NOT AS LONG AS IT SEEMS!

REVEIW PLEEEEEEESE!

(1) Forbidden

Their first meeting was hostile on both sides, maybe because of the spark that connected them, maybe because of the fact that they were supposed to be siblings (albeit step-siblings, something they constantly reminded their 'parents') because of a union that neither had a say in.

(2) Prove

Lanai is always trying to prove to Jesse that she is not just a mindless, vapid teenie-bobber (despite her loud ways); but she doesn't know why exactly she's bothering because she never felt the need to prove herself to anyone else quiet as badly.

(3) Serious

The game of cat-and-mouse they play is quiet and deadly serious, but no one has to know that they secretly enjoy it.

(4) Dance

He hates going to her belly-dancing recitals, because instead of his eyes focusing on the other (sometimes better-looking) girls, they always center on her; and she tempts him with swaying hips and pouty glances that are far too sexy for a girl (almost) his age.

(5) Passion

Sometimes Lanai goes on a "I love life and dancing and small fuzzy things and singing off-key and clubbing and school and reading and hanging out and life because isn't it just soooo wonderful?!" spree and he can only shake his head, wondering were she gets all that energy and passion.

(6) Beauty

She hates going to his track meets, not because of hard bleachers or rain or smelly (sweaty) guys hitting on her when she'd much rather be somewhere else (surrounded by beauty: paintings, dancing, opera) but because she has to watch him run…and every time she does, her assessment of what beauty is changes a little.

(7) Hair

When Lanai comes home, her brunette hair in a pixie so different from the long braid she left with that morning, proudly displaying the rope of hair she's going to send to Locks of Love, Jesse's the first to congratulate her and finger her new look (fingers whispering through the soft strands, so soft).

(8) Caring

Though no one will ever get them to admit it, they've always cared about each other to some degree (platonically of course, they assure themselves) and always will.

(9) Protection

Lanai is surprised, when Jesse punches that guy who groped her, that this is what it feels like to be completely safe because of a tall, teenage boy with gold-leaf eyes.

(10) Dependent

Jesse always thought of dependence as being the need for something (food, shelter, therapy) from someone else; but Lanai taught him that dependence can also be the need for happiness (her smile, her laugh, her hugs) provided when someone cares for you (platonically, of course).

(11) Weak

Someone once remarked that Lanai was awfully weak (couldn't lift weights, couldn't stand up for herself, couldn't keep from crying when bad things came around), and Jesse silenced them with a glare, because anyone who could smile like that (make him feel alive again like that) deserved to be catered to, so it was okay if she was weak.

(12) Fear

Nights when Dad doesn't come home there's a fight (I hate you), Lanai crawls into his bed and falls asleep, and even after the house falls silent he stays awake, arms wrapped around her (tiny, so fragile) waist, afraid that if he falls asleep he'll find out that it was all just a dream (no more smiles, just hate).

(13) Cry

Once upon a time, a sobbing little boy (Mommy's gone, Mommy's gone) sat on his Daddy's knee and was told never to cry again because it made him pitiful; but Jesse's found that Lanai cries enough for the both of them when she learns about Mommy (Mommy's gone, Mommy's gone).

(14) Rain

Jesse doesn't like the rain, it impairs his vision and makes driving a pain, but Lanai likes the rain—likes to dance in it, specifically—so when everyone's gone and he's not doing anything, he watches from the porch while she spins with her tongue out to catch the droplets.

(15) Flowers

She never knew there were so many meanings behind flowers (please smile for me, I'm sorry, forgive me) until the day they had a fight (why don't you understand) and he came back bearing a bouquet of flowers that Alice (BFFs) insisted on dissecting the meaning of.

(16) Present

At school Mr. Rory does a roll call (Jesse Vandervaulk, Lanai Robbins) while Jesse wonders which last name she'll have one day (it always comes back to him, Lanai Vandervaulk does have a fairly nice ring to it) but then he shakes his head and goes back to counting the birds.

(17) Birthday

On her birthday he promises to give her anything she wants (anything for her to smile), to which she replies that he was going to give her a piggy-back anywhere she wanted for the rest of the day (he still thinks he enjoyed it more than she did) and give her a hug whenever she asked for it (that he also enjoyed, perhaps a little to much for his insistence of platonic caring).

