Levi finished washing off after another long day, glad to have all the makeup and facial hair off of him. He grabbed his phone, grimacing at he saw multiple notifications from Nora, swiping them away before shouldering his backpack and heading on stage, only this time as a guest.

            He'd been avoiding talking to her ever since their night at Epcot. She hadn't been back to see him in the parks in the past few days either and he was actually thankful for it. He wasn't sure how to handle the drama, as much as Oliver seemed to be ready to coach him about it. Which was who he'd been spending the past few days with despite his exhaustion.

            "Why are you even talking to me?" Levi asked. They'd tried hanging out down in the utilidor, but there had been too many prying CM eyes, so they'd gone into Space Mountain, stopping at about the middle of the Star Tunnel part of the queue. It wasn't a good spot to hang out at all. They had to stand, which neither of them wanted to do, and guests were streaming past them further into the bowels of Space Mountain. But it didn't matter. They were there for the dark, cool atmosphere.

            Oliver sat on the sleek, silver railing, which didn't look at all comfortable considering it was sloped downward. "Just like all the other times I've told you, I want to be your friend. I kind of gave up on the whole friendship thing. But talking to you is pretty easy."

            "I still can't believe I'm talking to you at all."

            "I think you're too tired to not?"

            His feet were killing him. "That's not a good thing."

            "No. But at least I can try to help out, right?" Oliver adjusted, as if that would make him more comfortable. "If I could get a mattress and just lie in here, I would."

            Levi would too, but it wasn't going to happen. Maybe he could actually fall asleep with the dreamy, peaceful Star Tunnel music playing. It always reminded him of what music stars would make when they fell, at least if it was romanticized into a peaceful lullaby. 

            He'd lie down on the ground right now if a CM wasn't going to make him get up.

            "I do get that you're trying," Oliver sympathized.

            "Maybe you should just tell her."

            "It should come from you."

            "It's clearly not happening."

            "Maybe you should write a formal letter. Get it notarized."

            Levi was too out of it to even give him a look.

            Oliver hopped off the railing. He placed a hand on Levi's arm. "This probably isn't very comforting, but if things go south, I'm here. And I'm not going to stop being your friend."

            Levi almost rested his head on Oliver's shoulder. Almost. "Thanks."

            As they left the queue, Oliver sang under his breath, "Everybody's got a laughing place, a laughing place, to go-ho-ho..."

            It made Levi want to smack him. "I'm going home. I'll try to get some sleep."

            "Maybe you should take some vacation days."

            "You know that wouldn't help."

            "Telling Nora would help."

            In a way, yes. But then it would get a lot worse. And then maybe better, eventually, but he didn't want to think about that right now. "Bye, Oliver."

            "There's a great big beautiful tomorrow, Levi," Oliver called after him.

            Levi ignored him. It didn't help that that was what Nora would say.

            He started the long walk to the parking lot, cursing himself for not telling Nora the truth from the start. She had a lot of other friends now, supposedly. She showed him the pictures of them hanging out. She'd be fine without him. And it's not like she knew where he lived or where he really worked to visit him—except as Jack, of course. But she hadn't been by to see him, so he doubted he'd have to worry about that.

            Which meant it was back to him against the world.

            When he got to the Mad Tea Party, he heard a familiar voice, "Oh, hey!"

            He came to a stop, eyes turning to Maddie rushing up to him. She was wearing a Haunted Mansion shirt which portrayed the stretching hall painting of the tight rope walker. Her face was as alive as ever. "You're Levi, right?"

            "How do you know my name?" he asked, gripping his backpack strap. He wasn't in the mood for acting.

            "Nora told me. She's shown me pictures." Maddie pulled out her phone, swiping through a few selfies Nora had forced them to take. Mouse ears worn at Mouse Gears, a shop over at Epcot. On a Jungle Cruise boat passing an elephant in the bathing pool (don't worry, they have their trunks). Surrounded by Storm Troopers at Hollywood Studios.

