meet me at the matinee, a clique fanfic

So, this is super late but I needed it to be as (close to) perfect as possible. But it's still not. Sorry.

The format's a bit weird because I felt experimental and I've created a cast of characters because I know you're into that type of thing, Maddie :)

Todd Lyons: Jeremy Sumpter

Olivia Ryan: (a younger) Claire Danes

Massie Block: (a younger) Miranda Kerr

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, LOVE!

meet me at the matinee

I etched a face of a stopwatch
On the back of a raindrop
And did a swap for the sand in an hourglass

- piledriver waltz, alex turner

[ for maddie ]

All children, except one, grow up.

That child is Todd Lyons.

( Her favourite part is when Peter's crying (crying like his world is broken, crying like the sun has gone out, crying like he's lost part of his soul) and slamming his fists on the ground, clutching Tink like she's the stars, the moon, the most precious thing in the whole entire universe )

"Let's play Peter Pan. I'll be Peter, and you be Tink,"

"Why can't I be Wendy? Why do I have to be Tinkerbell?"

"Because Tinkerbell's the best. She's funny and smart and you kinda look like her. Besides, I don't like Wendy much anyway,"

"... You really think I'm the best?"

"Of course."

Sometimes, she looks up at the stars and longs for something more (darlin', give me your right hand; I think I understand. Follow me and you'll never have to wish again) even though it's possibly the worst of cliches but hell, Justin Nozuka really knew what he was talking about.

"A penny for your thoughts but a dollar for your insides," he pokes her bare arm and she rolls her eyes because he's such a Fall Out Boy freak, but it's just one of those things that makes him the Todd she can't live without.

"I'm thinking that I want to jump of this roof and fly away. To Tahiti. Or Borneo," she pauses. "Or possibly Neverland."

"You're a loser, Liv," he snorts and lets his legs dangle off the terracotta roof of the Ryan household. "The only people who fly away are birds."

"Birds aren't people, idiot."

"Shut up."

They're silent for a while and she watches as the burnt saffron in the western skies fade to a rich, star-studded purple.

"If you ever decide to fly away..." he starts and she looks at him. "I'll come with you, you know."

"I know," she says because being with Todd was as easy as breathing and of course they'd be together forever (promise right? i promise. break the promise and i'll break your pinky) because they were ToddandOlivia or OliviaandTodd, never one without the other.

"Second to the right and straight on till morning," he says seriously, and she laughs.

Todd Lyons is magic-

( Because he's made of freckles that dance across his nose, auburn curls that fall into cerulean eyes deeper and bluer than the ocean itself and that perfect, perfect smile that stretches across his face and kind of curves at the ends like he knows the biggest secret in the world )

and Olivia Ryan is ordinary-

( Because she's just an odd little wallflower of sorts but they just sort of fit in that way she could never explain )

and he likes her-

( Because Peter likes Tink most, likes Tink best, forever and ever, right? )

but it's not enough.

( Because every Peter needs a Wendy and that's a role she'll never, ever, be able to play )

There are moving vans next door.

"The Blocks," her mother tells her. "A lovely young couple with a daughter your age, Liv, why don't you go introduce yourself?"

The daughter's name is Massie and she quickly finds herself drawn to the shy brunette's offbeat sense of humor, habit of talking just a bit too fast and infectious giggle.

They become fast friends and suddenly it's July, and it's time for the annual block party- the perfect opportunity for her to induct Massie into the White Plains social scene.

Her cheap, sticker-covered Nokia flip-phone buzzes with a new text from Todd in the midst of last minute primping in her bedroom.

Come quick, it says. I caught Claire and Derrick making out in the bushes and need to figure out how much blackmail I can get away with.

She giggles and responds.

On my way. Bringing a new girl. Be nice.

"Come on, Mass, let's go," She flips the phone shut and shoves it into the pocket of her faded denim shorts. "I have to introduce you to my best friend Todd. You'll love him, I swear."

Todd's eyes widen.

Massie smiles shyly, hiding her blushing face behind her messy chestnut spirals.