(18) Candles

The day Lanai put tiny sticks of dynamite (he has to wonder where in the seven hells she found them anyways) in the cake she was bullied into making for the school bully (a situation he wanted to prevent but she insisted he stay out of) that exploded just as the bully went in to blow the candles out (still unharmed, but with a face full of delicious cake), Jesse began to wonder if either of them was completely sane.

(19) Dizzy

One of Lanai's new favorite things is spinning in the front yard, rain or not, until she's so dizzy the world tips (falling, falling, down, down) because Jesse's become a permanent fixture by her side and they both fall (limbs tangled, lungs hurting from giggling) in a heap, laughing till their stomachs hurt and they can't breathe.

(20) Power

Lanai's favorite time of day is lunchtime, because Jesse will race up behind her, grab her one-armed around the waist, and swing her around—strangely enough, this is when she feels the safest, because knowing that all the power in Jesse's lean body is centered only for her is a wonderful feeling.

(21) Arrogance

When Jesse starts becoming a little too arrogant, it's Lanai who tries to bring him down from his high horse—"Look, we're not all geniuses with strait A's so wipe that stupid little smirk off your face!"

(22) Ignorance

Because ignorance is bliss, Jesse does his best to shield Lanai from his brother when the bastard visits (she doesn't deserve bruises) even when he feels his own ignorance being stripped away (she's so much better, she deserves so much more).

(23) Forgiveness

When Lanai comes home one night, drunker that a doornail and obviously high, Jesse's the first to forgive her because she was the first to forgive him when he did something along the same lines.

(24) Hug

Sometimes, when he's been out drinking (but not too much, he can't turn into his brother) and has a headache, she sits on his lap with her hands petting his unruly hair as he snuggles a little deeper into her chest (her heart thuds a soft rhythm) and clutches her wordlessly.

(25) Secrets

They both have their secrets, that she's not really as naïve as she comes off, that he's not just a bad boy, that they're both on the edge of falling in love with their step-sibling even though they've already crossed lines that probably shouldn't be crossed.

(26) Desire

It didn't come as a surprise to Jesse when he came home on his birthday to find the tickets to the Simple Plan concert he'd been dying to go to, after all, Lanai always seemed to know exactly what he wanted.

(27) Possessive

Alice is very good at reading body language, but she decides not to tell Lanai that when Jesse stands next to her, his entire body seems to scream "MINE!!!"

(28) Attachment

Lanai's complete attachment to the cat plushie he gave her once no longer surprises Jesse quiet as much, but the attachment she shows to him (a frightened hand clutching his sleeve) when she could have anyone else (she's so very beautiful) will never cease to shock him.

(29) Unconditional

She told him once that she'd do anything for him, because he was really like her brother, and even though the brother part hurt (why did it hurt when they were supposed to be platonic) he nodded, because in the end the fact that their love (platonic, he forced himself to remember) was unconditional was an unspoken.

(30) Impulsive

Lanai is always the most impulsive of their duo, and when she tackles him in the courtyard on a whim, she's shocked to find that Jesse can be impulsive too (her sides still hurt from laughing so hard).

(31) Intoxicated

Girls always seem to smell sickly-sweet to Jesse, but somehow, Lanai smells more like a bunch of wildflowers than a bunch of roses; and he finds generally finds himself momentarily transfixed in place after she prances past, her intoxicating scent teasing him.

(32) Games

Lanai likes to play mind games (like a monopolizing girlfriend, except…not) with him, popping up at random intervals with some trivial piece of news and a quick hug before skipping off, leaving him to drift in and out of consciousness as he remembers who her voice sounded and her body felt pressed against him.

(33) Meet

Jesse's startled when she shows up at his track meet unannounced and becomes his personal servant, from backrubs to foot rubs to cheerleading.

(34) Jacket

As summer approaches, she begins to forget her coat more often, and Jesse always hands her his wordlessly, not noticing how she sniffs the collar constantly, getting high (not really, but close enough) off his scent.

(35) Loyalty

Lanai's loyalty in him in unwavering, he could tell her to walk through fire and she would not hesitate in the slightest.

(36) Selfish

He knows he should let her go find someone more deserving, set her free (because really, what can she get from this forbidden game of cat-and-mouse?) but he can't, because he's just too selfish to let his salvation leave him.

(37) Family

They're supposed to be family: platonic, unconditional love—but in a 'family' as messed up as theirs (unemotional father, controlling mother, drug/alcohol addict brother, violent other brother, hyperactive sister) it's not really a surprise that the two members that could be labeled somewhat normal were the only 'family-like' ones.