            Levi said nothing.

Maddie opened her mouth, pausing. "She really enjoys being your friend. I think you're the first person to get her to open up about stuff and make her feel welcomed since she moved here."

"She deserves good friends." He just wasn't one of them.

            "Yes. She really does." Maddie put her phone away. "You know...if you ever want to hang out with me and my friends, we would love to have you along. Nora hangs out with us and I feel like you'd get along with the boys. My brother is really nice. I mean, all the guys are. Except Samuel. But he'd be nice to you."

            "I'm pretty busy, Maddie, but thanks."

            Her eyes fell before landing back on him. "Levi, are you okay?"

            Before he could answer, a man approached. "Hello. Who do we have here?"

            He was pretty slender, a bemused sort of Chesire Cat smile looming just under the surface, which didn't seem very fitting for a man his age, but there he was. Not to mention the way his eyes roamed over Levi as if he were some sort of puzzle he'd already solved.

            "Samson, Levi. Levi, Samson. He's like my dad."

            "Another one?" Levi asked weakly.

            "What?"

            "Nothing." He was too tired to even be anxious about giving his identity away. 

            "I was just inviting him to do something with me and all our people."

            "Ah," Samson said. "By people, I'm sure you mean the young ones. That would be fun."

            Levi started slowly edging towards the way he would have been going, hoping it was clear he wanted nothing to do with this conversation.

"Levi, you seem to be in a rush to leave, but would you please escort me over to the Haunted Mansion? The wait is miraculously only thirteen minutes."

            Levi glanced over at Maddie, who was already walking towards Dumbo's Flying Elephants.

            "Don't mind her. She had her own plans."

            For some reason, Levi didn't feel as if they would have split up if it weren't for Maddie running into him in the first place. And, considering his day, he just wanted to go home. But something about Samson, despite his light tone, made him feel as if he had no choice but to go with him.

            Levi began walking, going through Fantasyland.

            "That's a good lad."

            He tried not to make a face. He didn't like Samson's voice, the way it drawled out, as if to wrap restrictively around a person.

            "So, you're friends with Nora?"

            "Have you met her?" Levi asked, purposefully not answering the question.
             "Briefly," Samson replied. "For the most part, I've heard about her from Maddie and Miles. Maddie, who gushes for very long periods of time and Miles, who says very little, but what he does say is very important."

            They got in line, passing by all the tombs that the children (and Nora) always played with. "And what did they say?"

            "Maddie is mostly relieved to know what an impact you've had on Nora's life, though she is suspicious of you considering you are, in fact, a boy."

            Levi raised an eyebrow at him, a bit of defiance. His tiredness made it easy not to react with his usual nervous ticks.

            Samson studied him, his brow also raised, as if he wasn't at all perturbed by his indifference. "As for Miles, he suspects she has a lot of skeletons in her closet. She holds back."

            "He doesn't really know her."

            "And you do?"

            Levi locked his jaw.

            His voice softened. "We're concerned about you as well. Not for Nora's sake, but your own. From what we hear, you don't have many friends."

            "I thought it was quality over quantity."

            "In part, yes. But, as you can see from our large family, we find that having both is rather fortuitous, when possible."

            "It's not always possible."

            "It can be."

            "Nora keeps me busy enough as it is. And there's Oliver." Who he hadn't really told anyone about. He felt weird defining Oliver as his friend despite how much they hung out, but he wanted to make it look like he wasn't some loser who was all alone in the world.

            "Still, I'm sure it would be a very positive experience if you were to have more friends."

            The line was moving pretty quickly, but they still had to wait to be the next group for the stretching room scene.    

            Samson sighed, as if he were merely bored. "I know, I'm being obnoxiously assertive. But I do promise my very father-like speech is because I'm concerned for your well-being. And yes, I realize I don't know you, Levi. But I do work with college students and have for some time, so they will vouch that I am their king, but really, it does take time to get to know someone." When Levi didn't reply, he continued, "So that leaves the ultimate question, then. Why don't you want to be known?"