Olivia watches, grin fading, realizing that something has changed and that things will never, ever be the same.

On Auguest 21st, it's hot and sticky and the two of them are sitting quietly by the pool, dipping their toes in the chlorinated water and licking half-melted strawberry-flavoured popsicles.

"You should invite Massie over," Todd says casually and she frowns without meaning to.

"Why?"

"No reason," he shrugs. "Just might be more fun."

On September 9th, it's the first day of gym class and Olivia grins when she sees Todd emerge from the boys locker room dressed in polar bear-patterned shorts and a Where the Wild Things Are t-shirt and half-wrestling with Danny Robbins. Sure, gym class sucked but it meant new inside jokes about Coach Carr's nasally drawl and hardcore games of dodgeball and endless opportunities to whisper secrets in Todd's freckled ear while the rest of the girls in the class watched on jealously.

"I want you all to choose a warm-up partner," Coach Carr says loudly to be heard over the hordes of rowdy teens. "Sit-ups, push-ups and stretches for the next ten minutes."

She immediately makes a beeline across the gym to where Todd is standing. People are in the way, trying to get to their friends, and she maneuvers around them only to find that he already has a partner.

"Hey, Olivia, wanna be partners?"

She turns to see Danny Robbins smiling hopefully at her and flicking his sandy hair out of his eyes.

"Uh, yeah, sure," She tries to smile back but can't get the image of Todd helping Massie touch her toes and playfully flicking her on the back of her knees as she squeals and laughs out of her head.

On September 12th, he doesn't text her his daily "horrorscope" which usually involved him predicting her gruesome death by sandwich or flamingo bites. She pretends not to notice.

On September 25th, her mother comments, "I haven't seen you and Todd hang out lately," as she adds potatoes to Mr. Ryan's plate at the dinner table.

She shrugs and stabs the meatball on her plate with unintended force.

On October 4th, she's doing homework by her bedroom window, scribbling the answers to her World Civ questions on a loose-leaf paper while One Republic croons from the Pandora station on her computer ( i need another story, something to get off my chest; my life gets kinda boring, need something that i can confess suddenly seems like a big joke because she'd do anything to have the world go back to its blissfully boring normalancy before the Block moved to town ) The leaves outside have begun to fade from a rich emerald to shades of crimson, burnt orange and chocolate and she idly remembers the countless autumn afternoons outside with Todd, when they would play pirates and ninjas (Todd would be the pirate, she was the ninja) and duel in epic battles among the explosion of colourful leaves that flooded the ground.

She hadn't talked to him in weeks, as the only time he wasn't with Massie was in homeroom and there was only ten glorious minutes they would spend talking and joking around like everything was right again before he would rush off to walk Massie to Biology/Math/Art/History/whatever else she had. And she can't help but resent the girl, no matter how undeniably nice she is because she's taken the only thing that matters away from her.

She blinks back unexpected hot tears in her sky-blue eyes and looks out the window.

Suddenly, a blur of red and gold appears at the end of the street and she squints to see Todd's fuzzy form become sharper and clearer as he pedals down the road towards her house on his gold BMX bike. An ineffably warm rush of affection and relief floods through her as he brakes beside her house, drops the bike and takes off his helmet, a goofy grin plastered on his face. Finally.

He crosses the lawn, passes her porch and toward the Block's front door.

She spends the rest of the night letting her turbulent emotions spill over her eyes and soak her cotton pillows until she becomes exhausted and falls asleep.

1. Todd casually smiles at her in the hallway.

2. She ignores him.

3. He doesn't notice ( he doesn't care ) and continues to walk by.

4. Her fingers tighten on the books in her arms and she fights back tears.

( Go back to 1 and repeat the cycle )

In this way, life goes on.

"I think I love her," he says matter-of-factly, grasping the rusted metal chains of the playground swings. It's the first time in a while that it's been just the two of them-

( four months, three weeks, six days, fourteen hours, twenty-eight minutes, fifteen seconds, by her count. she pretends that she didn't feel like dancing around the room when she got his text asking her to meet him at the playground behind their old elementary school )

-so she breathes just a little slower, hoping to make the moment last longer.

