I had a love hate relationship with the way that Oakley made me feel. The strong urge to tell her how I felt was so overwhelming to the point that I almost confessed every time we were together. Almost.

"Guys!" Elliot burst through the front door and into the old living room which had become the official group hang out. He was out of breath, and he had a sign in his hands. I couldn't make out what it said, but he looked worried.

We were at a standstill as we waited for him to speak. My heart sank into my stomach when he finally did. "The house." He breathed, "It's going up for sale."

"Say what now?" Ravyn demanded. "No it is not." Elliot threw the sign down in front of the gang. There was a box of forms in the front of the box with pictures of the property to show potential buyers.

"Oh God no." Ashley grabbed one of the papers and looked closely at it. "We have a problem."

She pointed at a small corner of the picture. Behind the house the woods could be clearly seen. But we weren't worried about the woods. We were worried about the miniature Noah that was hunched over behind the house with an axe in his hand.

"Damnit." Noah groaned and plopped down on the couch and rested his head in his hands. "Guys I'm so sorry. I ruined this." He refused to look up at us. Ashley moved close to his side and began trying to console him.

"What are we going to do about this?" Elliot asked. "We are so screwed."

Noah looked up. "You leave me." He said. "I was never with you. I ran off on my own and I timed my leaving along with yours so the cops would believe that I was with you all. We were never together."

"No." Ashley slapped him. "We'll figure something out."

"I have an idea." I claimed. "But I need some man power."

Noah stood up and walked towards me as if to say he'd help.

"I'm in." Elliot stood up. Ravyn tried to stifle a laugh.

She covered her mouth before she was good to speak. "Elliot, you're cool and all but when I picture man power, you do not come to mind."

Elliot looked offended. "I can help."

"Maybe if we need help with crops or avoiding poisonous plants." I tried to reassure him. "But the job I have in mind isn't for you. Sorry bud."

"Thanks." He marched upstairs and Ravyn followed.

"Oh god." I rolled my eyes before turning to Noah. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah."

I led the way as he followed me pass the barn, pass the peach orchard, even past the farm border.

"H? Where the hell are we going?"

"You'll see."

"You're annoying." He laughed.

I pushed past trees as I brought us closer to our destination. "How long do you think we have before they find the pictures?"

"I don't know... A week?" He responded. I had to admit I was very concerned. If it came down to it, I knew this was my fault. I suggested that we run away so if need be I would take the blame.

"Well." I began, I didn't get the chance to finish my sentence because we ended up reaching our destination before we could conclude the conversation.

Noah looked around at the empty field in front of us. It was even further out of the town than most of us had been in our entire lives. It had taken us at least three hours to get there on foot. "What is this place?" Noah interrogated.

I walked further into the field, "This is where I hope we can stay. Now that the house might be up for sale."

"How did you even find this place?" He continued to question me.

"When we're bored, Oakley and I like to walk." I answered.

He looked up at me and winked "So this is your guys' walking place."

"You know we don't have that kind of relationship." I sighed.

His jaw dropped. "Still?" He shook his head. "There's obviously something between you two."

"Oakley doesn't see it." I told him. "And I have to respect it despite what I want."

"But you do want it?" He laughed.

My face had to be the shade of a tomato. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"Oakley will come around. And when she does you'll see that it's pretty great. Having someone you care that much about care about you as well. It's a wonderful feeling." He told me.

I sighed. "Yeah but I don't know if I want to end up in a relationship like yours." He looked at me sympathetically. "You two have been together for three years and yet she hasn't let you get further than a few kisses. I have my needs."

"What can I say, I love her." He told me. "I can't imagine it any other way and I would rather wait years to be intimate with her, than be with anyone else right now."

I couldn't help but laugh at him. "Man, you're whipped."

"Yeah I know." He looked down at the ground with his hands in his pockets.

"What are we doing?" I looked up at him, "We're talking about our feelings."

He bit his lip. "Why can't we? Guys have feelings too. Might has well get it out there."

"God, you're such a girl." I mocked him

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, at least this girl can get a date."

"Fair enough."

"I have a challenge for you." He turned to me again and lifted his finger. "You make a move on Oakley within the next week, and I'll let you in on a secret. A dark secret."

"Maybe." I said, "I'll try."

He smiled, pleased. "Okay so what's the plan with this lot here?"

"We build." I said. "We set up tents made of sticks and old blankets. Build us up some sort of compound. I'm thinking we put a fire pit over there, and we lay our tents there. And over there, towards those bushes, we have a little creek. Fresh clean spring water."

He looked at me, "You have really thought this through."

"Well, I like to plan one step ahead of disaster." I say.

"I have to admit, it comes in handy sometimes." He admitted. "It sounds great. We can get started tomorrow we don't have time to lose, but we do need to start heading back before it gets dark."

"You're right. I want to make sure I get my share of the dinner."

When we finally arrived back at the house, there was no dinner. Everyone was silent and no one was to be seen. They must all be asleep. I said goodbye to Hudson at his door and was on my way to see if Oakley was awake when I heard sobbing through the bathroom door. I quietly knocked before I heard Oakley's quiet voice sob, "Come in."

I opened the door. "Oaks?" I asked concerned. "Are you oka-?" I spied what she was holding in her arms. It was the bear that I had made at build a bear. I had completely forgotten about it until now. I had asked Ravyn to hide it for me, I had no idea that she had hidden it here. If asked about it, I would have assumed it had burned in the fire.

"What is this?" She asked me through tears.

There was no noise as she pressed the right paw and my secret recorded message:

"Hey, Oakley..." You could hear my voice shaking. "I have no idea if I'm ever going to give you this, but I need to say it. I have known you for many years. I have seen you at your best and at your worst. I have seen you cry, laugh, and everything in between. You do this weird thing you know, when you're upset you have a tell. Every time, without fail, you pout your bottom lip. It's kind of funny you know, when you lie you do the same thing. Even when you claim that you're fine you always give it away. I always found it funny how you would do that, but it is nearly as amusing as your happy dance. You always jump up and down and it's hilarious. It always makes me giggle. Without fail. Oh my, I'm rambling." All of a sudden it was silent again before the bear repeated my final phrase. "I love you."

"Oakley." I bit my lip. "I can explai-." She cut me off.

"I don't want to hear it. You know how I feel about honesty. I have told you everything, and for the last few weeks I've been worried you had begun to be disgusted with me." She wiped a few tears off of her cheeks. "And now I find out that you love me?"

I wanted to deny it. I wanted to say whatever it took to stop her tears. "I do." I told her. "I do but I never wanted you to find out this way."

She shoved past me. "Well, I did."

I turned around to follow her but she slammed the door in my face. I turned around and slid down the back. I lowered my head into my arms. I had lost everything in a matter of twenty seconds. I hated myself. I could never have her now. So much for Noah's challenge.