(38) Work

On the rare days she doesn't have belly dancing or homework, she likes to come to the pool were he teaches Learn 2 Swim—it still amazes her how gentle he is with them.

(39) Duty

They both have duties that often try to separate them, but they both have a way of skiving off to catch a glimpse of the other (just to make sure).

(40) Clubbing

One night (parents fighting, always fighting) she drags him to go clubbing, but they're both so drunk that only one thing really stands out of the fog in their hung-over minds: her with her back pressed to his chest, her hands digging into his shaggy black hair as his hands drifted down her stomach and they ground their hips together in time to the music.

(41) Song

She likes to sing 'I Like To Move It' in the morning to wake him up, voice chirpy but off-key as she prances around the piles of dirty clothes.

(42) Sunlight

Lanai loves the sunlight because when it hits his eyes just so, when she's right in front of him, the plain (oh-so-ordinary) hazel eyes become something different, like looking through a thin (oh-so-slim) piece of gold-leaf to see the flame hidden behind it—and strangely enough, Lanai likes that this (beautiful) phenomenon only happens once and awhile, because it means she's the only to ever see it.

(43) Manga

The night Lanai suffers insomnia, Jesse shows her his mange obsession, including his own (fairly good) attempts at it…eventually she falls asleep on his lap, a volume of 'Naruto' clutched in her pale hand.

(44) Darkness

For someone as cheerful (hyperactive) as Lanai is, she's got a lot of darkness: anger (usually PMS), sadness (why can't her family even pretend to be normal), and selfish wants (Jesse has to stay with me).

(45) Nightmare

Jesse wakes more often than not with her curled next to his side, clutching her plush cat with one hand and his hand with the other, looking completely innocent as she slept.

(46) Lost

Alice is glad that Jesse came…Lanai doesn't look half as lost (broken) as she used to.

(47) Alone

Contrary to popular belief, Jesse doesn't like being alone…which might be why he never complains when Lanai crawls into his bed after another fight (there are so many now) or another nightmare.

(48) Tears

Lanai once told Jesse that she thinks rain is all the tears of people up in heaven, and the reason she likes them so much is because this is the closest to human (figuratively, because the steady thump of her heart assures him that she's most certainly real) that she'll ever get—he finds it ironic that when she cries, it's when she looks her most ethereal, even when there's snot involved.

(49) Smiles

She gives out smiles like candy, but Jesse likes to think that the one she always gives him is special.

(50) Sorry

Lanai's proud and she's stubborn, and Jesse's found himself saying sorry more often than she does (often over stupid things like the toilet seat being left up or eating the last chocolate pop tart).

(51) Blush

He loves it when she kisses his cheek—it's always so spontaneous—but it often leads to a scarlet flush that refuses to leave for minutes.

(52) Opposite

They're complete opposites—happy and depressed, loud and silent, heat and cold, talking and violence—but they'll never be yin and yang, because deep down they're almost exactly the same: scared and a little too brave.

(53) Comfort

Both of them are more relaxed when the other is within sight, but when asked they brush it off as them just knowing each other better than everyone else—it's a comfort.

(54) Insecurity

She was always a little insecure when the Parents (because she'd begun to realize that in a crazy way, they really weren't much more than distant figures) mentioned divorce, and when it became a regular conversation topic (though she hoped it was only so they wouldn't), it took a lot of reassuring to convince her that no, Jesse wouldn't leave her if the Parents divorced.

(55) Naked

The Parents almost died from laughing when Jesse came sprinting down the stairs with a furious Lanai chasing him—clad only in a small towel and waving a loofa on a stick threateningly, obviously she'd been showering—screaming obscenities and "Jesse Vandervaulk there's a reason that there was a damned sign proclaiming 'DON'T COME IN' on the damn doorway!"

(56) Poke

As it turned out, Lanai could be very annoying when she really wanted to be, as an irate Jesse found one night as he tried to finish the homework due the next day.

(57) Babies

Neither of them was brilliant at childcare, though she handled babies rather better than Jesse, but she drew the line when he tried to trick her into babysitting, because, "I may be a female and the little terrors may not be driven to fits by my presence, but I am not playing mommy to anything that can't speak!"

