. He could see what he was trying to do and knew that Holly probably would catch on. "I just don't feel like being at home when my mom's there and my dad isn't. Plus the chances of her coming over here to find me are actually pretty good...today." He said and wondered how mad she would be once she found out that he'd gotten a B+ in math instead of the A that she expected. Of course, he might have gotten a lower grade if it wasn't for Brenden doing his homework and all he had to do was rewrite it. Of course, that had only happened twice and that was because Brenden said that he needed some time to sit back and not be so stressed out about grades. Brenden had been right, since at the time he'd been really stressed out about everything. His mother had really gotten on his case about the fact that he was only getting a B in math and had been trying to get a better grade. He really owed Brenden for doing his work those two times. He had gotten a better grade than a B he'd gotten a B+ and hopefully she wasn't going to hunt him down and yell at him. Of course she wouldn't find him in the woods now would she?

(Your post made me laugh too)

[theLiZARDQUEEN]

<sub>Holly laughed weakly at Brenden's lame-ass joke. Dark amber eyes widened as Anthony invited her for a jog. Could he read minds? She had been planning to go for one with Ashley and gossip. Now it seemed she would be going with Andy and enduring awkward silences. Actually, maybe there wouldn't. Holly could easily go on and on about random crap. Andy would most likely stay silent and brooding... his usual self. Sometimes when he went like that, he got this horribly sad look on his face that just made Holly want to wrap him up in her arms and hug him. But that would be weird, so she usually just looked away and held the tears back.

She opened her mouth to say something but was rudely cut off by her dear brother. Urgh. Brothers were so annoying. Count yourself lucky, all you brotherless people. Glaring at him, she was miffed by his interruption, but became even more indignant as she realised what he was trying to do. Brenden, dear, loving Brenden, was copping out! Stupid arse. He was practically FORCING her to go for a run with Anthony. A minute ago Holly had been so grateful of their little chill-out session, and now she wanted to stab him with a spork. Idiotic brothers. She'd get him later.

It occurred to her that she hadn't replied to Andy yet. Waiting until Brenden had finished his little tirade about Greg and Ashley and Jordan, Holly looked back at Anthony and tilted her head slightly, smiling politely. "Of course I would, Andy. Just let me change first, I'm still in volleyball gear." Her voice was sweet, though the murderous glance she shot Brenden when Anthony wasn't looking wasn't. It wasn't unusual that she had called him Andy - she had been since they were about four. In fact, now she was thinking of it, she was the only one who called him Andy. The boys all called him Anthony, and so did the parents, though sometimes the mothers slipped up and called him Andy. But Holly was the only one who called him that on a regular basis. Maybe he didn't like it... ? Oh well. If he didn't, he could stuff it. Because it was a habit now, and Holly wasn't going to stop. =]

She turned on her heel and walked into the living room, scooping up her trainers and running on light feet to her bedroom upstairs, where she slipped out of her white shorts and tee, and hung them up neatly in her sports outfits section in her wardrobe. Holly Marie was a neat freak, especially about her sport clothes. Everything was always clean and neat. She had a reputation for it. Pulling on a pair of black jogging shorts, she slipped into a red sleeveless shirt and a pair of white sneakers. Crossing the room to her mirror, she brushed out her sweaty hair and retied it into it's ponytail, snatching up her favourite red-and-black plaid cap and seating it on her head. She left her room and danced down the stairs, returning to the boys. "Ready!" She announced chirpily.</sub>

[Brenden Erickson]

He was determined to keep his happy attitude going throughout the rest of the day. Of course, he knew that once he got home that his mother would probably say something to deflate his positive self. Since she would be home tonight, that was a rare occurrence usually she ended up working really late and he didn't really see her in the morning. Of course, he had it all planned out, she'd usually get home at about six or so from the hospital and by that time he was out jogging. Either that or he was off to somebody's house even though it usually was Brenden's or Jordan's when he was home. Perhaps he'd be able to convince his mother to let him stay here tonight. But how could he do that, well he'd have awhile to think about that. His eyes then wandered down to Brownie again, he had fun babysitting the dog and it had been nice to have a dog in the house again even if it was just for a little while.

Brenden watched as Holly's eyes widened once she head Anthony's question. He was slightly surprised by Anthony's approach but he knew that he probably was doing things right. Since if he'd asked to to go to go to the park or something then she might have known that something was up. And one thing that Jake had drilled into his head was that you should never, let a girl know that you're about to ask them out. That was what he thought, and he didn't really know weather or not he should believe it or not. But that method seemed to be working for Jake judging by the amount of girlfriends he'd gotten throughout the years. He then noticed the look that she given him, he'd be in for utter torture later he knew that already. But maybe she'd be thanking him for not going along. He then listened to her answer and then when she was gone he smiled at Anthony. It was then that he noticed the sky seemed a little darker than usual. Hopefully it wouldn't storm while the two were out there otherwise he'd either end up looking for them or pacing around the house worrying about them.

As soon as Holly was upstairs Anthony looked at Brenden and noticed how he seemed so relaxed for a person who was letting their younger sibling go somewhere without them. He didn't mind that Holly called him Andy, if he didn't then he probably would have said something years ago. It was then that his mind was brought back to the present again. "Brenden, do I look nervous since I feel it." He asked quietly and then wondered if he'd even been worried about looking like he was nervous before. Now that he thought about it he had been but not it a long time.

"Relax Anthony, you don't look nervous at all. Don't think about things too much. Besides, I'm the one who's going to be tortured in whatever way Holly decides not you." He said rather quietly and then wondered if there was a way that Holly could be listening to their conversation. Well, he knew that she probably could hear things if she was around the corner upstairs near the staircase. Yet he hoped that she wasn't listening in, for Anthony's sake. A few moments later Holly came down and he shoved his hands into his pockets, perhaps a little too casually and then leaned back against the wall. "It looks like it's going to rain out. By the way Anthony, if your mom comes by here I'll say that you went fishing with Jordan or something. She'll never know that Jordan doesn't like to go fishing. And..if she asks if I ever did your math homework which she won't because she can never prove that. I'll tell her no and that I didn't since I couldn't remember geometry." He said and then looked at Holly, did she know that he'd done a couple of assignments for Anthony? Well, if she didn't then she did now.

He was just about to say something as Holly came down and he was very glad that he hadn't. He almost started laughing when Brenden began speaking since his mother was completely clueless about what the people he was around liked and didn't like. "When has the rain ever stopped me from going out for a jog? And I'll disregard your last comment just in case my mom's hiding around the corner of the house listening in." He said and then looked over to where Holly was. "So, are we ready now?" He asked, knowing that she'd just said that she was ready. But at the moment he was at a loss for words.

((That's the longest post I've made all day you know.))