"Who?"

"Massie, of course," and he sounds so certain, so sure of himself, and she feels a dull sort of thud in her chest.

"Oh," she says and neither of them speak after that.

( The first time she gets drunk is when she's seventeen, and she thinks about how fucking ironic it all is, that Massie, with her soft curls and niave smile and cheeks that flush apple-red whenever she's embarrassed is exactly like Wendy fucking Darling and how Todd, with his stupid perfect smile and stupid perfect hair and stupid perfect warmth when he (used to) wrap his around her when she's upset is exactly like Peter Pan and those days when they were kids and they'd pretend they lived in Neverland and fought pirates and teased mermaids and touched the stars and how it was all just one big lie because it's supposed to be Peter and Tinkerbell forever and ever and ever and ever and ev- )

( She sounds like a broken record )

( "You okay, Liv?" Layne slurs but she just shuts her eyes tightly, willing it all to just go away )

Highschool passes by in a haze of sleepless nights, college applications and weekends spent shopping and movie-going and general havoc-wreaking with Nikki and Layne.

And suddenly it's senior commencement, and she's standing there in the Q-S row, diploma in hand, navy robes flapping in the unusually rough breeze, with a future set at Vanderbilt University- home of old Southern charm and miles and miles away from Todd's top choice of Northwestern.

And when she throws that graduation cap in the air, she catches sight of that mop of curly auburn hair in the crowd but she shoves away all thoughts of Peter Pan, unkept promises under the stars and an eternity of childhood.

Because she's Olivia Ryan, she's fresh-faced and ready to turn a new leaf in a new city-

( and she's willing- no, wants- to give up everything to do it )

Fast-forward three years.

( A lot happens in those three years- she's bought her own apartment off-campus which she share with an old roommate from freshman year named Kristen and she's declared a major in Linguistics and she's dated a couple of guys- all blonde, brunette or black-haired- never red- and with eyes in every shade except for blue- and she's got a part-time job working in an old-time record shop down the street and sure, she's always a bit slow on the rent payments, but she's finally happy )

So looking back, when she's sharing pad thai with Kristen on the couch while watching the newest episode of Downtown Abbey, feeling snug and warm in her Jack Wills jammies, she probably should never have gotten up to answer that knock on the door.

( But she can't pretend that her heart doesn't feel like it's about to burst out of her chest when she sees him standing there, duffel bag in hand and a half-hearted smile on his perfectly sculpted face )

"She told me to grow up," he says flatly, staring straight ahead as he sits on the couch in the now-empty living room (Kristen had cleared out within seconds of his arrival) and Olivia nods.

She feels like laughing because god, Todd was a fully grown adult, but he would be a child and run away from his problems instead of trying to solve them. She knows him. She's memorized his every smile, touch, wink, facial expression, and she knows to fill up his bowl with Banana Nut Cheerios and hand them to him silently when he's finished telling every detail of his disasterous breakup with Massie.

They're quiet for a while after that, and Olivia takes the time to contemplate how weak her willpower is. Three years of no contact but the occassional text and semi-awkward run-ins during December break back in White Plains and he's run away from Chicago and shown up on her doorstep in Nashville and she's welcomed him with open arms. And it feels like old times again.

"You're my windmill, you know that, Liv?" he says tiredly, running his hands through his already tousled hair.

"No, I'm your Tinkerbell," she replies simply and he grins.

"Yeah, that's right. Peter and Tink forever?"

"Yeah," she agrees after a long pause. "Forever."

They watch Peter Pan that night and drink a little too much Grey Goose and suddenly they're hugging and fall asleep like that.

( Because Wendys come and go but Peter Pan will never grow up and in the end, it's always just Peter and Tink, flying second to the right and straight on till morning to a place where the stars are close enough to touch and they will be forever young )

Super sucky rushed ending, I know, but I did want to get this to you quickly instead of dragging it along to the point where it would never be posted.

Review, please?