(58) Annoyance

Lanai's glad that Jesse's never told her to shut up or 'just go away', even though she knows that he's been seriously tempted several times.

(59) Incest

One day she shows up at his door, ashen faced and crying, but she refuses to repeat what the person had accused her of.

(60) Deceit

It's odd how similar the two of them are, for when it comes to mental confrontations with one's feelings, they both are rather brilliant at telling themselves that beyond sibling (platonic, they stress), there’s nothing between them at all (they are also alike in that there is always a little voice in their head that, immediately after they convince themselves, goes: Yeah, right.)

(61) Mistakes

His opponents have started to notice that when it's Lanai (reputation, honor, smile) on the line, he makes no mistakes…the punishment is swift and undeniably brutal.

(62) Gift

After another fight, she comes into his room and wordlessly offers him an icepack with a wet towel around it that looks ridiculously like a bunny—he can't help but start laughing, and she never knows that the reason he's so grateful is not because of the ice, but the joy she gave him.

(63) Sick

When Jesse gets sick, it's Lanai who curls up next to his overheated body, trying to cool him down.

(64) Medicine

It was Lanai's brilliant (and slightly insane) plan to put the medicine Jesse refused to take in some of her brownies because 1) her cooking always tasted funny, so it wasn't like he'd really notice, and 2) he couldn't say no to the puppy dog eyes when she wanted him to eat some of her (dangerous) cooking.

(65) Breath

One time Lanai found Morphine pills and curious about the effect they'd have on her, took 2…when Jesse found her knocked out 4 hours later, he assumed she was dying—Lanai awoke to Jesse attempting to perform resuscitation (a.k.a. mouth-to-mouth).

(66) Heaven

Lanai's first kiss is weird—slammed against a wall, arms trapped near her head, Jesse's hot mouth on hers—but she's absolutely sure, as she kisses him again, that he tastes exactly like heaven.

(67) Rules

Breaking all the laws of motion, gravity, and quantum physics, Jesse somehow manages to catch Lanai when she's falling out of the air 10 yards away from 20 yards up, though she refuses to tell him why exactly she'd just let go of the rope in gym when it was obvious that she'd accomplish nothing other than proving the law of gravity by making a crater.

(68) Away

Alice looks the other way when she spots the two kissing, because Jesse's grown on her, and for the first time in a while Lanai's really happy, and Alice's silence is her own odd form of approval.

(69) White

On one of the rare days she managed to drag him into a mall, she modeled a white dress that made Jacob think of weddings…and subsequently wedding nights—he didn't get rid of the crimson stain on his cheeks for hours.

(70) Silence

On the off times that Lanai isn't chattering about something and Jesse isn't trying to explain something, the silence hangs there, somewhere between comfortable and awkward.

(71) Anger

Lanai's never had an explosive temper, but Jesse's always been easily angered; and when Lanai smashes against the brick wall when Quincy shoves her, though Jesse knows she was okay, it still takes the most of the onlookers and Lanai's constant reassurance ("I'm fine, Jesse...yes really…why don't we go home now…I'll make you bacon…no, Quincy doesn't really need to be thrown…Good God Jesse, watch your mouth!") that he doesn't need to tear Quincy limb from bloody limb.

(72) Expectation

Even though no one (except possibly Alice) approved of them, most everyone who knew them was waiting for one or the other to finally make some sort of move.

(73) Disappointment

Lanai's disappointed when Jesse points out that they can't really date because they're supposed to be siblings, for crying out loud…but that doesn't stop her from kissing him again.

(74) Treasure

Treasure's no longer a thing (gold, pearls, priceless jewels hidden away) to them, it's a person—plain and simple.

(75) Hand

Lanai wasn't expecting Jesse's reaction to "I wish that guy would stop looking at me funny" to be him grabbing her hand…not that she really minded anyways.

(76) Gentleness

Lanai finds it funny that Jesse's hands, which almost always are in clenched angry fists, can be so gentle when handling the burn she earned trying to make a grilled cheese.

(77) Father

One time, when the two were forced along with Quincy into babysitting someone's kid while the person was on a trip, Quincy remarked that Lanai looked a lot like a mother would (his next remark about Jesse looking like a youthful father earned him a broken nose).

(78) Mother

After the exams, Jesse grabs Lanai's hand and her to his mother's grave, and the two of them stand there in silence for a bit before leaving (they aren't really sure what this development implies or resolves, and quite frankly, they don’t really care anyways).

