"All we have is cheese and one egg." Amber yelled from the living room.

"Well, why didn't you go to the store? It's your turn," I yelled back.

"I've been busy, give me a break." I could just imagine her rolling her eyes as she spoke.

"Did you eat?" I was now behind her while she sat on the couch.

"Yeah, Dylan and I went to eat burgers." She said like it was no big deal that she had time to go out and sit and watch TV but had no time to buy groceries.

I took out my cell phone and texted Owen.

N: U asleep?

O: No, I live with a human chainsaw N: Hungry?

O: Always. Where r u?

N: At home. Wanna meet me somewhere?

O: Diner?

N: Yeah, 20 min?

O: Y.

I changed clothes quickly and put my hair up. I wore yoga pants and a long sleeve white t shirt. I grabbed my bag and headed out. Amber didn't even look up from the TV as I pa.s.sed.

I parked at the diner and watched as Owen got out of his Bronco and made his way into the almost empty restaurant. He nearly filled the door as he entered and went to the corner booth. The waitress approached him and he waived her off, but did so courteously.

I got out of the car and went in and his smile lit up the whole place. I wished that smile would greet me as I came in instead of Amber's selfish att.i.tude and one track mind.

"Hey."

"Hey, I'm sorry it's so late but we had no groceries in the apartment and I was starving. And I know this great guy who is so huge that he eats almost twenty four hours a day so I called him figuring he wouldn't mind."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, he should be here any minute." I craned my neck and looked out the window as if I was looking for the guy instead of sitting next to him.

When I sat back down he was right next to me. I gasped as his nearness startled me. He leaned into my ear and whispered.

"Let me know when he shows up so I can stop doing this." And then he kissed me right where my earlobe meets my jaw line. If it weren't for my solid grip on the table I would've melted off of the booth.

The waitress approached and I put my hands on my face and tried to cover my blush.

She took our drink orders and he told her that we would need a minute on the food. She giggled a little and I realized it was the same waitress who saw me make a noisy fool out of myself last week.

"Is this going to become a habit?" I asked.

"What?" His face was so innocent.

"You know public groping, making out in public, thing of that sort?"

"Well, I remember the public groping, but I don't remember the making out. Is that next? When do we get to that part?" He was practically jumping up and down.

"Oh Lord, I've given him an idea." I said as I hit my forehead on the table.

I turned my head towards him as I lifted it off of the table and he had turned solemn on me.

"What?" I was confused. One minute we were joking and now this?

"Look, you need to be honest with me. If you don't like me touching you..."

"Owen, look at me." I grabbed his hand to get his attention. "I was truly joking. I don't mind it at all. In fact, I wish you would be more comfortable touching me whenever you want. But we haven't even gone out on a real date yet. So I don't know if you're just fooling around or..."

He got closer and nailed me with the most honest glare I've ever seen.

"Do you think I'm joking around here?" He asked me as he pulled my entire body towards him.

I reached out and touched the line of his jaw with the tips of my fingers. "No."

"We're on the same page then." I shook myself out of my stupor and looked at the menu.

The waitress approached and he ordered pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns and a burger and fries. She laughed and I ordered French toast-again.

While we waited for the food, I told him about the bookstore and he looked amazed. He asked me what I was going to do and then congratulated me when I told him. The whole time his hands were on me. I usually hated when guys would constantly touch me, but this felt different. Not pervy or skeezy, just loving and caring. It was a new thing for me.

We ate and he finished off my food as usual and I looked down to find that it was nearly two a.m.

"It's almost two. I'm so sorry. Do you have an early cla.s.s?"

'I don't have cla.s.s until ten. So it's fine. I live on very little sleep anyway with Dylan."

"That sucks. So when do I get to see you again?"

20. Owen.

G.o.d, I was falling hard for this girl. She didn't play games or give me whiplash with those games people play when they're dating. One minute they're up your b.u.t.t and then the next they're ignoring you. She didn't pretend that she was naive or try to be overly s.e.xy. She didn't do that thing girls do when you ask them out and they pretend they're busy or they don't care. She was just a natural at reeling me in without even trying. Heaven help me if she ever really tried.

She asked me straight up when she was going to see me again.

"I have something planned for tomorrow after practice."

"Ok, but I'm warning you. Sometimes I get cranky after practice."

I could not even imagine this girl cranky or mean or angry for one second.

"Ok, I will consider myself warned. But once you see me you'll forget crankiness."

"You make me forget all the bad stuff."

"One day you're gonna trust me enough to tell me the bad stuff."

"Probably the same day you trust me enough to tell me your bad stuff."

"And what makes you think I have bad things to tell?"

The waitress came and gave us the ticket and I paid it right away and let her keep the change. Nellie got up and we walked out together towards her car.

"You didn't answer my question." I tugged on her hand to remind her.

She leaned her back on her car and looked up like she was thinking.

"Sometimes," she started and reached out to play with the strings of my hoodie, "You look like you're torn. Like before you kissed me at the library, you looked like you had an angel and a devil on each shoulder. And you got the same look before you sat down in cla.s.s today. And I don't know if I'm the angel or the devil, but whichever I am, choose me."

