Oliver was ready to leave by the end of the next week.

Abel and I had decided to take a break from the list, mostly so I could go tour the Standford Campus with Lena. But he hadn't seem all that excited to do it, and I didn't want to press him on what I knew he didn't want to talk about.

I was sitting on Oliver's bed watching him throw another one of his comic books into his suitcase, trying as hard as I could not to cry.

Here we were. The terror twins, the Scott's. They hadn't ever been able to tear us apart as kids, even when we were on different ends of the social ladder.

"Hey, don't you start crying on me." Oliver commented, throwing one of his old band shirts at me, "I'm already going to have to get enough of it from Abel." I laughed, wiping my eyes before tears could escape them.

"You'll call, right? And Skype?" I choked out, jumping off his bed so I was standing beside him. He nodded, pulling me into a hug.

It was one of the very few times my brother had done it, which means it meant something more then just a gesture.

"Of course, Liv. You know I will." He pushed my blonde bangs out of my eyes and smiled sadly, "And you better not let Abel hurt you." I laid my head against my brothers chest, sniffling as a smile stretched across my face.

"Of course, Oli." I mocked him, "You know I won't."

*

I was already ready to climb out of the car when we pulled up to Abel's old house. Oliver was in the back, looking down at some map as Jeremy continued to bombard him with questions.

"I'll be right back." I told my family before jumping out of the van and jogging up the stone pathway to the Hendricks porch. I knocked gently, knowing better then to knock loud enough to wake his parents if they weren't awake.

He answered the door a few minutes later, leaning against the door frame as he yawned. I let my eyes roam over him, taking in his loose white t-shirt and spider man boxers.

"Hey there, Spiderman." I greeted with a smile, "You ready to go?" He looked over my shoulder at my family waiting for us in the van.

"Go where? I thought we weren't doing another thing on the list until this afternoon." I shifted my body a little and gestured behind us.

"Oli has to be at the airport by noon. He thought you'd want to come with us and see him off." Abel nodded, yawning again.

"All right. Let me go put some pants on. Please don't come in." He shut the door gently and quietly in my face. I listened as his footsteps dissipated the further he went in his house. I waited by the door for a few minutes before he came back out, a pair of Levi's covering his superhero boxers. He threw his arm around me and kissed the side of my head as we jogged down the steps, smiling when he saw my confused look.

"You cut your hair?" I questioned. His hair was a little above his ears now, and his curls looked as if they had been tamed for a while.

"Yeah." He muttered before climbing into the car and greeting my brothers. Jeremy turned his attention on Abel as we drove off, asking him all kinds of questions at such a fast pace I couldn't catch some of them.

We spent over an hour finding somewhere to park the car, making Oliver's time even closer. It made him leaving even more of a reality now that we were here as well.

"I can't believe you're leaving, bro." Abel said as we walked through the front doors, his eyes on my brother. Oliver was avoiding everyone's eyes, his shoulders slumped a little.

"It'll only be for three months, right now. They may want me to stay longer, I don't know." My brother answered, his voice emotionless.

"I can count on you two to not do anything stupid, right?" Oliver turned around suddenly, stopping Abel and me dead in our tracks.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He means me getting you pregnant, us getting wasted, things like that." Abel mumbled, looking a little irritated by the comment.

"And I need you both to promise me something." Oliver said, laying one of his hands on our shoulders.

"What?" Abel asked, lifting his head back up.

"I need you to promise me you're going to complete that list. That you're going to have a kickass rest of the summer." Abel and I both laughed at this, nodding.

"We'll try." I replied, "But it's going to be hard without you here." He chuckled, pulling me into a tight hug. I hugged him back tightly, not wanting to let go.

"I'm going to miss you, sis. You better keep an eye on Little Man, he's growing up on us." I swear I heard Oliver's voice crack, "And make sure you don't let Abel treat you in any way you aren't comfortable with, any-"

"Nope. I am not having this talk with you." I said, pulling away with a grin. Jeremy ran into our older brother's arms a second later, burying his face against his chest. I could feel my eyes starting to sting with tears as Oliver, knelt down and stared at the eleven year old in front of him with glistening eyes.

"Well, are you going to come over here and hug me or not?" Oliver asked his best friend once Jeremy had walked back over to me. I draped my arms over his shoulder's and smiled as Abel and Oliver embraced, my brother whispering something in his ear that I was probably glad I couldn't hear.

He shoved Abel back playfully once they were done talking, waiting for Mom and Dad to hug him. Abel ruffled Jeremy's dark hair once he reached us again, smiling at the scene in front of us.

"I think he's going to do okay." He said. I shook my head, laying it against his shoulder after a second.

"I don't know." I said through my tears, "He's going to be in Japan, surrounded by tons of girls at nineteen. What could he possibly not do wrong?"