(79) Starlight

He finds her on the roof sometimes, staring at the stars with large eyes, but tonight he finally asks what she doing when she whispers ("Dang, I need one more") and she looks up at him, ("I'm matching each star to a reason I love you, but no matter what night I do it, I can never find enough stars.")

(80) Cookie

Her first semi-normal cooking produced chocolate chip cookies that Jesse ate through within a hour ("Honestly Jesse, you're going to get a stomachache!")

(81) Touch

Whether it's a hand on the small of her back as they went through a crow or a leg stretched out to touch hers in class, Jesse is always there.

(82) Rejection

She watches in amusement as Jesse rejects each and every fan girl's offer for a date on Valentines, and smiles smugly when he hands her the chocolate as they sit at lunch, knowing that she's the only (and much envied) girl who Jesse can't seem to say no to.

(83) Solitude

She hates solitude, hates the silence that accompanies it and the thinly veiled feeling of emptiness when he's not around.

(84) When

When the time comes, Lanai will be confident in the choices she's made, because she's not ashamed—she'll understand what doing what she about to do will mean, because she's not naïve.

(85) Waiting

Lanai doesn't heal as fast as Jesse does, but nevertheless it's always Lanai who does the waiting, because Jesse can't seem to keep his nose out of trouble.

(86) Wound

Lanai tried to ignore the pain coming from her ankle for about 6 minutes before finally turning to Jesse, who was smirking smugly, and admitting, "Fine, fuzz ball, I need you to carry me."

(87) Hospital

He hates hospitals…seeing her fragile body laying on the hospital bed (couldn't protect her, have to get stronger) can do that to someone.

(88) Colors

After his mother's death, Jesse found his world draining of color until everything was black and white; but when Lanai slipped back into his life (unwanted, at the time) he found color bleeding back in.

(89) Abandonment

She's always had abandonment issues, which might have been why she becomes attached at the hip to Jesse for a day or two after he's been gone for more than a day.

(90) Danger

They're always listening ("Ahh, did you hear that") and waiting for someone to find them ("Crap, sit there and look natural") because it'd be dangerous if someone found them.

(91) Reason

As Jesse discovered early on, Lanai rarely has a reason for what she does, and all one can do is hold on for the ride.

(92) Louder

"Fine, I'll say it…I'm your's," and for the thousandth time, she went giddy at the thought of being able to make him smile like that.

(93) Closet

Alice is fond of bounding up when least expected and bodily shoving them in a closet, for "BFF Code Of Honor" reasons.

(94) Intimate

Their 'friendship' is definitely closer than most in that if one talks about a completely random object in their room/closet/whatever, the other always somehow knows exactly where it is, can describe it in great detail, and knows why the heck they have it anyways.

(95) Dreams

Lanai knows how dreams defy reality and normality, that why she loves them—what she doesn't know is that, in her own way, it was her who taught Jesse how to dream.

(96) Pirate

Lanai didn't like pirates, and absolutely nothing could change her opinion until Jesse dressed up as Capt. Jack Sparrow for Halloween; but they almost got detention for PDA violations (which wouldn't have been a good thing, because no one was supposed to know) when she jumped him, squealing like mad.

(97) Hidden

Jesse had decided long ago that he liked the hidden beauty in her green eyes more that the blatant falseness of his "girlfriend".

(98) Introduction

Any male who makes a perverted comment about Lanai quickly found himself meeting a not-so-new (violent) side of Jesse that has no qualms about shedding a little (or a lot of) blood.

(99) Love

Lanai told him that she liked him even though he could be a butt headed, stubborn, moronic, chauvinistic prig, because he was (almost) always her sweet, protective, butt headed, stubborn, moronic, chauvinistic prig; and Jesse had come to terms with the fact that he was in love with his step-sibling a long time ago, but he was still getting used to the fact that he was in love with a hyperactive, impulsive, cuddly, attached-to-fluffy-things sibling with abandonment issues.

(100) Belief

Some viewers wondered why Jesse fought (temper, arrogance, foolhardiness), why he kept working (beaten bloody, called names, thrown away), after awhile even the people he fought talked about it (didn't want to let go, trying to get back at the world)…and perhaps that was all true, but it wasn't the reason he fought so hard—it was because somewhere, a green-eyed girl believed that he would come for her…and for that alone, he fought.