            Levi jarred to a halt, his ears ringing as all the irritation and anxiety pulsed through his veins. "You think I don't want to be known?"
             Samson inclined his head, like some sort of half-baked apology.

            "You just met me ten minutes ago and you're claiming all these things about me. You don't know anything about me."

            "You're reacting quite negatively for something that supposedly isn't true."

            "Because it's insulting."

            Because he was right.

            They entered the stretching room.

            "This is my favorite attraction, by the way," Samson whispered as the Ghost Host began his narration, his excitement palpable, as if their conversation had been light and merry.

            Levi said nothing, not paying any attention to the floating voice, the slow moving portraits, the lone body swaying overhead. It was too dark to see as the corpse appeared, but Levi guessed Samson was looking at him.

            They stepped back into the queue, approaching the Doom Buggies. "I'm sorry I've been so forward. Miles chides me for it. But I don't know when I'll see you next, if I'll have that chance. We have so many kids your age who would love to hang out with you. Who would make you feel at home and loved for who you are. I don't want you to get to miss out on that opportunity."

            "I'm capable of making friends on my own if I want them."

            "I'm sure you are. But it can be difficult to make friends when you're not used to having them. When you're not used to people caring."

            They boarded a Doom Buggy. It was his least favorite ride through ever. Samson seemed incredibly entertained despite how many times he must have been on the ride (Levi had noticed his Haunted Mansion themed MagicBand), but Levi ignored him. He felt like a ghost himself, just not one belonging to the mansion. No. He was alone. And no matter what Samson said, he didn't understand what it was like to be him. Even if he knew the surface of it all.

            Hurry back. Hurry back. Be sure to bring your death certificate.

            Relieved, Levi hurried up the moving walkway to the courtyard area, cringing when he saw the familiar face of Miles, his face full of concern as soon as he saw Levi and Samson together, Levi much worse for wear.

            "What did you do?" Miles asked.

            "I talked to him."

            "Clearly," Miles said, giving Levi the impression that they had opposite tactics for what was probably everything.

            But Levi was already walking away, done.

            "Levi," Miles said, his voice much gentler. "Whatever Samson said, I apologize. He really does want what's best for you. And I'm sure if he said something pushy, well, he was probably right. He has a knack for that."

            So Miles thought he didn't want to be known either. Great.

            "I'm going home. I've had a long day," Levi said.

            They didn't follow him. He didn't run into Maddie on his way to the Cast Member parking lot, grateful he could leave without another encounter gone sour. From what he could tell, knowing more people meant more sorrow. More ways you could let them down.

            As if he needed any more of that.

Levi had been avoiding Nora and she didn't like it. Not that Nora had had much time this week, anyway, given that she had her classes and she'd been starting to go to small group more consistently and hanging out with the girls. They were really nice, though she'd only started opening up about things. Like how her relationship with Brook was pretty strained. How moving had been hard since she hadn't been able to make any friends until now. And yes, even her love of Disney. As it turned out, a lot of girls in the group had Annual Passes or had at some point or the other, which meant they needed to try to go sometime. Without leaving anyone out, of course.

            Nora loved it. She loved her new group. And, even weirder, she actually really enjoyed all the Jesus stuff too. There was more to church than she'd thought and all these girls actually loved Jesus, claiming it was a relationship and not a chore list, which meant it wasn't just this show up task involving not swearing that she'd always thought it was supposed to be.

            Another possible good thing was she hadn't been to see Jack since their fight. She wasn't sure what he thought of her, but it was clear that they needed some space. She was sad not to see him, but not as bad as she thought she would be.