*

My parents decided to leave once we had watched Oliver's plane take off, claiming they had to take Jeremy to his soccer practice. I knew for a fact he didn't have it today, but wasn't really in the mood to fight them on it.

"We'll just catch an UBER." Abel told them when they asked us to go with them. They hugged me goodbye before disappearing into the crowd's of people.

"Why are we not going home?" I asked Abel a few minutes later, staring out the window at the planes taking off.

"Because we've got something on the list that we can accomplish here." He replied. "We need to both find two random strangers and be their psychiatrist for an hour." I sighed, rubbing my face.

I wasn't in the mood to be someone's psychiatrist, especially when I needed one myself right now.

"Okay." I agreed after a moment of silence, "Where do we meet up again?" He pulled a sticky note from his pocket and slapped his against the wall by the take-off window.

"Right here. See you in an hour, babe." He kissed me quickly before turning on his heels and walking to the other side of the airport. I pulled my hair from it's ponytail and walked toward a woman sitting with two young children on either side of her, she seemed to be the safest bet.

"Hi!" I said, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible. The woman looked up, holding the younger of her kids on her lap with a small smile.

"Hello, sweetheart. Do you need some help finding something?" She responded. I felt relief was over me at her answer, my smile spreading even bigger across my face.

"Actually," I sat down in the seat in front of her, aware of her sons eyes on me. "I need help with a college essay. I'm supposed to be a strangers psychiatrist for an hour. I was hoping you could help." The lie left my mouth so easily, I had to look away and question how in the hell I had come up with that so quick as I waited for her answer.

"Oh." She muttered, clearly surprised. "I guess. . . I mean, I could try and help, dear." I grinned, giving her a thankful look.

"Thank you so much, Ma'am." I crossed my legs beneath me and waited for her to start talking.

"Well, my name is Renee." She said quietly, pushing her brown hair out of her eyes, "And these are my kids Lindsey and Isaiah." I nodded, waving shyly at the kids beside her.

"We're waiting for my husband. He's on his way back from Afghanistan." I blinked in surprise.

"Does he serve?"

"Yes, proudly." She said, obviously proud herself.

"Thanks for being a military family." I said.

"Thank you, darling. I guess. . . um, I guess I should let you know some of my issues, yeah?" She laughed quietly to herself, shifting her son on her lap.

"When Rodger left for Afghanistan, I was heartbroken, you know. I just. . . this was the man I had married right out of high school, he was my life. But. . . but I was happy he was going to fight for our country. For his family and the thousands around the country that needed him." I nodded, smiling encouragingly at her.

"But when he came back on his leave last year, my sister was over. He seemed. . . off every time I suggested something as simple as a kiss. I know he was with my sister that last night he was home. I heard them, the walls were thin. But I. . . I didn't want to believe it, I pushed it away, the thought that he'd do something like that with me in the next room." She reached up and wiped her cheeks as quickly as possible to stop the tears from falling.

"He's a good man, though. He's a great father and he's a good husband, I know it was only a mistake. But I. . . I never approached him about it, should I?" It took me a second to realize she was waiting for me to answer.

"I think you should." I answered after thinking about it for a second, "He's your husband, and marriage is supposed to be built on trust. If you believe it was a mistake, if he does, then you should talk it out, make sure that's all it was. Try to make sure it won't happen again." She stared at me for a few minutes, her lips slowly twitching into a fraction of a smile.

"You're right, dear girl. You're right."

*

I laid in bed beside Abel all night, tossing and turning until I felt Abel's arms wrap tightly around me, stopping me from moving any longer.

"What's bugging you?" He breathed out, his lips hovering over my ear.

"I don't know. I. . . I think it's everything." I whispered, rolling over so I was facing him. He trailed his finger down my cheek, then on to my arm as his Emerald eyes burned through me.

"What do you mean, Liv? Aren't you having a good summer?" He replied, his voice just as quiet.

"That's the problem. What happens once it's over? The list? And when Lena and I go to Stanford, what's going to happen to us? And Oliver-" Abel laid his index finger against my lips, shaking his head slowly.

"Liv, baby. Stop worrying so much. It's going to be okay. Life works itself out. Oli's going to be fine, the list will still be with us forever, and we'll talk about Stanford when the time comes. For now, I love you and I hate seeing you freak out like this, so please stop." I reached under the blanket and grabbed his hand, closing the gap between us and kissing him.

I pushed myself into him further, feeling his hand on my back.

"Liv." He whispered, his green eyes bright.

"I just want a distraction." I said, only to get a shake of his head out of him. He pulled me back down beside him, positioning his body so he was spooning me.

"It's going to be fine, Livvy." He sounded so sure, so positive about it that I almost believed that everything after the next few weeks would be okay. Almost. 

***AN**

Ah, this chapter is long! Hope it didn't bore you too much! 

Let me know what you thought!

~ChasingMadness24