I stood stunned. She had known me less than a week and had me all figured out. She pecked me on the lips and left me standing there in the parking lot standing on the line that marked where her car was. But instead of feeling betrayed, I felt freed.

d.a.m.n it, I let her drive away while I stood there like a jacka.s.s.

I got into my car and gave her time to get home before I texted her.

O: You shocked the h.e.l.l out of me. You know me so well already. I am torn sometimes, but I will always choose you no matter what. And one day, I will tell you the bad stuff. I will see you tomorrow after practice right?

It seemed like hours had pa.s.sed before she responded.

N: Y, see you tomorrow. And I'm here when you need me. I'll listen when you're ready.

O: Thx. That's all I could bear to type.

N: You didn't kiss me goodnight. :( O: I will make up for it tomorrow. Promise.

N: Goodnight Owen.

O: Goodnight angel.

I drove home and Dylan was still up. I had to include him in my plan for tomorrow since he was my connection to Amber and she was going to have to let me into their apartment.

He called Amber and we set it all up. After cla.s.s tomorrow, I had things to do for my girl. I went to bed hoping that sleep helped me pa.s.s the time faster.

Thursday morning I woke up with a smile on my face. I even slept through Dylan's snoring. I went to my cla.s.ses and texted Dylan throughout the day to make sure everything was set. Amber was helping the most and once I heard her say that if anyone deserved this kind of thing, it was her. I didn't think they were that close, but I took it as a good omen.

I went grocery shopping and bought everything I needed and more since she said she needed groceries. Amber had promised she would be gone with Dylan for the whole night. But that was ok; I had planned to sleep in the Bronco since my room would be occupied. It was worth it.

I met Amber at the Union at a quarter 'til six to get the apartment key from her and got to work. I made her dinner. It wasn't much, just baked chicken, sweet potatoes and salad. I paced the room until it was eight and then checked and rechecked everything to make sure it was right. I sat at the table and waited for her to come in. I heard the key in the deadbolt and couldn't wait to see her.

She came in and let her bag drop from her shoulder in a heap on the floor and threw her keys in the basket by the door. I heard another thump which was her collapsing on the floor and she started talking out loud.

"Somebody kill me. Put me out of my misery. I'm dying and I didn't even get to see Owen tonight. Cruel, cruel world."

I laughed silently. She had her eyes closed and while she groaned out her soliloquy she raised her hands in the air as if she were Hamlet in the throes of anguish. It was the cutest d.a.m.n thing I had ever seen.

I cleared my throat and she whipped herself off the floor and screamed at the same time.

"Lord have mercy Owen, I nearly p.i.s.sed myself. What the h.e.l.l?"

"Surprise!" I smiled really big hoping it would work.

"Did you hear my little speech on the floor?" All I could do was nod.

"I'm going to take a shower and then I'm coming back out. That gives you about ten or fifteen minutes to forget everything you just saw. Ok?"

She stomped out and went to shower and change. I set the table and when she came out she glared at me with her hands on her hips waiting.

"I tried to forget, I did. But really you should be an actress."

"Shut up." We both laughed and then she realized what was going on.

"You made dinner?" She was only looking at the stove.

"Yeah, it's not much but I knew you would be hungry and tired and it gave me an excuse to see you. Plus you said you needed food in the house."

She tore open the door of the refrigerator and stared at it for a while. Then she stood up on the chair next to her and I didn't know what the h.e.l.l was going on so I just stood there. She crooked her finger at me, beckoning me to her. I stood in front of her and put my hands up in an 'I don't know what you want' expression. Then I realized that when she stood on the small chair she was as tall as me. We were face to face and that's where she wanted me.

"I can't believe you did this." She said but she was looking at my mouth.

I reached out and touched my finger to the spider bites on her bottom lip and she smiled.

"Everyone ignores my piercings. Like if they don't talk about them they will go away. My mom will act like I have food on my mouth and then say 'oh...nope...it's just those things in her lip.' It's pretty d.a.m.n funny."

"That doesn't sound funny. And these are part of you and you are so beautiful."

"And you have some of your own." She said as she ran both of her fingers over my pecs and it caused me to shiver.

"Yeah, that was a long time ago."

"But you still keep them in."

"Yeah, I like them. What you don't like them?" Now my eyes were trained on her lips.

"I haven't really seen them. I can't tell yet." One of her eyebrows popped up as she said it and it made it so much harder not to kiss her.

"Oh no. There are only three things on the agenda tonight. Eating, sleeping and kissing. Feel free to reverse that order-like now."

And she did. This kiss was different and new. It was not the first peck or even the second bolder kiss. No this was us kissing like we had been kissing for years and years. It was easy and we moved together in perfect sync. Before I knew it, I held her completely flush with my body and her hands were tangled in my hair. Her left foot ran a trail up and down my right leg and I moved my hips away from her before she knew exactly how much I loved kissing her. She pulled away after a few minutes and held my bottom lip between her teeth as she did. We stood reigning ourselves back in and then I cleared my throat.