            The worst part was not seeing Levi. She felt guilty about their last encounter. It felt like they only ever talked about her, never him. And what did she know about him, really? Sure, she could tell people all about his Disney memories and even his favorite Disney bathroom, but could she tell anyone what he's been thinking about lately? What he wanted to do with the rest of his life? His hopes, dreams, fears? She'd never seen pictures of his family, never asked about his beliefs, never even seen him outside their Disney bubble—except for what he'd told her about Oliver. And, now that her small group was growing her courage, she kind of wanted to step outside and have him join her.

            She wasn't sure if he would. Especially when he wouldn't even answer her texts.

            If she could, she would have stopped by the Magic Kingdom to see him on a shift, but she wasn't exactly allowed into the men's restrooms. Which meant constant spamming.

            After a week of him not texting back, Nora had had enough. And, after the last time she'd talked to him and felt like she'd been a bad friend, she decided to cut him some slack. After all, something could be wrong.

            So she called. And he actually picked up. But he didn't say anything.

            "Hey, Levi. You okay?"

            "Yes."

            Silence.

            "I'm really sorry about the last time we met up. I know I was being a grump and pouring out all my drama on you. I hope our friendship can be like that, though. Where we're able to tell each other things. And not just me doing that and never asking about you."

            "I'm really busy, Nora. I worked a lot of double shifts this week."

            And he did sound it. But at the same time, it was more than that. "Would you tell me if something was wrong?" Silence. "You're kind of scaring me."

            "Nothing happened."

            "Did I do something wrong?"

            "No, of course you didn't." It was the first time his voice thawed. "You've been great."

            "Then what's wrong?"

            "I met Maddie the other day."

            Nora pressed the phone to her ear harder, as if she misheard. "What?"

            "I was leaving for the day and she was there with this dad. A not-dad."

            "Miles?"

            "Some other guy. Samson."

            She'd seen Samson before at the big meetings, but hadn't met him. He kind of scared her, if she was being honest. He had an uncanny sort of way of knowing people before he should be able to. "What happened?"

            "He told me I didn't want to be known."

            Nora's brow furrowed. "What did he mean?"

            "That I don't really let people know me. Because I'm scared that if I did, they wouldn't actually want to know me."

            "Why?"

            "You're my only friend, Nora. Well, and kind of Oliver, I guess, which is still weird. I stopped actually trying to make friends a long time ago."

            "I know Oliver made school hard for you, which probably made you feel like you weren't good at being friends, but I promise you that you're a good friend."

            "You don't know me very well."

            "I'd like to know you."

            She heard him clear his throat. It sounded like he was holding back tears. "Can we meet on Sunday? I miss you."

            A flare of heat flickered in her chest. "Sure. I'd love that." Nora stared down at her bare feet in her bedroom carpet, as if to avoid not looking at him even though he wasn't there. "I miss you too."

            "Where did you want to go?"

            They hashed out the details. It'd be an almost full day together. For some reason, she was nervous. Being alone with Levi didn't usually do that. Normally, she was completely at ease.

            Nora hung up, biting her lip. Without another moment of hesitation, she called Maddie, who picked up on the first ring.

            "What happened with Levi the other day?" Nora asked.

            "I honestly don't know. Samson gave me that look he does when he needs to talk to someone, so I went off to find Miles and Joshua." She could imagine Maddie's scrunched face. "And Miles went to go help out because he figured Samson might come across as too much considering he used to be a lot like Levi as a teen."

            Nora flopped onto her bed. "I just got off the phone with him and he seemed really out of it."

            "I'm sorry. He was like that when I saw him too. I asked if he was okay, but he didn't have the chance to answer and I don't think he would have answered honestly anyway." Maddie sighed. "I know he's your friend and I barely know him, but I want him to be okay too."

            "I know. I trust you." Nora watched her toes wriggle. "I had an idea, but I'm not sure if you're down."

            "I'm listening."

Ooooh what's the mystery plan?

Question of the Chapter: What is your favorite Disney music? It can be outside the parks, but special points if you have a favorite parks music loop or song. :)

-Flips